I've always loved Phil Silvers. Loved him in everything he ever did, even that one episode of Gilligan's Island he was in. (Did you know Mr. Silvers was one of the owners of that show? He was. A few years after Bilko went off, he returned to CBS in a new sitcom — The New Phil Silvers Show — and it was a flop. But because he was a big star when he signed on for it, he got ownership of the show and his production company, Gladasya Productions, got a commitment from the network for financial participation in a series that didn't star him. That series turned out to be Gilligan's Island and I think Silvers told me he'd made more money off that than he did off playing Sgt. Bilko.)
Anyway, I was fortunate to have a very long interview/brunch with Mr. Silvers around three years before he left us for that big Off Track Betting parlor in the sky. Our chat took place at Nate 'n Al's Delicatessen in Beverly Hills and it was quite thrilling and even included a cameo appearance by Milton Berle. Mr. Berle came in, saw that Phil was being questioned by some clown with a tape recorder and rushed over to horn in on the interview. Oddly enough, he appeared just as we were discussing how Silvers had turned down the lead in the original production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and was replaced by…Milton Berle. (Berle later dropped out and was replaced by Zero Mostel.)
Some time ago, I posted two excerpts from that chat on this site. This one is about It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and this one is about the big dance number from the movie, Cover Girl. You'll want to read the latter in conjunction with today's clip…preferably before. Silvers was enormously proud of his participation in that number, dancing alongside Gene Kelly and Rita Hayworth and matching them step for step. This was quite a feat for a guy who was not, unlike Mr. Kelly and Ms. Hayworth, a trained dancer.
One thing I hadn't realized until now is that in the interview, Silvers described it as a six-minute dance number. It isn't. They dance for a little over three minutes. But I'll bet if you had to do it, it felt like six…or a lot more. Anyway, go read the interview then come back here and watch the performance. And now I'm going to bed because just watching the performance again made me tired. Also, it's four o'clock in the friggin' morning. Good night.
