In 1967, there was this weird, minimalist TV production of the musical, Damn Yankees. It had a cast of about eight people and almost no sets or dancing, and they interspersed little cartoon sequences and the whole thing looked like it cost about ninety bucks. The most interesting thing about it was that Mr. Applegate (i.e., The Devil) was played by Phil Silvers…but even he couldn't rise far above the overall cheapness of the proceedings.
Someone edited together eleven minutes of scenes, all of which feature Fran Allison in her role as Meg, the spouse who's "deserted" by her husband Joe when he goes off to become Baseball Superstar Joe Hardy. This is the same Fran who starred for years in the delightful puppet program, Kukla, Fran and Ollie. She does a nice job here. So did Lee Remick as Lola and Jerry Lanning as Joe Hardy, and you'll see them both in this video, too. Fans of The Dick Van Dyke Show may recall Lanning for the episode where he introduced the smash dance craze that swept the nation…the Twizzle! Here he is singing better songs…
