The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom

The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom is a half-hour variety show that aired on ABC-TV from October 3, 1957 to June 23, 1960, starring the young singer Pat Boone and a host of top-name guest stars sponsored by Chevrolet. Boone, a descendant of Kentucky frontiersman Daniel Boone,[1] was, at 23, still attending Columbia University in New York City when the program began production. Upon his graduation from Columbia in 1958, TV Guide magazine pictured him in his cap and gown on its cover. Boone, the No. 10 all-time vocalist in sales, was at the time the youngest person to host his own network variety program[2] until ABC's The Donny & Marie Show, with two hosts, broke the record in 1976.

The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom
Boone and Pat Suzuki in 1959.
GenreVariety
Written byAl Cohn
StarringPat Boone
ComposerArthur Malvin
Country of originUnited States
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes115
Production
Camera setupMulti-camera
Release
Original networkABC
Picture formatBlack-and-white
Audio formatMonaural
Original releaseOctober 23, 1957 (1957-10-23) –
June 23, 1960 (1960-06-23)

Series Regulars

In addition to Pat, regular performers throughout the three season-run included the Artie Malvin Chorus, the Bill Foster Dancers, the Mort Lindsey Orchestra and singer Louise O'Brien.[3]

Guest star roster

Among the entertainers who joined Boone were Italian actress and opera singer Anna Maria Alberghetti in the premiere episode. Shirley Jones, later the mother on ABC's The Partridge Family, guest starred in the second episode, and Janis Paige, whose own attempt at network television, It's Always Jan, a 1955–1956 CBS situation comedy had ended after twenty-six weeks, was the guest on the third episode. Many of Boone's guests were rock and roll singers, such as Bobby Rydell, Fabian, and Connie Francis, but Country and Western stars Red Foley (Boone's father-in-law), Roy Rogers, and The Sons of the Pioneers also performed.[3]

Boone was "discovered" in 1954 on both Ted Mack and the Original Amateur Hour and Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts.[4] Godfrey was among Boone's long list of guest stars on the ABC variety program. Andy Williams, later star of his own NBC-TV series The Andy Williams Show, was a semi-regular, having appeared on the program six times; Carmel Quinn, Jaye P. Morgan and Joel Grey, three times each.

Other guests were Edie Adams, Eddie Albert, Steve Allen, Don Ameche, The Ames Brothers, Frankie Avalon, Gertrude Berg, Tony Bennett, Polly Bergen, Teresa Brewer, Edd Byrnes (then teamed with Connie Stevens), Pat Carroll, Jeannie Carson, Jackie Cooper, Gary Crosby, Danny & The Juniors, Jimmy Dean, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Celeste Holm, Rocky Graziano, Tab Hunter, Stubby Kaye, Steve Lawrence, Peggy Lee, Shari Lewis, Gina Lollobrigida, Gordon MacRae, Gisele MacKenzie, The McGuire Sisters, Dick Van Dyke, Julius LaRosa, Louis Nye, Maureen O'Hara, Cliff Richard, Ginger Rogers, George Shearing, Dinah Shore, Jo Stafford, Gale Storm, Mel Torme, and David Wayne.[3][5]

Boone also invited numerous African American singers to his program, including Pearl Bailey, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Mathis, and The Mills Brothers.[3]

Program notes

On the series finale, it was disclosed to audiences that the Boones were moving from New York in the summer of 1960 to settle in Los Angeles, California.[3] The Boones have lived in the same house in Beverly Hills since 1970.[2]

In all three seasons, Boone's program followed the ABC situation comedy The Real McCoys, starring Walter Brennan. In its last season, Boone preceded the crime drama, The Untouchables, starring Robert Stack. In its last two seasons, the Boone program faced the competition of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater on CBS. In its last season, the competition also consisted of John Forsythe's Bachelor Father on NBC. The Boone time slot was occupied for the following five seasons, starting in 1960–1961, by Fred MacMurray's sitcom, My Three Sons.[6]

From October 17, 1966, to June 30, 1967, Boone hosted a daytime program on NBC. In 1967, he launched a short-lived 90-minute talk show in syndication, entitled Pat Boone in Hollywood.[4]

References
  1. Woodland, Shannon & Ross, Scott. "BETWEEN THE LINER NOTES: Pat Boone and the New American Revolution". Christian Broadcasting Network. Retrieved May 7, 2007.
  2. "Pat Boone: Biography". patboone.com. Archived from the original on August 23, 2009. Retrieved November 20, 2010.
  3. "Episode Guide, Pat Boone Chevy Showroom". tv.com. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
  4. Alex McNeil, Total Television, p. 645
  5. "The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom". researchvideo.com. Archived from the original on July 15, 2011. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
  6. United States network television schedules, 1957–1960, in Alex McNeil, Total Television
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