September 27, 1954 - January 25, 1957. This evenings telecast is the final TONIGHT! show starring Steve Allen. A farewell party is staged. All the regular singers are featured in musical numbers and Steve uses some of the 'gimmicks which found great popularity on show during the 2 1/2 years on air, including the big salami, and goo goo dolls. Steve speaks briefly to some of the men on the new "Tonight" show which starts next week. They include Jack Lescoulie, Earl Wilson, Hy Gardner, & Bob Considine. 

The basic format of The Tonight! Show was established during Allen's tenure: an opening monologue, a segment involving the studio audience (through interviews or games such as "Stump the Band"), and a simple set (a desk and chair for the host, a couch for the guests), all trademarks of the Allen era. Allen inaugurated the out-of-town broadcast (the first one was done from Miami), the one guest show (Carl Sandburg was the first solo guest), and the one topic show (entire programs devoted to such subjects as narcotics, civil rights, and black music). Allen also established the practice of paying his guests only "scale," the minimum fee required by union-network contract (this practice led to a highly publicized  feud between Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan and later between Jack Paar and Ed Sullivan, as Sullivan paid top dollar for his guests). Though Allen's Tonight! show closely resembled the shows of his successors, Jack Paar and Johnny Carson, it was more a musical show; Allen himself was an accomplished musician and composer (he wrote his theme, "This Could Be The Start of Something Big"), and he employed a nucleus of musical regulars on his show. In addition to announcer – sidekick Gene Rayburn, the show featured singers Steve Lawrence (who was only seventeen when he began singing on Allen's local show), Eydie Gormé (who subsequently married Steve Lawrence), Andy Williams (who later hosted several series of his own), and Pat Marshall (who was succeeded by Pat Kirby).  Skitch Henderson led the Orchestra.                                                    

September 27, 1954 - January 25, 1957. This evenings telecast is the final TONIGHT! show starring Steve Allen. A farewell party is staged. All the regular singers are featured in musical numbers and Steve uses some of the 'gimmicks which found great popularity on show during the 2 1/2 years on air, including the big salami, and goo goo dolls. Steve speaks briefly to some of the men on the new "Tonight" show which starts next week. They include Jack Lescoulie, Earl Wilson, Hy Gardner, & Bob Considine. 

The basic format of The Tonight! Show was established during Allen's tenure: an opening monologue, a segment involving the studio audience (through interviews or games such as "Stump the Band"), and a simple set (a desk and chair for the host, a couch for the guests), all trademarks of the Allen era. Allen inaugurated the out-of-town broadcast (the first one was done from Miami), the one guest show (Carl Sandburg was the first solo guest), and the one topic show (entire programs devoted to such subjects as narcotics, civil rights, and black music). Allen also established the practice of paying his guests only "scale," the minimum fee required by union-network contract (this practice led to a highly publicized  feud between Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan and later between Jack Paar and Ed Sullivan, as Sullivan paid top dollar for his guests). Though Allen's Tonight! show closely resembled the shows of his successors, Jack Paar and Johnny Carson, it was more a musical show; Allen himself was an accomplished musician and composer (he wrote his theme, "This Could Be The Start of Something Big"), and he employed a nucleus of musical regulars on his show. In addition to announcer – sidekick Gene Rayburn, the show featured singers Steve Lawrence (who was only seventeen when he began singing on Allen's local show), Eydie Gormé (who subsequently married Steve Lawrence), Andy Williams (who later hosted several series of his own), and Pat Marshall (who was succeeded by Pat Kirby).  Skitch Henderson led the Orchestra.      

Duplicate of #6967. Farewell Party. After two and one half years, Steve Allen hosts his final Tonight Show. 

Andy Williams sings a new song, "Butterfly." Tonight Show stage hands behind the scenes bid farewell to Steve.                                                                 

September 13, 1967-May 12, 1971. This was the "Class of '68" broadcast. The 1967 version of "The Kraft Music Hall" was an hour show, which lasted four seasons. It was hosted by a guest celebrity each week.  

Duplicate Of #3571.           

October 1, 1962-May 22, 1992. Johnny Carson, host of NBC's network late-night "Tonight Show" reigned for 30 unprecedented years...five times the combined tenure of Steve Allen, and Jack Paar. Carson was impervious to competition, including efforts to dethrone him by Les Crane, Joey Bishop, Merv Griffin, Dick Cavett, Jack Paar, Pat Sajak, Joan Rivers, and Arsenio Hall. Sadly, very few complete "Tonight Show" broadcasts survive during Johnny Carson's first ten years of broadcasting. Around 1965, through the early 1970's, oldest tapes were first erased systematically by orders from myopic NBC executives, to be recycled for purposes of saving money. Ironically, in many cases, these older master tapes were too brittle, and portended probable drop-outs for re-use after being erased. Subsequently blank after being erased, these older questionable master 2" Quad tapes were either sparingly used or never used again for recording new programming and eventually were discarded. Saving thousands of dollars at the time (wiping master tapes for potential re-use) resulted in losing millions of dollars by NBC in today's marketplace, and more importantly wiping thousands of historic TONIGHT SHOW broadcasts, which contain precious personal anecdotes from political, show business, and sports icons of the past.
  
  

Guests: Glen Campbell, Rod McKuen, Irwin Corey, Marion Mercer, Elizabeth Post.  

 NOTE: This specific TONIGHT SHOW may only contain an opening monologue by Johnny Carson. 
Other content, as listed, will have to be monitored and confirmed upon your order request. 
                                 

January 5, 1968-April 26, 1968; September 27, 1968-January 31, 1969. This hour-long variety show was staged at a different military base each week and was hosted by a guest star. 

Ed Ames guest host, broadcast from Pensacola, Florida.
Ed sings "Travelin'Band," "They Call the Wind Maria."

Kane Triplets sing "If I Had a Hammer."

Dusty Springfield sings, "Come Back to Me"; medley: "Silver Threads and Golden Needles," "I Only Want to Be with You," "Stay Awhile," "The Look of Love," "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me."                         

October 1st, 1962-March 29th, 1963-NBC Daytime
1965-1969 Syndicated
August 18th, 1969- February 11th, 1972- CBS
1972-1986- Syndicated.

From August 18th, 1969- February 11th, 1972 Merv Griffin appeared in a late-night talk show format on CBS-TV. It's believed that all of his CBS talk shows were bulk-erased by the network. In 1972, Griffin returned to the syndication market where he remained until 1986.

Guest Host: Bob Crane. Guests: Henny Youngman, Paul Anka, Professor Irwin Corey. 
                                                                            

June 22, 1966-September 7, 1966 (CBS); 1968 (Syndicated). The first of pop singer John Gary's variety hours was a summer replacement for "The Danny Kaye Show." The second show was a syndicated effort and featured Sammy Spear's Orchestra.             

Mickey Rooney is roasted. George Jessel emcees this hour variety roast series featuring testimonials to guests of honor. This syndicated series aired from September 15, 1968, to March 9, 1969. Reruns ran through March 1, 1970. 

Duplicate of # 3005.            

1963-1982 (SYNDICATED). Mike Douglas hosted one of television's longest-running talk shows (19 years). Each week Douglas was joined by a different co-host. In 1967, "The Mike Douglas Show" became the first syndicated talk show to win an Emmy Award.



Broadcast from 1963-1978 in Philadelphia
Broadcast from 1978-1982 in Los Angeles

Co-Host: Jackie Gleason