The Best of The Andy Williams Show DVD Review
By A.J. Carson
Crooner Andy Williams started his musical career at the age of eight as a member of The Williams Brothers Quartet. The quartet's successful appearances in their native Iowa segued to radio performances in larger markets like Chicago and Cincinnati. This exposure led to their "discovery" by Bing Crosby, who recorded "Swinging on a Star" with the brothers in 1944. When the quartet broke up in 1951, Williams moved to New York in order to continue pursuing his dream of becoming a singer. He quickly became a regular on several television shows, including Steve Allen's Tonight Show and The Dinah Shore Chevy Show. By the summer of 1958, he was given his own summer replacement series on ABC. The following summer, he took his act to CBS for another replacement series. The Andy Williams Show became a regular series in the fall of 1962, this time on NBC. The show ran as a weekly series through 1967 when Williams cut back to three specials a season. In 1969, however, The Andy Williams Show returned to the NBC schedule for two more seasons as a regular series.
The show featured performances by Williams, his special guest stars, and by an ever changing series of regulars, including, at various times, Jonathan Winters, The Dave Grusin Orchestra, Ray Stevens, The New Christy Minstrels, and The Lennon Sisters. Much like The Williams Brothers Quartet was discovered by Bing Crosby, Williams found another group of young siblings to become regulars on his show: The Osmond Brothers.
The Best of The Andy Williams Show collects highlights from the show's various incarnations. It features several solo performances by Williams on songs like "On a Wonderful Day Like Today," "The Way You Look Tonight," and "May Each Day," but the emphasis here is on his guest stars. First up, Eddie Fisher leads Williams and Bobby Darin in a singing lesson using The Sound of Music's "Do-Re-Mi." This is partially played for laughs, but the stiff comedy cannot match the musical performance by the three singers, a performance that builds into a show-stopping crescendo.
The always classy Pearl Bailey joins Williams to sing "Give Me the Simple Life" while sitting in rocking chairs. As she extols Williams to relax and remain in his chair, the effect is almost too cute, but it is hard not to smile at Bailey's cool, seemingly effortless performance.
The show takes a campier turn when Sammy Davis, Jr. and Williams, both dressed in cowboy duds, sing "I'm an Old Cowhand" while riding the kind of mechanical kids' horses usually found outside of supermarkets and dime stores. Performed in front of an abstract corral fence backdrop, this number is surreal, corny fun.
Williams and Tony Bennett seem to have a great time singing a medley of "place" songs like "Chicago." Henry Mancini then conducts his orchestra while Williams sings "In the Arms of Love." There is even a dance break in which - no kidding - Mancini and Williams do a little waltz. Together. Complete with a dip.
A druggy, bloated Judy Garland is practically wheeled out for a non-singing comedy bit in which she teaches Williams how to apply clown makeup. As Garland perfectly applies her own makeup and simultaneously does a terrible job on Williams, the tone is meant to be silly, but Garland's bumbling is all too believable given her woozy appearance.
Der Bingle performs "In a Little Spanish Town" with Williams as they sit on a platform in the audience. This number with Williams' former mentor is a perfect segue into his 1964 performance of "Lida Rose" with The Osmond Brothers. The brothers are creepy in a 1960s child performer sort of way, with their eerie, never-changing smiles and their gleaming, beady eyes. Still, it is easy to see why they were so popular at the time, with their wholesome sound and clean cut looks. This clip is somewhat important to Osmond history in that it introduces Marie to television audiences for the first time when she comes out to dance with Williams.
Ella Fitzgerald sings "Look Down That Lonesome Road" with Williams before he duets on "The Girl From Ipanema" with Antonio Carlos Jobim. Another comedic interlude follows, this one with Jerry Lewis. In this funny sketch, Lewis plays off of Williams' stiff performance style, giving him lessons on how to jazz things up by, for example, swinging his hips wildly while singing "Moon River." The stiff version of Williams quickly returns when he performs "Language of Love" with Julie Andrews.
Williams is a smooth, supple singer, but he often comes across as too low-key. This DVD is at its best when Williams is paired with performers who give him style and soul, like Bailey, Fitzgerald, or Fisher and Darin. When teamed up with more dynamic performers, he more than rises to their challenge. When the guest is similarly low-key, like Crosby or Jobim, the result can be snooze-inducing. Still, there is enough of interest here to please fans of Williams and the featured guests.
The Best of The Andy Williams Show is housed on a single disc. The simple menu design allows the viewer to play the entire special or jump to specific numbers.
