Sunday Showcase

Around 1956, Eddie Fisher and his agent Lew Wasserman were discussing roles for Fisher's acting debut. A project being discussed at the time was "What Makes Sammy Run?" by Budd Schulberg and Stuart Schulberg. Fisher wanted to play aggressive Producer Sammy Glick, "the ultimate Jewish hustler. I knew a lot of real Sammy Glicks, and I felt confident that was a character I could play." Lew Wasserman decided that the character was too much of a classic negative Jewish stereotype, and that it would be bad for Fisher to play it. So Fisher went in the complete opposite direction (in retrospect, perhaps too far) with then-wife Debbie Reynolds in the squeaky clean comedy that Fisher hated, Le bébé de Mademoiselle (1956), a film made to capitalize on the birth of their daughter, future "Princess Leia" Carrie Fisher. The Schulberg project "What Makes Sammy Run?" was eventually produced in two parts for this show, episodes #1.2 and #1.3.

Referenced in The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour: Milton Berle Hides at the Ricardos (1959)