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''Silent Show'' was an American half-hour television comedy special created by and starring Ernie Kovacs. It was broadcast in the United States on the NBC network in 1957. It was selected by the United States as the only television program screened at the 1958 World's Fair in Brussels. Kovacs restaged and expanded the "Eugene" sketch for the ABC network in 1961. == Background == In 1956, NBC, wanting to present to the public an example of the new technology of color television, hired Ernie Kovacs to write and star in one of the first color television shows to be broadcast. Although NBC was more interested in the "visual splendor" of what would be shown, Ernie Kovacs went one step further and, aside from his opening monologue and the Dutch Masters cigar commercials, decided to banish all human conversation from the show. NBC had another reason for this special: a hole in its lineup for a particular Friday night. After Jerry Lewis broke up his longtime partnership with Dean Martin, NBC had offered Lewis the opportunity to host his own ninety-minute color TV special 9:30–11 pm (EST) on Friday January 19, 1957. Lewis decided to use only the first sixty minutes, leaving the network thirty minutes to fill. No one could be found to take over a time slot following the solo television premiere of a comedy superstar, other than Kovacs, who was more than willing to try something new.〔〔〔(Ben Model, "Ernie's Life Magazine cover," Silent Clowns Film Series )〕 In an interview prior to the show's airing, Kovacs described his work as "radio in reverse", saying that radio provided dialogue, leaving listeners to use imagination to fill in the visual details. In presenting a silent half-hour with Eugene, he supplied the pictures and left the dialogue up to the viewer's imagination.〔 Kovacs began the show with this: There's a great deal of conversation that takes place on television. From way in the morning 6 AM... to all hours of the night. I thought perhaps... you might like to spend a half hour without hearing any dialogue at all. The NBC version aired live; a second version of the show was created on B&W videotape and broadcast November 10, 1961, on the ABC network. An excerpt of the color show was aired as part of the NBC 50th Anniversary Special in 1976. When Kovacs outlined his plan for a 30-minute silent broadcast to NBC, the network's reaction was one of disbelief. During rehearsals for the program, network executives made disparaging remarks. Kovacs became angry and walked out, telling them to show a western film they had in reserve instead; he was then able to proceed as he wanted. Kovacs' wife, Edie Adams, recalled that this experience was the reason Ernie wrote the novel ''Zoomar''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Silent Show」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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