'Smothers Brothers' Producer Dies at 97

[Mark Jeffries]

With his partner Saul Bilson, Ernest Chambers produced the first two seasons of "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" on CBS and were in continuous battles with Program Practices over what the show could get away with (we especially like how Leigh French's pothead character could get on 1968 network television--the original character name was "Mary Jane Roach," and it got changed to the less obvious "Goldie O'Keefe")--there were limits and Messrs. Ilson and Chambers left after two seasons (left to their own devices, the Smothers bros only lasted one more season)--May 28 in his LA home:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/10/arts/television/ernest-chambers-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.plA.-Zqu.s-P2HILmNM-u&smid=url-share

[Bob F]

"Mr. Ilson said in an interview that they sometimes tried to distract the censors through misdirection, adding in lines they knew were overkill to preserve the ones they really wanted. 'We once had a line that we wanted into the show,' he said, 'and Ernie said to the brothers, ‘Let’s put in a line that will offend them even more.’'"

A technique also used by animation directors, like Tex Avery and Bob Clampett, in their Warner Bros heyday in the 40s...

B

Mark Jeffries, June 12th:

[Mark Jeffries]

But not always--I remember a sketch parodying "Bonanza" (their competition on NBC) where Mama Cass Elliott played "Hass" (a reference to Hoss Cartwright, of course) and most lines referring to her were "don't grab Hass" and "you think you're so smart, Hass?" Before air, Program Practices bleeped every utterance of "Hass" in those lines.

Mark Jeffries
spotl...@gmail.com

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