I would suppose that, like all variety series, the entertainment value would vary depending on the guests.
I recently viewed an episode of this (via a NFSA access copy) via the Melbourne Mediatheque, the episode being from 1960 (as such, it has a distinct 1950s feel to it). I quite enjoyed the episode.
The episode features various acts, two of which stick out in particular. There was a man from Malay(!) named "Chang" who performed a juggling act. He stumbled at first, but then did some impressive feats of balancing.
The other act which impressed me was a French duo of "apache dancers" named The Rivieras. Their act was quite humorous, and slightly risqué for the era.
The other acts were decent, but not up to the same level.
Czech-born host Hal Wayne, speaking with an obvious accent (not sure if he was exaggerating it or not), does some comedy of his own in his introductions of the acts.
The episode ran a full 30 minutes (this was an ABC show) and was recorded via the kinescope recording technology, which ABC preferred to call "telerecording" (kinescope is the US term, telerecording is the British term). This involved using a special 16mm camera synced to a TV monitor to film the television image. It sounds awful, but the picture quality is surprising good.
I recently viewed an episode of this (via a NFSA access copy) via the Melbourne Mediatheque, the episode being from 1960 (as such, it has a distinct 1950s feel to it). I quite enjoyed the episode.
The episode features various acts, two of which stick out in particular. There was a man from Malay(!) named "Chang" who performed a juggling act. He stumbled at first, but then did some impressive feats of balancing.
The other act which impressed me was a French duo of "apache dancers" named The Rivieras. Their act was quite humorous, and slightly risqué for the era.
The other acts were decent, but not up to the same level.
Czech-born host Hal Wayne, speaking with an obvious accent (not sure if he was exaggerating it or not), does some comedy of his own in his introductions of the acts.
The episode ran a full 30 minutes (this was an ABC show) and was recorded via the kinescope recording technology, which ABC preferred to call "telerecording" (kinescope is the US term, telerecording is the British term). This involved using a special 16mm camera synced to a TV monitor to film the television image. It sounds awful, but the picture quality is surprising good.
