[For a more complete bio of Ernie and Edie, visit the "Kovacs Corner Blog" at http://kovacs-corner.blogsp... ]

Ernie Kovacs was an early television personality who was known for an uninhibited, often ad-libbed, and visually experimental comedic style. He directly influenced numerous TV comedy performers and programs for many years after his untimely death from an automobile crash on January 13, 1962. Kovacs' shows were products of a time when television was still in its infancy and such experimentation was still posible. He was one of the first to use elements of a style that would later come to underline his reputation. This included video superimpositions, reverse image polarities and quick "blackout" scenes among many others. These are writing and production elements which are still used over fifty years later! Besides the wielding of his ever present cigar, he was also noted for his sense of comedic abstraction, carefully timed non sequitur gags, and for allowing the "fourth wall" to the audience be breached. As a true music aficionado, Ernie would inevitably incorporate that love into his work. It is doubtful that Ernie would find a place on network television today. He was too zany, unrestrained, undisciplined and anarchistic. Perhaps columnist Jack Gould writing in The New York Times descibed it best: "The fun was in trying."

"It's Been Real!"

DORF