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The Corner Bar
The Corner Bar is an American television sitcom that aired as a summer-replacement series on ABC from June 21, 1972 to August 23, 1972, and again from August 3, 1973 to September 7, 1973.
The show, created by comedian Alan King and veteran comedy writer Herb Sargent, was co-produced by King and comedian Howard Morris. The center of activity is a New York City tavern called Grant's Toomb [sic]. The series is notable for its inclusion of the first recurring gay character on American television.
The show's producer, comedian Alan King, videotaped 10 half-hour episodes before live audiences, to be aired as a Wednesday-night summer-replacement series in 1972. Customarily, a summer series would return the following January as a mid-season replacement, but The Corner Bar did not return until the following summer, and then as a Friday-night mini-series.
Gabriel Dell, originally a member of the Dead End Kids, starred as affable New York bartender Harry Grant. Grant presided over a motley crew of staff members and regular customers: sad-sack 65-year-old waiter Meyer Shapiro (Shimen Ruskin), cook Joe (Joe Keyes, Jr.), kooky waitress Mary Ann (Langhorne Scruggs), tipsy lawyer Phil Bracken (Bill Fiore), roughneck cab driver Fred Costello (J.J. Barry), and flamboyantly gay designer Pete Panama (Vincent Schiavelli), "a dead ringer for Tiny Tim in manner and dress," according to columnist Kay Gardella. The building was owned by landlady Jennifer Bradley (Anne Meara).
The show was taped in New York City, much to native New Yorker Gabe Dell's regret: his dressing room was robbed while the cast was before the cameras. "We're off to a good start," grumbled Dell. "I'm missing my address book and wallet. If we were making the series in Hollywood this would never have happened. Why we're making the series here I don't know. I was a dedicated New Yorker once myself." Dell remarked that the name of the corner bar was supposed to be Grant's Tomb, but the sign painter misspelled it "Toomb." Dell offered to "let it ride", reasoning that a small businessman in the same position would just shrug it off.
Producer Alan King gave out advance publicity that the show would make humorous observations about politics and current events, much as the current hit All in the Family was doing. The Corner Bar was actually more like radio's Duffy's Tavern, with its back-and-forth banter and blue-collar bartender. When owner Harry is resentful of celebrities patronizing a rival tavern, a radical suggests bringing in the Harrisburg Eight or the Chicago Nine. "No," says Harry, "I don't want no rock groups here."
As the series progressed, the scripts and the ensemble cast settled into a broadly comic groove. Dell's former colleague and close friend Huntz Hall appeared in "The Navy Reunion" as a con man. Another episode, "Harry and the Hoods", had Alan King (as himself) masterminding a scheme to scare off two extortionists. King masqueraded in slouch hat and pinstriped suit as Harry's ominous "godfather", with the regulars in costume as his mob:
Alan King: Right, boys?
Fred the cabbie: Yes, papa.
Phil the lawyer: Yes, papa.
Pete the designer: You're so right, daddy!
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The Corner Bar
The Corner Bar is an American television sitcom that aired as a summer-replacement series on ABC from June 21, 1972 to August 23, 1972, and again from August 3, 1973 to September 7, 1973.
The show, created by comedian Alan King and veteran comedy writer Herb Sargent, was co-produced by King and comedian Howard Morris. The center of activity is a New York City tavern called Grant's Toomb [sic]. The series is notable for its inclusion of the first recurring gay character on American television.
The show's producer, comedian Alan King, videotaped 10 half-hour episodes before live audiences, to be aired as a Wednesday-night summer-replacement series in 1972. Customarily, a summer series would return the following January as a mid-season replacement, but The Corner Bar did not return until the following summer, and then as a Friday-night mini-series.
Gabriel Dell, originally a member of the Dead End Kids, starred as affable New York bartender Harry Grant. Grant presided over a motley crew of staff members and regular customers: sad-sack 65-year-old waiter Meyer Shapiro (Shimen Ruskin), cook Joe (Joe Keyes, Jr.), kooky waitress Mary Ann (Langhorne Scruggs), tipsy lawyer Phil Bracken (Bill Fiore), roughneck cab driver Fred Costello (J.J. Barry), and flamboyantly gay designer Pete Panama (Vincent Schiavelli), "a dead ringer for Tiny Tim in manner and dress," according to columnist Kay Gardella. The building was owned by landlady Jennifer Bradley (Anne Meara).
The show was taped in New York City, much to native New Yorker Gabe Dell's regret: his dressing room was robbed while the cast was before the cameras. "We're off to a good start," grumbled Dell. "I'm missing my address book and wallet. If we were making the series in Hollywood this would never have happened. Why we're making the series here I don't know. I was a dedicated New Yorker once myself." Dell remarked that the name of the corner bar was supposed to be Grant's Tomb, but the sign painter misspelled it "Toomb." Dell offered to "let it ride", reasoning that a small businessman in the same position would just shrug it off.
Producer Alan King gave out advance publicity that the show would make humorous observations about politics and current events, much as the current hit All in the Family was doing. The Corner Bar was actually more like radio's Duffy's Tavern, with its back-and-forth banter and blue-collar bartender. When owner Harry is resentful of celebrities patronizing a rival tavern, a radical suggests bringing in the Harrisburg Eight or the Chicago Nine. "No," says Harry, "I don't want no rock groups here."
As the series progressed, the scripts and the ensemble cast settled into a broadly comic groove. Dell's former colleague and close friend Huntz Hall appeared in "The Navy Reunion" as a con man. Another episode, "Harry and the Hoods", had Alan King (as himself) masterminding a scheme to scare off two extortionists. King masqueraded in slouch hat and pinstriped suit as Harry's ominous "godfather", with the regulars in costume as his mob:
Alan King: Right, boys?
Fred the cabbie: Yes, papa.
Phil the lawyer: Yes, papa.
Pete the designer: You're so right, daddy!