Kraft Music Hall, The

1 9 5 8 – 1 9 6 2 (USA)
30 minute episodes
1 9 6 7 – 1 9 7 1 (USA)
116 x 60 minute episodes

This long-running NBC musical variety series was originally hosted on television between 1958 and 1962 by Milton Berle, Perry Como and Dave King. The show had previously been a success on the radio when it was originally hosted by Bing Crosby.

Revived by NBC in 1967 as an hour-long Wednesday night television show, The Kraft Music Hall was presented by a variety of guest hosts – usually a singer or comedian – changed on a weekly basis. These rotating hosts included Herb Alpert, Rock Hudson, Eddy Arnold, Alan King, Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon, Lorne Greene, Bobby Darin, Mike Douglas, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Jimmy Durante, Tony Randall, Mitzi Gaynor, Nancy Sinatra, Dinah Shore, Woody Allen, Henry Fonda, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore and Wayne Newton.

Many of the broadcasts were structured as “specials” such as a tribute to Hollywood musicals, “How the West was Swung”, a recreation of the old vaudeville days etc.

Guests throughout the run of the show included Jerry Stiller, Bob Hope, Paul Lynde, Don Rickles, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gormé, Johnny Cash, Bobbie Gentry, Milton Berle, Roy Rogers, Sid Caesar, Jack Benny, Bernadette Peters, Charley Pride, George Burns, Glen Campbell, Sonny & Cher, Joan Rivers, Steve Allen, Phil Silvers, The Cowsills, Ed Sullivan, Barbara Eden, The Everly Brothers, Burl Ives, Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner, Flip Wilson, Lucie Arnaz, Charles Nelson Reilly, Connie Stevens, Robert Goulet, Groucho Marx, Soupy Sales, Rich Little, Liza Minnelli, Anthony Newley, Tammy Wynette, Don Adams, Merle Haggard, Burt Bacharach, Nancy Walker, Dionne Warwick, The Four Tops, Richard Pryor, Petula Clark, Simon & Garfunkel, Frankie Valli, Sacha Distel, Ray Charles, Paul Anka, Tom Jones, Shari Lewis, Barbra Streisand, The Turtles, The Beach Boys, Tony Bennett, Martha & The Vandellas, Carl Perkins, Debbie Reynolds, Mel Tormé and Marty Robbins.

Ed Herlihy was the announcer from 1958 to 1971.

Summer replacement versions of the show were produced in 1969-1970 and hosted by Tony Sandler and Ralph Young from London and Don Ho from Hawaii.