As the 1950s dawned America was a colossus militarily economically and culturally. It bestrode a globe it was doing so much to shape in its own image. But it had concerns; the threat of communism. And for the Movies and Radio there was another concern: the emerging rise of Television.<p><p>For Radio still in its golden age of mass audiences and star filled programmes they had a handy solution with ‘The Big Show’. Its premise was simple but effective. Take 90 minutes of air-time and fill it with the stars of stage screen and radio doing comedy sketches drama extracts and musical numbers.<p><p>It sounds simple enough and aided by a huge budget from NBC it was a success staffed by the best writers and technical team in the business.<p><p>Hosted by Tallulah Bankhead with her sharp and acidic wit and her brilliance at ad-libbing ‘The Big Show’ was big entertainment with big stars for a big audience.