Stars in the Eye

STARS IN THEIR EYE was an apparently live television special broadcast on CBS to commemorate the opening of their $7 million dollar new studio, CBS Television City in Los Angeles. The program features dozens of stars and supporting players from CBS shows of the era, many appearing as themselves but a number in character as their TV roles.

Jack Benny has the largest part as himself, who supposedly has lent CBS the money to open the studio and determined to now control it. The stars of AMOS N' ANDY open the show in a hilarious skit on an airplane as they fly to attend the opening. George Burns and Gracie Allen appear in separate segments; Gracie has one of her funniest bits ever as she visits the real Governor of California with some political advice. Lucille Ball, then in her seventh month of pregnancy with Desi Jr. appears only on film not at the actual live broadcast in an amusing segment in which Jack Benny repeatedly plays bit parts in real life I LOVE LUCY segments and consistently interrupts the performance attempting to persuade Lucy to appear on the show (Vivian Vance and William Frawley also only appear in this filmed segment, although Desi appears live on the show to introduce the stunt Benny has been pulling on the ILL set.) The casts of such long forgotten CBS shows LIFE WITH LUIGI and MEET MILLIE appear in character; Eve Arden is on hand for a segment with Benny and the Mayor of Los Angeles whereas the delightful Marie Wilson only makes a brief appearance in another segment. CBS contractees Margaret Whiting, Bob Crosby, and Gisselle Mackenzie perform musical numbers and comedienne Cass Daley has a comic/variety number. I'm not sure just what Ms. Daley's association with CBS was; best known for featured comedy parts in several 1940's Paramount films, she apparently was under contract to CBS at the time but it doesn't appear to have amounted to a regular series or anything. Maybe the unappealing, loud sketch she's in here didn't help her career at the network. Art Linkletter interacts with Bob Crosby's son and Eve Arden's daughter in a skit that recalls his "Kids Say The Darnest Things" segments.

It's not particularly great entertainment but STARS IN THEIR EYE (the title of course refers to the famous CBS "eye" logo) is a fascinating bit of television history that for it's cast alone deserves to be remembered. This show is so obscure it wasn't even listed on IMDb until I emailed them all the details of the program. A kineoscope of the program can be found on the DVD set THE BEST OF JOHNNY Carson AND FRIENDS and is perhaps worth the price of the set alone for nostalgia fans and those into television history.

This is an entertaining window back to late 1952 and the stars which were under contract to CBS at the time. Everyone who is remembered (as well as a few who aren't) from that time are present. The occasion being the grand opening of the then-new Television City, a 7 million dollar studio dedicated to the production of television shows. Among the many stars are Lucy and Desi, Eve Arden, Alan Young, Gale Gordon, Margaret Whiting, the TV cast of Amos N' Andy, Marie Wilson, Cathy Lewis, Jack Benny, Rochester, Burns and Allen, and more. There are many funny comedy sketches and a few good musical numbers. This almost plays like television's version of the early all-star musical revues from Hollywood at the dawn of sound. You'll never get a chance to see so much legendary talent from television's golden age as here. I got this as part of a "Johnny Carson & Friends" DVD set, and little did I realize that this gem was part of the package. Lucy's segment was pre-filmed for this mostly live production, owing to the fact that she was quite pregnant in November 1952, when the show aired. Stars In The Eye will be of interest to fans of classic television.

This hour-long live broadcast seems to have been pulled together -- and sustained without a sponsor -- by CBS television as a high-profile vehicle to promote the inauguration of the network's new television center in Los Angeles. For the purpose CBS really pulled out all of the stops, signing all of their major stars (and the mayor of LA) on to roles. The result is a very mixed bag, although the special is thoroughly fascinating for its curio value and place in broadcast history, and, as in 1952, for the sheer number of big stars it manage to assemble.

The broadcast opens strongly with a very cleverly-written and funny sequence featuring the stars of the now rarely-seen television version of "Amos 'n' Andy" on an airplane (the closing credits indicate that the TV stars here were given material by their own usual writers). Amos, Andy, and the Kingfish never appear again, which is a good indication of what kind of all-star special this is.

The nominal plot of "Stars in the Eye" revolves around the making of special itself, and the fact that Jack Benny, having fronted the money for the television center, wants to take over its production. Jack Benny and Rochester get the most screen time and that is a good thing because their material is just as good as in "The Jack Benny Program" There's a wonderfully-played sequence in which Jack's dilapidated Maxwell car inconveniences the mayor (Benny was always great at playing off of non-performer celebrity guests and not losing a step), and probably the highlight of the broadcast is a wonderful part-filmed sequence in which Desi Arnez shows up to sue Jack for spoiling a filming of "I Love Lucy" with his insistence that Lucy appear on his special.

However, the linking scenes with Gale Gordon as a worried television executive that appear fairly regularly work less well. The timing is off and they're a little too transparent. Art Linkletter appears and randomly starts talking to a couple of celebrity's kids that he has been asked to babysit as if they are on "Kids Say the Darnedest Things," and the celebrity kids prove that they have been chosen not because they say particularly cute things but because they are celebrities' children. Some other acts from CBS shows of the time prove pretty uninspired, and pretty much succeed at proving why those shows have not been remembered as well as time has gone on.

George Burns and Gracie Allen appear, but, very oddly, they do not appear in any scenes together. George still has some nice bits playing on his famously terrible singing voice, though, and Gracie steals the second half of the show in her scene with the Governor Warren of California. It's just a shame to have a great comedy team around and not allow it to work as a team.

There are a couple surprisingly frank gags about the recent "talent raids" on NBC, with Alan Young in an NBC jumpsuit and a reference to all the ex-NBC talent around.

In all, "Stars in Their Eye" is totally uneven in terms of quality, and chock-full of contrived moments where a way needs to be found to introduce another guest star or include a speech about the television center. However, their are also many priceless moment with the talent that was involved, and a Jack Benny fan such as myself certainly won't want to miss it for that reason at least. Very few productions exist where so many significant figures in early TV appeared together, and it's worth it for that if nothing else.