The Kate Smith Hour (1957)

This music/variety special hosted by Kate Smith features performers who rose to prominence during the same era as herself in the 1930s and 1940s, many of whom are known for their radio work as well as appearances on television. Smith welcomes the audience with "Hello Everybody," and introduces the tuxedo-clad Billy Williams Quartet who sing a jazz number. Next, Edgar Bergen does comedy sketches with his wooden friends Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd, after which Smith joins them in singing a calypso number. Following this, Smith sings and dances to "Old Soft Shoe." Benny Goodman and his orchestra, just back from a tour of goodwill in the Far East, perform "One O'Clock Jump" and the Dixieland tune "The Bugle Call Rag." Smith joins Gertrude Berg in a sketch on the set of "The Goldbergs" in which Molly Goldberg thinks Smith is down on her luck and moving into her walk-up apartment building. Smith then presents Boris Karloff in the guise of a famous actor returning home after a successful opening night performance. Living alone with his fame in his golden years he recites the Kurt Weill-Maxwell Anderson standard, "September Song." Next, comedian Ed Wynn announces that he is giving up comedy for dramatic work and tries to convince Karloff to buy his stock of comic props and inventions. Closing the program, Smith sings a medley comprised of "Somebody Loves Me," "They Can't Take That Away From Me," and "By Myself".