The Hollywood Palace was an hourlong American televisionvariety show broadcast Saturday nights (except September 1967 to January 1968, when it aired on Tuesday nights) onABC from January 4, 1964, to February 7, 1970.[1] TitledThe Saturday Night Hollywood Palace for its first few weeks, it began as a midseason replacement forThe Jerry Lewis Show, another variety show, which lasted only three months.
It was staged inHollywood at the former Hollywood Playhouse (where Lewis's series had originated, temporarily renamed "The Jerry Lewis Theater" from September through December 1963) on Vine Street, which was renamed the Hollywood Palace during its duration and subsequently renamedAvalon Hollywood. A little-known starlet,Raquel Welch, was cast during the first season as the "Billboard Girl", who placed the names of the acts on a placard (similar to that of avaudeville house).[citation needed] The show's musical theme was a fast-paced instrumental rendition of "Put On a Happy Face" from the 1960Broadway musicalBye Bye Birdie.
Les Brown and his Orchestra served as house band for the first season, withMitchell Ayres and his Orchestra taking over until Ayres death in 1969.Joe Lipman served as the show's primary orchestrator and arranger (46 episodes). The off-screen announcer for each program wasDick Tufeld. Grey Lockwood served as director for the show's entire run.
The opening set framing the host established a unique show opening with Jim Trittipo's stage set. After the opening, the set transformed into a second set, with set pieces either splitting apart or turning around and additional flying set pieces dropping in or flying out on camera, as well as scenic theatrical magic transforming before the camera while each new act was introduced. This novelty was established asThe Hollywood Palace's specialty. This opening transition broke the normal scheduled commercial time-slot breaks, with the commercial break occurring far into the show's first 15-minute segment.
A number of popular music performers got their start on the show; among them were the Rolling Stones, who made their first US television appearance on the June 6, 1964, episode, andthe Jackson 5, who made their first national television appearance on the October 18, 1969, episode. The folk-rock groupWe Five performed their hit "You Were on My Mind" within a few weeks of its release in 1965. During their 1964 appearance, the Rolling Stones were repeatedly ridiculed, before and after their performance ofMuddy Waters' "I Just Want To Make Love To You", by Martin. At the time, they were relatively unknown in the U.S., and a second song recorded in the same session,Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away", was not shown until the second episode of the second season, hosted byEd Wynn, that aired on September 26, 1964. The February 25, 1967, edition featured the American television debut ofthe Beatles'music videos for "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever", introduced by guest hostVan Johnson.
The show, as well as all the ABC'sTalmadge Main Lot programming, was televised in black and white until September 1965, when color telecasts began. The facility was the first color studio renovated by ABC Television on the West Coast, converted duringThe Hollywood Palace's summer hiatus. Sharing the studio, scheduling Sunday through Wednesday,The Lawrence Welk Show was moved toVine Street to broadcast in color at Welk's request, but the Welk Orchestra had to be reduced to fit on the stage. Given the orchestra plan, Welk drew a pencil line on the right side of the plan, announcing, "lose them!"
The adjacent parking lot became an outdoor staging area for high-wire and trapeze performers, circus animal acts with elephants, lions, tigers, chimps, and performer acts that could not be booked onThe Ed Sullivan Show. The producers could scheduleLas Vegas andReno casino performers, comedians, musicians, specialty acts by flying performers into Los Angeles viaBurbank Airport for appearances onThe Hollywood Palace. Exposure of the Knickerbocker Hotel's electric sign atop the rear building, behind the Palace Theater, was a unique advertisement shown in every parking lot act.
LikeThe Ed Sullivan Show onCBS, all of the episodes ofThe Hollywood Palace (save its final episode in 1970) were taped before a live audience; a laugh and applause track was also used for "sweetening" purposes. During the 1967 season, studies were made to convert the stage, which would have a swimming pool beneath a sliding stage floor that would cover the pool, with a third ice rink floor that could slide atop the stage floor. Storing these sliding floors required owning the property behind the theater building. TheKnickerbocker Hotel was directly behind the building, but ABC could not purchase the hotel property from theMethodist Church, which had converted the hotel into a residential retirement facility. Moving the show to a Culver City soundstage was considered, but scuttled because of the expense. Vanoff later used this format concept for the 1980 NBC variety seriesThe Big Show, using a soundstage on theSunset Gower Studios lot, which included a three-ring stage, ice rink, swimming pool for aquatic staging, and an audience area.
For most of its television run, with a lead-in ofThe Lawrence Welk Show at 8:30 pm, at 9:30,The Hollywood Palace enjoyed consistently respectable ratings, although it never made the top 30 programs. By the start of the 1969-1970 season (its seventh), the ratings had slipped, and ABC canceled the series in February 1970. Bing Crosby hosted the final episode,sans audience, which consisted of clips from previous shows.[2]
On December 16, 2004, a television special titledChristmas at the Hollywood Palace was broadcast on PBS. It included performances by Crosby and 15 clips from past Christmas shows of the series. It also included interviews with Bing's wife Kathryn Crosby, Bing's children Harry and Mary Crosby, andHollywood Palace producer Bill Harbach.[3]
The Hollywood Palace won one Emmy out of eight nominations, forJames Trittipo for art direction in 1966. The same year, it was nominated for a variety series, arranging (Joe Lipman), costume design (Ed Smith), and conducting (Mitchell Ayres). Ayres received another Emmy nomination for his work on the series in 1968, when two more nominations for the series went to Nick V. Giordano and Herb Weiss, both for individual achievement in electronic production.[4]
closing segment withLarri Thomas (DJ, the show's billboard girl), Bing Crosby and next week's guest hostBob Cummings (addressed by Bing via his birth name, Robert Orville Cummings)
Closing segment with Nat King Cole singing spirituals with The Merry Young Souls followed byRaquel Welch (Raquel, the billboard girl) coming out withGeorge Burns (next week's guest host)
^"Tonight's TV Previews: Sports crowd TV hours with top offerings".The Star-Ledger. March 21, 1964. p. 9. Retrieved April 22, 2025. "HOLLYWOOD PALACE 9:30 7 It's a good night for music. With Nat King Cole in charge, and Diahann Carroll as chief guest, what else could you expect? [...] Paul Winchell—in a funny operating room scene, aided by Chris Quinn and Nina Russell—and a few minor acts round out the bill."
