The Hollywood Palace

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The 9 users who count themselves as The Hollywood Palace fans have written a total of 2 reviews.

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Welcome to The Hollywood Palace guide at tv.com.

The Hollywood Palace was an hour-long variety show that ran on the ABC-TV network from January 4, 1964 to February 7, 1970. Instead of a permanent host, guest hosts were used. Bing Crosby, a frequent guest host, hosted the first and last... more »

Welcome to The Hollywood Palace guide at tv.com.

The Hollywood Palace was an hour-long variety show that ran on the ABC-TV network from January 4, 1964 to February 7, 1970. Instead of a permanent host, guest hosts were used. Bing Crosby, a frequent guest host, hosted the first and last Hollywood Palace shows. Four of Bing's Christmas specials, featuring his wife Kathryn and their 3 children, were actually Hollywood Palace shows.

The Hollywood Palace was a mid-season replacement for "The Jerry Lewis Show." ABC originally had high hopes for Lewis' live, two-hour variety series. They signed the comedian to a 5-year contract for a reported $35 million. The network also purchased the El Capitan Theater in Los Angeles and re-christened it "The Jerry Lewis Theater." "The Jerry Lewis Show" premiered on September 21, 1963, but by Thanksgiving 1963 it was apparent that the show was a failure. ABC decided to replace it with a variety show. The network hired Nick Vanoff to produce the new show. Vanoff, in turn, hired William O. Harbach and Otto Harback to help him develop the series. They hurriedly came up with the concept of Hollywood Palace.

The final "Jerry Lewis Show" aired on December 21, 1963, and The Hollywood Palace premiered on January 4, 1964. (ABC aired a special on 12/28/63.) The Hollywood Palace took over the first hour of Lewis' old time slot. The second hour was given to the local affiliates for their own local and syndicated programming. The old "El Capitan Theater" was once again re-named, this time as "The Hollywood Palace."

The Hollywood Palace resembled a Vaudeville show. Raquel Welch, who was just a few years away from international stardom, was a regular on the 1964 shows. Welch appeared as the "billboard girl," who changed the large cards that introduced the guests.
The first 2 seasons of The Hollywood Palace were in black and white.

The Hollywood Palace switched to color at the start of its third season. The first color episode was broadcast on September 18, 1965. The "Hollywood Palace" theater became ABC's first color videotape studio. It was also the home of "The Lawrence Welk Show," which switched to color in the same month.

Collectors of this series may notice that black and white copies of the color episodes are available on VHS. These copies were mastered from B&W 16mm kinescopes. (Kinescopes were a videotape-to-film transfer produced by aiming a 16mm film camera at a TV monitor.) The original color videotapes do exist but they are not as accessible as the b/w kinescopes.
These 16mm kinescopes were originally used by local U.S. stations and by the AFRTS. In the 1960's, many local stations in smaller markets carried more than one network. And often it was the ABC programs that were bumped to other time slots. Instead of purchasing the then-expensive video tape recorders for time-shifting purposes, the stations opted to use 16mm kinescopes provided by the network. Kinescopes were also used by the AFRTS which operates TV stations on overseas military bases. The AFRTS prints usually do not have the original network commercials.

Thanks to everyone who's helped on this guide, including:
-- Gary Belich - gary558@yahoo.com
-- Ben Chaput - editor of the RVSP (Rock Video 60s Project) website and the RVSP Message Board

The Hollywood Palace Broadcast days/times
Seasons 1 through 4 - Saturdays 9:30pm Eastern
Season 5 (1967-68) Tuesdays 10:00pm Eastern (through 2-Jan-68)
Season 5 - Saturdays 9:30pm Eastern (13-Jan-68 through end of season)
Seasons 6 & 7 - Saturdays 9:30pm Easternless «

From the Forums

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  2 Terrible

  A tried and true concept of TV's earliest days, the video vaudeville show. hide « show »

  Perhaps inspired by Ed Sullivan's successful years of presenting top international acts as well as American stars, young and old, ABC mounted their own big budget variety show, naming it for the famous theatre that housed it, The Hollywood Palace. They were able to get their share of big names, and a decent mix of the magicians, animal acts, clowns and acrobats that populated foriegn circuses and stage shows that Sullivan might present, (or had presented- by chance I saw a May 1961 Ed Sullivan show and an October 1965 Hollywood Palace in the same week, and both had the same Japanese trick bicycle girl, in the same costume, doing the same bit).
  It's said that the HP had a problem finding a personality, that Sullivan himself, though stiff, ill-at-ease and given to stumbling his lines and mangling introductions, gave his show a certain charm and connection with the audience. The HP's formula was a revolving host/hostess that would be a star himself. But there was the problem- it was too, too slick. If Ed was short on warmth, he had real humanity. The super polished personna of say, Gene Barry,Tony Martin or Steve Lawrence, oozing pretend laughs and sincerity lacked it.
  Another thing that contrasts the two shows, and may be the most damaging, is the production itself. Ed's show stopped being completely live with the advent of videotape in the late 50's, like most programmes. He did a mixture of video and live material for a while into the sixties, and kept that certain spark of life alive. But the HP has nothing live ever. Every single foot is carefully rehearsed, then edited from multiple takes from different angles. All the life is smothered out of it.It's carefully controlled, prefabricated and sometimes rather noticably helped along by canned laughter.

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  The1Factotum1i1 Added Aug 28, 2008 All my reviews
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  7 Good

  A good variety show. hide « show »

  "From Hollywood,The Entertainment Capital Of The World,ABC-TV Presents The Hollywood Palace!"
  
  Man,I loved this show. Every Saturday night,I'd sit down to watch an hours worth of singers, comics, magic acts, acrobats, you name it. All brought to you from the beautiful ABC Palace Theater. This show was Big Time all the way! And it wasn't just stuff for the old folks. The HP was the network debut of the Rolling Stones. As I recall, Dean Martin spent his segment heckling them. 'Atta boy,Dino! The HP was supposed to have a different host each week, but it seemed like Bing Crosby did the honors at least once a month. And of course he always hosted the Christmas Show. I think one of the reasons people have a hard time remembering this program is because it had a revolving door guest host policy. There was no one hook to hang your hat on. The HP went off the air in 1970, a victim of changing times.

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  crazyrhythm Added Aug 25, 2005 All my reviews