The Ford 50th Anniversary Show

The program was the first socalled Television Spectacular Ford presented the show without commercial interruption It is believed to be the first time that Edward R Murrow appeared on NBC in a professional capacity Also in 1953 it was necessary for Ford to buy time on two networks to ensure maximum coverage of US TV households at the time neither CBS nor NBC reached 100 of them The famed 1953 television special celebrating the Ford Motor Companys 50th anniversary brought together two of the greatest leading ladies Broadway has ever known The highlight of the program is Merman and Martins 13minute duet medley where they sing the songs that made them famous plus much more On their own Merman sings Alexanders Ragtime Band and Mademoiselle from Armetières and Martin performs a brilliantly comic routine about changes in fashion over the first half of the 20th century