More Ernie Kovacs

"Some years ago I had a complete nervous breakdown, was dead broke and had to be put in a charity ward with 30 others. I was there 18 months and doctors didn`t give me long to live. So now each day to me is a special dividend, so I live it to the hilt". Ernie Kovacs




Remembered most for his remarkably inventive TV work, in front of and behind the camera, Ernie Kovacs (1919-1962) possessed a unique sensibility and gag mind that was out of the box, WAY out of the box, in another universe - and frequently on the dark side.







Even Ernie's unique game show Take A Good Look, featuring ace Kovacs Show repertory players Bobby Lauher and Jolene Brand, was the most mind-bending interpretation of that format imaginable.



Kovacs was also quite funny in the handful of movies he appeared in.





Then, in the 1950's - early 1960's and now, Ernie remains the unequalled jedi master of the "orthicon tube". No one has even come close.







Our favorite examples of the exceedingly vivid imagination of Ernie Kovacs are the "sound-to-sight" pieces, mini-musicals staged for television which explored video technology in a highly creative and witty way. The first, based on Béla Bartók's "Concerto for Orchestra" is evocative and lyrical, as well as a prime showcase for Ernie Kovacs the filmmaker, a man with a video camera and cinematic aspirations.







These micro-musicals were in Ernie's last series of eight specials for ABC, produced in 1961. His co-stars include the aforementioned Bobby Lauher and Jolene Brand, along with Joe Mikolas and Maggi Brown: comedy heroes all.



Thanks, Ernie - and a big time thanks to Edie Adams for her outstanding onscreen contributions to The Ernie Kovacs Show and equally outstanding (and tireless) efforts she made decades later to preserve Ernie's pioneering work in television. She was a brilliant performer, comedienne and vocalist, but also a hero of film preservation.



One wonders just how many Ernie Kovacs Show and Here's Edie videotapes she personally rescued from being taped over or tossed in the East River!



We raise our mugs, tumblers and Percy Dovetonsils approved champagne flutes to Ernie and Edie! In closing, the gang at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog must note that we absolutely LOVE Ernie's song Hot Cakes & Sausage, a great, witty and jaunty tune to start any day with.