No Better Laugh Quotient Anywhere

bkoganbing

If I had to pick a show that had more funny people on it I would be hard pressed to name any other show but the Phil Silvers Show. Not even the great Stanley Kramer comedy for the big screen It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World had a better laugh quotient to the cast than the Phil Silvers Show which ran for five years.

Talk about characters this show created so many great characters all under the direction of creator Nat Hiken. One thing about the army it is a great leveler of class. Especially the peace time Cold War army of the Eisenhower years where a draft was in force and all kinds of people got in there. You could never create a show like this today.

Phil Silvers on the big screen had a so so career. He was not really suited for it. He played small roles and in small doses he was fine. I wrote a review for the Jean Arthur/John Wayne comedy A Lady Takes A Chance where Silvers played a tour bus driver. His character like Sergeant Ernie Bilko here was 'on' all the time. That does not work in film, I would have killed Silvers before the bus trip was over or I would have had to stand in line to do it.

But as Bilko in a half hour format, sergeant in charge of the motor pool at Camp Caldwell and consummate con man Silvers was perfectly within his element. And the regulars, the soldiers under his command and others at the camp were in support of him. Allan Melvin and Harvey Lembeck were his chief aides, both corporals. They're a pair of funny guys themselves. And who could forget Maurice Gosfield as the ultimate schnook Private Doberman, unmercifully conned week after week by the sergeant he was devoted to. Another guy who was conned was Joe E. Ross as Sergeant Ridzik of the mess hall. Food is always a valuable commodity in any con game.

Presiding over this was the Fifties most famous slow burn Paul Ford as Colonel Hall, camp commandant. Before he was cast as the colonel, Ford was a good dramatic actor in such things as All The King's Men and Lust For Gold in serious parts. Nat Hiken saw something in Ford, a comic gift like Edgar Kennedy and even after the show ended Ford for the rest of his life was cast in parts to show off his fabulous slow burn technique.

People like Dick Van Dyke guest starred here, even Bing Crosby did an episode, he toured with Silvers on USO tours during World War II.

Even though Silvers in my opinion never quite reached the heights as he did in this TV series, he leaves a lasting comedy legacy with the Phil Silvers Show. Even though he was the unquestioned star all of his ensemble came in for their share of laughs. It was a great ensemble of classic comedians, rarely duplicated anywhere.

score 9/10

bkoganbing 12 October 2012

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2687607/