I think about this program every once in a while. My memory of this was that it was on SHOWER OF STARS the season after the Playhouse 90 version of REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT, but, thanks to the miracle of the Internet, I learned that it was 4 years later and on the Desilu Playhouse. The premise of this teleplay is that Keenan Wynn, Mach in the TV version of REQUIEM, convinced the producers to give the role of the broken down old trainer to his dad, Ed Wynn, who had been one of America's greatest stars in vaudeville, Broadway musicals and radio. He was an institution for 40 years but now was slowly idling his life away. The great scene was when the cast sits around a table to have the first read through of the script and Ed Wynn reads the script haltingly and flatly like a semi-literate amateur pulled from the street at random and given the script to read. Everyone at the table has a laugh and when they do it again it becomes clear that he's not doing it on purpose for a laugh. The director says "All right, fun's fun but lets get down to work" but it turns out that through his entire career he had never used a script or, in fact, "acted". He was just funny and that's what he did. The rest of the play is about whether the producers should stay with him and hope he'll snap out of it or to replace him and possibly break an old man's heart. Remember, Playhouse 90 was broadcast live and if he froze up in front of the cameras there was no way to either replace him or even to fake his part and go on. It could be a major disaster. The thing was that deep down Ed Wynn was a pro and even though it was in doubt right up to the actual performance he comes through like the champ he is and the show becomes one of the great classics from The Golden Age. Everyone in the TV version of REQUIEM was better than the corresponding actor in the film yet the film is perfect in its way too. This is a little bit of TV history seemingly lost forever. If they ever do a retrospective of Rod Serling or Playhouse 90 or issue something on whatever format that succeeds DVD they should package the TV and film versions of REQUIEM and add this to the mix.
PS I don't remember what Red Skelton did in the play, whether or not he was approached to replace Ed Wynn or had been called in to talk to the old man, but Skelton was discovered and mentored by Ed Wynn in real life.
PS I don't remember what Red Skelton did in the play, whether or not he was approached to replace Ed Wynn or had been called in to talk to the old man, but Skelton was discovered and mentored by Ed Wynn in real life.