Sundays with Sullivan: The September Edstravaganza

Today, we have the second compilation I mentioned before, when I posted Part 1 of Broadway musical performances on The Ed Sullivan Show.  I'm going to try to post these on the first Sunday of every month.  (If you miss any, just do a search for the word "Edstravaganza".)

As I noted before, I’ve always felt the TV show’s most valuable feature (of many) was providing a record of Broadway musicals, with performances by the original casts in full costume and sets, often re-recreating long scenes, that would otherwise be lost to history.

We start this second video, compiled by a fellow named Jim Berg, with the final six minutes of a 17-minute presentation of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, Flower Drum Song, which cut off during the song Sunday.  This is the full production number.

Then there’s the Harold Rome musical Destry Rides Again, based on the old movie western.  The stage musical starred Andy Griffith, though he doesn’t appear here.  There are two songs from the show, and I’ll note an odd technical glitch when Ed is introducing the number with star Dolores Gray.  (You’ll hear another recording of his voice playing over, but it only lasts 10-15 seconds.)

We then come to Bye Bye Birdie, and see a long, funny scene with Paul Lynde trying to have breakfast with his family, after his house has been taken over by ‘Conrad Birdie’.  (You’ll briefly see “Birdie’ here, played by Dick Gautier.  For those of you with good memories, Gautier later had a recuring role on Get Smart as ‘Hymie the Robot.’)  This scene leads directly into a song that should surprise you being performed here – “Ode to a Sunday Evening.”  Which is probably better known as the “Ed Sullivan song.”  And then Dick Van Dyke gets a full number of “Put on a Happy Face” – which is totally different from in the movie.

Finally, once again, because these videos get cut off in random spots, we have the first 30 seconds only of the big hit song from Do Re Mi, a musical that starred Phil Silvers.  He’s not in the video, but it’s a young Nancy Dussault singing “Make Someone Happy” (which you may recall is played, in Jimmy Durante’s recording at the very end of Sleepless in Seattle).  What I like is that you’ll see the composer of the show, Jule Styne, accompanying her on the piano. Unfortunately, as I said, it stops there, but when I get to posting the next compilation video, we’ll finally get to the bulk of the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR3D3QiHtz0