Series Description

The Ed Wynn TV show was a variety comedy series starring the delightful and foolishly funny legend of comedy ... Ed Wynn. Its popularity drew a seemingly never-ending list of famous guest stars willing to get ridiculous by participating in Ed's skits.

Cast

Host:
Ed Wynn

Regulars:
Lud Gluskin
Ben Wrigley
Edith Praf
The Hannaford Family
The Merriel Abbott Dancers

Trivia:

The Ed Wynn Show was the first TV series that was broadcast live from Hollywood and seen in the rest of the country via kinescope (16mm film shot during the live show). All other series until then had aired live in New York and seen elsewhere via kinescope.

Ed Wynn's comedy was on the juvenile side as were most of the acts of the day that evolved from vaudeville. For that reason, Ed Wynn's performances have not continued to appeal to current-day audiences as some of the other acts from yesteryear like the Marx Brothers, Charlie Chaplin, Burns and Allen, and others. While some of those acts also leaned towards the juvenile, Ed's entire demeanor with his little giggle and speach that almost resembled baby talk was hot in the 1930s and early 40s, but over by the 50s. Up and into the 1940s, however, Ed was considered to be a star equivalent to Chaplin and Marx! Ed Wynn did make a major contribution to even today's audiences too as he was the first huge comedy star of his day to give television a chance! Many stars of the day felt that the new medium might destroy their careers but when it worked for Ed, that paved the way for others like Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca ("Your Show of Shows"), Eddie Cantor ("The Colgate Comedy Hour"), Jack Benny ("The Jack Benny Show"), Joan Davis ("I Married Joan"), Milton Berle ("The Milton Berle Show"), and many more!

The Ed Wynn show won an Emmy in 1950 as the "Best Comedy Show".

Guest stars on the Ed Wynn Show included Gloria Swanson, Ann Sheridan, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz (prior to "I Love Lucy"), The Three Stooges, and Buster Keaton!

One of Ed Wynn's trademarks was that he told really bad jokes and then made the audience laugh about how bad the joke was!