Producer Joseph Cates…The Man Who Introduced Ralph To Norton

A few years back, I was fortunate meet actor Kevin Kline, and of all things, we talked mostly about television history…and you will not believe his connection to a True Pioneer!

In case you had forgotten, Kevin is married to actress Phoebe Cates, whose father was Joseph Cates. His younger brother was Gil Cates who is probably the top awards show producer of all time. Here’s Joe’s incredible story Kevin told, history I had never known about.

In 1949, Joe Cates was an associate producer on Dumont’s new “Cavalcade Of Stars” show. When he started, Jack Carter was the host, but soon, Jerry Lester took over. In June of 1950, Lester left to host NBC’s “Broadway Open House” which opened the door to a comedian new to live television. His name was Jackie Gleason.

Morey Amsterdam also had a show on Dumont which was set in the imaginary Silver Swan Cafe nightclub. Morey was the club owner and his head waiter, named Newton, was played by Art Carney.

Although “The Honeymooners” was still a year away, Jackie and Joe had been talking about the sketch idea for a while and it was Joe Cates that introduced Gleason to Art Carney.

Even before “The Honeymooners’ sketches began, Cates had thought Art would be a good “second banana” and foil to Gleason in other Cavalcade sketches, which he was. When Amsterdam’s show was canceled in October 1950, Gleason hired Carney.

According to Kevin, “The Honeymooners” set is a combination of Joe’s apartment, where he and Jackie often met for drinks and planning sessions, and of Gleason’s childhood apartment.

Although Cates wanted to work with Gleason, Joe was made the producer of two other shows…”Buck Rogers”, and “The Sammy Kaye Show”.

In 1955, Joe became the executive producer for “The $64,000 Question”. He’s the one that decided to use an actor (Hal March) as a host instead of a broadcaster to add to the drama. But, let’s backtrack to the days before “Cavalcade of Stars”.

While working in advertising after the war Cates got the idea of using television to sell candy, and signed a contract with Dumont to produce a high-school talent search program he called “Look Upon a Star” with Bess Myerson, the 1945 Miss America, as host. Operating on a $100 budget, limited to two cameras and facing the unforgiving pace of live television, Mr. Cates managed to pull it off and emerged as one of the more experienced and skilled variety-show production specialists in a fledgling medium.

While working at Dumont with Gleason and Carney on “The Cavalcade of Stars” he also worked on “The Cavalcade of Bands”, which set off a deep interest in music specials as well as comedy which lead him to NBC to produce the “Bob and Ray” show.

His network experience helped lay the groundwork for his later career as an independent producer, which included a succession of specials with Alan King, Robert Klein, Steve Martin and other comedians, a string of David Copperfield magic shows and a number of musical specials for Gene Kelly, Ethel Merman, Victor Borge, Perry Como, Andy Williams, Nat King Cole and others.

By his own estimate, from the live high school talent program he staged for the old Dumont network in the late 1940’s to his string of fund-raising specials for Ford’s Theater in Washington, Mr. Cates wrote, directed and produced more than 1,000 television productions.

Joseph Cates, was born Joseph Katz, but interestingly, this native New Yorker was infatuated with country music and did dozens of country music specials, produced with the help of his friend Johnny Cash. Those shows, which used sophisticated lighting and other softening techniques, were credited with making country music acceptable for a mass medium. The country music industry was so grateful that Mr. Cates became the only producer honored by the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Below is Ann Francis with Joseph Cates on the set of one of several movies he directed. This is “Girl Of The Night” from 1960 which dealt with the life of a call girl…quite a taboo subject at the time, but this inspired Elizabeth Taylor to take on a similar role in “Butterfield 8”. -Bobby Ellerbee

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