Couuntdown to Christmas: Where's Raymond? (1953)

Ray Bolger will be forever remembered more for one singular role, that of the Scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz", of course. 14 years after "Wizard", Bolger attempted to conquer television, but his short-lived sitcom, Where's Raymond?, later rechristened The Ray Bolger Show, tried to be two things at once, and not very well.

On one hand, Where's Raymond? aspired to be a sitcom, but, as demonstrated in the Christmas episode, it would morph into a variety show on the fly, a mix of music and sketch comedy within the framework of a sitcom format. Bolger tried to, by playing multiple characters in one long skit, emulate a fellow song & dance man in Danny Kaye.

Here's a sample intro:

Rating: B.