A still of Dick Shawn and Renee Taylor in “The Producers,” listed as Buy It Now on EBay for $10.
Note: Eve has discontinued her YouTube Theater, but has consented to have me post the entries she has already written.
I mean, of course we knew Dick Shawn could sing, from The Producers. But I mean really sing, like Dean Martin or Bing Crosby. Old People TV has been showing reruns of The Judy Garland Show (which I am old enough to have seen first-run). He guested on a December 1963 episode which also featured Tony Bennett. Tony—I was surprised to see—was in weak voice that night and strained to hit a few notes. But then I was charmed by this absolutely adorable duet between Dick and Judy:
Gawd, that man had pipes! This is from the aired dress rehearsal, by the way—Judy’s in her casual pre-show outfit. I also recommend you get a copy of the infuriating history of The Judy Garland Show, Coyne Steven Sanders’ terrific gossipy 1990 book Rainbow’s End (avoid Mel Torme’s The Other Side of the Rainbow like the plague, for reasons made clear in Stevens’ book).
As a bonus, I leave you with one of the Punchy Players’ hilarious Judy Garland videos, from 2012:
ladailymirror.com 
Dick Shawn was a unique and fantastic talent! Tony Bennett, I believe he was lucky, never the greatest talent in the world, but give him a break! He’s 90+ years old already!
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“Old peoples TV”…..I’m going to steal that.
IMHO, the Punchy Players Judy & Cream of Wheat is their best and has never been bested.
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The Punchies are geniuses.
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I desperately want a frog from the Ann Miller Frog Collection.
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I was 11 years old when the show originally aired. My Mom and I watched it together every week. My two most vivid memories from the show are Judy and Barbra singing “Happy Times Are Here Again,” and Judy performing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” (which she sang through tears) on the night of JFK’s assassination.
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Of course, I meant “Happy DAYS…” not TIMES. *face palm*
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I knew. In 1959 he did Where’s Charlie at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, where I worked. He had quite a good voice and could also do a little Ray Bolger fooling around (dance?) stuff. The play is rarely done now and when I see mention of one of the tunes from the show …Frank Loesser… I always recall his voice, his version.
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I am so sorry to report that Old People TV is no longer running The Judy Garland show, and that the Punchy Players seem to have stopped making YouTube videos. But I urge you to look up their work and dare you not to shriek with delight at Judy and Ann’s adventures at the Piggly Wiggly and the ice-cream parlor.
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Dick Shawn sang Danny Kaye style in THE WIZARD OF BAGHDAD 1960, a corny low budget Arab fantasy movie full of Yiddish. Diane Baker was the saving grace as a pretty princess. FX shows it occasionally. Robin Williams totally stole Shawn’s shtick for his voiceover work in ALADDIN.
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