Zeus

Very Important People (1959)

Stars:

Shirley Ballard, Art Carney, Grover Dale

Art Carney hosts this hilarious TV special with the following guests: Dick Van Dyke, Gloria Vanderbilt, Duke Hazlett, Tom Bosley, David Doyle, Shirley Ballard, Diane Deering, Bill Pierson, John Straub and Grover Dale. There are many very funny skits on this special including Carney as a retiring CEO of a company trying to decide who'll be the next in line, Art as a young unknown candidate for the upcoming 1960 presidential elections (possibly a jab at JFK!), a great send-up on "What's My Line?" called "What's You're Business" where Carney is the MC, a goof on the "Frank Sinatra Show" where "Dino" is too drunk to come out, then finally a take-off on one of those "high brow" society shows of the time where big name celebrities just "drop-in". Well in this takeoff everything goes wrong! Including miscues, horrible camera work (good shots of early NBC cameras here), dopey commercials (face spray, etc) and a disastrous finale where the dancing couple (supposed to be Arthur Murray) falls down a flight of stairs!