October 17th 1959: Until now viewers who have been amazed at the brash antics of Phil as Sergeant Bilko over the past few years may have found their eyebrows up against their hairlines when they saw Phil in his newest creation The Ballad of Louie the Louse, an original musical-comedy special.
Phil said of the character, "Louie the Louse makes Bilko look like a Sunday school teacher.
He is Shylock, Captain Hook and the entire Medici family all rolled into one and operating on
Broadway."
According to Nat Hiken, creator of the show, he is "the dirtiest rat who ever lived. Whereas Bilko
could have probably bought Manhattan Island from the Indians for $19.95, Louie the Louse
would have taken the island as security for a $2 loan."
In this comedy special, produced by Nat Hiken and costarring Betsy Palmer, Eddie Albert and
Pert Kelton, Phil portrays a Broadway loan shark, an angler who keeps a stable of stumblebums
under his thumb by means of exorbtant interest rates, blackmail and any other variety of dark
schemes.
When Louie reportedly drowns at sea, his clients ---- or victims ---- go into mass mourning and
vow that his death will reform them. But it develops that the announcement was premature, and
when Louie returns, he tries to undo the damage that has been done to his customers.
Phil Silvers realized it would be hard for the public to separate Ernie Bilko from any new character
he tries and you see plenty of overtones of Bilko as he plays this role of Louie Cramfield.
This delightful show followed Phil's theory that variety programmes with the same old guest stars
are dull, so here was an original musical show, with the cast chosen through their fitness for their
roles.
The music is mostly comedy songs, and the situation is basically a funny one.......
There are some wonderful characters here ------ the shark's nephew, who keeps the books; the
old beggar lady; the inveterate horse player; the ex-Pulitzer Prize winner who couldn't live with the
honour and his sarcastic lady friend.
All-in-all a show that was well worth watching.
Promotional LP, on mp3, for The Ballad of Louie the Louse.
Special thanks to Katrhleen and Jake for their tremendous work in converting this.
Mp3 approximately 3.5mb
 | ||||
