Five Dollar Date

"Ten years ago, when five dollars was a banhkroll, you took your girl out for a big time and the town was really yours. So let us look into the case of a fellow, a girl, a date. The place, Manhattan, the year, 1939."
This was represented to me, years ago, as S.C.'s first appearance on network television. It's early work, Kinnied somewhat crudely, but captured. And it is a miracle of performance. Apparently, Sid performed this eight times a week in a revue called "Make Mine Manhattan".

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• Sid
• Caesar
• kinescope
• 1949
• Admiral
• Broadway
• Revue

[u2bbbe]

When they go to the theater, they go to The Strand, is that right? I'm pretty sure that was a theater in Far Rockaway during those times. Any thoughts?

[jsteeber]

@u2bbbe They go to "The Strand", right, although Strands were all over America in the early 20th Century. It's more or less generic. Caesar was, in fact, raised in Yonkers.

[ipmoic]

This is magical stuff--what energy--what a talent. But the intensity--unreal and frenetic. I think Sid Caesar, as much as anything else, burned out. He had a great cast, but nobody could keep up that pace.

I'm glad he's still alive. All kinds of awards should come his way NOW--so the young never forget.

[jsteeber]

Either that, or he just couldn't keep up with himself. That and alcoholism made him good and tired, I'm sure. His amazing writers were also overachievers, so it could only go on for so many seasons.

[MUTrainerBill]

Sid is a GENIUS. I so miss comedy of his caliber. Why isn't he regarded as a god? Why don't we see his shows on tv? Thank goodness for YouTube. Listen, I wasn't born when this aired but I hope Sid knows how much joy his comedy has brought me. What a great contribution to the world. Vive Le Sid!

[jsteeber]

Completely agreed on Sid. Perhaps this material is still too smart for most rooms. Ashame, really. He even wrote the song. Hope he appreciates your fan-dom and doesn't pull this video.

[mvies77]

Absolutely brilliant and exceptional. No one compares then or since. Great writers and cast on the show also. Creative and innovative without reliance on bathroom humor and the constant sex theme of present day comedy. Miss the morality of those days.

[monk22yrs]

A great performance, and great time capsule-----1949 was sooo expensive, and 1939 soooo much better....!

Decades from now, some comedian will do a routine about 2011 being a great time to live....

This routine, in 1949, was seen mostly on ten inch screens in huge boxes maybe 3 foot tall and costing $600?

There's a 1940 leon errol short, TATTLE TELEVISION, in which tvs and the costs were akin to the above. I saw it on a cheap vhs bootleg.....the good olde days of vhs bootlegs.

[fromthesidelines]

Incidentally, Sid first performed this in the Broadway revue, "Make Mine Manhattan".

[FlashyyyPG]

awesome!

[TracyInsomiac]

a date in 2009 in Manhattan? I don't think I would even attempt.

[fromthesidelines]

This was performed on the very first telecast of "THE ADMIRAL BROADWAY REVUE" [indeed, Sid's first weekly TV series] in January 1949. The show was carried on both NBC and DuMont; the only way Admiral could get the show carried in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was through the ONE TV station on the air in the city at that time- DuMont's WDTV, so they had to agree to simulcast the show on TWO networks...