The Phil Silvers Show, originally titled You'll Never Get Rich, is an American sitcom which ran on the CBS Television Network from 1955 to 1959. A pilot titled "Audition Show" was made in 1955, but it was never broadcast. 143 other episodes were broadcast – all half-an-hour long except for a 1959 one-hour live special. The series starred Phil Silvers as Master Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko of the United States Army.
The series was created by Nat Hiken and won three consecutive Emmy Awards for Best Comedy Series. The show is sometimes titled Sergeant Bilko or simply Bilko in reruns, and it is very often referred to by these names, both on-screen and by viewers. The show's success transformed Silvers from a journeyman comedian into a star and writer-producer Hiken from a highly regarded behind-the-scenes comedy writer into a publicly recognized creator.
Production
By 1955, the American television business was already moving westward to Los Angeles, but Nat Hiken insisted on filming the series in New York City. He believed this location was more conducive to comedic creativity and the show's humor. Early episodes were filmed at Dumont's television center in New York City – now home to WNYW-TV – with later episodes shot at the CBS "Hi Brown" Studios in Chelsea, Manhattan.
Most of the series was filmed to simulate a live performance. The actors memorized their lines and performed the scenes in sequence before a studio audience. Thus, there are occasional flubs and awkward pauses. Actor Paul Ford, playing Bilko's commanding officer, was notorious for forgetting his lines; when he would get a blank expression on his face, Silvers and the rest of the cast would improvise something to save the scene, like "Oh, you remember, Colonel, the top brass is coming..." At that point, Ford would pick up where he left off.
Creator Nat Hiken wrote or co-wrote 70 of the first 71 episodes, missing only episode 70 (the second-season finale.) He left the show after that season. In the fourth season, the writing staff included Neil Simon, who wrote or co-wrote 20 episodes, including the series finale. Future Columbia Pictures VP and theatrical agent Harvey Orkin, later known as a regular on Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life, was among the writers who were recognized with the Emmy Award for Best Comedy Writing in 1956.
Later episodes were filmed in California. Producer Mike Todd, making a guest appearance, insisted that his show should be filmed like a movie, out of sequence. The cast and crew tried it and soon found that Todd's way was easier. Production continued in this manner until the series ended in 1959.
The fact that Silvers and Hiken were both sports fans inspired some of the character names. Bilko was named after Steve Bilko, a minor league baseball player (it also had the connotation, to bilk someone). Cpl Barbella was named after middleweight boxing champion Rocky Graziano (whose birth name was Rocco Barbella). Pvt Paparelli was named after the baseball umpire Joe Paparella. According to Silvers, Pvt Doberman was so named because actor Maurice Gosfield resembled a doberman pinscher.
Premise
The series was originally set in Fort Baxter, a sleepy, unremarkable U.S. Army post in the fictional town of Roseville, Kansas. It was centered on the soldiers of the Fort Baxter motor pool under Master Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko. Bilko and his men seemed to spend little time performing their duties: Bilko in particular spent most of his time trying to wheedle money through various get-rich-quick scams and promotions, or to find ways to get others to do his work for him.
While Bilko's soldiers regularly helped him with his schemes, they were just as likely to become "pigeons" in one. Nevertheless, Bilko exhibited an odd paternalism toward his victims, and he would doggedly shield them from all outside antagonists. The sergeant's attitude toward his men has been described thus: "They were his men and if anyone was going to take them, it was going to be him and only him." Through it all, the platoon was generally loyal to Bilko, despite their wariness of his crafty nature, and they would depend on him to get them out of any military misfortune. If one of his boys was treated unfairly or was cheated in any way, Bilko always helped the injured party, using the same psychological guile and chicanery he used to outwit his suckers. This benevolent side of Bilko was toned down in the series's later seasons (with scripts, significantly, by different writers); Bilko became strictly mercenary, willing to swindle anyone for a fast buck.
Bilko's swindles were usually directed toward (or behind the back of) Col. John T. Hall, the overmatched and beleaguered post commander who had early in his career been nicknamed "Melon Head". Despite his flaws and weaknesses, Col. Hall would get the best of Bilko just often enough to establish his credentials as a wary and vigilant adversary. The colonel would frequently be shown looking out his window, worried without explanation or evidence, simply because he knew that Bilko was out there somewhere, planning something. The colonel's wife, Nell (Hope Sansberry), had only the kindest thoughts toward Bilko, who would shamelessly flatter her whenever he met her.
Bilko and Hall were not always adversaries. In an episode entitled "The Court Martial" (1956), Bilko tries to assist the colonel in setting a speed record for inducting new recruits, which accidentally results in a private's pet chimpanzee being enrolled. The animal's failure to answer when addressed by the phrase "Hurry! Speak Up!" is soon misheard and interpreted as being his name, "Harry Speakup", continuing the error and the imposture. Harry passes the medical and psychiatric exams, receives a uniform, and is formally sworn in. With the superior officers in a panic, Bilko saves the day by orchestrating an honorable discharge for the chimpanzee.
The show's setting changed with the fourth season, when the men of Fort Baxter were reassigned to Camp Fremont in California. This mass transfer was explained in storyline as being orchestrated by Bilko, who had discovered a map showing a gold deposit near the abandoned army post. One reason for the change from Kansas was so that the series could more plausibly bring in guest stars from nearby Hollywood, such as Dean Martin, Mickey Rooney, Diana Dors and Lucille Ball. Silvers played himself in one hourlong episode.
