Caesar’s Hour

Sid Caesar and his band of comic players (Carl Reiner, Howard Morris, and Imogene Coca, Nanette Fabray or Janet Blair) ruined Saturday-night business in theaters and movie houses. They burst onto TV in 1949, and continued through eight years of the Admiral Broadway Revue, Your Show of Shows, and Caesar’s Hour. They churned out a live show 39 times a year, playing anything from a Bavarian clock to an opera troupe. Their work is still funny, and sometimes amazing: Towers Trot, a musical take-off, runs 45 minutes, features nine sets, and has over 50 in its cast. It was written, rehearsed, and performed (without cue cards) in a week. Caesar recently selected about 50 hours of favorite sketches for a retrospec...