Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (TV Series) The Man in the Funny Suit (1960) User Reviews

A great film to watch AFTER you see the "Playhouse 90" teleplay "Requiem for a Heavyweight".

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 4 June 2020]

In 1956, "Playhouse 90" featured a teleplay that got a lot of attention. It was expertly written by Rod Serling and the acting by Jack Palance, Ed Wynn and Keenan Wynn was terrific. It was such a great production that Ed Wynn was nominated for an Emmy for his performance, the BBC made their own version a year later AND Hollywood remade the story into a terrific film starring Anthony Quinn.

I mention all this because you need to understand the context for "The Man in the Funny Suit". The story is about the making of the "Playhouse 90" teleplay back in 1956...in particular how difficult it was for Ed Wynn to play the kind-hearted boxing trainer. Why was it so difficult? After all, Wynn was a veteran of stage and television....and was one of the biggest TV stars of the early 50s. The problem was that in all these previous cases, Ed was playing a comic--something he'd done on Vaudeville for decades. But he'd never played a serious role...and "Playhouse 90" was a huge departure for the veteran comic. He was, not surprisingly, very nervous about this...as were the crew. After all, this 90 minute performance was performed LIVE!!

Seeing a TV show about the making of another TV show is certainly unusual...perhaps a first of its kind. Regardless, it was VERY entertaining and very touching to watch. And, it also was revealing and quite amazing to watch. After all, they brought back Serling and many of the other actors and staff to make this making of film. Overall, most enjoyable and very well made....and it would make a great accompaniment to seeing the 1956 teleplay.

By the way, I may be unusual in feeling this way, but I think the 1956 teleplay was much better than the movie version. The movie is more depressing to watch and felt rather hopeless.

The Making Of The Playhouse 90 Version Of Requiem For A Heavyweight!

[malvernp · 9/10 · 28 July 2021]

Several years ago, a new category of "movie book" began to appear. These books dealt with the making of a particular film----one that had attained a certain amount of celebrity status. Although many of these books are now available, they vary considerably in their scholarship, credibility and entertainment value. My favorite at the moment is "The Making of the Wizard of Oz" by Aljean Harmetz (1977). The Man in the Funny Suit (TMITFS) is a rare video version of one such effort to tell the full story of how a certain classic filmed television play actually came to life..

While the Playhouse 90 production was sometimes sad, it also was often sweet and optimistic---and finally offered hope that Mountain (Jack Palance) and the sympathetic employment counselor (Kim Hunter) would find a better and brighter future. It is not difficult to understand why the Playhouse 90 production--even with all its well known creative and technical problems---was such a huge popular and critical success.

We do know quite a bit about how the Playhouse 90 version came into being because of TMITFS. In 1960--four years after it was first broadcast---many of the Playhouse 90 version's original creative principals came together once more for a remarkable video reunion that shared this behind the scene tale. The Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse production of TMITFS was an extraordinary television event. The viewer was given the privilege to feel somewhat like "being a fly on the wall" during the creative process that ultimately resulted in the original RFAH. With the participation of original director Ralph Nelson, writer Rod Serling and actors Ed and Keenan Wynn among others, the Desilu drama is probably as definitive an explanation of the story as we are likely to ever receive. It involves serendipity---a fortuitous combination of great talent and good luck during an opportune moment in time, and is well worth your effort to seek it out on YouTube.

As for the Playhouse 90 version of RFAH, there is little to add to what has already been said. It was an astonishing achievement during the dawn of the Golden Age Of Television. Jack Palance's performance is probably the finest work of his career--a towering accomplishment. And the Wynns also delivered in roles that represented acting at the highest level. Kim Hunter was most believable in her supporting part, and Ralph Nelson's direction inspired all the creative talent to do their very best to match the quality of Serling's play. Those of us who were fortunate enough to have seen it as a live broadcast probably didn't realize we were witnessing a major event in the history of television. And seeing it again recently in its restored kinescope format fully confirms just how great that moment really was. RFAH set a very high bar for everything that was yet to come from the TV medium. It all began with RFAH! And thanks to TMITFS, we have a remarkable opportunity to explore the unusual circumstances that resulted in this amazing gem.

