DAY AT NIGHT: ABE BURROWS (TV)
Summary
One in this interview series hosted by James Day. Comedy writer, director and playwright Abe Burrows, the subject of this profile, discusses the following topics: the popularity of revivals, or "classics," on Broadway; his current adaptation of the musical "Good News" for Alice Faye on Broadway; his childhood in Brooklyn, New York; his eclectic schooling; his first job in show business as a joke writer for Henny Youngman; his career as a comedy writer on such television and radio programs as "Texaco Star Theatre" (1939), "The Rudy Vallee Show" featuring John Barrymore (1940), "Duffy's Tavern" (1941-1945), and "The Joan Davis Show" on which he first performed his song parodies; what he learned from mentors George S. Kaufman, the playwrighting team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, and actors such as Ethel Merman; his stint as a stand-up comedian in nightclubs during the mid-1940s; his work as a writer and star of the "Abe Burrows Show" and later "Breakfast With Burrows"; his first success in the theater with "Guys and Dolls"; his description of humor "as a way of keeping from killing yourself"; his work as co-author and director of the 1961 Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying"; how humorists exaggerate their own power; his interrelationship as a playwright with actors and with the audience; his reputation as a Mister Fix-it "play doctor," called upon to repair ailing out-of-town shows en route to Broadway; and laughter as a cloak the audience puts around the performer.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS WNET New York, NY
- DATE: January 29, 1974 11:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:28:18
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T88:0499
- GENRE: Talk/Interviews
- SUBJECT HEADING: Biography; Comedy; Theater
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1973-1975
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Winter D. Horton, Jr. … Executive Producer
- Jack Sameth … Producer, Director
- Jane Baumer … Associate Producer
- James Day … Host
- Abe Burrows … Guest
- Robert Benchley
- Russel Crouse
- Julie Harris
- Howard Lindsay
- Ethel Merman
- Henny Youngman