''The

Red Buttons Red Buttons (born Aaron Chwatt; February 5, 1919 – July 13, 2006) was an American actor and comedian. He won an Oscar and Golden Globe for '' Sayonara''. He was nominated for awards for his work such as ''Harlow'' (1965), '' They Shoot Ho ...

Show'' premiered on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

television network on October 14, 1952, and ran for two years on that network, then moved to

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

for the final 1954–55 season. The series finished #11 for the 1952–1953 season in the

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

and #12 in 1953–1954.

Format

The CBS run of the series featured monologues, dance numbers, and sketches with Red and the other series regulars. The characters played by Red included the boxer Rocky Buttons, the Kupke Kid, the Sad Sack, and Keeglefarven. When the series was canceled by CBS, it moved to NBC which at first kept it as a variety show. When the ratings remained low, the program was overhauled and turned into a

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

with Red playing himself as a TV comic.

Phyllis Kirk Phyllis Kirk (born Phyllis Kirkgaard or Kirkegaard; September 18, 1927 October 19, 2006) was an American actress. Early life Kirk was born in Syracuse, New York, although some sources state her birthplace as Plainfield, New Jersey. She contra ...

played his wife,

Bobby Sherwood Robert J. Sherwood Jr. (May 30, 1914 – January 23, 1981) was an American guitarist, trumpeter, bandleader, actor and radio host. Early years Sherwood's parents were Bob and Gail Sherwood. When they lived in Kokomo, Indiana, Bob operated a m ...

played the director of Red's program and

Paul Lynde Paul Edward Lynde (; June 13, 1926January 10, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, and game-show panelist. A character actor with a distinctively campy and snarky persona that often poked fun at his closeted homosexuality, Lynde was well know ...

played the network's vice president.

CBS regulars

*Red Buttons *

Dorothy Jolliffe Dorothy may refer to: *Dorothy (given name), a list of people with that name. Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Dorothy'' (TV series), 1979 American TV series *Dorothy Mills, a 2008 French movie, sometimes titled simply ''Doroth ...

Pat Carroll Patricia Ann Carroll (May 5, 1927 – July 30, 2022) was an American actress and comedian. She is best known for providing the voice of Ursula in ''The Little Mermaid''. She made guest appearances in many popular television series including '' ...

* Beverly Dennis *Allan Walker * Joe Silver * Betty Ann Grave

NBC regulars

*Red Buttons *

as Mr. Standish *

Nelson Case Nelson Case (February 3, 1910 – March 24, 1976) was an American radio and television announcer. Case was the son of Walter and Ethel Case. His father was a newspaperman, and his mother was a driving force in the Long Beach Community Players. H ...

, announcer

Production

Bill Davenport and Johnny Green were writers for the NBC version. It was sponsored by Pontiac.

References

External links

* *The Red Buttons Show a
Classic TV & Movie Hits
*The Red Buttons Show theme song lyrics a

1950s American variety television series 1950s American sitcoms 1952 American television series debuts 1955 American television series endings American television series revived after cancellation Black-and-white American television shows CBS sitcoms NBC sitcoms {{US-comedy-tv-prog-stub