[archy]

Two very glaring omissions on your lead list: Our Miss Brooks and Your Show of Shows.

Agreed, and the list of many of the performers on several of the variety programs of the period is really lengthy.

But I've got one particular favorite, who though better known as a singer than comedienne, was also good for a variety show comedy skit on occasion, and turned up on Red Skelton's show a couple of times.

Teresa Brewer passed away about a year ago.

[BluesDuke]

I should also have mentioned the best variety show of the decade, and it wasn't on television: it was Tallulah Bankhead's The Big Show (NBC radio, 1950-52), with Fred Allen as her most frequent guest (I could be wrong but Groucho Marx ran a close second)and the nonpareil Goodman Ace as her head writer, and a lineup that's a who's who of the absolute best in the business, music, comedy, stage, screen, you name it . . .

Teresa Brewer was a terrific singer, especially once she got past what she herself called "my ootsy-poo period" and got to serious pop and jazz. (In fact, the last recording project Duke Ellington had in his lifetime, before his illness finally took him out of action and to his reward, was a collaboration with Ms. Brewer, It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing, for Columbia Records . . . )

I lost a lot of respect for Red Skelton over the way he treated his writers. He wasn't unusual in refusing to give his writers credit, he was merely among the most flagrant and abusive about it. (His most famous character, Clem Kadiddlehopper, was a creation of one of his writers, and Skelton could never bring himself to give credit where due.) I respect the ones who did give their writers their due: Jack Benny, Fred Allen (who wrote about ninety percent of his stuff as it was, but still . . . ), Bob Hope, Henry Morgan . . .

[BluesDuke]

p.s. Teresa Brewer actually passed away just over a month ago, may she rest in peace.