 This is the SF Productions podcast network Nothing in moderation. From the pop culture bunker, I'm Mindy. And I'm Mark You can check out our audio podcast how I got my wife to read comics on iTunes or on our website sfpodcastnetwork.com This last week marked the centennial of one of my idols a comedian writer producer actor far ahead of his time The first to truly take advantage of the medium of television who died tragically at an early age We're talking about Ernie Kovacs. Well, who is that his father was a Hungarian bootlegger in New Jersey Which met high times for his family until the end of prohibition Ernie's high school drama teacher recommended him to Scholarship at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts during vacations He got involved in summer stock which at one point resulted in pneumonia, which was far more serious at the time It took a year and a half for him to Recuperate during which he gained a lifetime appreciation of classical music via the gift of a radio And after that he got a job as a cigar salesman something he would become very well known for Kovacs then got a radio announcer gig which lasted through the 40s He did special events like seeing what it was like to be run over by a train Reporting at the tracks missing a train by an instant his early TV work was in Philadelphia Eventually getting multiple gigs at NBC affiliate WPTZ such as cooking show deadline for dinner and morning show Three to get ready. The latter is important as television in the early 50s Normally didn't even broadcast in the morning considering it a waste of money Kovacs would do wacky bits like running through a Philly restaurant in a gorilla suit and pouring a bucket of water on the Weatherman when he said it would rain He also included a skit called Howard the world's strongest ant which involved tiny circus apparatus and hidden wires that would move them The success of three to get ready influenced NBC's decision to try their own morning show Which they called today and which took over Kovacs slot He moved to network TV as an MCM game shows a panelist on panel shows and appeared in a few variety shows There was it's time for Ernie a 15-minute NBC show Ernie in Kovacs land a summer replacement for NBC's Kukla Fran and Ali Kovacs on the corner an NBC daytime show, which was more like a kid's show He would stroll through this on-stage village and talk to the residents and Kovacs unlimited a CBS midday variety show Then came the Ernie Kovacs show a midday NBC series that lasted for two years His director was Barry Shearer his announcer Bill Wendell both of which would later do the same on Letterman's NBC late-night show Letterman was a huge fan of Ernie Kovacs NBC forced him to have a studio audience which made little sense with his TV-centric bits a Short-run summer replacement for Caesar's hour followed throughout all this He had a troupe of players headed by a girl He hired in his Philadelphia days as a singer Edie Adams Adams would later become his wife co-host and story editor and the reason why we can still see Kovacs work More about that later now talking about TV-centric bits until this point TV cameras mostly Pointed at someone in front of a set or a curtain and they did their act Kovacs knew the electronic possibilities of the medium He actually later directed his own his own seven episodes and used it to bizarre effect a vertical Split-screen showing Kovacs banging on the floor above While an oscilloscope would show the audio level below as a jumping wave Instrumental numbers time to inanimate objects say in a kitchen set that would move via hidden wires to simulate the Instruments played a dual camera effect that allowed him to be seen through a hole in an actress's head an old trick He did involving smoking underwater He was in a water tank typing away at a typewriter with a cigar in his mouth and smoke coming out It was milk that he would drink before going under There are also these quick blackout gags sometimes only a few seconds such as a car salesman Placing his hand in a car which then fell through the floor an effect that cost $12,000 at the time a woman taking a bubble bath with people Periscopes etc coming out of the water Kovacs drying on a refrigerator on a sheet of paper then cutting it open to get ice This all led to a half-hour special called the silent show better known as Eugene in 1957 This was the result of a Jerry Lewis special which was scheduled for 90 minutes But Lewis decided to only use 60 of those minutes leaving 30 minutes of otherwise dead air So NBC offered it to Kovacs who introduced the special and that's the extent of all the dialogue in that 30 minutes We follow sad sacked Eugene through a bizarre world of sight gags keep in mind This is not animated but live action. He draws a lamp and a table on a wall But it won't light he realizes he didn't include the plug or outlets Which he does and he's able to turn on the lamp a painting of a boat on the ocean is tilted Eugene straightens it and water pours out a maid sucks up crumpled paper with an invisible vacuum cleaner Eugene opens war in peace He hears cannons and gunfire and then goes to the end of the book where he doves flies out It culminates in a lunch that seemed to defy physics the set a table and wall were built at an angle Which was matched by the camera Eugene would take out an orange Which would quickly roll off what looked like a level table milk poured out of a thermos and would shoot past The cup on the table Eugene resulted in Kovacs getting a film contract Appearing in military comedy operation mad ball It also got him on the cover of life magazine His other films included wake me when it's over our man in hibana They'll book in candle it happened it happened to jane and five golden hours Kovacs loved non sequitur sketches such as a production of swan lake with ballet dancers wearing gorilla outfits Or actors playing nbc's vp's being killed in various ways followed by a hand putting another mark on a tally And the Nairobi trio a song played by three people in gorilla outfits where all the comedy comes from perfect timing and camera work It became his trademark. He also had a set of recurring characters many of which made fun of tv shows and formats Faye poet percy dove tonsils German radio announcer wolf gang von sauerbrotten Panel show host mr. Question man horror show host anti- gruesome and cooking show host miklos molnar All of this would transfer into a series of abc specials that would run in the late 50s and early 60s Considered his finest work the shows were sponsored by dutch master cigars and kovacs would create and direct the commercials This led to a bizarre panel show called take a good look which he hosted and produced A panel would guess the identity of someone in the news via clues given in bizarre sketches And the clues were so obscure that they rarely guessed right We mentioned edy adam's earlier who was kovacs second wife His first which resulted in two kids was tumultuous She was mentally unstable and he got custody of the kids when they separated which was rare at the time She retaliated by kidnapping the kids and kovacs spent months and huge sums to track her down You can see this story in 1984 tv movie ernie kovacs between the laughter His second marriage with edy was quite happy kovacs was scheduled to appear alongside edy adam's in stanley kramer's It's a mad mad mad mad world when he lost control of his vehicle after a storm and crashed into a power pole in beveley hills He was 42 His headstone reads his motto Nothing in moderation kovacs was not a fan of taxes and simply refused to pay them Partly due to this edy adam's found herself with $500,000 in debt when kovacs died Despite this when she heard that the networks were taping over his work Which was standard procedure at the time which is why so little survives of early videotape shows She bought the tapes in order to save it as a result We have some but not all of his work available Edy would go on to do her own variety show and become the spokeswoman for muriel cigars Why don't you pick one up and smoke it sometime? She also won a tony as daisy may and lil abner and appeared in several films including it's a mad mad mad mad world I was introduced to ernie kovacs via a series of pbs specials using those videotapes in the late 70s And those were reared on comedy central in the early in their early years While you can find some things on youtube and i suggest you do I highly recommend the shout factory dvd collections volume one is larger and has the best of his work mark really loves ernie kovacs And you should check it out as well as checking out our audio podcast how i got my wife tree comics available on itunes Or on any podcast catcher and on our website sfpodcastnetwork.com from the pop culture bunker I'm indy and i'm mark thanks for watching hold it don't know better move