November 20, 1966: "Cabaret" Premieres

November 20, 1966: The musical Cabaret premieres, at the Broadhurst Theatre in Manhattan. It is based on John Van Druten's 1951 play I Am a Camera, which was based on Christopher Isherwood's 1939 novel Goodbye to Berlin.

The book is written by Joe Masteroff, the music by John Kander, and the lyrics by Fred Ebb. It's set in 1930 Berlin, as the Weimar Republic is tottering, and the Nazis are on the rise. Jill Haworth stars as singer Sally Bowles, Joel Grey as the Master of Ceremonies at the Kit Kat Club where she performs, Bert Convy as Clifford Bradshaw, and Fräulein Schneider is played by Lotte Lenya, who had fled the Nazis with her then-husband, Kurt Weill. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical. 

The story was filmed in 1972. Grey reprised his role, but was the only castmember to do so. Bob Fosse, Broadway's top choreographer, directed the film version, despite having nothing to do with the stage version, and didn't want anyone who did. The film's producers insisted on Grey, and they squabbled throughout. Fosse ended up cutting big pieces out of Grey's numbers. Grey objected to the producers, and they restored the scenes.

One of Grey's objections was that Fosse was too demanding, that he wanted the musicians and dancers to be perfect. The point was that the performers at the Kit Kat Club weren't perfect. They were just barely good enough for Berlin, and would never be good enough for Paris, London, or, God forbid, Broadway or Hollywood.

Grey said he had based his character on the emcee at a real Berlin nightclub (one who would have been a young man at the time in question), who wore loads of makeup to hide the fact that he was now old, hanging on to the last job he would ever have. The implication is that Sally is doomed to the same fate: She's not going to be a big music star. For her, as for the Emcee, this is as good as it is ever going to get. In other words, the movie is a tragedy on two levels: The rise of the Nazis, and the broken dreams of those with more desire than talent. (On the latter, I can relate.)

For the film, Sally was switched from British to American, and played by Liza Minnelli, Fräulein Schneider was played by Elisabeth Neumann-Viertel, and Clifford was renamed Brian Roberts, made British instead of American, and played by Michael York.

The film was nominated for 10 Oscars, and won 8, including Best Actress for Minnelli, Best Supporting Actor for Grey, and Best Director for Fosse -- but not Best Picture, which went to a very different kind of period piece, The Godfather.

It's worth noting that the musical premiered only 21 years, and the film 27 years, after the end of World War II. The men who fought in it, and the women who (at least temporarily) lost men who fought in it, were now in middle age, and were not yet old. Nor were many of the people who suffered living under Nazi rule. So this story, based on real events, was still fresh. For that reason, this was one of the most affecting musicals in Broadway history.

The Broadhurst Theatre still stands, at 235 West 44th Street. Among the other shows to have their debuts there have been The Petrified Forest (1935, launching Humphrey Bogart to stardom), The Streets of Paris (1939, introducing Carmen Miranda to America), Keep Off the Grass (1940, starring Jimmy Durante and, in his Broadway debut, Jackie Gleason), Auntie Mame (1956), The World of Suzie Wong (1958, starring France Nuyen and William Shatner, 10 years before they shared a Star Trek episode together), Fiorello! (1959, with Tom Bosley playing Mayor La Guardia), Oh, What a Lovely War! (1964), Play It Again, Sam (1969, written by and starring Woody Allen, 3 years before his film version), The Sunshine Boys (1972), Dancin' (1978), Amadeus (1980), The Tap Dance Kid (1983, making a star of Alfonso Ribeiro), and Broadway Bound (1986). It is currently showing Jagged Little Pill, based on the music of Alanis Morissette.

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November 20, 1966 was a Sunday. These NFL games were played that day:

* The New York Giants lost to the Atlanta Falcons, 27-16 at Yankee Stadium. The Falcons were an expansion team, and this was the 1st game they ever won.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 20-7 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Cleveland Browns beat the Washington Redskins, 14-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Baltimore Colts, 20-14 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Green Bay Packers beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bears, 13-6 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

* The Los Angeles Rams beat the Minnesota Vikings, 21-6 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* And the Philadelphia Eagles beat the San Francisco 49ers, 35-34 at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco.

