Well, here's a show I successfully managed to avoid when I was a kid, and I'll keep on avoiding it.These are excerpts from shows screened between 38 and 40 years ago, and even these 'best-of' moments help define boredom. This is middle-of-the-road television blancmange.
Not that there's anything wrong with Andy 'Mr Anodyne' Williams, it's just that he hit his career high point at the age of 12, when he dubbed the singing voice for 19-year-old Lauren Bacall in her first-ever film role, To Have and Have Not. Everything after that was an anti-climax.
The fact is, he's just plain boring. And his guests don't make it much better. Ella Fitzgerald and Pearl Bailey are as great as ever, but after that it's a no-show. Tony Bennett proves himself to be as reasonably competent then as he is now; Judy Garland's celebrity spot is just pathetic (not her fault; the material is cornball crap). Sammy Davis Jnr and Jerry Lewis - well, time has not dealt kindly with those gentlemen. They were on the nose then, and don't smell any sweeter now.
Guitarist/songwriter Antonio Carlos Jobim does his renowned impersonation of his Latin colleague, singer Joao Gilberto, but Antonio looks totally bored compared to his fantastic performance around the same time on a Frank Sinatra special. As for The Osmonds - what sort of freaks were they? And even the menu music is on the nose - Henry Mancini's Moon River, surely the most treacle-laden Hollywood song ever to win an Oscar.
Around this time in television history, singers Dean Martin, Perry Como, Nat King Cole and Rosemary Clooney had the classy shows. They entertained their audiences, while Andy Williams dished out the television valium. Here's a sample - just don't take it all at once, or you may never wake up.
These are excerpts from old American NTSC colour broadcasts, and you couldn't expect anything better. This is pretty well broadcast quality of the time - you're not going to see anything better. Sound too, although mono, is clear and good enough for this material.
There are no extras. No hidden material, deleted footage etc. And we should be grateful. I'm giving the programme a score which is probably more than it deserves, but someone out there might like the footage of two great ladies, Ella and Pearl.
