The Edie Adams Television Collection Gets Release Date

Ernie Kovacs was the man.

But then again, his wife Edie Adams had a big-ass pair of trousers too.

Kovacs tirelessly wooed Adams until she finally relented and said yet.

She was quite a catch, and he knew it.

He died in a car wreck on the way home from Adams' baby shower. The two took separate vehicles.

After his passing, she continued to produce television specials, which have now been compiled in a very detailed box set.

Press:

More than 50 years after it premiered on the ABC network, the variety shows Here's Edie and The Edie Adams Show are set for release on DVD and digital formats. This is the first time either television show has been seen in any format since its original broadcast more than a half a century ago.

Produced and Distributed via MVD Entertainment Group in association with Ediad Productions, Here's Edie: The Edie Adams Television Collection is set for release in stores across North America and Internationally on November 19, 2013.

The 'wow' factor of this box set resides in the eclectic guest stars Edie Adams was personally able to secure for the show. Jazz fans will be able to see, rare performance footage of giants, such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Stan Getz, Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman and Al Hirt, among others. Popular vocalists include Sammy Davis Jr., Bobby Darin and Johnny Mathis and more.

Comedians include Bob Hope, Rowan & Martin, Soupy Sales along with Buddy Hackett, Dick Shawn and Terry-Thomas who co-starred with Adams in the classic motion-picture It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).

Classical music fans can look forward to performances of Andrew Previn, Lauritz Melchoir and Laurindo Almeida. Additional guests include Allan Sherman, Spike Jones, Peter Falk, Sir Michael Redgrave, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Buddy Hackett and more.

Unlike any variety show before or since, Here's Edie The Edie Adams Television Collection is a tour-de-force for a female entertainer in the early-1960's. After the sudden passing of her husband Ernie Kovacs in January 1962, Adams forged ahead with her own headlining show, showcasing her many talents.

Adams hosts, sings, dances, acts, does comedy, takes an uncredited role of costumer Enke and also produces her own show. While much has been said of Adams' preservation efforts of the Ernie Kovacs archive, she also left behind a stunning body of her own work that survives due only to her indefatigable preservation efforts.

This 12-hour, four DVD set features a new digital transfer from original 2-inch videotapes of the entire 1962-64 run of 21 episodes (with her famed Muriel Cigar commercials intact) plus extensive bonus footage.

This material includes rarely seen Adams musical numbers from numerous Ernie Kovacs shows of the 1950's with introductions from Kovacs himself. Other bonus features include a set of commercial promos by Adams and another Mad World co-star Sid Caesar (whose The Sid Caesar Show alternated weeks with Edie's shows), a Muriel Cigars promotional film and more.

Also included is a lush 16-page booklet packed with rare photos from the family archive, an essay from Edie's son Joshua Mills and a show-by-show rundown from Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams curator and DVD co-Producer Ben Model.

Directors for Adams shows included Barry Shear and Joe Behar (who also directed many episodes of Ernie Kovacs's shows) as well as Steve Binder (The T.A.M.I Show, Elvis Presley's '68 Comeback Special), which helped forge each episode as a unique program unto itself. Conceptualized by Adams, her shows were not only themed but also taped in-studio as well as on location. This includes entire episodes shot in a Las Vegas hotel/casino nightclub, another on the streets of London, one shot entirely in the sparse Nevada desert and another in New York City to accommodate her busy schedule.


Here's Edie: The Edie Adams Television Collection

DISC ONE 

*Here's Edie Pilot Airdates: April 9, 1962, May 26, 1963 (as Special #7)
Guests: Dick Shawn, André Previn
*Special #1-"New York" Airdate: October 23, 1962
Guests: Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, Peter Falk, the Claremont String Quartet
*Special #2-"London" Airdate: December 13, 1962
Guests: Sir Michael Redgrave, the Piccadilly Buskers, the Grenadier Guards, the Third Air Force Band, and the children of London. 
*Special #3-"Bossa Nova" Airdate: January 20, 1963
Guests: Stan Getz, Laurindo Almeida, the Roger Wagner Chorale, Jerry Fielding and His Orchestra (plus cameos by Don Rickles and Cesar Romero)
 *Special #4-"Las Vegas" Airdate: February 26, 1963
Guests: Charlie Barnet, The Eligibles, the Earl Barton Dancers, Jerry Fielding and His Orchestra, Eddie Fisher
*Special #5 -"Western" Airdate: March 16, 1963
Guests: Hoagy Carmichael, Rowan & Martin, Hank Henry, the Homer Garrett Dancers, The Eligibles, Jerry Fielding and His Orchestra.

