This is one of my favorite episodes of The Phil Silvers Show aka You'll Never Get Rich aka Sgt. Bilko. Writer-Producer Nat Hiken had worked for some unstable comedians in radio and early TV. He'd also dealt with a lot of sponsors and ad agencies who didn't let knowing nothing about comedy stop them from critiquing everything. So this installment about an unstable comedian and his know-nothing producers and sponsors was probably a lot of fun for Hiken and his co-writer Billy Friedberg to write.
And it works to a large extent because of the man in the above photo, Danny Dayton, who I consider one of the great unsung comic actors of stage and screen. You may not know his name but he was all over TV and occasionally in movies for many years, always great but never quite becoming as famous as I think he deserved. Here — before we get to the Bilko episode, here's Danny Dayton in the movie version of Guys and Dolls, performing with Stubby Kaye and Johnny Silver. Mr. Dayton played Rusty Charlie, the horseplayer in the tan suit…
Recognize him now? I didn't think so. But he had showy parts on lots of programs you watched including a recurring part on All in the Family and Archie Bunker's Place as Archie's pal, Hank Pivnik.
He was on the Bilko show in other roles but his best appearance was in this one. He played the neurotic comedian Buddy Bickford, who combined the worst traits of Red Buttons, Milton Berle and a few others. In so doing, he did the impossible. He actually stole an episode from Phil Silvers. I'm not sure anyone else ever managed that…
In addition to being a great comic actor, Danny Dayton was also a director for the stage and television. He was a cast replacement and stand-by for many of the roles in the original Broadway production of my favorite musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Zero Mostel was the original Pseudolus and then when he left the show, he was replaced by Dick Shawn. After Shawn left, he was replaced by Danny Dayton.
After the show closed on Broadway, Dayton played Pseudolus in some national tours and regional productions, often doubling as director. More people probably saw him in the role than saw Mostel and Shawn combined. In the mid-eighties when he was mainly directing for TV, I got to see him do what may have been the last time he did Forum on stage. He was as fine in the lead as anyone else I ever saw…and I've seen a lot of Pseudoluses. So I wanted to call attention to him.
Also in the Bilko episode, you may have noticed a cameo by Virginia Ruth "Jennie" Lewis, a popular TV personality of the fifties known professionally as Dagmar. She turned up on a great many programs as a dumb blonde type and there were a great many jokes made about her voluptuous figure. At the time this episode of Phil Silvers' show was done (it first aired on 2/12/57), she was also Mrs. Danny Dayton.