About This Item
ClassicFlix presents, in cooperation with the Library of Congress, four surviving episodes of the early improvisational skit program The Ad-Libbers-with three featuring future movie star Jack Lemmon. A New York based half-hour program which served as a five episode summer replacement for the CBS comedy-drama InchMamaInch in 1951, The Ad-Libbers concept was (and likely still is) unique in that it called for actors to perform skits (mostly comedic) solely prompted by letters sent in from viewers or suggested by audience members. Presented in this rare collection are three surviving episodes of the early 1950s show hosted by Peter Donald and featuring six actors Jack Lemmon and then-wife Cynthia Stone, Joe Silver, Earl Hammond, Pat Hosley and Charlie Mendick. Also included is a 1959 unaired pilot of an attempted re-boot of the show which features seven familiar faces of stage and television, several of whom who would become household names in the coming years Kaye Ballard, Alice Ghostley, Gretchen Wyler, Dayton Allen, Helen Gallagher, Milton Kamen and Larry Storch (although Storch is only introduced and did not perform). Culled from the only four known Kinescope recordings in existence held at the Library of Congress, The Ad-Libbers - Surviving Episodes Collection is a set like no other and should not be missed!
