Musical Comedy Time is a series of live hour-long adaptations of Broadway musical comedies and standard operettas that aired on NBC from October 2, 1950 to March 19, 1951.
Anything Goes
Oct 2, 1950
The action takes place on the SS AMERICAN, sailing from New York to England. On board are the beautiful American heiress Hope Harcourt, her English fiancé Sir Evelyn Oakleigh and Hope's mother. Stowing away on board is Billy Crocker, a young admirer of Hope'0 who can't believe she would really marry the silly S1r Evelyn and determines to try and stop her. Public Enemy Number Thirteen, with his moll Bonnie, is also along for the ride and he passes on to Billy the passport and ticket of a gangster friend of his who didn't catch the boat. This leads, to unwelcome complications for Billy as he and the Public Enemy have to keep changing disguises to avoid arrest. Keeping the steam at boiling point in the ship's engine room arid working the stabilisers overtime is sexy, incandescent Reno Sweency, ex-evangelist and currently right club singer, With her help all the shipboard disasters are averted and all the romances sorted out including her own.
Whoopee!
Oct 16, 1950
Hypochondriac millionaire Henry Williams moves out west to Arizona for his health, with his long-suffering nurse Mary Custer in tow. Romantic complications ensue when Henry involves himself in the affairs of Sally Morgan who is engaged to the local sheriff but is really in love with an Indian brave.
The Chocolate Soldier
Oct 30, 1950
When Lieutenant Bumerli, a Swiss mercenary in the Serbian army, takes refuge from his Bulgarian enemies in the house of a Bulgarian general - to be precise, in the daughter's bedroom - he sets hearts a-flutter, almost compromises three ladies and then ruins the daughter's wedding to a Bulgarian soldier-hero by being recognised as the fugitive! This is just as well because he and Nadina, the daughter, were destined for each other anyway.
Rio Rita
Nov 13, 1950
The Texas Rangers are hunting a notorious bandit known only as the Kinkajou. The Rangers are lead by a handsome macho-man, Jim. Jim loves Rio Rita but General Esteban, who also loves her, persuades Rita that Jim courts her because he believes that the man they are looking is her brother. Only when Jim arrests Esteban as the real villain can he and Rita hope for happiness.
The Merry Widow
Nov 27, 1950
Hanna Glawari, the merry widow, faces a dilemma. Pontevedro, her native country, will be left bankrupt if she weds a foreigner. An Embassy plot to marry her off to the debonair Count Danilo Danilovitch is complicated by the secret affair which has developed between the French attaché and the Ambassador's wife. This light-hearted tale of political and amorous intrigue unfolds amidst the gaiety of high society in turn-of-the-century Paris.
Hit the Deck
Dec 11, 1950
Loulou is the owner of a Newport coffee house. She falls in love with Bilge, one of the many sailors who patronise her eatery whenever they're in port. But Bilge is reluctant to consider marriage. So Loulou takes a small fortune she has come into and follows him all the way to China. When she finally seems to have won her point, Bilge discovers she is wealthy. Bilge is unwilling to marry but Loulou wins this round by agreeing to sign away her money to their first child.
Babes in Toyland
Dec 25, 1950
One hour version of Herbert's most famous operetta providing fun for the entire family as Mother Goose and all the favorite nursery rhyme characters deal with Silas Barnaby's attempt to steal Toyland.
Miss Liberty
Jan 8, 1951
It is 1885 and Horace, a newspaper photographer, is fired when he bungles the important assignment of covering the Statue of Liberty ceremonies. At his girl friend Maisie's urging, he goes to Paris in pursuit of the ultimate scoop-to discover the model who actually posed for the statue. When he finds her in sculptor Bartholdi's studio, Maisie sets about persuading the competing paper from which Horace was sacked to underwrite a U.S. tour for the model. What Horace doesn't realize is that he has the wrong model, and what Maisie doesn't know is that Horace has fallen in love with her. Upon their return from Paris, some antic and heartfelt complications ensue but a happy ending is inevitable.
Louisiana Purchase
Jan 22, 1951
Set in New Orleans, this musical lampoons Huey Long and his strangle-hold on Louisiana Politics. When Senator Oliver P. Loganberry arrives in the Big Easy to investigate the dubious doings at the Louisiana Purchasing Company, it isn't long before he's set up for plenty of trouble himself.
Mlle. Modiste
Feb 5, 1951
Operetta about Fifi, an aspiring prima donna, who works in Mme. Cecile's Parisian hat shop.
No! No! Nanette!
Mar 5, 1951
This episode concerns a bible salesman called Jimmy Smith and the troubles that he gets into, and out of, on a summer weekend in New York and Atlantic City.
Flying High
Mar 19, 1951
High-flying tale about an oddball inventor and his revolutionary flying machine. He inadvertantly breaks the world record for high flying due to a fault in the landing gear of his plane.
