Great News: The Library of Congress acquires the Ernie Kovacs & Edie Adams Collection

Our love for the incredible Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams being well documented, the comedy-crazed crew at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog is ecstatic to see articles from Broadway World and The Hollywood Reporter announcing that the intrepid film preservation gurus of The Library Of Congress have acquired the Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams collection from Edie's son, Josh Mills.



The Ernie and Edie material will join rare videotapes and kinescopes from such luminaries as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Groucho Marx, Danny Kaye, Johnny Carson, Jerry Lewis and Bob Hope.



Your Correspondent, seriously lacking writing mojo today, shall quote the press releases:



"The Library of Congress is the ideal place for the Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams Collection, because both are synonymous with television history and the preservation of American popular culture," Mills said.





"It's immensely gratifying that Edie's dedication to preserving the history of Ernie's pioneering genius in television will ensure that both of their work will live on for generations to enjoy."



"The Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams Collection is an especially welcome acquisition for us," said Mike Mashon, head of the Library's Moving Image Section.



"We're very proud of our humor collections and we're always looking to expand our holdings in early television. With Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams, we accomplish both."



The collection includes more than 1,200 audiovisual items, documenting some of Kovacs' and Adams' earliest work in television.



Highlights include:

• 2" videotape masters of all eight of Kovacs' monthly specials for ABC (1961-1962)
• 35 mm kinescopes of 74 episodes of Kovacs' morning show for NBC (1956)
• 2" videotape masters of 35 episodes of "Take a Good Look," Kovacs' tongue-in-cheek panel quiz show (ABC, 1959-1961)
• Original 16 mm elements of Kovacs' silent-movie spoof "The Mysterious Knockwurst," made for his CBS morning show in 1953
• 2" videotape masters of all 21 episodes of "Here's Edie" (ABC, 1962-1964)
• Original 16 mm kinescopes for "Ernie in Kovacsland" (NBC, 1951)
• Audio masters of a formerly unreleased Kovacs LP "Percy Dovetonsils...Thpeakth"
• Test footage of matting effects for Ernie as "Superclod"

Once the processing procedures at LoC are completed, The Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams Collection will be available to researchers in the Library's Motion Picture and Television Reading Room in Washington, D.C. And big time Kudos, Bravos and Huzzahs to that!