Regular host Jack Haley was stricken with a kidney ailment during the dress rehearsal a little more than an hour before the program went on the air. Haley was rushed to his home whereupon Mindy Carson, regular singer on the show, immediately took over some of Haley's emcee responsibilities. Among those in the theater watching the dress rehearsal was singer Bob Haymes, brother of famed big band singer Dick Haymes. Bob was asked, and agreed, to sing the songs that Jack Haley had scheduled.