{{Short description|American television comedy-variety program}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox television | image = | image_size = | image_upright = | image_alt = | caption = | genre = Variety | director = Ezra Stone | music = {{Plainlist| * Al Goodman * Charles Sanford }} | country = United States | language = | num_seasons = | num_episodes = | producer = Ezra Stone | network = NBC | first_aired = {{Start date|1949|06|28}} | last_aired = {{End date|1949|10|27}} }} '''''Fireball Fun for All''''' is an American television comedy-variety program<ref name="cd">{{cite book |last1=Brooks |first1=Tim |last2=Marsh |first2=Earle F. |title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present |date=June 24, 2009 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-48320-1 |pages=473–474 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&dq=%22Fireball+Fun+for+All%22&pg=PA473 |access-date=November 2, 2022 |language=en}}</ref> that was broadcast on NBC from June 28, 1949 to October 27, 1949.<ref name=tt>{{cite book|last1=McNeil|first1=Alex|title=Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present |date=1996|publisher=Penguin Books USA, Inc.|location=New York, New York|isbn=0-14-02-4916-8|page= 285|edition=4th}}</ref> Hooper Ratings for July 1949 showed the program leading all TV shows with a rating of 46.2.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=September 5, 1949 |page=54 |title=Telerating: Olsen & Johnson Lead |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1949/1949-09-05-BC.pdf#page=56 |magazine=Broadcasting |access-date=November 3, 2022}}</ref>

== Format and personnel == Debuting as a summer replacement for ''Texaco Star Theater'', the program was hosted by the comedy team of Olsen and Johnson and featured slapstick comedy and sight gags.<ref name="tt" /> Viewers saw sights that included baboons, beautiful girls, collapsing stages, explosions, leopard men, midgets, and wild costumes.<ref name=":0" />

The show was based on the duo's "extravaganza that made them world-famous",<ref name=":0">{{cite magazine |date=October 1949 |pages=52–53 |title=Olsen & Johnson: Fun for All |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Best/Radio-Best-1949-10.pdf#page=52 |magazine=Radio and Television Best |access-date=November 3, 2022 }}</ref> ''Hellzapoppin.'' Regulars on the program were Ole Olsen, Chick Johnson, Bill Hayes, Marty May, June Johnson, J. C. Olsen, and The Buick Belles. Al Goodman's orchestra initially provided music. In July that group was replaced by Charles Sanford's orchestra.<ref name="cd" />

The premiere episode had a mobile TV unit stationed outside the theater, with announcer May greeting celebrities as they arrived for the broadcast.<ref>{{cite news |title=Olsen & Johnson Set For Opening |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112436577/fireball-fun-for-all/ |access-date=November 2, 2022 |work=The Daily Record |date=June 22, 1949 |location=New Jersey, Long Branch |page=7}}</ref>

==Critical reception==

''Fireball'' brought many elements of ''Hellzapoppin'' to TV. In the process of doing so, media historian Hal Erickson wrote, "the traditions of the 'standard' variety program were blown to pieces".<ref name="he" /> In his book ''"From Beautiful Downtown Burbank": A Critical History of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, 1968-1973'', Erickson described the opening sequence of one episode: <blockquote>An attractive singing ensemble, suddenly enveloped by smoke, begins screaming as the stage trembles earthquake-style. When the smoke clears, the curtain rises (carrying a struggling chorus girl with it) to reveal a brick wall, which in turn is smashed down by Olsen and Johnson, who shout belligerently "All right — who locked the front door?<ref name="he" /></blockquote>

Erickson attributed the program's lack of success to Olsen and Johnson's failure to adapt their comedy style to the constraints of television receivers of that era. He wrote that Milton Berle "learned early on to scale his performance down to television level without losing any of his essential raw energy" but Olsen and Johnson did not do so.<ref name="he" />

Will Jones, writing in the ''Minneapolis Morning Tribune'' after having seen a kinescope of the first episode of the show, commented, "Milton Berle now has a television rival".<ref name="mmt">{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Will |title=Ole, Chic Keep TV Pot Berling |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112435723/star-tribune/ |access-date=November 2, 2022 |work=Minneapolis Morning Tribune |date=July 12, 1949 |page=14|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> He added, however, "And there's some question how long they'll be able to hold the pace," noting that so much activity was packed into the hour-long show that it seemed more like a half-hour.<ref name="mmt" />

A review in ''Radio and Television Best'' magazine noted a change in the program after the first two episodes, which "consisted of nothing but brash pie-in-the-face kind of stuff" that kept the reviewer "annoyed to chagrin".<ref name=rtbreview>{{cite magazine |date=October 1949 |page=70 |title=Olsen & Johnson |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Best/Radio-Best-1949-10.pdf#page=70 |magazine=Radio and Television Best |access-date=November 3, 2022 }}</ref> The third broadcast, however, was described as better organized with improved performances, including a dance team, a tumbling trio, and a medley by the program's singers.<ref name=rtbreview/>

== Production == ''Fireball Fun for All'' was broadcast from the Center Theatre in New York City. Ezra Stone produced and directed.<ref name="tt" /> Eddie Cline was assistant director for the last five episodes.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Foote |first1=Lisle |title=Buster Keaton's Crew: The Team Behind His Silent Films |date=October 31, 2014 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-9683-9 |page=72 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xl-QBQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Fireball+Fun+for+All%22&pg=PA72 |access-date=November 2, 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Don Walker orchestrated the music.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Suskin |first1=Steven |title=The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators and Orchestrations |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-979084-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yy_9UJLhAUMC&dq=%22Fireball+Fun+for+All%22&pg=PT64 |access-date=November 2, 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Dave Gould was choreographer for four weeks.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Delson |first1=Susan |title=Soundies and the Changing Image of Black Americans on Screen: One Dime at a Time |date=December 7, 2021 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-05856-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sEJFEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Fireball+Fun+for+All%22&pg=PT152 |access-date=November 2, 2022 |language=en}}</ref> The program used five cameras<ref>{{cite book |last1=McMahon |first1=Ed |last2=Fisher |first2=David C. |title=When Television Was Young: The Inside Story with Memories by Legends of the Small Screen |date=September 9, 2007 |publisher=Thomas Nelson |isbn=978-1-4185-7841-1 |page=94 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2uN_AkdwAioC&dq=%22Fireball+Fun+for+All%22&pg=PA94 |access-date=November 2, 2022 |language=en}}</ref> and was sponsored by General Motors.<ref name="he">{{cite book |last1=Erickson |first1=Hal |title="From Beautiful Downtown Burbank": A Critical History of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, 1968-1973 |date=July 11, 2015 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-0078-9 |pages=31–32 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4HQwCgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Fireball+Fun+for+All%22&pg=PA31 |access-date=November 2, 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fireball Fun for All}} Category:1949 American television series debuts Category:1949 American television series endings Category:1940s American comedy television series Category:1940s American variety television series Category:NBC original programming Category:Television shows filmed in New York City