Editing Steve Allen (section)

=== Later television projects ===

==== Westinghouse ====
From 1962 to 1964, Allen recreated ''[[The Tonight Show]]'' on a new show, ''The Steve Allen Show'', which was syndicated by Westinghouse TV. The five-nights-a-week taped show was broadcast from an old vaudeville theater at 1228 North Vine Street in Hollywood that was renamed ''[[The Steve Allen Playhouse]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://cinematreasures.org/theater/1419 |title=Filmarte Theatre |location= Los Angeles |publisher=Cinema Treasures |access-date=2013-02-21}}</ref> The new Allen show could be programmed by local stations as an alternative to the networks' late-night shows, but many stations opted to broadcast the Allen show during the daytime hours.

The show was marked by the same wild, unpredictable stunts, and comedy skits that often extended across the side street to an all-night food outlet known as the Hollywood Ranch Market, where Allen had a hidden camera spying on unsuspecting shoppers. On one show, he had an elephant race down the side street, much to the annoyance of the occupants of the neighboring houses. On this show, he originated the term "little black things" in reference to anything regarding food, and the term "larger than Steve Allen's breadbox" in reference to any item under discussion. He also presented Southern California eccentrics, including health food advocate [[Gypsy Boots]], quirky physics professor Dr. [[Julius Sumner Miller]], wacko comic Professor [[Irwin Corey]], and an early musical performance by [[Frank Zappa]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Slaven|year= 1996| title= Electric Don Quixote| pages= 35–36}}</ref>

During one episode, Allen placed a telephone call to the home of Johnny Carson, posing as a rating company interviewer, asking Carson if the television was on, and what program he was watching. Carson did not immediately realize the caller was Allen. A rarity is an exchange between Allen and Carson about Carson's guests, permitting him to plug his{{who|date=May 2022}} own show on a competing network.

One notable program, which Westinghouse refused to distribute, featured [[Lenny Bruce]] during the time the comic repeatedly was being arrested on obscenity charges. Footage from this program was first telecast in 1998 in a Bruce documentary aired on [[HBO]]. [[Regis Philbin]] briefly took over hosting the Westinghouse show in 1964.

The show also featured many jazz songs played by Allen and members of the show's band, the [[Donn Trenner]] Orchestra, which included such virtuoso musicians as guitarist [[Herb Ellis]] and flamboyantly comedic hipster trombonist [[Frank Rosolino]] (whom Allen credited with originating the "Hiyo!" chant later popularized by [[Ed McMahon]]). While the show was not an overwhelming success in its day, [[David Letterman]], [[Steve Martin]], [[Harry Shearer]], [[Robin Williams]], and a number of other prominent comedians have cited Allen's "Westinghouse show," which they watched as teenagers, as being highly influential on their own comedic visions.

Allen later produced a second half-hour show for Westinghouse, titled ''[[Jazz Scene USA]]'', which featured West Coast jazz musicians such as Rosolino, [[Stan Kenton]], and [[Teddy Edwards]]. The short-lived show was hosted by [[Oscar Brown, Jr.]]

==== Network shows ====
In 1964 Allen returned to network television as moderator of the game show ''[[I've Got a Secret]]'' (replacing original host [[Garry Moore]]). In the summer of 1967, he brought most of the regulars from over the years back with ''The Steve Allen Comedy Hour'', featuring the television debuts of [[Rob Reiner]], [[Richard Dreyfuss]], and [[John Byner]], and featuring [[Ruth Buzzi]], who would become famous soon after on the comedy ensemble show ''[[Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In]]''. 

==== Filmways ====
In 1968 Steve Allen returned to syndicated variety/talk with a new show for [[Filmways]], produced and co-written by Jeff Harris and Bernie Kukoff. The show was a free-wheeling, light-entertainment blend of comedy sketches, musical specialties, and conversation. It sometimes featured the same wacky stunts that would influence David Letterman in later years, including becoming a human [[hood ornament]], jumping into vats of [[oatmeal]] and [[cottage cheese]], and being slathered with [[dog food]] before allowing dogs backstage to feast on the food. During the run of this series, Allen also introduced [[Albert Brooks]] and [[Steve Martin]] to national audiences for the first time; Allen's talent coordinator for the Filmways show was [[Bill Saluga]], who himself became a TV personality in the 1970s as "Raymond J. Johnson, Jr." ("You can call me Ray! Or you can call me Jay!"). The Filmways show was offered to local stations in both 60-minute and 90-minute versions; during each taping, after an hour had passed, Allen simply said goodbye to part of his audience and continued the show for those stations using the longer version. This Filmways show ran through 1971.