He loved to make the whole world laugh, but the world had changed.

[mark.waltz · 10/10 · 18 June 2022]

It's almost heartbreaking to watch this film, a re-enactment of a real life struggle between father and son, veteran Broadway comic Ed Wynn (a "Ziegfeld Follies" star) and his son, popular MGM character actor Keenan Wynn. Both went onto further acclaim as part of the Disney stable, with Ed playing loveable old codgers and Keenan as the resident villain. Their working together on a dramatic television special ("Requiem of a Heavyweight") creates challenges as Ed isn't prepared for a strictly dramatic role and wants to make changes that don't work. Ralph Nelson and Rod Serling get to play themselves as director and writer, uncomfortable as the older Wynn fails to deliver in the initial readings and rehearsals.

For audiences who only saw Ed as the happy go lucky old vaudevillian, this is quite a transition for him, and in playing himself, he shows a truly personal side that must have been difficult at first. But his determination to prove himself does persevere, and that resulted in an Oscar nomination for "The Diary of Anne Frank", the ceremony having been just right before this program aired. For father and son, it's a tough situation, especially in the opening scene when Keenan sees his father repeating ancient jokes that are possibly older than him.

Both Wynn's are superb, but it's almost like a church confession for Ed to play himself so brutally honest that you can feel him finding it difficult to play the truth. Maxine Stuart as Keenan's wife and William Roerick as the producer (refusing to fire Ed) are also great. Red Skelton appears in a cameo as himself, acknowledging having been discovered by Ed years before. The older Wynn thankfully ended up as an immortal reminder of old school style comedy who persevered, and like Bert Lahr managed to grow with the changes required to remain relevant in a changing medium and a not so forgiving changing world.

aired in late 2008 on The Inland Empire's PBS channel

[michaellax · 11 December 2008]

"The Man in the Funny Suit" aired this Fall on Riverside-San Bernadino's PBS channel 24's excellent series "I Remember Television" hosted by Ed Rothhaar. Although this series has aired for over 20 years, I only became aware of it when DirecTV added channel 24 to its Los Angeles local channel coverage.

I knew the story about the Wynn's and Requiem for many years, but had no idea that "The Man in the Funny Suit" existed until I stumbled upon its recent broadcast. I have now added it to my AppleTV collection, along with a recent eBay purchase of the LaserDisc of Requiem from the 1981 Sonny Fox PBS package: "The Golden Age of Television" with its terrific introduction of interview with the principals hosted by Jack Klugman.

POSTSCRIPT: Rod Serling would later "thank" Ed Wynn for the terrific job he did for him in "Requiem." In 1959, CBS viewed the Pilot of "The Twilight Zone" in an episode called Where is Everybody" and when they ordered the first Season, Rod wrote the first episode especially for Ed Wynn: "One for the Angels" co-starring Murray Hamilton, who would later play Mr. Robinson in "The Graduate."

If you love Requiem For A Heavyweight (TV) u have to c this

[max von meyerling · 7/10 · 27 April 2008]

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.

Fine episode based on actual events

[jonjax71 · 22 October 2008]

Max wrote <<<< 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. >>>>

Red had a small but pivotal role, towards the end of the play he visits Ed on the set for the final rehearsal run through and timing, When Red playing himself notices that Wynn is drunk he tries to sober him up giving him coffee dispatched by a vending machine back stage. Red also assures the directors that he'll be fine come show time and do well, which he does closing out this splendid showcase of the relationship between a father and son both in show business.

Max also wrote << 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. >>>

Agreed on all counts, it was almost surreal to see Rod as an actor in this play as opposed to his more customary narrator or host duties. Good thing he was a gifted writer with an distinctive voice because he wouldn't have made it as an actor, he was very robotic and seemed to have forced it.