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SHOWER OF STARS - Auto Show

Air Date/Released Thursday, November 3, 1955
Station/Studio CBS
Host/Star William Lundigan
Featuring Joe Besser (Solo)

Monthly variety series in the format of a musical/comedy revue. Sponsored by Chrysler, it alternated with Chrysler's dramatic anthology series CLIMAX. Host William Lundigan was joined by a rotating roster of big name stars, unoffical co-hosts, including Betty Grable & Harry James, Ed Wynn, Ethel Merman, Red Skelton, Shirley MacLaine, Frankie Laine, Van Johnson and Bob Crosby. The primary celebrity guest was Jack Benny, who made regular appearances from 1955 - 1958.

The 1956 line of Chrysler, Plymouth and Desoto automobiles is promoted during commercials and sketches. Jack Benny delivers a monologue, with interrruptions from Frankie Laine and Joe Besser; in an in-joke about Laine, Besser cracks a whip and sings Mule Train. To keep the sponsor happy, Benny sells his Maxwell to a Japanese gardener and buys a new 1956 Plymouth. Jack's jokes are interrupted by a singing Gary Crosby, who tells him that his father Bing bought the airtime. Benny is upstaged while signing an autograph for a little girl, who takes his violin and plays beautifully. Songs by Marilyn Maxwell, Frankie Laine and The Sportsmen Quartet. Chrysler tells Jack they want him to keep the Maxwell to contrast their cars, so he goes searching to buy it back, only to learn that Gracie Allen has bought it to use as a garden planter.


Cast: Bill Lundigan (Host), Jack Benny, Gracie Allen, Frankie Laine, Marilyn Maxwell, Gary Crosby, The Sportsmen Quartet, Joe Besser, Joan Druckenmiller, Joe Cranston, Mary Costa

Crew: Ralph Levy (Producer, Director), Sam Perrin, George Balzer, Hal Goodman, Al Gordon (Writers), John F. Meyers (Assoc. Producer), Lud Gluskin, Mahlon Merrick (Musical Directors), Miriam Nelson (Choreographer), Robert Wells, John Bradford (Vocal Arrangements), Robert Tyler Lee (Art Director), Maxwell Shieff (Wardrobe), Buck Henshaw (Set Decorator), Bob Colvin (Technical Director)
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