Cavalcade of Stars (1950)

★★★★★ · Cavalcade of Stars · richgoup · 2012-03-03

Season 1, episode 51. Original air date: 20 May 1950. Cast: Jerry Lester (Himself- Host), Mindy Carson (Herself- Guest Vocalist), Jackie Robinson (Himself- Introduces Film Clip), Lucienne Boyer (Herself- Guest Dancer), Rex Ramer (Himself- Guest English Comedian) and Asher Roth (Himself- Guest Dancer). From IMDB. Very entertaining. If Dumont only have more quality shows like that; perhaps they have not to shut down.

★★★★ · Jerry Lester - A Television Pioneer · XMinusOne · 2008-08-20

Jerry Lester, who later hosted "Broadway Open House", the first of the late night talk shows (a predecessor to the Tonight Show and it's counterpart), preceded Steve Allen, Ernie Kovacs, and others. This show, a variety show, is Milton Berle/Ed Sullivan-lite; Lester isn't as zany as Berle, as the this episode demonstrates, and the variety (including the trampoline artists) is a forerunner of what much of televison would become in a few short years. Is it good television? Of course. Is it great television? No; not even for it's day. But, many of the classics of 1950 and the years to follow…

★★★ · Jerry Lester warming up · Archive fan · 2008-08-30

It's cool comparing host Jerry Lester on Cavalcade of Stars with his later work on Broadway Open House, also available on the Internet Archive. In this program, he clearly shows he's a multi-talented guy but it looks like he didn't truly find his TV legs till the later show. Bigger production budgets than what Dumont offered might have been the issue. Lester is as talented as another host of Cavalcade, Jackie Gleason. But Gleason rose above the other Cavalcade hosts with his character skits (like one called "The Honeymooners"), and hiring a talented guy named Art Carney from another program.…