John L.C. Silvoney

[Maxwell]

Hey kids...

Seems that Frank Fontaine was Amos n Andy's 1952 summer replacement. Anyone know what those shows were like? Was he sustanting the John L.C. Silvoney character, or was it more like Gleason where multiple characters move in and out?

The best I could find was this description of one episode:

"The Frank Fontaine Show. 1952. CBS net origination, AFRS rebroadcast. AFRS release title: "Comedy Encore." Helen O'Connell sings, "Dark Eyes." Fred Frump on a cruise. Burglars in the house. John L. C. Sivoney as a lifeguard at the beach. The date is approximate. Frank Fontaine, Harry Von Zell, Lud Gluskin and His Orchestra, Martha Tilton, Helen O'Connell."

I found elsewhere that this was the 1952 summer replacement for Edgar Bergen. If Martha Tilton was a regular it couldn't have been all bad!

[Gerry O.]

Hey kids...

Seems that Frank Fontaine was Amos n Andy's 1952 summer replacement. Anyone know what those shows were like? Was he sustanting the John L.C. Silvoney character, or was it more like Gleason where multiple characters move in and out?

The best I could find was this description of one episode:

"The Frank Fontaine Show. 1952. CBS net origination, AFRS rebroadcast. AFRS release title: "Comedy Encore." Helen O'Connell sings, "Dark Eyes." Fred Frump on a cruise. Burglars in the house. John L. C. Sivoney as a lifeguard at the beach. The date is approximate. Frank Fontaine, Harry Von Zell, Lud Gluskin and His Orchestra, Martha Tilton, Helen O'Connell."

I found elsewhere that this was the 1952 summer replacement for Edgar Bergen. If Martha Tilton was a regular it couldn't have been all bad!

The format sounds a lot like Red Skelton's radio show.....different sketches with the star playing various characters. (I highly doubt that John L.C. Sivoney could have been bearable as the main character in a half-hour sitcom).

The cast is very impressive, and it sounds like CBS was grooming Fontaine for major stardom.

[LLeff]

Did you ever notice that Dennis' silly kid-beautiful singer act/transition bears some resemblance to Frank Fontaine's Crazy Guggenheim-beautiful singer transition? I suppose Jim Nabors could be said to have done the same thing.

[David47Jens]

Did you ever notice that Dennis' silly kid-beautiful singer act/transition bears some resemblance to Frank Fontaine's Crazy Guggenheim-beautiful singer transition? I suppose Jim Nabors could be said to have done the same thing.

As I mentioned much earlier in this thread, whenever Fontaine would drop character and sing as "himself," rather than Crazy Guggenheim, my 5-6 year old self was bored. I should add that I was not only bored, but somewhat disconcerted that the inherent goofiness in Crazy's voice would disappear when he'd sing.

Similarly, a few years later, when "Gomer Pyle" would occasionally sing with the voice of the "real" Jim Nabors, it didn't make sense that two oh-so-different voices would emanate naturally from what was supposed to be the same person (in the context of the program). Whenever Nabors would make a guest appearance on someone's TV show and sing, it didn't bother me at all, because even that tender age, I knew he wasn't supposed to be "Gomer."

Complicating that issue was the fact that during the run of "Gomer Pyle USMC," Nabors released an LP of songs, all of which (IIRC) were sung with his "Gomer" voice!

At least in Dennis' case, since it was the jokes that made his "Dennis Day" character funny, moreso than any assumed goofy dialect, there wasn't such a jarring difference. I find it much easier to accept that Dennis (the character) is a somewhat befuddled youngster who happens to have a great singing voice.

[Roman]

Frank Fontaine did some amazing impressions on his first appearance on the Jack Benny Program. The plot had Jack giving Fontaine's panhandler character 50 cents instead of the dime he asked for and then Jack carrying on like his one-time generosity was worthy of sainthood (I loved the part where Rochester was so stunned at hearing the news that he dropped all the dishes, and then the dishes crash to the floor by themselves the next time Jack mentions it - that running gag reminded me of the Frau Bucher bit in Mel Brooks's Young Frankenstein). Later Jack had a dream where he was being honored for his deed at a banquet hosted by Winston Churchill no less and attended by world leaders and Hollywood celebrities. During the dream sequence, I assumed that Mel Blanc did the impressions (although they sounded less cartoonish and more dead-on than Mel's usual voices) but, at the end of the episode, Jack said that Fontaine had done all the impressions (except for Ronald Colman which was done by Dennis). His impression of Churchill, in particular, was absolutely amazing. He had him down to a tee.

The part where the very dignified, very eloquent Churchill introduced the barely coherent Silvoney was really hilarious. I loved that episode. And I guess because Fontaine impressed me so much on that episode, I looked forward to his later appearances, although none topped that first one for sheer originality and humor.