==== In the 1970s ====
Allen returned to guest host ''The Tonight Show'' for a single 1971 episode, and then became a semi-occasional guest host (15 episodes) from 1973 to 1977. After another long layoff, he guest-hosted two episodes in 1982, the last time he would host ''The Tonight Show''.

A syndicated version of ''I've Got A Secret'' hosted by Allen and featuring panelists [[Pat Carroll (actress)|Pat Carroll]] and [[Richard Dawson]] was taped in Hollywood and aired during 1972–1973 season. In 1977, he produced ''Steve Allen's Laugh-Back'', a syndicated series combining vintage Allen film clips with new talk-show material reuniting his 1950s television gang. 

==== ''Meeting of Minds'' ====
{{Quote box||align=right|width=25em|bgcolor = LightCyan|quote=It elicited a kind of mail none of us connected with its production had ever seen. What appealed to the thousands who wrote, I believe, was that they were actually given the opportunity to hear ''ideas'' on television, a medium which otherwise presents only people, things, and actions.|source=-- '''Steve Allen'''<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|302}}}}
From 1977 until 1981, Allen wrote, produced and hosted the award-winning show ''[[Meeting of Minds]]'', which aired on the [[PBS|Public Broadcasting Service]] (PBS).<ref name=mind>{{Cite magazine|url-access=subscription | magazine=Philosophy Now| title= A Mind is a Wonderful Thing to Meet| first= Tim |last= Madigan |url= http://philosophynow.org/issues/100/A_Mind_is_a_Wonderful_Thing_to_Meet | number=100 |access-date= 2014-01-29}}</ref> The series brought together actors portraying historical figures such as [[Socrates]], [[Marie Antoinette]], [[Thomas Paine]], Sir [[Thomas More]], [[Attila|Attila the Hun]], [[Karl Marx]], [[Emily Dickinson]], [[Charles Darwin]], [[Oliver Cromwell]], [[Daniel O'Connell]], [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]], and many others, as if transported from the past, all in a round table discussion and sometimes arguments. The dialogue covered issues such as racism, women's rights, crime and punishment, slavery, and religious tolerance. [[Jayne Meadows-Allen]] played most of the female characters, wisely eschewing Emily Dickinson, played by [[Katherine Helmond]], and the Empress Tz'u-hsi, played by [[Beulah Quo]].<ref name=mind /><ref name=Meeting>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gH5Nbdmdg4 "Meeting of Minds", TV show]</ref> [[Associated Press]] television columnist Peter Boyer called it the "best talk show on television", created by the person who "invented the television talk show", and added:<ref name=Boyer />
{{Blockquote | style=font-size:100% | The amazing thing about this show is that it actually comes off as a talk show, with a talk show's rhythm and pace. A truly conversational script is a tough trick to turn; Allen turns it with apparent ease.<ref>Boyer, Peter. "Meeting of Minds" shows off Steve Allen's." AP, ''Longview News-Journal'', (Longview, Texas) March 27, 1981</ref>}}

Allen was a "philosophy fanatic" and avid reader of classic literature and history. He wrote the scripts based on the actual writings and actions of the guests, and as host would lead the conversations to different subjects. He described the show as "drama disguised as a talk show."<ref name=Boyer>"Best of TV Talkshows Readies for Third Season", ''The Tennessean'' (Nashville, Tennessee), May 6, 1979</ref> Most of the female roles (Marie Antoinette, [[Catherine the Great]], [[Florence Nightingale]], et al.) were portrayed by Allen's wife, the actress [[Jayne Meadows]] – over her objections. She resisted monopolizing these roles, but Allen was insistent. She recalled in 1994, "He came to me and he said, 'You're gonna play [[Cleopatra]].' I said, 'I am ''not!'' Go away. Go away!' And he calmly said, 'It's a divorce if you don't play it.'"<ref>Jayne Meadows interview, ''Hi-Ho, Steverino!'', Arts & Entertainment Network, 1994.</ref>

Allen first conceived the show in 1959 but took almost 20 years to make it become reality.<ref name=mind /> He initially produced a version in 1971 that aired locally in Los Angeles and earned three Local Emmy Awards.<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|299}} But, although it received critical acclaim from Hollywood critics, the distributor chose not to broadcast it nationally, feeling it would not draw a large enough audience.<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|301}} Even PBS backed off on showing it, and many in the television industry felt the series was "too thoughtful" for the American public.<ref name=SecularWeb /> Allen then produced the first shows at his own expense, which resulted in attracting major backers. It eventually aired nationally, beginning in 1977.<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|301}}

