EDDIE FISHER - Pop Singers On The Air! 1958.wmv

Live radio show recorded in 1958 and sponsored by Coca Cola. Edwin John Fisher (August 10, 1928 -- September 22, 2010), better known as Eddie Fisher, was an American singer and entertainer, who was one of the world's most famous and successful singers in the 1950s, selling millions of records and hosting his own TV show. His divorce from his first wife, Debbie Reynolds, to marry his best friend's widow, Elizabeth Taylor, garnered scandalously unwelcome publicity at the time. He was also married to Connie Stevens. He was the father of Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher. Fisher, fourth of seven children, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Russian-born Jewish immigrants Kate (née Winokur) and Joseph Fisher. His father's surname was originally either Tisch or Fisch, but was anglicised to Fisher upon entry into the United States. To his family, Fisher was always called "Sonny Boy", a nickname derived from the song of the same name in Al Jolson's film The Singing Fool (1928). Fisher attended Thomas Junior High School, South Philadelphia High School, and Simon Gratz High School. It was known at an early age that he had talent as a vocalist and he started singing in numerous amateur contests, which he usually won. He made his radio debut on WFIL, a local Philadelphia radio station. He also performed on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, a popular radio show which later moved to TV. Because he became a local star, Fisher dropped out of high school in the middle of his senior year to pursue his career. By 1946, Fisher was crooning with the bands of Buddy Morrow and Charlie Ventura. He was heard in 1949 by Eddie Cantor at Grossinger's Resort in the Borscht Belt. After performing on Cantor's radio show he was an instant hit and gained nationwide exposure. He then signed with RCA Victor. Fisher was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1951, sent to Texas for basic training, and served a year in Korea. From 1952 to 1953, he was the official vocal soloist for The United States Army Band (Pershing's Own) and a tenor section member in the United States Army Band Chorus (an element of Pershing's Own) assigned at Fort Myer in the Washington, D.C. Military District. During his active duty period, he also made occasional guest television appearances, in uniform, introduced as "Pfc Eddie Fisher." After his discharge, he became even more popular singing in top nightclubs. He also had a variety television series, Coke Time with Eddie Fisher (NBC) (1953--1957), appeared on The Perry Como Show, Club Oasis, The Martha Raye Show, The Gisele MacKenzie Show, The Chesterfield Supper Club and The George Gobel Show, and starred in another series, The Eddie Fisher Show (NBC) (1957--1959, alternating with Gobel's series). A pre-rock and roll vocalist, Fisher's strong and melodious tenor made him a teen idol and one of the most popular singers of the early 1950s. He had seventeen songs in the Top 10 on the music charts between 1950 and 1956 and thirty-five in the Top 40. In 1956, Fisher costarred with then-wife Debbie Reynolds in the musical comedy Bundle of Joy. He played a dramatic role in the 1960 drama Butterfield 8 with second wife Elizabeth Taylor. His best friend was showman and producer Mike Todd, who died in a plane crash in 1958. Fisher's affair and subsequent marriage to Taylor, Todd's widow, caused a show business scandal because he and Reynolds had a very public divorce. It was because of the unfavorable publicity surrounding the affair and divorce that NBC cancelled Fisher's television series in March 1959.[citation needed] In 1960, he was dropped by RCA Victor and briefly recorded on his own label, Ramrod Records. He later recorded for Dot Records. During this time, he had the first commercial recording of "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof. This technically counts as the biggest standard Fisher can claim credit for introducing, although it is rarely associated with him. He also recorded the album Eddie Fisher Today (1965). The Dot contract was not successful in record sales terms, and he returned to RCA Victor and had a minor single hit in 1966 with the song "Games That Lovers Play" with Nelson Riddle, which became the title of his best selling album. When Fisher was at the height of his popularity, in the mid 1950s, singles, rather than albums, were the primary recording medium. His last album for RCA was an Al Jolson tribute, You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet. In 1983 he attempted a comeback tour but this was not a success. Eddie Fisher's last released album was recorded around 1984 on the Bainbridge record label. Fisher tried to stop the album from being released, but it turned up as After All.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• EDDIE
• FISHER
• Pop
• Singers
• On
• The
• Air!
• 1958
• pop
• voacals
• radio
• show
• Elizabeth Taylor
• Debbie Reynolds
• Connie Stevens
• Carrie Fisher

[friscolobo]

Great show. Please put more shows with Eddie Fisher . What a voice. I met Eddie several times and he was very nice to me.

[ramoburg]

@friscolobo I have many of Eddie's songs, . I'll put some more soon. I use to listen to him in the 50's when I lived in New York.

[mcfrdmn]

Excellent musical performance!

[mostliketa]

Very nice medley of Eddie's many hits. Thanks.

[fromthesidelines]

Eddie's Coke sponsorship ended in early 1956, due to a disagreement among their bottlers, who refused to market a new "larger sized" bottle the company wanted to introduce. In retaliation, Coca-Cola temporarily pulled all of their advertising off radio and TV...including "COKE TIME". Eddie found other sponsors- including Standard Brands' Planters peanuts- to sustain him until his quarter-hour series ended in 1957.

[fromthesidelines]

This is actually a soundtrack of one of Eddie Fisher's 1955 "COKE TIME" TV shows [NBC, Wednesdays/Fridays, 7:30pm(et)], repeated on Mutual Radio on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:45pm(et); around 14:10, a live staff announcer added an outcue like this- "This is the world's largest network: the Mutual Broadcasting System". Fred Robbins is the announcer and spokesman for Coke.

[CarlDuke]

Just finished listening to this and heard the name Ken Lane mentioned as Eddie's piano player. Lane was most famous for working with Dean Martin and writing Dean's biggest hit ever, Everybody Loves Somebody.

[CarlDuke]

Thanks for a great posting. Like Friscolobo I too say the more Eddie Fisher the better, especially rare items like this.

[231152johny]

NIce video and sound great, thanks for sharing it this memories.