THE BIG SHOW

ORIGINAL AIR DATE: 3/25/51 (Live)
NETWORK: NBC
RUNNING TIME: 90 Minutes

The Cast
Don Cornell
Jimmy Durante
Rex Harrison
Judy Holliday
Jackie Miles
Carmen Miranda
Lilli Palmer
Meredith Willson and The Big Show Orchestra & Chorus
Tallulah Bankhead (Host)

Click here to listen to excerpts from this program

Show Format

SEGMENT #1: Skit - Tallulah Bankhead arrives at the "rehearsal" for this week's show. She greets Don Cornell, Rex Harrison and Carmen Miranda.

SEGMENT #2: Carmen Miranda performs a song.

SEGMENT #3: Judy Holliday arrives late to the "rehearsal". She tries to explain why to Tallulah Bankhead. Click here to read a transcript of their conversation. The segment runs 5 minutes.

SEGMENT #4: Don Cornell performs the song "My Inspiration".

SEGMENT #5: Lilli Palmer arrives at the "rehearsal".

SEGMENT #6: Meredith Willson and The Big Show Orchestra & Chorus perform the song "Hullaballoo".

SEGMENT #7: Tallulah Bankhead and Jimmy Durante talk about the Easter parade. Durante and Eddie Jackson perform the song "Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown".

SEGMENT #8: Tallulah Bankhead, Don Cornell, Meredith Willson and The Big Show Orchestra & Chorus perform the song "Easter Time".

SEGMENT #9: Tallulah Bankhead talks with Carmen Miranda about Carmen's exotic outfits.

SEGMENT #10: Carmen Miranda performs the song "Mama Yo Quiero".

SEGMENT #11: Skit - Judy Holliday and Tallulah Bankhead take a pleasure cruise to South America. The segment runs 5 and a half minutes.

SEGMENT #12: Jackie Miles performs a comic routine about television.

SEGMENT #13: Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer perform a dramatic scene from "Anne of a Thousand Days".

SEGMENT #14: Skit - Judy Holliday and Jimmy Durante perform a comic spoof of the same scene that Harrison and Palmer just did. The segment runs 4 and a half minutes.

SEGMENT #15: Tallulah Bankhead reads a letter from a soldier to the American Red Cross in honor of Easter Sunday.

SEGMENT #16: The entire cast take turns singing the verses of the show's closing theme song, "May The Good Lord Bless and Keep You"

Show Credits*

Produced and Directed by Dee Engelbach

Written by Goodman Ace, Selma Diamond, George Foster, Mort Greene and Frank Wilson

Announcer Ed Herlihy

*Credits were announced only on a time permitting basis. These are general credits for the radio series "The Big Show" and may have differed from week to week.