Ernie Kovacs for Dutch Masters Cigars

[fromthesidelines]

Edie managed to save all of Ernie's 1961-'62 half-hour specials on videotape before ABC had a chance to "wipe them" (or dispose of them). In these pantomime commercials [usually seen during the middle of the show], Ernie used a recording of Hayden's String Quartet {Opus 33, No. 5} as background music...

[mikemcgee]

the only part of the show that has been preserved on video tape while the rest of the shows are on kinescope due to the expense of storage and the price of video tape that time even his color video tape shows are gone what a shame thier was one kinescoped version of his how that was kinescoped in color but i dont know if that still exist

[weenielongus]

I dunno, Mikemcgee - - there's a 2 DVD set on White*Star Video #D1560 named "The Best of Ernie Kovacs" that contains a good amount of video taped Ernie Kovacs. There are some kinescopes in that collection, but apparently somebody didn't mind the unusual expense of saving Ernie's shows on videotape, considering a 30 minute reel-to-reel videotape in 1962-1963 could cost around $150 - $200 (from what I was told)?!?

[fromthesidelines]

You must remember that, at the time Ernie's half-hour monthly specials aired in 1961, most sponsors bought half-hour {or occasional hour-long} "blocks" of time, and "controlled" those time periods by "filling them" with whatever series or specials they wanted. Ernie had a direct contract with Consoldiated Cigar for "TAKE A GOOD LOOK"- and his later specials- from 1959 through '62. Part of that arrangement was for him to appear in "integrated commercials" for Dutch Masters...

[ACcountryFan]

the same went on in radio before TV became the big thing. legendary radio comedians like Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Burns and Allen, and the like all starred in radio comedies named after their sponsor's. In Jack Benny's case, his longest running sponsor was Lucky Strike cigarettes during 1944-1955. "The Lucky Strike Program starring Jack Benny". another sponsor was Jell-O...and for 8 years, 1934-1942, Jack was the star of "The Jell-O Show". so even then the sponsor owned the air-time.

[fromthesidelines]

Ernie's 1961 ABC specials (as was his 1959-'61 "TAKE A GOOD LOOK" game show) were sponsored by Consolidated Cigar's "Dutch Masters"- and they allowed him the freedom to write, produce and appear in their "integrated commercials" any way he wanted. He preferred to tape them (instead of shooting on film), and they LOVED it! They also loved the way he "bit" into his cigars during the show, even though he usually smoked more expensive cigars on the side...

[Yourdeadmeat69]

...and at least two minutes inside the skit. Today we'd call this product placement, except it is so much sharing of the billing with the subject matter, the product is the placement.

Great stuff.

[khalemutter]

Very nice