General Foods 25th Anniversary Show: A Salute to Rodgers and Hammerstein

General Foods 25th Anniversary Show: A Salute to Rodgers and Hammerstein
Directed by	Ralph Levy
Starring	Mary Martin Groucho Marx Jack Benny John Raitt Gordon MacRae Florence Henderson Ed Sullivan Edgar Bergen Ezio Pinza Yul Brynner Janice Rule Patricia Morison
Music by	Richard Rodgers Oscar Hammerstein
Country of origin	United States
Production
Producer	Ralph Levy
Running time	120 mins.
Original release
Network	DuMont CBS NBC ABC
Release	March 28, 1954 (1954-03-28)

General Foods 25th Anniversary Show: A Salute to Rodgers and Hammerstein is a two-hour TV special broadcast live on March 28, 1954, on all four major TV networks of the time, DuMont, CBS, NBC, and ABC.

The special was hosted by Groucho Marx, Mary Martin, Jack Benny, Ed Sullivan, and Edgar Bergen with his puppet Charlie McCarthy.

The performance of the segment from the musical Oklahoma! was the first time that actress Florence Henderson appeared on television.

Songs

Sources:

• "Oklahoma" from Oklahoma! – Gordon MacRae, Florence Henderson, and chorus
• "It Might as Well Be Spring" from State Fair (1945) – Mary Martin
• "If I Loved You" from Carousel – John Raitt, Jan Clayton
• "Soliloquy" from Carousel – John Raitt
• "You Are Never Away" from Allegro – Bill Hayes and Janice Rule
• "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" from South Pacific – Mary Martin and chorus
• "Some Enchanted Evening" from South Pacific – Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza
• "A Puzzlement" from The King and I – Yul Brynner
• "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" from Oklahoma! – Gordon MacRae
• "I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy" from South Pacific – Mary Martin
• "Getting to Know You" from The King and I – Patricia Morison
• "The Big Black Giant" and "No Other Love" from Me and Juliet – Rosemary Clooney, Tony Martin
• "People Will Say We're in Love" from Oklahoma! – Gordon MacRae, Florence Henderson

See also

• List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network
• List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts
• Light's Diamond Jubilee (October 1954 special aired on all four American TV networks)

Bibliography

• David Weinstein, The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004) ISBN 1-59213-245-6
• Alex McNeil, Total Television, Fourth edition (New York: Penguin Books, 1980) ISBN 0-14-024916-8
• Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows, Third edition (New York: Ballantine Books, 1964) ISBN 0-345-31864-1

External links

• General Foods 25th Anniversary Show: A Salute to Rodgers and Hammerstein at IMDb