Season: 2 (Cher)
Episode: 27
Guest(s): Pat Boone, Frankie Valli, Frankie Avalon, Dion
CBS Air Date: December 7, 1975
Also aired: VH1
Last season’s opening. This is a 1950s/60s all-star retrospective similar to the “Years” shows Sonny & Cher did toward the end of The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour. I am surprised this episode came so late in the Cher show. For some reason I always pictured this thing mid-stream in my head, not the third-to-last episode.
Torch Open/Opening Song: “An Old Fashioned Love Song” and “I Dig Rock and Roll Music” (Video)
Paul Williams song, cover of Three Dog Night (1971) and Peter, Paul and Mary (1967)
Cher starts with a cape of huge white feathers that she throws off to reveal a yellow pantsuit with a big sunflower on the chest and a green stem running down one of the legs. She marches down the ramp. Jiggle TV and lots of clapping. The stage is yellow with flowers. Big hairflip.
Monologue: Cher asks, “How ya doin?” and talks about the jargon of the 1960s like the favorite words of ‘hey,’ ‘woah,’ ‘eh,’ and ‘you know?’
Skit: A spoof of beach party movies with motorcycle greasers, an illiterate football player and a Mr. Nice Guy (from tv.com).
Guest Spot: Pat Boone sings “Magnificent Sanctuary Band.”
Duet with Guest (Audio only)
Cher joins Pat Boone for “I Lost My Mind” (cover of Ivory Joe Hunter, 1950, and also Pat Boone, 1956)
Skit: Gailard Sartain plays Elvis as a long-haired, guitar-toting Army draftee (from tv.com).
Guest Spot (Video, 5:22)
Frankie Valli sings “Swearin’ to God” and “My Eyes Adored You.” Sonny levels of gold jewelry.
Guest Spot: Frankie Avalon sings “One Hell of a Woman.”
Skit: Cher plays a high school teacher with rowdy students.
Skit: Frankie Avalon plays a slow student talking to the principal, played by Pat Boone.
Guest Spot: Dion sings “The Wanderer”
Duet with Guest (Audio only)
Cher joins Dion for “Abraham, Martin and John” (Dion, 1968) and “Will the Circle Be Unbroken (By and By) (A. P. Carter/The Carter Family from the hymn “Will the Circle Be Unbroken? by Ada R. Habershon and Charles H. Gabriel, published 1935)”
Finale (Video, 8:36)
Cher wears a black and gold halter pantsuit with heavy halter fringe. I can’t see these clear staircase now and not think of the clear bakelite plastic blocks John Lennon wanted in the Get Back documentary.
- “I Dig Rock and Roll Music” (Peter, Paul and Mary, 1967) – Cher with go-go dancers with crazy-long yellow arm fringe.
- “April Love” (Pat, Boone, 1957) –Pat Boone
- “Love Letters in the Sand” (Ted Black and His Orchestra, 1931, and Pat Boone, 1957) – Cher and Pat Boone. Boone lays his head on Cher’s shoulder.
- “Venus” (Frankie Avalon, 1959) – Frankie Avalon
- “De De Dinah” (Frankie Avalon, 1958) – Cher and Frankie Avalon holding their noses.
- “Let’s Hang On” (Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, 1965) – Frankie Valli. He seems way unenthused. Weird hyper fringe dancing.
- “Working My Way Back to You” (Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, 1966) – Cher and Frankie Valli. Pretty somber on this episod, Cher gets Valli to smile. He is pretty cute in this episode.
- “Ruby Baby” (The Drifters, 1956, Dion Dion, 1962) – Dion. But Dion! My wee crush on Dion is all about this episode.
- “Runaround Sue” (Dion, 1961) – Cher and Dion. They start to sing the song and Dion breaks to do a funny bit about how 50s songs were all about letters of the alphabet.
- “All I Really Want to Do” (Bob Dylan, 1964) – Cher singing with a microphone, which at the end she throws off to somebody to the side and badly lip syncs…
- “The Beat Goes On” (Sonny & Cher, 1967) – Cher, Dion, Pat Boone, Frankie Valli and Frankie Avalon .
Close (Video, 19:38)
Cher closes the show with a reprise of “I Dig Rock and Roll Music” with all the guests.
VHI is a half-hour show and so is missing all the solos and Cher’s first duets with the guests except for Valli’s “Swearin’ to God” and “My Eyes Adored You.” and all the skits.
Highlights: Uhh…Dion!
