THE BEST OF BROADWAY (1954-1955) – Balladeer’s Blog’s latest look at a Forgotten Television item deals with The Best of Broadway. The color program aired on CBS once per month and its failure to last more than one season may be explained by the fact that the other three weeks the program that aired in its time slot was … Pabst Blue Ribbon Bouts.
I’m certainly not denying that there very well might have been some crossover audience between boxing and Broadway but I imagine some viewers who caught and loved a Best of Broadway episode eagerly tuned in the following week, saw beer-sponsored boxing and just assumed the Broadway program had been canceled or was just a one-off special.
At any rate, this series presented one-hour adaptations of assorted Broadway productions and was filmed with a studio audience.
THE EPISODES:
THE ROYAL FAMILY (September 15th, 1954) – From the Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman comedy The Royal Family of Broadway. Paul Nickell directed this depiction of a Barrymore-esque thespian dynasty and the chaos that results when the family matriarch is outraged to learn that her daughter and granddaughter are considering leaving their stage careers behind for marriage.
CAST: Helen Hayes, Fredric March, Claudette Colbert, Charles Coburn and Nancy Olson Continue reading
MESSAGES FROM MARS BY THE AID OF THE TELESCOPE PLANT (1892) – Written by Robert D Braine. I shortened the title for the blog post headline. The main character of this novel is a sailor named Nordhausen. After leaving Madagascar our hero winds up shipwrecked on an uncharted island. 
The natives take him through a cave entrance to their hidden village which is a blend of the primitive and the futuristic. For the “sacrilege” of damaging one of the telescope plants Nordhausen is to be executed. The means? A device formed from several of the lens-like leaves which magnify the sunlight into a makeshift heat-ray, like holding a magnifying glass over a piece of paper to catch it on fire. 
NBA LEVEL SCORE – Both teams made the Century Club in this game between the NEW COLLEGE OF FLORIDA MIGHTY BANYANS and the visiting WARNER UNIVERSITY ROYALS. By Halftime the Mighty Banyans were on top 66-41. The Royals rallied after the break but fell short as NCF won 124-117. Charlie Yoder led the victors with a Double Double of FORTY-FOUR points and 10 rebounds. 
CENTURY CLUB – Teams scoring 100 or more points in Regulation: The HUNTINGTON UNIVERSITY FORESTERS won 109-60 at the GOSHEN COLLEGE MAPLE LEAFS ## The BUSHNELL UNIVERSITY BEACONS beat the EVERGREEN COLLEGE GEODUCKS 100-92 ## The LSU-ALEXANDRIA GENERALS won 104-72 at the TEXAS COLLEGE STEERS ## And the DALTON STATE ROADRUNNERS downed the BREWTON-PARKER COLLEGE BARONS 115-87. 
DEFENSIVE EPIC – This game pitted the traveling CAL MARITIME ACADEMY KEELHAULERS against the SIMPSON UNIVERSITY REDHAWKS. The Keelhaulers held a 36-27 advantage at the Half then maintained enough distance from the Redhawks for a 64-59 triumph. Thirteen points from Jamal Frenchwood led this team effort. 
AVENGERS Vol 1 #114 (August 1973) 
Synopsis: The villainous Swordsman rejoins the Avengers with a pardon and alongside his mysterious romantic partner Mantis, making her very first full appearance. Mantis is part Vietnamese and part unknown at this point. 
Here at Balladeer’s Blog I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m an enormous fan of Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi, Scott Spiegel, Josh Becker, Robert Tapert and all the rest of the Michigan gang who hit the jackpot with the original The Evil Dead (1981, 1983). Ever since then they’ve starred in, written, and directed countless other movies and television projects like Hercules the Legendary Journeys, Spider-Man, Adventures of Brisco County Jr, you name it. 
CLEVELAND SMITH: BOUNTY HUNTER (1982) – This last of the Michigan Mafia’s short films is among the most accessible and enjoyable. I review the older ones below. As the title indicates, this 9-minute flick was one of the earliest Raiders of the Lost Ark parodies ever made. 
Cleveland Smith: Bounty Hunter plays like a live-action Warner Brothers or Woody Woodpecker cartoon and is a fun watch on that level. The Michigan gang’s infectious enthusiasm carries the comedy short, helped by the “cool” factor of knowing what the gang members went on to achieve in the years ahead. 
Fellow blogger Dawn at 
I was happy when Lizard Planet started selling Murph Merchandise comparatively recently. We got Murph calendars for different rooms but if calendars aren’t your thing there are magnets, mugs, hoodies, cards, throw pillows, shopping totes and more! 
NBC OPERA THEATRE (1949-1964) – Believe it or not, television networks used to regularly broadcast presentations of operas. Gradually, declining public interest drove operas off the networks and onto educational television. 
These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic. 
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