He was one of the greatest, most respected entertainers of our time. His ground-breaking series, Your Show of Shows, wrote the template for sketch comedy series for years to come, including Saturday Night Live and those that have followed. Today, Hollywood mourns Sid Caesar, who passed away Wednesday at 91.
Of course, Your Show of Shows and its follow-up, Caesar's Hour, were before my time. I think I'd seen him on some daytime talk shows, like Mike Douglas or Dinah Shore, not sure which was first, but then today's generation may know him as the gym teacher/football coach at Rydell High in the 1978 film adaptation of "Grease", part of the ensemble supporting John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John.
I did get to see an episode of Caesar's Hour that was included on a Johnny Carson DVD set, but the following clip wasn't included. Here, Sid, along with Howard Morris & Carl Reiner, ham it up as a parody of 50's pop bands, the Haircuts. Looks like they got their wigs modeled after Moe Howard's bowl cut 'do.
I believe Reiner's the only one left from that halcyon era. Rest in peace, Sid.
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