In the American Football League:

* The New York Jets beat the Miami Dolphins, 30-13. The Jets, not yet a good team but with a young Joe Namath at quarterback, and playing a 1st-year expansion team, nearly got a sellout: 58,664 fans came out to Shea Stadium. But the Giants, playing another 1st-year expansion team and on the way to their worst season ever, 1-12-1, still got more fans: 62,746.

* The Boston Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs played to a tie, 27-27 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Houston Oilers, 42-20 at Rice Stadium in Houston.

* The Oakland Raiders beat the Denver Broncos, 17-3 at Bears Stadium in Denver. (It was renamed Mile High Stadium in 1968.)

* Since the AFL had an odd number of teams, each week, there was a team that had a bye, and, this time, it was the San Diego Chargers.

There was 1 NBA game played that day: The Cincinnati Royals beat the Baltimore Bullets, 125-123 at the Cincinnati Gardens. Oscar Robertson scored 40 for the Royals, and Don Ohl scored 39 for the Bullets.

And the entire NHL, all of the "Original Six," was in action. The New York Rangers lost to the Montreal Canadiens, 2-1 at the old Madison Square Garden. The Boston Bruins beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-2 at the Boston Garden. And the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Chicago Black Hawks played to a tie, 2-2 at the Chicago Stadium. 

September 5, 1976: "The Muppet Show" Premieres

Top row, left to right: Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Skrid, Waldorf, Statler,

Link Hogthrob, Dr. Teeth, Beaker.

Second row: Lew Zealand, Animal, Floyd Pepper, Rowlf.

Third row: Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, Camilla.

Bottom row: Gonzo the Great, Kermit the Frog, Scooter.

September 5, 1976: The Muppet Show premieres on British network ITV. Joel Grey is the guest host. In America, it aired in syndication, debuting on September 13, with the episode featuring Rita Moreno.

It surprised me, as a kid who watched Sesame Street, that the only Muppet to cross over to this show (with rare exceptions) was Kermit the Frog, who hosted. I was being introduced to a bunch of Muppets I'd never seen before, and didn't know. But I came to know them: Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo the Great, Rowlf the piano-playing dog, Kermit's nephew Robin, and the two old guys heckling from the corner box, Statler and Waldorf, named for old New York hotels.

The band was Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. Dr. Teeth played piano, a hippie chick named Janice played guitar, Floyd Pepper (wearing a military jacket and obviously meant to evoke the Beatles' character Sgt. Pepper) played bass, Zoot played saxophone, and, of course, the drummer was Animal.

Sketches included Muppet News Flash; The Dance, with dance marathoners making dumb jokes; The Swedish Chef, whose indecipherable recipes always went wrong; Veterinarians' Hospital, with Rowlf as a doctor assisted by Miss Piggy and Janice; Pigs In Space, with Miss Piggy serving alongside Link Hogthrob as captain ("hamming it up" while sounding like Ted Knight's Mary Tyler Moore Show character Ted Baxter) and Dr. Julius Strangepork (a German-accented homage to Dr. Strangelove and Albert Einstein); Muppet Labs, with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his beleaguered assistant Beaker; and Bear On Patrol, with Fozzie playing a cop reporting to desk sergeant Link.

Jim Henson voiced Kermit, Waldorf, Rowlf, Dr. Teeth, Link, and the Newsman. Frank Oz voiced Miss Piggy, Fozzie (name derived from "F. Oz"), Animal and Sam the Eagle. Dave Goelz voiced Gonzo, Zoot and Bunsen Honeydew. Richard Hunt voiced Scooter, Statler, Janice, Beaker and Sweetums. Jerry Nelson, better known as The Count on Sesame Street, voiced Robin, Floyd, Dr. Strangepork, Gonzo's girlfriend Camilla the Chicken, mad bomber Crazy Harry, and the dragonlike Uncle Deadly (formerly known as Skrid).

The show ran 5 seasons. Not counting guest Muppets from Sesame Street, there were 128 total guest stars in the show’s 5-year history. Three married couples appeared together as guests: Roy Rogers & Dale Evans (stayed married 'til death did they part), Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge (divorced) and Robert Shields & Lorene Yarnell (divorced). One pair of siblings appeared, but not together: Loretta Lynn and her much younger sister Crystal Gayle. One parent-child pair appeared, but not together: Indeed, Candice Bergen appeared before her father Edgar and her "brother," Charlie McCarthy, did.

