This Is Show Business
| This Is Show Business | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Talk show |
| Directed by | Byron Paul |
| Starring |
Clifton Fadiman Sam Levenson Abe Burrows George S. Kaufman Walter Slezak Jacqueline Susann |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Irving Mansfield (1956) |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 24–26 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network |
CBS (1949–1954) NBC (1956) |
| Picture format | Black-and-white |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | July 15, 1949 – September 11, 1956 |
This Is Show Business is an American panel discussion program about the entertainment industry, hosted by Clifton Fadiman, which aired on CBS Television from July 15, 1949 to March 9, 1954, and then again as a summer series on NBC Television from June 26 to September 11, 1956.
Guest celebrities, such as Billie Burke, Merv Griffin, or Dave Garroway dropped by to visit the panel of intellectuals and humorists, including Sam Levenson, Abe Burrows, and playwright George S. Kaufman. In September 1951, This Is Show Business entered television history as the first CBS program to have been televised live from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts. Kaufman, who was Jewish, was suspended due to viewer complaints after the December 21, 1952, Christmas broadcast in which he said, "Let's make this one program on which no one sings "Silent Night"!"
On September 29, 1953, Jackie Gleason, Phil Foster, and John Raitt were This Is Show Business guest stars.
After its five-year run on CBS, the series resumed for the summer of 1956 on NBC. This time the panel consisted of Burrows, Walter Slezak, and actress Jacqueline Susann, future author of the novel Valley of the Dolls. Susann's husband, Irving Mansfield, was the producer of the later episodes. Byron Paul was the director.
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