THE COLGATE COMEDY HOUR, which ran from 1950 through 1955, was a wildly popular weekly variety show filled with funny monologues and comic sketches. And it was broadcast live. The rotating roster of hosts included such entertainment giants as Fred Allen, Eddie Cantor, Abbott & Costello, and Jimmy Durante, but best remembered are the shows hosted by the white-hot comedy team of DEAN MARTIN and JERRY LEWIS. Here on 10 DVDs is all the funny stuff from all 28 shows hosted by Martin & Lewis at their spontaneous best, unencumbered by plot-heavy scripts, rigid film schedules, or elaborate production numbers. Celebrity guests include BURT LANCASTER, TONY CURTIS, VERA MILES and JACK BENNY. Plus – Hollywood Rivals: Martin & Lewis and Jerry Lewis at the Movies. No fan of comedy or classic TV should be without this historical – and hysterical – collection!
Disc One 9/17/50 – Dean & Jerry’s Colgate debut. Sketches include Jerry having a fountain-pen accident and Dean owning a movie theatre. With Barr & Estes, William McCutcheon. 10/15/50 – Sketches include Dean & Jerry as gangsters and Jerry at a gym. With Mayor Ralph Willani (from Jerry’s hometown) and Mayor Walter Sterling (from Dean’s hometown). 11/12/50 – Sketches involve babysitting and a dancing school. With Joyce (The Honeymooners) Randolph, Sammy Petrillo, Leonard Barr.
Disc Two 2/4/51 – Sketches include Jerry as an annoying usher and the boys doing celebrity impressions. 4/29/51 – Mike (60 Minutes) Wallace is the announcer. Telecast from Chicago. 5/20/51 – Sketches involve Dean and Jerry as judges at a swimsuit contest and working as hospital interns. Cameo by Eddie Cantor.
Disc Three 6/3/51 – Tony Curtis has a cameo. With Sonny King, Danny Arnold. 6/24/51 – Tony Martin and Joe Louis (the other Martin & Louis) guest star. 11/4/51 – Sketches include Dean and Jerry as archaeologists and as convicts. With Donald MacBride, Marion Marshall.
Disc Four 12/30/51 – Sketches involve a schoolroom and a mirror routine. With Margaret Dumont, Mike Mazurki. 2/10/52 – Sketches involve a gangster convention and the boys at a soda fountain. With Sheldon Leonard, Mike Mazurki. 3/23/52 – Sketches involve baseball players and a PTA meeting. With Danny Lewis (Jerry’s dad), Danny Arnold.
Disc Five 4/27/52 – Dean spoofs "The Continental" and does a Brando impersonation. With Danny Arnold. 9/21/52 – Sketches include a psychiatrist convention and Jerry dressed as Sherlock Holmes. With Danny Arnold. 11/30/52 – With Robert Strauss, Rose Plumer, pro-wrestler Max Palmer and Joan (The Abbott & Costello Show) Shawlee.
Disc Six 1/25/53 – The boys introduce sketches from earlier shows (because Jerry had injured himself on a motor scooter). 5/3/53 – Sketches involve a harem and the boys taking out insurance policies on each other. With Benny Rubin, Sheldon Leonard, Frank Nelson, Fay McKenzie. 5/31/53 – Appearances by Tony Curtis and his then-wife Janet Leigh. Telecast from New York City.
Disc Seven 10/4/53 – Sketches include Dean trying to watch TV while Jerry keeps interrupting (from inside the TV) and a spoof of Come Back Little Sheba with Burt Lancaster in a rare comic turn as a drunken escaped con. 1/10/54 – Sketches involve a department store and the boys’ dressing room. With Franklin Pangborn, Duke Art Jr. 5/2/54 – On this show, Dean & Jerry celebrate their 8th anniversary as a comedy team.
Disc Eight 5/30/54 – Season Finale, with Dick Stabile and his Orchestra. 12/19/54 – Sketches involve Dean and Jerry trying to use all the sponsor’s products and problems at a bus stop. With Vera Miles, Jack Benny and future newsman George Putnam. 2/13/55 – Sketches include Jerry trying (in vain) to make a sickly Dino feel better. With Franklin Pangborn.
Disc Nine 5/8/55 – Sketches include Jerry spoofing Ed Sullivan and a Mother’s Day trip. Cameos by Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, and George Raft. 6/5/55 – Dean & Jerry parody Person to Person with Dino as Tedward R. Burrow and Jerry as method actor Harlan Sando. With Sonny King. 9/18/55 – The boys parody The $64,000 Question and disrupt a game of pool.
Disc Ten 11/13/55 – In their final appearance on The Colgate Comedy Hour, Dean is an irksome TV host and the boys star in a now-politically-incorrect parody of a Japanese movie. HOLLYWOOD RIVALS: DEAN MARTIN & JERRY LEWIS – A fascinating and revealing look at the dizzy heights and depressing depths of Martin & Lewis’ careers. JERRY LEWIS AT THE MOVIES – Classic scenes from Jerry’s greatest films – with and without Dino – make up this entertaining hour.
Running Time: Approx. 20 hours.