User Reviews

This broadcast of December 19, 1954 starts with Dean and Jerry in their dressing rooms trying out various Colgate products as the announcer mentions the sponsor's product names we see Dean and Jerry display on the screen. Then a big production number of how the show is canceled when Martin and Lewis come on stage and they sing Lose That Long Face while The Nick Castle Dancers all perform. The first sketch takes place in a restaurant that Dean runs. On a chalkboard it says, "Soup 15 cents". Dean tries the soup, looks around the chalkboard and says, "There was supposed to be a chalk that I was going to use to mark this out to say Soup 10 cents but I can't find it!" He starts to eat dinner. Jerry looks out the window and starts to make faces to indicate he's hungry. This goes on for a few minutes before Dean offers him a job. Jerry runs to indicate how quick he can be. A lot of customers come in. Jerry chops a long line of prop spaghetti noodles resulting in accidentally chopping a man's coat in half! Bus call causes customers to leave without paying. Dean gets angry at Jerry and tries to train him as waiter. There's a hilarious set piece involving a big block of ice during this scene. More customers come in. To keep them from taking next bus, Jerry ties bus to counter stools. Bus takes those stools away! Dean puts Jerry on stove as sketch ends. Dean sings Without a Word of Warning to a female cast member on stage. Next sketch has Martin and guest Vera Miles adopting Jerry here playing Orville. When Dean comes home from a hard day's work Jerry overreacts by hugging and sitting in his chair causing it to fall several times, and trying to take his shoes off by pulling on them while sitting on his legs! Dean then says he didn't really want children and then wife Miles tells Orville about "present" under couch which Dean opens and reads a humorous and touching speech about little boys which results in Martin and Lewis sympathetically punching each other. Then the Nick Castle Dancers do another number. Then Jerry does a solo piece about having nothing to do for three minutes before Dean sings Mambo Italiano. They then introduce special guest "Phil Abrams" before Love in Bloom plays and it's actually Jack Benny who comes on stage. He just says, "Well..." before Dean and Jerry rush him off stage. Their next number is Every Street's a Boulevard which they performed in Living It Up. They introduce Jack Benny for real at the end and Jack mentions "Money's not everything since I got paid nothing to be here." in mock disappointment. (Of course, this might have to do with the fact that Jack was then a CBS employee on an NBC show!) Then as Jack leaves, Dean and Jerry reprise their last number as the credits roll. Good show throughout considering the conflict that was already brewing between Martin and Lewis before their split two years later. I saw a good print kinescope on a DVD collection of various Martin and Lewis shows so if you love this team by all means seek this one out!