This live musical variety series from CBS aired approximately once per month in the time slot normally occupied by the anthology series Climax!
Both series were sponsored by Chrysler Corporation and shared the same host, William Lundigan.
In contrast to the heavy dramas seen on Climax!, Shower of Stars offered viewers light entertainment featuring some of the biggest names in comedy and music. Although there were occasional plays – Lend an Ear with Edgar Bergen, Sheree North, and Mario Lanza, and A Christmas Carol with Fredric March and Basil Rathbone, for example – most of the telecasts were musical-comedy revues.
Among the performers who made multiple appearances were Betty Grable and her husband Harry James, Ed Wynn, Ethel Merman, Red Skelton, Shirley MacLaine, Frankie Laine, Van Johnson, and Bob Crosby.
The most familiar face on Shower of Stars, however, belonged to Jack Benny. He first appeared on the show as the star of Time Out for Ginger, the play that opened the 1955-1956 season, and after that turned up as one of the principal stars of virtually every telecast of Shower of Stars until it left the air in 1958.
