Tonight Starring Steve Allen

Tonight Starring Steve Allen

Presented by	Steve Allen
Starring	Skitch Henderson
Narrated by	Gene Rayburn
Country of origin	United States
Production
Location(s)	Hudson Theatre, New York City
Running time	105 min.
Release
Original network	NBC
Picture format	Black-and-white
Original release	September 27, 1954 – January 25, 1957^[1]
Chronology
Preceded by	Broadway Open House
Followed by	Tonight! America After Dark
Related shows	The Steve Allen Show

Tonight Starring Steve Allen was a talk show hosted by Steve Allen. It was the first version of what eventually became known as The Tonight Show. Tonight was the first late-night talk show, as well as the first late night television series of any time to achieve long-term success. Allen's run as host of the show lasted for two and a half seasons, beginning in fall 1954 and ending with Allen's departure in January 1957.

During its run it originated from the Hudson Theatre in New York City.

History

Originally a 40-minute local program airing from 11:20 p.m. to 12 midnight on WNBT New York as The Steve Allen Show, the program was moved to the full NBC network in the Fall of 1954. The first network episode of Tonight aired on September 27, 1954, and ran for 105 minutes instead of the 60-minute duration of modern talk shows (however, the first fifteen minutes were shown on very few stations). The announcer of the show was Gene Rayburn (who would eventually become a top-game show emcee, best known for his 22 years at the helm of the Match Game) and the bandleader was Skitch Henderson. Allen's version of the show originated such talk show staples as an opening monologue, celebrity interviews, audience participation, and comedy bits in which cameras were taken outside the studio, as well as music. The success of the show led to Allen receiving a separate weekly prime time show, which aired on Sunday nights. Allen gave up the Monday and Tuesday shows, with guest hosts taking over for the summer of 1956. Beginning that fall, Ernie Kovacs (who came over from the faltering DuMont Television Network) was the regular Monday and Tuesday host for the 1956–1957 season with his own cast and regulars, including his own announcer (Bill Wendell; who would later work with David Letterman) and bandleader.

A kinescope of the very first episode survives and Allen's opening monologue has been rebroadcast many times on Tonight Show anniversary specials and in documentaries such as Television. In his opening remarks, Allen makes the prescient statement that Tonight! "is going to go on forever" (an apparent reference to the show's run time, then clocking in at 105 minutes with commercials). With several hosts over the decades, it has done just that, albeit with a much different meaning than Allen intended.

Allen and Kovacs' Departure

Allen departed Tonight in January 1957 after NBC ordered Allen to concentrate all his efforts on his Sunday night variety program, hoping to combat CBS's The Ed Sullivan Show's dominance of the Sunday night ratings. Kovacs, instead of getting the show five nights a week, was let go, and a radical format change was made (see below).

Tonight! America After Dark (1957)

Rather than continuing with the same format after Allen and Kovacs' departures from Tonight, NBC changed the show's format to a news and features show, similar to that of the network's popular morning program Today. The new show, renamed Tonight! America After Dark, was hosted first by Jack Lescoulie and then by Al "Jazzbo" Collins, with interviews conducted by Hy Gardner, and music provided by the Lou Stein Trio (later replaced by the Mort Lindsey Quartet, then the Johnny Guarnieri Quartet). This new version of the show was unsuccessful, resulting in a significant number of NBC affiliates dropping the show.^[2] The format returned to a comedy-oriented talk/variety program on July 29, 1957, with Jack Paar being brought in to host his own version of The Tonight Show.

References

↑ Karm, Bob. "Steve Allen's Last Tonight Show Appearance on This Date in 1957". pdxretro.com. PDX RETRO. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
↑ "Show Business: Late-Night Affair". Time Magazine. August 18, 1958. Retrieved 2009-10-15.

External links

Tonight Starring Steve Allen-related interview videos at the Archive of American Television

The Tonight Show

Tenures Allen's Paar's Carson's Leno's first O'Brien's Leno's second Fallon's

Hosts	Steve Allen (1954–57) Jack Paar (1957–62) Johnny Carson (1962–92) Jay Leno (1992–2009, 2010–14) Conan O'Brien (2009–10) Jimmy Fallon (2014–present)

Announcers/sidekicks	Gene Rayburn Franklin Pangborn Hugh Downs Ed McMahon Edd Hall John Melendez Andy Richter Wally Wingert Steve Higgins

The Tonight Show Band	Leno era I (Marsalis/Eubanks) O'Brien era (Weinberg) Leno era II (Minor) Fallon era (Questlove)

Bandleaders	Skitch Henderson José Melis Milton DeLugg Doc Severinsen Branford Marsalis Kevin Eubanks Max Weinberg Rickey Minor Questlove

Episodes	Carson's tenure Leno's first tenure O'Brien's tenure Leno's second tenure Fallon's tenure

Taping locations	Hudson Theatre NBC Studios New York NBC Studios Burbank Universal Studios Hollywood

Prime-time spin-offs	The Steve Allen Show The Jack Paar Program The Jay Leno Show

Recurring sketches	Miss Miller Carnac the Magnificent Floyd R. Turbo Headlines Leno era sketches O'Brien era sketches Fallon era sketches

Production companies	Carson Productions Big Dog Productions Conaco Broadway Video

Related articles	Sylvester L. Weaver, Jr. "Johnny's Theme" Late Night Carson's Comedy Classics 1992 host conflict The Late Shift film 2010 host and timeslot conflict The War for Late Night Johnny Carson: King of Late Night "Ew!" Lip Sync Battle Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon

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