Christmas Night with the Stars 1958
Sixty years ago tonight, Christmas 1958, the BBC aired an entertainment extravaganza featuring Britain's top entertainers of the day: singer Vera Lynn, comedians Tony Hancock, Ted Ray, Jimmy Edwards, Charlie Drake, and Charlie Chester, the Beverley Sisters, and Billy Cotton and his band. The show closes with a sentimental scene featuring the cast of police drama Dixon of Dock Green. Magician David Nixon is the master of ceremonies.
Some highlights:
33:30: Tony Hancock as a budgerigar (parakeet), the pet of an elderly spinster. The costume is different (feathers instead of a homburg hat and astrakhan-collared coat), but it's basically the same put-upon character that made him the top sitcom star of the 1950s.
40:30: Vera Lynn sings "A Window" and "The Bells of St. Mary's."
47:50: Jimmy Edwards plays the headmaster in a Christmas sketch set in a boarding school.
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Christmas Night with the Stars 1958.
TrackBack URL for this entry: https://www.batesline.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/8331