Little known to most, the late Stephen Sondheim had personal history with the medium — his first professional writing gig in 1952 was as a scriptwriter for the supernatural sitcom Topper.
OPEN MIKE BY STUART BROTMAN
Broadway Legend Stephen Sondheim Loved Television, Too
Stuart Brotman
In 2005, when I was serving as president and CEO of The Museum of Television & Radio (now The Paley Center for Media), I wanted to celebrate Stephen Sondheim’s 75th birthday in a special way.
Sondheim and Television? Indeed. With the diligent work of the museum’s curators, we presented the first comprehensive collection of Sondheim’s video highlights, entitled “Good Thing Going,” which screened for the public in New York City from March 18 to July 3 that year.
Little known to most, Sondheim loved the medium, perhaps since his first professional writing gig was as a scriptwriter for the supernatural sitcom Topper [which debuted on CBS in October 1953].
And in 1966, the only Sondheim musical expressly written for television — Evening Primrose, starring Anthony Perkins and Charmian Carr, had aired in primetime on ABC.
Ever gracious, he wrote me a personal wrote after our tribute was launched expressing deep gratitude that his work was captured so lovingly in various television genres — interviews, documentaries and, of course, a rich selection of performances from his various Tony-nominated and award-winning musicals by the likes of Ethel Merman, Bernadette Peters, Angela Lansbury and Elaine Stritch.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
He also was pleased that we had included a 1977 rendition of “Broadway Baby” from the musical Follies, which had aired as a skit on Saturday Night Live. That was performed by a most improbable group of Sondheim singers: Lily Tomlin, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman.
Stuart N. Brotman is the author of the forthcoming book, The First Amendment Lives On.
Editor’s note: Following publication of this piece, Jane Klain, manager, research services at the Paley Center for Media, wrote of an earlier celebration of Sondheim and television: “Actually, in 2000, curator David Bushman and I conceived and curated (with the help of Barry Monush) a three-month-long screening celebrating Sondheim’s 70th birthday called Sondheim Tonight! There were three packages of rare Sondheim television programs shown from March 17 through June 25, 2000, capped by a sold-out, one-on-one discussion between Sondheim and the then-president and CEO of the Museum of Television & Radio Robert Batscha (which is available for viewing at the Paley Center).
“In 2005, to celebrate Sondheim’s 75th birthday we brought back the original 2000 screening series with the new title Good Thing Going.”
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