Cast
Bilko's right-hand men were Cpl. Rocco Barbella (Harvey Lembeck) and Cpl. Steve Henshaw (Allan Melvin), and his long-suffering superior was Col. John T. Hall (Paul Ford). Bilko's motorpool platoon included Herbie Faye (a former burlesque crony of Silvers) as Cpl. Sam Fender, Maurice Gosfield as Pvt. Duane Doberman, Billy Sands as Pvt. Dino Paparelli, Mickey Freeman as diminutive Pvt. Fielding Zimmerman, Tige Andrews (billed under his given name, Tiger Andrews) as Pvt. Gander, Jack Healy as the tough-talking Pvt. Mullen, Maurice Brenner as Pvt. Irving Fleischman, Karl Lukas as Pvt. Stash Kadowski, former middleweight boxer Walter Cartier as botany fiend Pvt. Claude Dillingham (in season one), Bernie Fein as Pvt. Gomez, P.Jay Sidney as Pvt. Palmer and Terry Carter as Pvt. Sugarman. Sidney and Carter (and Billie Allen, who played WAC Billie) were African American and regularly appeared in the series at a time when American society (and television) was largely segregated. The Army was desegregated under President Harry Truman.
Other recurring characters included Hope Sansberry as Mrs. Hall, Harry Clark as camp cook Sgt. Stanley Sowici; after Clark's death the role of cook was played by burlesque comic Joe E. Ross as Sgt. Rupert Ritzik; Beatrice Pons as loud-mouthed Mrs. Ritzik, Ned Glass as quartermaster Sgt. Andy Pendleton, Jimmy Little as Sgt. Francis Grover, Nicholas Saunders as Hall's adjutant Captain Barker, and John Gibson as an unnamed Chaplain that Sgt. Bilko addressed as "Padre". He is addressed by the name "Tom" by Col.Hall in the pilot episode "The New Recruits".
Some episodes gave Bilko a romantic interest, Elisabeth Fraser as Sgt. Joan Hogan.
The series frequently featured so many secondary cast members, with so many speaking parts, that the show ultimately became too expensive to sustain. It was this factor more than any significant decline in ratings that led to the show's demise in 1959. The show was nominated for Emmy Awards for both Comedy Writing and Best Series in all four of its seasons, winning both awards in 1956, 1957, and 1958. The series received nine other nominations during its run, with Silvers winning one individual Emmy for his performance and Nat Hiken winning one for direction. As Silvers later recalled, "We went out at our height."
Guest stars included Alan Alda, Bea Arthur, Orson Bean, Peggy Cass, Dick Cavett, Arthur Duncan, Constance Ford, Eric Fleming, Dodie Goodman, Fred Gwynne, Bob Hastings, Paul Lynde, Julie Newmar, Tom Poston, Charlotte Rae, Paul Reed, Darryl Richard, Mark Rydell, Suzanne Storrs and Dick Van Dyke, then near the beginning of their careers. Later episodes used a wealth of veteran Hollywood character actors, including Harold Huber, Margaret Hamilton, Marjorie Gateson, Natalie Schafer and Frank Albertson.
George Kennedy was the show's US Army technical adviser; he had roles as a military policeman in several episodes.
Finale In the series finale, "Weekend Colonel", Bilko discovers a short-order cook named Charlie Clusterman who is the exact double of Colonel Hall. Bilko hires the cook to impersonate the colonel, so he can cheat the other officers in a bogus charity effort. The real Colonel Hall learns of the scam, and Bilko, Henshaw, and Barbella end up being locked in the guardhouse. As Colonel Hall looks at his prisoners on a newly installed closed-circuit TV system, he quips: "It's a wonderful show, and as long as I'm the sponsor, it will never be cancelled." The camera cuts to Bilko and his henchmen finally behind bars. Bilko waves to the camera and says, "Th-th-that's all, folks!"
Episodes
Aftermath Following the show's cancellation, CBS shortsightedly sold the rights to NBC: the rival network immediately aired reruns five days a week to great financial returns. Some of the show's other actors were recruited by "Bilko" producer Edward J. Montagne to appear in Nat Hiken's follow-up sitcom Car 54, Where Are You? and in McHale's Navy.
Silvers was able to parody, or play off, his enduring Bilko persona for the rest of his career. In 1963–1964, he starred in The New Phil Silvers Show, which attempted to transplant his mercenary character to a factory setting, but the result proved unpopular. Silvers frequently guest-starred on The Beverly Hillbillies as a character called Honest John. He also played unscrupulous Broadway producer Harold Hecuba on an episode of Gilligan's Island, stealing the castaways' concept for a musical version of Hamlet. In an episode of The Lucy Show, Silvers was a demanding efficiency expert; at one point, Lucy's boss Mr. Mooney (Gale Gordon), remarks that Silvers reminds him of a sergeant he used to know. Silvers also portrayed greedy connivers in various movies, such as It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), in which Paul Ford had a supporting role as a colonel, though they shared no scenes, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966). The British film Follow That Camel (1967) cast him as a scheming sergeant, this time in the French Foreign Legion.