A Live TV Musical: HIT THE DECK (1950)

Welcome to a new Musical Theatre Monday! In today’s entry, I’m sharing a rare audio recording — songs only — of the live December 11th, 1950 TV broadcast of the Vincent Youmans musical Hit The Deck (1927), which opened on Broadway 90 years ago this month and was first covered here back in 2015. This production aired just once on NBC’s Musical Comedy Time and featured John Beal, Iva Withers, Helen Dowdy, and Jack Gilford. Songs include: “Join The Navy,” “Looloo,” “What’s A Kiss Among Friends?” (incomplete), “Harbor Of My Heart,” “Shore Leave,” “Lucky Bird,” “Sometimes I’m Happy,” “Why, Oh Why?,” and “Hallelujah!”

 

Musical Comedy Time: Hit The Deck (Aired: 12/11/50, NBC)

 

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Come back on the third Monday of next month for a new Musical Theatre post! And tune in tomorrow for my thoughts on the best episodes from the final season of Murphy Brown!

8 thoughts on “A Live TV Musical: HIT THE DECK (1950)

  1. Wow, Finally found something from this tv show that still exists . They list all the musicals that are available to listen to but when you try you are told that they are not available.There are about ten of them. Hope you can find more especially Whoopee. Miss your Monday musical blogs. Thanks, Bob K.

    • Hi, Bob! Thanks for reading and commenting.

      No videos are known to circulate of MUSICAL COMEDY TIME (although I think LOUISIANA PURCHASE exists) — and nothing from the series’ production of WHOOPEE!, sadly.

  2. Thanks for this. I only discovered Vincent Youmans a year ago. In fact, that discovery is what wound up leading me to your site a while back. Anyway I’ve become a big Youmans fan since that time and it was great hearing this old recording, which was made before my time.

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