trapezzoid: The Continental

Neil Cicierega (

trapezzoid) wrote,
@ 2008-12-21 23:52:00

The Continental
Now, I'm sure you've all seen the famous SNL skits with Christopher Walken as "The Continental"... I only recently discovered that these are actually a parody of a short-lived 1950s show with the same title and gimmick. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Continental_(TV)
Yes, lonely women in the 50s could tune in every week and be seduced over the airwaves by some suave berobed man talking to the camera. It really happened.

I MUST see this. If anyone knows where I can see some clips from this show, help me out! YouTube is no help. I am a desperate and lonely 1950s woman.

(21 comments) - (Post a new comment)

	flax 2008-12-22 05:20 am UTC (link)
	Your link is missing its second parenthesis, as no doubt over 9000 people are telling you at this very moment. That said — HOLY SHIT SERIOUSLY I am on a mission to see this now. (Reply to this)

	fizzward 2008-12-22 05:30 am UTC (link)
	article needs citations (Reply to this)

	mechanicaljewel 2008-12-22 06:13 am UTC (link)
	I don't know where you can find the episodes, but I can show you the MAD parody if you'd like. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	trapezzoid 2008-12-22 02:03 pm UTC (link)
	The MAD parody is what actually tipped me off to its existence. (I love old MAD.) (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	mechanicaljewel 2008-12-22 04:19 pm UTC (link)
	Old MAD is great. I actually managed to pick a final paper topic for one of my philosophy classes that allowed me to ramble on about early MAD for 4 pages. (I got an A \o/) (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

gohanmastaflex
2008-12-22 04:23 pm UTC (link)

I remember when MAD started going full-color and having advertisements, and selling a "for kids" version (which, of course, contains the exact type of stupid junk they make fun of, like celebrity interviews). I like to hope that they only did that stuff because they started to have trouble competing, especially with the popularity of the Internet.

I've heard that their movie satires have suffered from this, often being written before the movie comes out, since it takes a while for magazines to get onto the shelves, whereas websites can put that sort of stuff up immediately (something they didn't have to compete with before).

William Gaines, where the hell are you!?

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	trapezzoid 2008-12-22 06:43 pm UTC (link)
	The movie parodies aren't as good anymore, it's true, but I still semi-regularly read it and it's still pretty good. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	gohanmastaflex 2008-12-22 10:59 pm UTC (link)
	Personally, I think it's kind of hit-and-miss these days. Some of it's still pretty good, but a lot of it just doesn't seem like it was before. The addition of a lot of comic strip type stuff doesn't help, I don't think. (Reply to this) (Parent)

mechanicaljewel
2008-12-22 08:24 pm UTC (link)

He's probably in the afterlife, bother-bothering Fredric Wertham.

I stopped reading MAD when they started running ads. I was too young to see their lack of ads as any kind of statement, but even so, when the ads started coming in, it just felt different. Like, it had been this absurd mirror of real life, and now it's just shot through with too many reminders of real life. Gaines had the right idea-- you can't make fun of the companies that advertise in your magazine, but you also can't make fun of their competitors. Ads just paint any magazine with this brush of artifice, and part of the beauty of MAD (as with all satire) was that you were getting something that felt real.

And no, MAD hasn't dealt with new media well. Cracked had the right idea, putting content up on their website. MAD is just-- well, it's run by DC Comics now, and considering that DC has taken zero initiative when it comes to online content (outside of the odd #1 issue preview, and Zuda, which is more their attempt to wet their beak in the webcomics well) it's not surprising that MAD's been suffering in that way.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	gohanmastaflex 2008-12-22 11:00 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah. I used to hate Cracked, because it was such an obvious MAD ripoff (complete with their own shameless Alfred E. Neuman ripoff mascot), to the point of being sort of jerkasses about it and even having individual features mirroring those of MAD sometimes. But now, at least their site seems to have some genuinely funny stuff on it. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	roargh 2008-12-22 06:20 am UTC (link)
	lol (Reply to this)

