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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Comedy
    Comedy TV Shows - 1950s 4 Mins Read

    Phil Silvers Show, The

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    1 9 5 5 – 1 9 6 0 (USA)
    142 x 30 minute episodes
    1 x 60 minute episode

    Set in the motor pool of Fort Baxter – a remote army post in Roseville, Kansas – Phil Silvers starred as fast-talking Master Sergeant Ernest Bilko – A man whose major aim was to make money, and plenty of it.

    philsilversshow

    Bilko ran every money making scheme in the book; Poker games, Midnight cruises on Army Landing Craft, Tank Rides and a crooked deal with local service stations for spare parts and tyres for army jeeps.

    Colonel Hall constantly tried (usually in vain) to keep his plans in check. But deep down he recognised that Bilko was really in charge.

    Created by Nat Hiken (later responsible for Car 54, Where Are You?), the show featured Paul Ford as Colonel Hall, Maurice Gosfield as Doberman, Harvey Lembeck as Rocco Barbella, Joe E. Ross as Ritzik and Elizabeth Fraser as Sergeant Hogan.

    Usually, US Army personnel are depicted on TV as smart, fit, tall, handsome, virile men, eager to fight for their country and ever at the ready.

    philsilvers_232

    Bilko’s motor pool privates were scruffy, lazy, unattractive slobs who liked to do as little work as possible, never paraded, and were almost fearful of weaponry.

    Of all of Bilko’s platoon of hapless wonders, Private Duane Doberman stood out as the ultimate in slobbery – a short, appallingly-dressed fat man with an embarrassed, round, sweaty face and a high, squeaky voice.

    Doberman failed to grasp the ways of the world (the ways of the barracks even) and became the ultimate patsy in Bilko’s schemes. Mostly he arrived in a scene a few seconds late or spoke his line a few seconds late because he was supposed to. At other times it was because Gosfield’s sense of timing was awry.

    As the series progressed, more and more of the plotlines revolved around Doberman, and he eventually became a huge star. In an attempt to inject fresh impetus, the fourth season of The Phil Silvers Show was based not at Fort Baxter, but in a new location – Camp Fremont in Grove City, California.

    The end came a few months later when CBS executives pulled the plug so that they could sell the series into syndication while it was still hot.

    Despite a 1963-1964 series entitled The New Phil Silvers Show, Silvers was never able to repeat his success as Bilko and his career sadly declined until his death in 1985, aged 74.

    The Phil Silvers Show remains the benchmark against which all great sitcoms must be measured.

    TRIVIA
    Nat Hiken named Bilko after a minor league US baseball player, Steve Bilko, whom he admired, happy with the connotation that it also gave of being bilked, or cheated.

    Bilko’s platoon members were also named after sportsmen – Paparelli was a baseball umpire, Barbella was the real name of the boxer Rocky Graziano, and other boxing names (as well as genuine boxers) populated the cast.

    Master Sgt Ernest Bilko 
    Phil Silvers
    Colonel John Hall 

    Paul Ford
    Pvt Duane Doberman 

    Maurice Gosfield
    Cpl Rocco Barbella 

    Harvey Lembeck
    Sgt Rupert Ritzik 

    Joe E. Ross
    Cpl Sam Fender 

    Herbie Faye
    Cpl Henshaw 

    Allan Melvin
    Pvt Dino Paparelli 

    Billy Sands
    Sgt Joan Hogan 

    Elizabeth Fraser
    Nell Hall 

    Hope Sansberry
    Sgt Francis Grover 

    Jimmy Little
    Pvt Gander 

    Tige Andrews
    Pvt Fleischman 

    Maurice Brenner
    Pvt Sugarman 

    Terry Carter
    Pvt Claude Dillingham 

    Walter Cartier
    Sgt Stanley Sowici 

    Harry Clark
    Pvt Gomez 

    Bernard Fein
    Pvt Fielding Zimmerman 

    Mickey Freeman
    Pvt Mullen 

    Jack Healy
    Pvt Stash Kadowski 

    Karl Lukas
    Lt Anderson 

    Jim Perry
    Mrs Emma Ritzik 

    Beatrice Pons
    Capt Barker 

    Nick Saunders
    Pvt Palmer 

    P. Jay Sidney

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