# The Red Buttons Show

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> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image                =
| caption              = 
| genre                = [Variety show](/source/Variety_show)<br />[Sitcom](/source/Sitcom)
| creator              = [Marlo Lewis](/source/Marlo_Lewis)
| director             = [Burt Shevelove](/source/Burt_Shevelove)
| developer            = CBS
| presenter            = 
| starring             = [Red Buttons](/source/Red_Buttons)
| voices               = 
| narrator             = 
| theme_music_composer = [Elliot Lawrence](/source/Elliot_Lawrence)
| open_theme            = 
| end_theme             = 
| composer             = [Mitch Miller](/source/Mitch_Miller)
| country              = United States
| language             = English
| num_seasons          = 3
| num_episodes         = 
| list_episodes        = 
| executive_producer   = Marlo Lewis
| producer             = Al Span
| editor               = 
| location             = 
| camera               = 
| company              = 
| runtime              = 30 min.
| network              = [CBS](/source/CBS)<br />[NBC](/source/NBC)
| first_aired          = {{Start date|1952|10|14}}
| last_aired           = {{End date|1955}}
| related              =  
}}
'''''The [Red Buttons](/source/Red_Buttons) Show''''' is a [variety show](/source/variety_show)/[sitcom](/source/sitcom), which premiered on the [CBS](/source/CBS) television network on October 14, 1952,<ref>{{cite news |title=This Week (Cont'd) |url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele25ross/page/n30/mode/1up?view=theater |access-date=February 10, 2022 |work=Ross Reports |date=October 12, 1952 |page=2}}</ref> and ran for two years on that network, moving to [NBC](/source/NBC) for the final 1954–55 season.

The series finished #11 for the 1952–1953 season in the [Nielsen ratings](/source/Nielsen_ratings) and #12 in 1953–1954.<ref>{{cite web |title=TV Ratings: United States |url=http://www.fiftiesweb.com/tv-ratings.htm |website=The Fifties Web |access-date=February 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120730043147/http://www.fiftiesweb.com/tv-ratings.htm |archive-date=July 30, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Format==
The CBS run of the series featured monologues, dance numbers, and sketches with Red and the other series regulars. The characters played by Red included  the boxer Rocky Buttons, the Kupke Kid, the Sad Sack, and  Keeglefarven. When the series was canceled by CBS, it moved to NBC which at first kept it as a variety show. When the ratings remained low, the program was overhauled and turned into a [sitcom](/source/sitcom) with Red playing himself as a TV comic. [Phyllis Kirk](/source/Phyllis_Kirk) played his wife, [Bobby Sherwood](/source/Bobby_Sherwood) played the director of Red's program and [Paul Lynde](/source/Paul_Lynde) played the network's vice president.<ref>{{cite book|title=[The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present](/source/The_Complete_Directory_to_Prime_Time_Network_and_Cable_TV_Shows_1946-Present)|date=2003 |publisher=Ballantine Books|isbn=0-345-45542-8}}</ref>

==CBS regulars==
*Red Buttons
*Dorothy Jolliffe
*[Pat Carroll](/source/Pat_Carroll)
*Beverly Dennis
*Allan Walker
*[Joe Silver](/source/Joe_Silver)
*Betty Ann Grave

==NBC regulars==
*Red Buttons
*[Phyllis Kirk](/source/Phyllis_Kirk)
*[Paul Lynde](/source/Paul_Lynde) as Mr. Standish
*[Bobby Sherwood](/source/Bobby_Sherwood)
*[Nelson Case](/source/Nelson_Case), announcer<ref>Alicoate, Jack, Ed. (1955). ''The 1955 Radio and Television Yearbook''. Radio Daily Corp. P. 1173.</ref>

==Production==
Bill Davenport and Johnny Green were writers for the NBC version.<ref>{{cite news |title=Other Network Changes & Additions |url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele47ross/page/n6/mode/1up?view=theater |access-date=April 14, 2023 |work=Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index |date=January 31, 1955 |page=1}}</ref> It was sponsored by Pontiac.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=March 16, 1955 |page=27 |title=Buttons Mulling '55-'56 Status |magazine=Variety |url=https://archive.org/details/variety197-1955-03/page/n180/mode/1up?view=theater |accessdate=April 16, 2023}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|44291}}
*The Red Buttons Show at [http://www.classictvhits.com/show.php?id=757 Classic TV & Movie Hits]
*The Red Buttons Show theme song lyrics at [http://www.classicthemes.com/50sTVThemes/themePages/redButtons.html Classic Themes]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Red Buttons Show}}
Category:1950s American variety television series
Category:1950s American sitcoms
Category:1952 American television series debuts
Category:1955 American television series endings
Category:American television series revived after cancellation
Category:Black-and-white American television shows
Category:CBS sitcoms
Category:NBC sitcoms

{{US-comedy-tv-prog-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [The Red Buttons Show](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Buttons_Show) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Buttons_Show?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.