On one of the DVDs of Caesar, he said that he was never as nervous on TV as this time that he got up and played sax with the BG band. You can see his relief at 1:52.
Sid Caesar was a freelance saxophonist who played from time to time not only for Goodman, Harry James and other “big bands” but also in transcription sessions for Gus Haenschen’s World Broadcasting System recordings.
According to Wikipedia: After joining the musicians' union, Sid Caesar briefly played with Shep Fields, Claude thornhill, Charlie Spivak, Art Mooney and Benny Goodman
Love this so much! As a lifelong fan of "Mistah Sid's," I've always been intrigued that he- & many of his comedic contemporaries were such talented musicians. Their sublime comic timing was probably derived, at least in part, from their musical training. (Sid himself never studied acting -- much less comedy -- but he did audit classes at Juilliard . . .so his entire higher education was in the musical realm.) Thanks so much for posting!
Interestingly, Sid not only played (briefly) in Benny Goodman's orchestra, but also was close friends w/ Steve Allen -- who starred in BG's biopic. I mean, how meta-cool is that?!
Could Sid have been not just a pretty good sax player, but an outstanding sax player if he had devoted himself completely to it, instead of becoming a giant tv star of the 1950s?
Considering he could do this 10 years after he last played professionally, it makes you wonder. He was very serious about a musical career and audited classes at Julliard in saxophone and clarinet. However, lack of money and World War II put paid to his plans of becoming not just a band saxophonist but one in a symphony orchestra.
Love every aspect of this clip -- particularly Sid's look of sheer child-like ebullience @ 1:10; you can see just how much he loved making music & idolized Benny Goodman!
From the November 1, 1954 edition of "CAESAR'S HOUR"...Sid saved a lot of his kinescopes, 'jsteeber'. Incidentally, this segment was "refreshed" via "LiveFeed Video Imaging", which makes it appear that the picture was just broadcast "yesterday", instead of a grainy 16mm "kinescope" film image.
