8.4 /10 1 Votes
Genre Variety Starring Pat Boone Country of origin United States First episode date 23 October 1957 Number of seasons 3 Cast Pat Boone | 8.3/10 IMDb Written by Al Cohn Composer(s) Arthur Malvin Original language(s) English Final episode date 23 June 1960 Number of episodes 115 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Network American Broadcasting Company Similar The Ford Show, The Dinah Shore Chevy Sh, Variety show, Arthur Godfrey's Talent Sc, The Original Amateur | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom is a half-hour variety show that aired on ABC-TV from October 3, 1957 to June 23, 1960, starring the young singer Pat Boone and a host of top-name guest stars sponsored by Chevrolet. Boone, a descendant of Kentucky frontiersman Daniel Boone, was, at 23, still attending Columbia University in New York City when the program began production. Upon his graduation from Columbia in 1958, TV Guide pictured him in his cap and gown on the magazine cover. Boone, the No. 10 all-time vocalist in sales, was at the time the youngest person to host his own network variety program until ABC's The Donny & Marie Show, with two hosts, broke the record in 1976.
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Series Regulars
In addition to Pat, regular performers throughout the three season-run included the Artie Malvin Chorus, the Bill Foster Dancers, the Mort Lindsey Orchestra and singer Louise O'Brien.
Guest star roster
Among the entertainers who joined Boone were Italian actress and opera singer Anna Maria Alberghetti in the premiere episode. Shirley Jones, later the mother on ABC's The Partridge Family, guest starred in the second episode, and Janis Paige, whose own attempt at network television, It's Always Jan, a 1955-1956 CBS situation comedy had ended after twenty-six weeks, was the guest on the third episode. Many of Boone's guests were rock and roll singers, such as Bobby Rydell, Fabian, and Connie Francis, but Country and Western stars Red Foley (Boone's father-in-law), Roy Rogers, and The Sons of the Pioneers also performed.
Boone was "discovered" in 1954 on both Ted Mack and the Original Amateur Hour and Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. Godfrey was among Boone's long list of guest stars on the ABC variety program. Andy Williams, later star of his own NBC-TV series The Andy Williams Show, was a semi-regular, having appeared on the program six times; Carmel Quinn, Jaye P. Morgan and Joel Grey, three times each.
Other guests were Edie Adams, Eddie Albert, Steve Allen, Don Ameche, The Ames Brothers, Frankie Avalon, Gertrude Berg, Tony Bennett, Polly Bergen, Teresa Brewer, Edd Byrnes (then teamed with Connie Stevens), Pat Carroll, Jeannie Carson, Jackie Cooper, Gary Crosby, Danny & The Juniors, Jimmy Dean, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Celeste Holm, Rocky Graziano, Tab Hunter, Stubby Kaye, Steve Lawrence, Peggy Lee, Shari Lewis, Gina Lollobrigida, Gordon MacRae, Gisele MacKenzie, The McGuire Sisters, Dick Van Dyke, Julius LaRosa, Louis Nye, Maureen O'Hara, Cliff Richard, Ginger Rogers, George Shearing, Dinah Shore, Jo Stafford, Gale Storm, Mel Torme, Dick Van Dyke, and David Wayne.
Boone also invited numerous African American singers to his program, including Pearl Bailey, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Mathis, and The Mills Brothers.