	e_ticket 2008-12-22 06:37 am UTC (link)
	OMFG keep us posted! (Reply to this)

	isabelle_tea 2008-12-22 06:52 am UTC (link)
	You have the hips of a woman! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	mizufae 2008-12-22 07:27 am UTC (link)
	omg, my favorite pete&pete icon I ever made, showing up here! awesome going, internet tubes! also, yes. Neil has the hips of a woman. Along with (I hope) the pearl necklace and poofy pink dress. (Neil, I have sicced my internet-savvy posse on this search, perhaps in time they will discover something.) (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	isabelle_tea 2008-12-22 08:21 am UTC (link)
	smooshes you I love your icons so much! (Reply to this) (Parent)

zigamorph
2008-12-22 12:21 pm UTC (link)

You may not be aware of this, but videotape was introduced by the networks only in 1956. Prior to that, television programs were recorded only through the kinescope process, which pretty much involved pointing a film camera at a television screen. Almost no one in those days thought that anything on television would be worth preserving, and the main reason anything was kinescoped was simply to allow rebroadcasting three hours later for the West Coast.

Because of this, almost everything that does survive from that early era of live broadcasting was preserved accidentally. Major performers who were typically broadcast live often made substantial efforts to preserve their own work: Jackie Gleason had a contractual provision requiring the kinescope films to be turned over to him and placed in a vault, and Milton Berle sued the network to force them to locate his kinescope films they claimed had gone missing. Kinescope recording continued to be used into the 1970s to support smaller affiliate stations who did not want to invest in videotape equipment, and for the last decade or so of its existence was relegated to daytime soap operas.

My guess is that a 15-minute end-of-day program that was widely regarded as the butt of jokes even during its broadcast existence was very low on the list of things deemed worthy of preservation. There is exactly one episode of The Continental listed in the archives of the Paley Center, broadcast on an undetermined date, with the following synopsis:

In this installment, the Continental discusses women's fashions, thanking his imaginary date for dressing up for him and recalling the rise and fall of hem lines since his youth. He moves on to gloves, noting that he has a pair of the date's gloves pressed in a book. After reciting the lyrics to the song "These Foolish Things," the Continental muses on the significance of a woman's hand and sets up a date to see his beloved the following Thursday. Includes commercials.

If you get to New York City, you could stop by the museum on 52nd Street between 5th and 6th Avenues and have the tape called from archive for viewing.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	trapezzoid 2008-12-22 02:05 pm UTC (link)
	Thanks for the useful info! I hadn't taken the lack of videotape into consideration. Nice to know that at least one episode is preserved somewhere, though. Perhaps someday I'll take a terrible roadtrip to see it. (Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

	zigamorph 2008-12-22 02:52 pm UTC (link)
	I couldn't find any extant copies of "The Continental" itself, but Renato Cesana apparently was hired to record audio-only short pieces in the same style for the demo recordings sent out with Hammond Organs. I've e-mailed what I could find of that, but it will definitely give you the flavor of the thing. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	luminifer 2008-12-22 04:37 pm UTC (link)
	nyc isn't that far ;) actually, i'm in nyc.. no promises, but this does sound interesting. a higher priority for me is (seriously) locating a recording of malcolm x: the opera, starring avery brooks, from the 1980s. seriously. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	fo_shizzle_wekk 2008-12-22 09:27 pm UTC (link)
	You just found this out? My mom told me the first time I ever saw it, so i guess I've always known. But HOLY SHIT if you find somewhere to watch it, you HAVE to post an entry with the link. (Reply to this)

	I FEEL YOUR PAIN. (Anonymous) 2008-12-24 05:48 pm UTC (link)
	I AM A DESPERATE AND LONELY 1950'S WOMAN TOO (Reply to this)

(21 comments) - (Post a new comment)

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