The series, consisting of six hour-long episodes per season, became enormously popular. Allen received a Personal Peabody Award in 1977 for creating and hosting "a truly original show."<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|302}} The award also recognized Meadows for her various portrayals. In 1981, the show won an Emmy for Outstanding Informational Series, and Allen's writing was Emmy nominated.<ref name=Inventing />{{Rp|302}} It was the show Allen wanted to be remembered for, because he believed the issues and characters were timeless and would survive long after his death. A similar Canadian television series called ''[[Witness to Yesterday]]'', created by Arthur Voronka, aired in 1974, three years after Allen's local Emmy Award-winning program. Allen appeared on a 1976 episode of ''Witness to Yesterday'' as composer-pianist [[George Gershwin]].{{cn|date=June 2024}}

==== In the 1980s ====
After television executive [[Fred Silverman]] became head of programming at [[National Broadcasting Company|NBC]], he tried to revive some of the network's bygone successes. He signed [[Mitch Miller]] to reunite his old choral group for a new series of ''[[Sing Along with Mitch]]'' musical hours, and signed Miller to a pilot with an option for a 13-week series.<ref>Val Adams, ''New York Daily News'', Jan. 1, 1981, p. 48.</ref> The pilot aired but the series did not.

In the same vein, Silverman tried to return Steve Allen to the network. He hired Allen for two primetime projects: ''The Steve Allen Comedy Hour'' (1980), similar to Allen's 1950s variety hour, with comic characters and sketches; and ''The Big Show'' (1980), an attempt to stage spectacular events for television. A third Silverman project got the green light: Allen would return to his roots as a late-night star, in a weeknight revival of ''The Steve Allen Show''. Silverman scheduled the hourlong show for five nights a week at 12:30 a.m. Eastern time, immediately following ''The Tonight Show.'' Allen was excited about the opportunity, only to be disappointed: Johnny Carson opposed the plan and voiced his objections to Silverman. Silverman's own schedule of new NBC shows was failing (Allen's ''Comedy Hour'' ran for only five episodes and ''The Big Show'' for only eleven) and NBC couldn't afford to alienate Carson, the network's most important asset, so the new Steve Allen show was abandoned.

From 1984 to 1986, Allen created and hosted ''Steve Allen's Music Room'' which aired on the newly formed [[Disney Channel]].<ref>IMDb listing for "Steve Allen's Music Rhttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt2770782/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1oom"</ref> This was a talk show with jazz vibraphonist [[Terry Gibbs]] leading a studio band with the top Los Angeles musicians to include [[Conte Candoli]], [[Pete Candoli]], [[Carl Fontana]], [[Med Flory]], [[Plas Johnson]], [[Alan Broadbent]], and drummer [[Frankie Capp]]. 27-year-old [[Bill Maher]] was the announcer and "sidekick." The show featured musicians and entertainers including [[Melba Moore]], [[Joe Williams (jazz singer)|Joe Williams]], [[Paul Williams (songwriter)|Paul Williams]], [[Burt Bacharach]], [[Anthony Newley]], [[Rosemary Clooney]], [[Lou Rawls]], [[Dizzy Gillespie]], [[Sarah Vaughan]], and [[Henry Mancini]]. Allen spun off a similar show for Disney, ''Steve Allen's Comedy Room'', this time with professional comedians talking about comedy styles.

From 1986 through 1988, for Allen hosted a daily, three-hour long comedy program, broadcast over the [[NBC Radio Network]], featuring sketches and some of America's better-known comedians as regular guests. Allen's co-host was radio personality Mark Simone, and they were joined frequently by comedy writers [[Larry Gelbart]], of ''[[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]]'' writing fame; [[Herb Sargent]], best known for his writing for  "Saturday Night Live," and [[Bob Einstein]], who created and portrayed the hapless daredevil stuntman character, [[Super Dave Osborne]].

On October 30, 1988, Allen portrayed a radio newscaster in a remake of the famous ''[[The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama)|The War of the Worlds]]'' broadcast of fifty years earlier. The 1988 version was produced by [[WGBH (FM)|WGBH]] in Boston and picked up by 150 [[National Public Radio]] stations.