DISC TWO 

 Here's Edie (contd.)

*Special #6-"Love" Airdate: April 19, 1963
 Guests: Buddy Hackett, The United Nations Children's Choir, Jerry Fielding and His Orchestra
*Special #8 -"Bob Hope" Airdate: June 18, 1963
  Guests: Bob Hope, Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra, The United Nations Children's Choir, Jerry Fielding and His Orchestra The Edie Adams Show (After the show returned from a summer break, it was given a new title.)

*Special #1 Airdate: September 26, 1963
  Guests: Zsa Zsa Gabor, Eddie Sauter, Stan Getz 
*Special #2 Airdate: October 10, 1963
  Guests: Louis Nye, Maury Wills
*Special #3 Airdate: October 24, 1963
  Guests: Al Hirt, Nancy Wilson

EXTRA -
Sid Caesar and Edie Adams promos
Song performances from Ernie Kovacs shows:
"Would I Love You (Love You, Love You)"- Ernie in Kovacsland, July 6, 1951
"My Funny Valentine" - Ernie in Kovacsland, August 23, 1951
" 'S Wonderful" - Kovacs on the Corner, January 1952
"I Feel a Song Coming On" - Kovacs Unlimited, May 28, 1952
"Mississippi Mud" - The Ernie Kovacs Show, January 4, 1956
Marilyn sings "Ballad of Davy Crockett" - The Ernie Kovacs Show, January 4, 1956
"Paradise" - The Ernie Kovacs Show, January 23, 1956
"Get Happy" - The Ernie Kovacs Show, January 26, 1956
"A Sunday Kind of Love" - The Ernie Kovacs Show, January 30, 1956

DISC THREE

The Edie Adams Show (contd.)

*Special #4 Airdate: November 7, 1963
Guests: Allan Sherman, The United Nations Children's Choir; plus regulars George Furth, Don Chastain, Peter Hanley
*Special #5 Airdate: November 21, 1963
Guests: Don Chastain, John Hendricks, Lauritz Melchior, Count Basie and His Band; plus George Furth *Special #6 Airdate: December 5, 1963
Guests: Sammy Davis Jr., Mitzi McCall & Charlie Brill; plus Don Chastain, Peter Hanley 
*Special #7 Airdate: December 19, 1963
 Guests: Rowan & Martin, André Previn; plus Don Chastain, Peter Hanley
*Special #8 Airdate: January 2, 1964 
Guests: Pete Fountain, Cliff Norton; plus Don Chastain, Peter Hanley

EXTRAS -

Song performances from Ernie Kovacs shows:
"Everything I Have Is Yours" - The Ernie Kovacs Show, April 12, 1956
"Dancing on the Ceiling" - The Ernie Kovacs Show, April 17, 1956
"Chicago" - The Ernie Kovacs Show, April 20, 1956
"I Could Have Danced All Night" - The Ernie Kovacs Show, April 26, 1956
"Moritat" - The Ernie Kovacs Show, May 8, 1956 
"Honey Bun" - The Ernie Kovacs Show, May 17, 1956
"Summertime" - The Ernie Kovacs Show, June 12, 1956

DISC FOUR

The Edie Adams Show (contd.)

*Special #9 Airdate: January 16, 1964
Guests: Terry-Thomas, Spike Jones,
*Special #10 Airdate: February 6, 1964
Guest: Bobby Darin
*Special #11 Airdate: February 20, 1964
Guests: Woody Herman and His Band, Jack Sheldon, Mitzi McCall & Charlie Brill
*Special #12 Airdate: March 5, 1964
Guests: John Raitt, Louis Nye, Charlie Byrd, Mitzi McCall & Charlie Brill
*Special #13 Airdate: March 18, 1964
Guests: Johnny Mathis, Soupy Sales, Alan Sues 

EXTRAS -

Song performances from Ernie Kovacs shows:
"To Keep My Love Alive" - The Ernie Kovacs Show, June 27, 1956
"Take Me in Your Arms" - The Ernie Kovacs Show, July 24, 1956
Medley: "Lullaby of Broadway" & "42nd Street" - The Ernie Kovacs Show, August 27, 1956
Muriel promotional film (1965)