MovieChat Forums > Toast of the Town (1948) Discussion > Grace Kelly and Ralph Meeker singing and...

Grace Kelly and Ralph Meeker singing and dancing!

posted 17 years ago by jinchelsea
6 replies | jump to latest

Okay, I know this is remote, but I can remember years ago, when I was a kid, Ed Sullivan did a compilation anniversary show (10th year? 20th year?) and he showed clips from earlier shows, and this one has stuck in my memory. Ralph Meeker, who was starring on Broadway as the hunky drifter in PICNIC, joined Grace Kelly, who was just getting noticed as a Hollywood glamor girl, for a song-and-dance number. Can't remember what they did, and the Sullivan stuff, except for the Beatles and other rock groups, isn't readily available, but does anyone remember seeing this? If so, what was the number they did?

[–] se_chapman 17 years ago

According to info on these two websites
http://www.crazyabouttv.com/edsullivanshow.html
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/tomkle/TVS.HTM
the show you remember seeing aired on June 22, 1958 and was a 10th anniversary special including highlights from previous years, one of which was from a show originally broadcast on Oct 18, 1953 featuring Kelly & Meeker singing and dancing to a number from the musical "Good News". This clip had already been re-broadcast as part of the show that aired April 15, 1956, probably in connection with Grace Kelly's wedding in Monaco that year. But no information as to which musical number from "Good News" they performed - maybe with this much additional info you can track down the particular song. It would be great if all these shows survived somewhere to end up available on DVD some day.

(10/18/1953)Grace Kelly & Ralph Meeker / David Wayne / John Forsythe
(4/15/1956)Helen Traubel / Ed Gardner / Grace Kelly & Ralph Meeker (On Film)
(6/22/1958) 10th Anniversary Special made up of clips from the past 10 years of "Toast of the Town" and "The Ed Sullivan Show." Clips include:
1953 highlights: Walt Disney doing studio sound effects / Ed Wynn and Tony Martin / Josh Logan /Grace Kelly and Ralph Meeker / Will Jordan mimics Ed / Ben Hogan

[–] jinchelsea 17 years ago

Wow! Just read your post and thank you for providing so much information. Quite a few of the old Ed Sullivan shows were being run every Sunday night on local channel 50 from New Jersey, but they've stopped showing them now, and perhaps we can look forward to some more Sullivan DVDs of stuff like Kelly and Meeker.

[–] movieghoul 15 years ago

The problem with the PBS shows is that they're edited down, and you don't get the rhythm of how the shows were paced, plus the editors decided what's worth seeing.

These shows are real time capsules of the period, and it's a shame that they're not publically available.

[–] f111151 13 years ago

I believe that they performed "The Varsity Drag" from "Good News".

[–] Itsamoomoo 9 years ago

Would love to see this!

[–] liscarkat (16434) a year ago

I'd really like to see Meeker dancing and singing. It's hard to imagine. I remember Raymond Burr dancing when he was a guest on "The Jack Benny Show". I have a feeling it was far out of his comfort zone.