Caesar, Sid (1922—)

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Caesar, Sid (1922—)

Sid Caesar was one of the most familiar and talented television performers of the 1950s. His skills as a dialectician, pantomime, and monologist made him a favorite of the critics and a fixture on Saturday night television from 1950 to 1954. Along with co-star Imogene Coca and a writing staff that included Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Larry Gelbart, and a young Woody Allen, Caesar captivated the new television audience with film parodies, characterizations, and sitcom-style sketches on NBC's Your Show of Shows. Caesar was also infamous for his dark side, an apparent byproduct of his comedic brilliance. A large man, carrying up to 240 pounds on his six-footone-inch frame, articles in the popular press described his eating and drinking habits as excessive and his mood as mercurial. In an age when many top comedy television performers suffered physical and mental breakdowns from the exacting demands of live television production, Caesar stood out as a damaged man prone to self-destruction and addiction. He was one of the first broadcast stars to talk openly about his experiences in psychotherapy.

Surprisingly, Caesar did not begin his career in entertainment as a comedian, but rather as a saxophonist. Brought up in Yonkers, New York, by European Jewish immigrant parents, as a child Caesar developed his abilities as a dialectician by mimicking the voices of the Italian, Russian, and Polish émigrés who patronized his parents' restaurant. But it was the customer who left behind an old saxophone in the restaurant who had the most direct impact on Caesar's career as an entertainer. The young Caesar picked up the instrument and over the years became an accomplished musician. After graduating from high school, Caesar moved to Manhattan, played in various orchestras, and took summer work at Jewish hotels in the Catskills (commonly known as the "borscht belt"). Although contracted as a musician, he began to appear in the hotel program's comedy acts as a straight man and was so successful that he eventually decided to emphasize his comedic skills over his musical talent.

Theatrical producer Max Liebman, who worked with Caesar on revues in the Catskills and Florida, was central to Caesar's entry into the nascent medium of television. After years performing on stage, in nightclubs, and in the Coast Guard recruiting show "Tars and Spars" (later made into a Hollywood film), the budding comedian was paired with Imogene Coca in Liebman's production "Admiral Broadway Revue." At Liebman's prodding, NBC President Pat Weaver saw the show, and he signed the entire cast and staff to do a television version of their production under the same title. But the program's sponsor, Admiral, a major manufacturer of television sets, found the program too expensive for its limited advertising budget. Weaver encouraged Liebman to give television another try, using most of his original cast and staff for a ninety-minute Saturday night program eventually titled Your Show of Shows. Premiering in February of 1950 and following on the heels of shows such as Texaco Star Theatre, Your Show of Shows was conceived as a fairly straightforward vaudeville-style variety program. However, with its talented cast and writing staff, the show developed into more than just slapstick routines, acrobatic acts, and musical numbers. Although ethnic jokes, borscht-belt-style monologues, and sight gags were considered central to the success of early variety programs, Caesar proved that these basics could be incorporated into a highly nuanced and culturally rich program that would appeal to popular and high culture tastes simultaneously. His film parodies and array of characters such as jazz musician Progress Hornsby, the German Professor, and storyteller Somerset Winterset became the most popular and memorable aspects of the show.

As a result of his unique talents, critics began to call Caesar television's Charlie Chaplin, and one usually tough critic, John Crosby of the New York Herald Tribune, considered the comedian "one of the wonders of the modern electronic age." Yet, despite such ardent admiration, Caesar could not quiet the insecurities that had plagued him since childhood. Known for his overindulgence of both food and alcohol, it was said that Caesar would finish off a fifth or more of Scotch daily. In an attempt to control his addiction, doctors prescribed sedatives. However, the "cure" fueled the drinking habit as Caesar took his medication with his daily dose of alcohol. This combination intensified his bouts with depression and worsened the quick temper that often revealed itself on the set or in writing meetings.

The season after Your Show of Shows ended its run in 1954, Caesar immediately returned to television with Caesar's Hour on Monday nights on NBC. Although many of his problems were well-known in the industry and by his fans, in 1956 he spoke on the record about his emotional issues and subsequent entry into psychoanalysis in an article in Look magazine. Claiming that analysis had cured him of his depression and addiction, Caesar blamed his psychological state on the emotional neglect of his parents during childhood. He revealed that "On stage, I could hide behind the characters and inanimate objects I created. Off stage, with my real personality for all to see, I was a mess … I couldn't believe that anyone could like me for myself."

Despite his public proclamation of being cured, Caesar continued to suffer. After his second television program was taken off the air in 1957 because it no longer could compete against ABC's The Lawrence Welk Show, the comedian's mental and physical health declined even further. Although he returned to television a few more times during his career, he was never quite the same. During the 1960s and 1970s he appeared in bit roles in movies such as Grease, History of the World, Part I, and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, but he spent most of his time in isolation grappling with his problems. It wasn't until 1978 that he had completed his recovery. In his seventies he continued to nurture a small but respectable movie career in The Great Man Swap and Vegas Vacation, but he remained best known as one of the most intelligent and provocative innovators of television comedy.

—Susan Murray