Cyril Ritchard - "Mutual Admiration Society" - General Motors 50th Anniversary Show NBC Nov 17, 1957

From the moment I saw Cyril Ritchard play "Captain Hook" in PETER PAN, he's been one of my favorite performers. I actually got to meet him when he did THE GENERAL MOTORS 50th ANNIVERSARY SHOW, a live, two-hour musical extravaganza my dad produced for NBC in 1957. In this rare kinescope, Ritchard joins Claudia Crawford ("The Edge of Night") in a delightful rendition of "Mutual Appreciation Society" (from Ethel Merman's 1956 musical "Happy Hunting," by Matt Dubey and Harold Karr). The scene (and Kirk Douglas's intro) was written by Helen Deutsch.

[@jameslarosa2396]

This is fabulous. Thank you.

[@AmyCiota-tn5qc]

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@SallyANylund]

This is an example of a color kinescope, a process developed by NBC in 1956. They began using color videotape in the spring of 1958.

[@greggoppenheimer]

The show was broadcast live in color, but this particular clip is actually from a black and white kinescope that I colorized.