(+1) 234 567 21

ULTRA RARE…FIRST “TONIGHT” SHOW, Part 2 of 2

•

Eyes Of A Generation.com


ULTRA RARE…FIRST “TONIGHT” SHOW, Part 2 of 2

To get the full effect of this historic footage, that is just now become available online, make sure you see and read Part 1, posted earlier today.

This is Monday, September 27. 1954…debut night, and full of surprises for everyone…including those of us watching now. Steve Allen’s surprises seem to be a never-ending cascade, starting with all sort of last minute changes, and a flat tire on the NBC Cadillac mobile unit shooting Times Square live outside.

Another surprise comes at 6:30 when Steve notices the open bottle of Knickerbocker Beer is gone, that we see him with in Part 1, the first 15 minutes of the show. Early on, the 15 minute “Steve Allen Show” was fed only to WNBT, but local stations watching the network preview monitor started asking for it at 11:15 as in those days, most late news casts were only 15 minutes. Unfortunately, there are many mixed details about that part.

At around 15:30 we see sidekick, and announcer Gene Rayburn do a comedy routine with Steve, and at 24:40, we get a look at something we had only heard about, but never seen, as Steve throws it to Gene for a news update.

Until today, I had never seen either of these two historic videos, but was thrilled to find them and watch. I was not even sure if they existed, as all I’ve ever seen is a few short clips, but thanks to Anthony DeFlorio, who just posted them online, we can finally see what we have only heard and read about for so long, play out on our screens. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

6 responses to “ULTRA RARE…FIRST “TONIGHT” SHOW, Part 2 of 2”

  1. Rhonda Halasz Lands

    Steve had beautiful hands. Watched them in the piano’s reflection. Such a cool man.

  2. Jerry Immel

    Here’s the intro to Steve Allen’s final Tonight Show (1/25/57).
    https://soundcloud.com/bookjer/steve-allen-tonight-intro-jan

  3. Glen Norman

    Just finished watching the first part (11:30 to Midnight). So in that half hour, it appears there were two commercial breaks of one minute each. First break was at 20 minutes in and the next at about 27 minutes. Allen then talks about an upcoming 30 second break at Midnight. Quite a difference from what we see now in our late night talk shows.

    In the mid to late 1960s, I remember Carson talking about the “Network Fill”, that happened at 12:30 AM if I remember correctly. I know it was some sort of station break–but does anyone have a better definition of “Network Fill”?

  4. Laura Dailey

    Wow! Steve Allen a smaal show? This could be the start of something big.

  5. Tom Williamson

    Interesting, I had forgotten that Gene Rayburn was the sidekick.

  6. Eyesofageneration.com

    Here is the NBC Cadillac remote unit that Steve talks about.

Leave a Reply