Broadway Open House (comedy, with hosts Jerry Lester & Morey Amsterdam)

    (NBC Primetime, 1950 - 1951)

    [Network television's first late-night variety show was the brainchild 
     of NBC VP Pat Weaver, who conceived of late-night television as a fertile 
     field for entertainment, and is credited as the show's "creator" by several
     sources...although his exact role in producing this particular series on a
     nightly basis is not clear.
     
     Other sources credit head writer Stan Burns, producer Ray Buffum, and the
     producer/director Jac Hein who worked tirelessly "in the trenches", with 
     much of the success of this pioneering effort.
     
     "Broadway Open House" was a predecessor to NBC's less slapstick and more 
     long-lived "Tonight Show" -- which debuted in 1954 with two other comedians 
     as hosts: Steve Allen and Ernie Kovacs dividing up hosting duties each week.
     
     The original star of "Broadway Open House" was supposed to have been the
     comedian Don "Creesh" Hornsby, who died tragically of complication from polio 
     just two weeks before the series debuted.]

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Theme 1: "The Beanbag Song"

    [title credit in Gelfand book "Television Theme Recordings"]

     Composers: Milton DeLugg (ASCAP),
                William ("Willie") Stein (ASCAP), and
                Jerry Lester (ASCAP)

     Original Publisher: Frank Music Corp. (ASCAP),
                          of New York, NY

     1998 Publishers:  Frank Music Corp. (ASCAP),
                       of New York, NY; and
                       Amy Dee Music Corp. (ASCAP),
                       of Los Angeles, CA

    [some copyright info courtesy researcher T. Perrone]:
     Vocal Copyright Date: Jan.  9, 1951; Ep 52 203
     Vocal Renewal   Date: Apr. 20, 1979; RE-26-993

     Recordings:
          45rpm single: by "The Honeydreamers"
                        RCA 47-4023 (1951)

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Theme 2: "Almost Like Being In Love"
                        from the 1947 Broadway musical "Brigadoon"

    [theme credit verified by collector R. Clark of Los Angeles]

     Composers: music by Frederick Loewe (ASCAP), with
                lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner (ASCAP)

     1978 Publisher: Sam Fox Pub. Co., Inc. (ASCAP)

     2000 Publisher: EMI U Catalog, Inc. (ASCAP)
                        c/o EMI Music Publishing, Inc.
                        of New York, NY 

     Composition Date: 1947

     Copyright Date:
     Renewal   Date:

     Recordings:

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