Bilko and I try to bring a little JOY into the world! #Philsilvers #Joy

Bilko

Saturday

Love it!

BILKO

Still reading up on NAT HIKEN with a May 11, 1956 article in COLLIER'S my pal Ron Murphy gave me a while ago.

NAT HIKEN

I just finished reading NAT HIKEN: KING OF THE HALF HOUR and thoroughly enjoyed it. Nat Hiken was a true comic genius and brought us two of the funniest sitcoms of all-time: THE PHIL SILVERS SHOW and CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU? He worked with writers like NEIL SIMON, LARRY GELBART, ARRON RUEBEN, LEONARD STEIN etc. etc. They all went on to write and Produce some of the BEST comedy in television. It was especially interesting to read how fame went to the heads of Maurice Gosfield (Private Doberman on BILKO and later Benny the ball on TOP CAT) and Joe E. Ross (Gunther Toody in CAR 54). Nat actually tried to fire Ross, but Ross pleaded to keep him on the show. Both actors could barely remember their lines and caused many problems on the set. They are two of the most lovable characters and that is why this was so interesting.

CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU?

Francis Muldoon and Gunther Toody

What a cast! The cast of YOU'LL NEVER GET RICH or THE PHIL SILVERS SHOW or later just BILKO. I watched them every night on ME TV

YOU'LL NEVER GET RICH

I have been watching alot of ERNIE BILKO the last few weeks! NAT HIKEN was the genius behind it and he went on to Produce CAR 54, WHERE ARE YOU? PHIL SILVERS was a wonderful comedic actor and the series won 8 EMMYS in it's first season! Talented people like Neil Simon and Arron Rueben were involved and the cast inspired HANNA-BARBERA's TOP CAT and BREEZLY & SNEEZLY. The first DVD set has introductions by ALLEN MELVIN and has wonderful guest stars like Alan Alda, Julie Newmar and Dick Van Dyke! I also love seeing FRED GWYNNE & JOE E. ROSS with Beatrice Ponds as his wife. Let's hope more DVDs are on the way!