Kaye Ballard - The Show Goes On

The makers of this film found a gold mine of historical footage of Kaye Ballard performances. Unfortunately, most of it is truncated in favor of talking heads.

Michael Feinstein tells us twice that a lot of cabaret acts were preserved as television performances. And the black shoe polish in his hair makes him look very poorly aged. Liz Smith repeats the same accolades several times. The film drags during these testimonials. The best parts are Kaye telling her own stories.

But after all the career highlights we learn nothing of Kaye Ballard's personal life. She grew up in Cleveland and then what? There is some mention of her mother not being supportive and a sweet clip of Kaye with her grandmother. But did she ever have a relationship of her own? Or a life off stage? The end result was unsatisfying as we were not given a true biography.

I don't know who first said the famous line "Show business is my life" but that certainly could have been said by Kaye Ballard. From her teenaged years to right before her death at age 93, she lived for the limelight. She was respected, acclaimed, and loved by audiences but still rarely got a "star turn", mostly working in supporting roles. It's kind of ironic for the film to ponder that given even the opening credits of this documentary don't give her first billing, instead listing the all-star interviewees alphabetically before her name comes up as part of the title (and a touch upsetting for Ballard admirers).

Ballard is most famous for the closest thing she came to bona stardom in the 1960's sitcom "The Mothers-in-law" in which she starred with Eve Arden that ran two seasons but she was a well-known supper club star in the 1950's and had major roles in a number of Broadway shows as well as being a familiar tv presence throughout her career, particularly in the 1950's and 1960's. She was better known as a singer for years thanks to her nightclub act and a number of well-received record albums and the documentary has many clips of her stunning vocalizing from various old tv variety shows. It's regrettable there never was a Broadway producer of composer who created a showcase vehicle just for her. And certainly Kaye had the great ideas, recording an album of Fanny Brice songs in the 1950's and later a comedy and music lp based on the Peanuts characters, mainly her as Lucy with Charlie Brown, years later classic Broadway musicals created along those lines as "Funny Girl" and "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown".

She has fond memories of virtually everyone she worked with, even friends she never did such as Marlon Brando and Lenny Bruce, adding at one point "I'm one of the few people who loved Jerry Lewis (who worked with him)." One person she doesn't have good memories of was Phil Silvers who was terrible to her throughout the run of their Broadway show "Top Banana". She also loved all the various talk show hosts but wonders why Johnny Carson virtually never used her on The Tonight Show.

Famous friends such as Carol Channing, Ann-Margret, and Carol Burnett praise her talent and as a person, as does director Hal Prince and Woody Allen, in a rare appearance in such a documentary. There is very little downbeat in this film other than Kaye briefly suggesting her parents were not warm people but she loved them, nevertheless. Others may wonder why she didn't become a bigger star but Kaye, here at the end of her life, has nothing but happy memories, adding "the last fifteen years have been the best of my life". I do recall somewhere years ago though reading an interview with her if she had any regrets or disappointments and she said that she never won any major show business awards or was even nominated. But her career was a triumph, much more so than many who did win such trophies. One regret her admirers surely have is that she passed away several months before this film was released, missing any chance to see first-hand any lovefests this picture would have given her at the screenings. This movie can be seen online and on television via a number of sources.

Greetings again from the darkness. I feel obligated to disclose that while growing up, I was never much of a Kaye Ballard fan. It seemed she was mostly seen on game shows ("Hollywood Squares") and her many appearances on Talk Shows and Variety Shows. Her loud and boisterous humor was a bit outside the nuanced observational humor I preferred. Now, after seeing Dan Wingate's documentary, I have tremendous admiration and respect for this multi-faceted performer whose showbiz career spanned more than 70 years.

One of the first clips we see is Kaye Ballard performing in front of a live audience (where she was always most comfortable) and she says, "I wish I was 90 again." It's a great line that not many comedians get to use. Ms. Ballard died in 2019 at age 93, and she never stopped performing. Director Wingate's opening credits are in "old school" style, replete with flashing neon lights and big band/orchestral music. It's the perfect choice for the profile of a performer who evolved as the business changed.

We listen as she recollects the start of her career, and then systematically walks and talks us through the next 70 plus years. She was only 16 years old when she joined Spike Jones' band, and she admits performing is what she always wanted to do. Wingate includes comments and clips from an incredibly diverse group of entertainers - ranging from Liz Smith to Perry Como to Henry Mancini to Bette Davis to Carol Burnett to Ann-Margret to Woody Allen (and many more). Composer-Singer Michael Feinstein has a few appearances throughout the film, providing some structure, but interviews with Ms. Ballard keep her on screen much of the time.

It's clear she always thought her best work was from her time in nightclubs, and though she never stopped those performances, her career shifted to live theater and then to TV. Her best-known TV role was co-starring with Eve Arden in "The Mothers-In-Law" series from 1967-69 (re-runs available on Amazon Prime), and then later had a recurring role in "The Doris Day Show." Ms. Ballard was a vibrant performer and an extremely talented singer.

She jokes about being typecast as a "screaming Italian", but hearing her talk about her friendships, including Marlon Brando, Carol Channing, and the recently deceased Jerry Stiller, makes it clear she established many personal connections over the years, and was always quick to help out another performer. She even speaks to a couple of exceptions, including Phil Silvers. And who would have guessed she crossed paths with Andy Warhol, while also performing for President Ronald Reagan at The White House? This is a woman who is very grateful and appreciative of the career and friends she made, and I walked away feeling educated, and maybe even guilty for undervaluing her talent. Kaye Ballard was much more than an "X" or "O" on "Hollywood Squares" ... she was an incredibly talented and generous woman who lived her dreams.