Since the show was taped in London, it was more internationally-oriented than most American TV variety shows. There were 97 Americans, 21 British, 2 Canadians (Doug Henning and Anne Murray), 2 Frenchmen (Charles Aznavour and Jean-Pierre Rampal), 2 Swiss (both of them members of Mummenschanz, which also included an American), a Dane (Victor Borge), a German (Elke Sommer), a Spaniard (Señor Wences) and a Russian (Rudolf Nureyev). The only one born in Asia was Juliet Prowse, born in India while it was a British colony. She was raised in South Africa, also in the British Commonwealth at the time, making her, despite being white, the only African host.

The oldest performer was 86-year-old Señor Wences, younger than George Burns by a few months, but older than Burns was when each appeared on the show -- and Wences beat Burns in final age, 103 to 100. The youngest was 15-year-old Brooke Shields, the next-youngest being a 28-year-old Christopher Reeve. Zero Mostel was not only the first of the show's guest stars to die, but he died before his episode could air.

There were 69 men and 59 women. There were 9 black guest hosts. In order of appearance: Lena Horne, Pearl Bailey, Harry Belafonte, Lou Rawls, Shirley Bassey, Lola Falana, Leslie Uggams, Gladys Knight and Ben Vereen. There were 4 Hispanics, not counting the Spain-born Señor Wences: Rita Moreno, Raquel (Tejeda) Welch, Joan Baez and Lynda (Cordova) Carter. There were no ethnically Asian guests. There were 5 guests now known to be gay: Elton John was already out, Rudolf Nureyev didn't exactly hide it, Jim Nabors and Joel Grey came out late in life, and Liberace denied it to the end.

Although the guests came from across the spectrum of show business, no guest came from outside show business. And 9 of the guests would also appear in The Muppet Movie in 1978: Edgar Bergen, Milton Berle, James Coburn, Dom DeLuise, Bob Hope, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Steve Martin and Paul Williams. (Charles Durning, who played the film's villain Doc Hopper, was never a Muppet Show guest.)

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September 5, 1976 was a Sunday. Dutch actress Carice van Houten, known for her role as Melisandre on Game of Thrones, was born. And these Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 5-3 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Ross Grimsley Jr. outpitched Jim "Catfish" Hunter. Al Bumbry, one of several Orioles in that period that drove the Yankees nuts, hit a home run. Reggie Jackson, in his only season with the Orioles, went 1-for-4. Thurman Munson went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1 at Shea Stadium. Larry Christenson outpitched Mickey Lolich, for whom the Mets traded Rusty Staub in his prime to Detroit, not knowing Lolich was washed up. Christenson also hit 2 home runs. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-4.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 1-0 at Jarry Park in Montreal. Woodie Fryman pitched a 4-hit shutout, outpitching Jerry Reuss. José Morales, pinch-hitter extraordinaire, batted for Larry Parrish in the bottom of the 8th inning, and reached on an error by Pirate 2nd baseman Rennie Stenett, bringing Bombo Rivera home with the winning run.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 6-4 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Pete Rose went 0-for-4 with a walk. Johnny Bench went 0-for-5.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Rick Waits outpitched, ironically, Reggie Cleveland. Indians manager Frank Robinson, in his last month as an active player, did not put himself into the game. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Detroit Tigers, 8-6 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Hank Aaron, in his last month as an active player, did not appear in the game. Robin Yount went 0-for-4.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 1-0 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ron Fairly singled Lou Brock home with the game's only run in the top of the 11th inning. It made Al Hrabosky the winning pitcher, in relief of John Denny, who went 9 shutout innings. It made Joe Coleman Jr. the losing pitcher, in relief of Rick Reuschel, who went 8 shutout innings. Over 11 innings, the Cards allowed just 5 hits.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago White Sox, 18-1 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. The Twins scored 10 runs in the 5th inning. They got home runs from Roy Smalley and Dan Ford. Rod Carew went 4-for-5.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals, 3-1 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 1-for-4.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Houston Astros, 4-0 at the Astrodome in Houston. Doug Rau pitched a 3-hit shutout.

* The California Angels beat the Oakland Athletics, 3-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Nolan Ryan went the distance, allowing 3 hits and striking out 8.

* And a doubleheader was split at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The San Francisco Giants won the opener, 5-0. John Montefusco pitched a 4-hit shutout. The San Diego Padres won the nightcap, 6-1.