Edie Adams Variety TV Series First Time On DVD

Ernie Kovacs was a comedy pioneer in the earliest days of TV. His singular humor, his experimentation with the TV medium, and his huge personality all came together into a figure larger than life. It's no wonder that until the time of his death, some might have said that his wife Edie Adams (a star in her own rite) was more-or-less "Mrs. Ernie Kovacs".

After Ernie's untimely death, Edie was faced with massive financial obligations. She put all of her entertainment and business acumen to the test with a return to the stage, the radio, and her own TV variety show (as both lead talent AND producer) that lasted from 1962-1964. Variety shows were hardly rare on the tube in those days, but Edie brought some of that Kovacs innovation to the airwaves.

You never know what to expect from these 21 black and white episodes. Lots of music and guest stars, of course, but you might also see some dramatic acting, comedy sketches, even some visual experimentation. Among my favorites are a monlogue given by Peter Falk as a New York cabbie. Amazingly, the segment is actually shot on a busy NY city street. Few TV producers of the era were ambitious enough to roll those refrigerator-sized cameras outside the studio. Another stunning segment is Edie in London walking among destroyed buildings, still ruined from WWII.

Behind the scenes, the show had staff from Kovacs' earlier shows as well as talent that would go on to create Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. No wonder that the show manages so much eclectic energy for most of its run. The reason you haven't heard of the show is that after those early broadcasts, the master tapes were stored away. In the early 70s Edie heard of these tapes being junked, along with her hushand's other work. She went to great trouble and financial strain to rescue the remaining material, and then she sealed it all away in her vault for decades.While Kovacs' comedy work has enjoyed a certain notoriety and been rebroadcast over the years, "Here's Edie" remained sealed away. No bootleg copies ever existed, no clips on YouTube. So here's your chance to enjoy all of the episodes (including Edie's famous commercials for Murial Cigars) of this hidden gem of a show, just released on DVD. All four discs come to you in a compact package, with a terrific booklet inside authored by her son. Now we can all see that the wife of one of TV's all-time geniuses, was a genius herself too.

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