In the middle and late 1950s Phil Silvers became a television star of top magnitude in the comedy YOU'LL NEVER GET RICH, wherein he was that con-man's con-man Sergeant Ernie Bilko, the best motor pool head in the U.S. Army, stationed in a Midwestern Fort. Episode after episode followed his schemes to make a buck, inevitably running afoul of the camp Commander, Col. Hall (Paul Ford), and usually just missing out of being totally successful. The reruns of YOU'LL NEVER GET RICH still crop up on television, and still remain quite amusing, with Silvers supported by Herbie Faye, Allan Melville, Maurice Gosfield (as the immortally stupid Private Doberman), and others including (in several episodes) a young Dick Van Dyke. YOU'LL NEVER GET RICH remains one of the classic comedy series of the so-called "Golden Age" of television of the 1950s (if there ever was such a golden age).
In 1963 Silvers switched over to Channel 2 and prepared a new series. Most people don't recall THE NEW PHIL SILVERS SHOW because it was not a great success. Silvers' work in the 1960s is best typified by his appearances in two films: IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (1963) and BUONO SERA, MRS. CAMPBELL (1968). This is understandable, but only just so: we do not like to think of talented people in flops. Yet Silver's second and last series lasted a full year as say the last series of Lucille Ball, HERE'S LUCY, which lasted barely two months. Also, there was an attempt at a build-up in public interest in Silver's re-emergence on television. A special was put on starring Lucille Ball, Andy Griffith, Danny Thomas, and Jack Benny dealing with Silver's pushing his way onto the Channel 2 line-up. That has rarely happened since.
It was not a bad series (I rank it a "6" out of "10") but it broke no new ground for Silvers or his writers. Instead of a Midwest Fort it was in a Midwest factory. Instead of being named "Ernie Bilko" he was "Harry Grafton", and now he was not running the motor pool, but he was in charge of the factory kitchen and factory morale. Paul Ford had been a wonderful foil for Silvers in the first series, but Ford had a splendid pompous delivery and good timing. Here Silver's "enemy" was Stafford Repp (soon to get his great television role as "Chief O'Hara" in BATMAN) who was the factory manager. Repp was a competent actor, but he did not have Ford's self-image and timing. The owner of the factory appeared a few times (Douglas Dumbrille) but while he certainly matched the pomposity he did not show up enough.
The episodes followed the path laid out by the Bilko episodes: Grafton would concoct some scheme to con money out of the workers or someone on the outside - but somehow the scheme never quite worked well. But what seemed really amusing on that Fort set was not as funny here. In fact, two jokes I recall from the show were throw away types that were not meant to be major jokes at all. The first opened each show. Grafton always slept as long as he liked. He rarely arrived at 8:00 A.M. like the others. This should show up on his time cards. Instead, Grafton (who is handy with his hands) pulls out a remote control at the time-clock and uses it to readjust the time on the face to be at 8:00 A.M. and then return it to 9:30 or whatever time it is. This joke was part of ever episode showing him coming into work. The other was that (as he planned the lunches for the workers) he and his cohorts would come out on a food truck dressed in the national dress (French, Italian, German, Russian, Spanish, whatever) of the country the food supposedly came from.
You can see that those two jokes are throw away ones, and (at best) cute. It is not the same as well laid out joke schemes or plot keys. In any case I find it amazing that I recall so little of this show. I recall that a cartoon image of Silvers opened each episode saying, "Glad to see ya!", but not a single one of the story lines. I watched it for the first four months, hoping it would pick up. It never did. Possibly it was that the writers were not able to get enthused about the setting: taking on the stiff braids of the military was more interesting than taking on the world of upper and middle management in a small factory. What suggests that this was the matter is that the second season the factory setting was dumped entirely. Instead we concentrated on Grafton's home life with his sister and the sister's children. Bilko's home life rarely came up (he was always, even at his crookedest a career army man). The only non-military side to Ernie Bilko was his on-again/off-again love affair with a female sergeant at the camp. The last thing we would have though of was his being an uncle or daddy or husband or brother.
In any case, the audience (what remained of it) evaporated). After a full season THE NEW PHIL SILVERS SHOW was canceled. I have never seen any of the episodes re-aired since 1964.
In 1963 Silvers switched over to Channel 2 and prepared a new series. Most people don't recall THE NEW PHIL SILVERS SHOW because it was not a great success. Silvers' work in the 1960s is best typified by his appearances in two films: IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (1963) and BUONO SERA, MRS. CAMPBELL (1968). This is understandable, but only just so: we do not like to think of talented people in flops. Yet Silver's second and last series lasted a full year as say the last series of Lucille Ball, HERE'S LUCY, which lasted barely two months. Also, there was an attempt at a build-up in public interest in Silver's re-emergence on television. A special was put on starring Lucille Ball, Andy Griffith, Danny Thomas, and Jack Benny dealing with Silver's pushing his way onto the Channel 2 line-up. That has rarely happened since.
It was not a bad series (I rank it a "6" out of "10") but it broke no new ground for Silvers or his writers. Instead of a Midwest Fort it was in a Midwest factory. Instead of being named "Ernie Bilko" he was "Harry Grafton", and now he was not running the motor pool, but he was in charge of the factory kitchen and factory morale. Paul Ford had been a wonderful foil for Silvers in the first series, but Ford had a splendid pompous delivery and good timing. Here Silver's "enemy" was Stafford Repp (soon to get his great television role as "Chief O'Hara" in BATMAN) who was the factory manager. Repp was a competent actor, but he did not have Ford's self-image and timing. The owner of the factory appeared a few times (Douglas Dumbrille) but while he certainly matched the pomposity he did not show up enough.
The episodes followed the path laid out by the Bilko episodes: Grafton would concoct some scheme to con money out of the workers or someone on the outside - but somehow the scheme never quite worked well. But what seemed really amusing on that Fort set was not as funny here. In fact, two jokes I recall from the show were throw away types that were not meant to be major jokes at all. The first opened each show. Grafton always slept as long as he liked. He rarely arrived at 8:00 A.M. like the others. This should show up on his time cards. Instead, Grafton (who is handy with his hands) pulls out a remote control at the time-clock and uses it to readjust the time on the face to be at 8:00 A.M. and then return it to 9:30 or whatever time it is. This joke was part of ever episode showing him coming into work. The other was that (as he planned the lunches for the workers) he and his cohorts would come out on a food truck dressed in the national dress (French, Italian, German, Russian, Spanish, whatever) of the country the food supposedly came from.
You can see that those two jokes are throw away ones, and (at best) cute. It is not the same as well laid out joke schemes or plot keys. In any case I find it amazing that I recall so little of this show. I recall that a cartoon image of Silvers opened each episode saying, "Glad to see ya!", but not a single one of the story lines. I watched it for the first four months, hoping it would pick up. It never did. Possibly it was that the writers were not able to get enthused about the setting: taking on the stiff braids of the military was more interesting than taking on the world of upper and middle management in a small factory. What suggests that this was the matter is that the second season the factory setting was dumped entirely. Instead we concentrated on Grafton's home life with his sister and the sister's children. Bilko's home life rarely came up (he was always, even at his crookedest a career army man). The only non-military side to Ernie Bilko was his on-again/off-again love affair with a female sergeant at the camp. The last thing we would have though of was his being an uncle or daddy or husband or brother.
In any case, the audience (what remained of it) evaporated). After a full season THE NEW PHIL SILVERS SHOW was canceled. I have never seen any of the episodes re-aired since 1964.
