
THE STEVE ALLEN SHOW
Steve shows his despising rock and roll with rude satire of
the lyrics to Gene Vincent's rockabilly hit Be Bop A-Lula
NBC, 1957 (additional program notes and trivia below)
RATE THIS OLDIES TV CLIP
More About Steve-o-rino Below


The Steve Allen Show
In the summer of 1957, NBC signed on Steve Allen almost as a lark. He was considered by the
networks execs as a so/so comic, has been jazz singer and a fair announcer-personality. Network audiences
thought otherwise and "Steverino," even with caustic jabs at things he didn't like and
a corny supporting sidekick (Louis Nye), caught on and became a popular daytime television show.
Married to actress Jayne Meadows (sister to Audrey "Alice Kramden" Meadows), Steve despised
rock and roll (it displaced swing, pop and jazz, Steve's foray). It's burgeoning popularity among teenagers
was deemed by Allen as an "immoral d3ecay of society" (that's what they said in the 1800's about
Johaan Strauss jr's waltzes). A writer of jazz ballads, Steve
thought rock otherwise insipid and repetitive. His poetic readings of the lesser prolific (but catchy and
chart topping) rock and roll
hits of the time (such as Gene Vincent's Be Bop A Lula and Little Richard Pennington's
Tutti Fruiti covered as white pop by Pat Boone - what black songs didn't Boone and The Crew Cuts
cover? - resulted in what some perceive as "classic bit"s such as Oldies Television has revived here
As Dennis James (who also disliked R&R) use to say on his telethons about rock and roll acts, and we say here about the
anti-rock clip "if you like it, watch it, if not, go to the phone." Except we have no
tiers of operators to take your call...not even Jayne Meadows who took calls for James.
FOR THE OLDIES TV CHANNEL SELECTOR
The Greatest Shows Of All Time
Good Times, Great Entertainment
oldiestelevision.com
Website (c)2006-2008
