The Incomparable Nat “King” Cole

 

Picture: C     Sound: B-     Extras: C-     Program: B+

 

 

In 1957, for a single season, Nat “King” Cole became the first African American in TV history to have his own regular series.  It may not have been the first ever lead, but it was the first dignified one.  His show may have not survived controversy-shy sponsors, but the great music performances have.  The Incomparable Nat “King” Cole collects 47 songs in two parts form the archive of these performances.

 

Both segments are edited together very nicely, with a good flow that keeps the music coming.  He had an impressive string of singles running for nearly a decade on the Pop charts alone.  That proves that this series cold have lasted six or seven more years.  If the quality was up to the showmanship, great music, and high standards contained in these 100+ minutes, it would have been an early, known classic up there with Ed Sullivan/Toast of the Town and Your Show of Shows.  His show was up to that high standard of television excellence.

 

The full-screen image is not bad for a show that was captured on volatile Kinescopes, monochrome, burned video images on film, but they have definition limits much like the “lost” episodes of The Honeymooners.  Some of the materials could use a bit more restoration work, but the 100+ minutes of music and talk is constantly solid.  King would be joined by some big names, including singer/songwriter (and Capitol Records founder) Johnny Mercer, The Mills Brothers, Sammy Davis Jr., The Oscar Peterson Trio, Stan Getz, Harry Belafonte, and his legendary conductor Nelson Riddle among other big names.

 

The original TV monophonic sound is available in Dolby Digital 2.0, but a surprisingly good Dolby 5.1 AC-3 remix is also offered that is much better.  Though much of it seems like the original audio, there may be some cases of the original studio recordings being synced-in.  Either way, only DVD-Audio and/or SACD will be able to offer a more compelling mix, though we might get this material in DTS (96/24 at that) if any of Cole’s titles become part of the new Capitol/DTS DVD-Audio series.

 

The song listing is as follows:

That Reminds Me
Little Girl
I'm Gonna Sit Right Down & Write Myself A Letter
I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face (from My Fair Lady)
Ballerina
Pretend
It's Only A Paper Moon
Sweet Lorraine
I Want To Be Happy
With You On My Mind
Stompin' At The Savoy
But Not For Me
You Are My First Love
Just You, Just Me
Raintree County (theme from the film)
Dig A Dig A Doo
Where Or When
Dancing On The Ceiling (NOT the Lionel Ritchie atrocity)
Too Close For Comfort
The Christmas Song
A Blossom Fell
Unforgettable
Somewhere Along The Way
Almost Like Being In Love
It's All In The Game
Anything Goes
Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart
So Long My Love
Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful
Red Sails In The Sunset
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
Mona Lisa
I'm Sitting On Top Of The World
Dream
Save The Bones For Henry Jones
Autumn Leaves
Mama Look A Boo Boo
There Will Never Be Another You
Blueberry Hill
Shine On Harvest Moon
Tenderly
Opus One
When I Fall In Love
These Foolish Things I Do
How High The Moon
Shadow Waltz
I Get A Kick Out Of You

 

Cole had a surprising number of big hit albums as well at a time when they were simply seen as singles collections, but he died before they went beyond that in 1965.  This is an exceptional set of full-length song highlights from a show that deserves to be seen more often.  This DVD makes that possible.  There was a time when you put on a TV program, the persons that you were practically letting into your living room had manners.  Nat King Cole was one of the great gentlemen performers and fortunately for us, it was captured for posterity.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo