Series Description

The Perry Como Show was a musical / variety series hosted by one of TV's most likeable personalities. His never-ending list of well-known guest stars, funny quips, and family-friendly entertainment made it possible for this first hour-long ongoing program hosted by a singer to be a great success.

Perry Como Show Cast

Perry Como .... Host
The Louis DaPron Dancers .... (1955-1963)
Mitchell Ayres Orchestra .... (1955-1963)
The Ray Charles Singers .... (1955-1963)
Don Adams .... Kraft Music Hall Player) (1961-1963)
Kaye Ballard .... Kraft Music Hall Player (1961-1963)
Sandy Stewart .... Kraft Music Hall Player (1961-1963)
Pierre Olaf .... Kraft Music Hall Player (1961-1963)
Paul Lynde .... Kraft Music Hall Player (1961-1963)
Jack Duffy .... Kraft Music Hall Player (1961-1963)
Martin Block .... Announcer (1948-1950)
Durward Kirby .... Announcer (1950-1951)
Dick Stark .... Announcer (1951-1955)
Frank Gallop .... Announcer (1955-1963)
Ed Herlihy .... Announcer (1959-1963)

Perry Como Show Theme Song

Title: "Dream Along With Me"

Written By: "Carl Sigman"

Dream along with me, I'm on my way to a star
Come along, come along, leave your worries where they are
Up and beyond the sky, watchin' the world roll by
Sharin' a kiss, a sigh, just use your imagination!

On a cloud of love, we'll hear the music of night
We can wink at the moon as we hold each other tight
And if we go in the right direction, heaven can't be very far
Dream along with me, I'm on my way to a star!

(Instrumental Interlude)

We can wink at the moon as we hold each other tight
And if we go in the right direction, heaven can't be very far
Dream along with me, I'm on my way to a star!

Perry Como Show Trivia

The Perry Como Show actually began as a 30 minute series titled, "The Chesterfield Supper Club" on December 25, 1948 on NBC. It was modelled after his radio show with the same title and immediately became an even bigger success on TV! The series continued under that title through the June 4, 1950 episode. When the show returned from its summer hiatus on October 2, 1950, it was renamed, "The Perry Como Show", ran for 15 minutes/3 times per week, and had moved to CBS. It continued there through June 24, 1955. Again, after having the summer off, Perry returned to NBC on September 12, 1955 as the host of the 60 minute series, "Kraft Music Hall" and hosted that program through June 12, 1963. All of those programs are typically referred to as the Perry Como Show so we've included them all on this page. Perry also hosted several Kraft Music Hall specials from 1963-1967 and also his famed Christmas specials through 1993.

Perry Como acted as a guest host on numerous other TV series. Among them were "The Frank Sinatra Show", "The Bob Hope Show", "The Dinah Shore Show", "The Bing Crosby Show", and "The Flip Wilson Show".

Perry Como won an Emmy in 1959 for "Best Performance by an Actor (Continuing Character) in a Musical or Variety Series". The show was nominated for another six Emmys in various categories. Perry himself won a total of four Emmys during his career.

Perry Como was a barber before becoming a singer. During his 30 year long career, Perry Como sold more than 50 million records and recorded 13 number #1 hit songs! Five years after his death in December of 2006, his hit 1946 recording of "Jingle Bells" made it to the #1 spot on Billboard magazine's "Hot Ringtones chart".

Perry had a very special guest on his very first show that aired on Christmas Eve of 1948! Their was a boys choir that performed some holiday tunes and one of the boys in the choir was Perry's 8-year-old son, Ronnie!

Perry Como was one of the first stars to invite black performers to appear on his TV show!

Perry had numerous hit records during the 1940s and 1950s. When Elvis Presley and rock 'n' roll literally took over the music industry, Perry still managed to "hit the charts" on a regular basis. Part of his success was due to his introduction of a new song on his popular TV series. Some of his greatest hits included "Catch a Falling Star", "Hot Diggity", "Magic Moments", "Papa Loves Mambo", and "Round and Round". As late as the early 1970s, Perry continued to record hits including, "It's Impossible" and "And I Love You So"! To this day, Perry's music can often be heard in elevators and his Christmas music plays predominantly in homes all over the world during the holidays!

His magnetic personality made audiences feel as if they were right there in the studio with Perry during his show. He would often speak directly to the studio audience and with the viewers at home and it almost seemed like he was your friend.

In another effort to connect with his audience, the Perry Como Show had a segment titled, "We get letters". A group of beautiful girls would come out singing, "Letters, we get letters, we get stacks and stacks of letters"! Then Perry would answer the request from a home viewer which was typically the request for a particular song.

The same phenomena enabled Perry to attract just about any star of the day as a guest on his show. They, of course, wanted the exposure that the Perry Como Show's ratings would give them but you could also tell that most of them also had a really great time!

When the Perry Como Show expanded to 60 minutes in length in September of 1955, most people in the industry thought it would fail miserably. Typically, shows hosted by singers only ran for 15 to 30 minutes. On top of that, the show was put in direct competition with Jackie Gleason's hit series, "The Honeymooners"! Despite all that, the Perry Como Show immediately made it into the top 20 shows on television and drew away enough of Gleason's audience to deal a death blow to The Honeymooners!