Dinah and Her New Best Friends - remember this one?

[Diner]

Hey, remember this summer replacement variety show from 1976, starring 60-year-old Dinah Shore and a bunch of over-eager performers in their twenties? 

I'm ashamed to say I do. 

Bruce Kimmel, one of the cast members, has dug up a 14-minute highlight reel and posted his memories of it on his blog, along with a link to the reel:

http://www.haineshisway.com/2019/06/dinah-and-her-new-best-friends-forty-four-years-later/

I didn't laugh once watching the reel - which pretty much gibes with my memories. 

(My other memory of this show is that after the second episode, I was tired of Gary Mule Deer's standup routines.)

But I was ten years old, and we kids watched it because that's what we did in those days - there were 3 networks, it was summer, and we watched whatever wasn't a rerun. 

Bruce's essay is worth reading to explain how this got on the air.

And the reel will give you a pretty accurate picture of what TV variety was really like in those days. There was The Carol Burnett Show, and there was everything else... and this was what everything else was like. (Even though it was shot in Carol's studio by Carol's crew.)

As he says, the sketch where Cindy Williams and Bruce play honeymooners is the best thing here, probably because it's the only thing here that's not a blackout or a song. But it's still a pretty bad skit - the premise is predictable and the "joke" of a guy slugging is wife is shockingly distasteful by today's standards. (Also, the skit is really badly directed - you can see the shadow of the boom mike repeatedly.)

According to his latest blog post (http://www.haineshisway.com/2019/07/as-if-one-wasnt-enough/), there's one more video waiting to be posted. 

You have been warned.

[Mark Jeffries]

If it's Diana Canova singing, I'm not complaining.  By the time "Phantom" came around, she was probably too old to play Christine, but I recall she had one helluva soprano voice.

Mark Jeffries
Saints Spotlight Editor
spotl...@gmail.com

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