#prospect studios

1977.

George Schlatter: The first time I did anything in TV was 1954. Herman Hover put together a regional program for KABC called A Table at Ciro’s. It aired Saturday nights at 11pm and lasted just under a year. 

They recreated Ciro’s on a soundstage at KABC’s Prospect Studios. Hover would interview a star and they’d maybe sing a song and that was the whole program. Occasionally the star was booked at Ciro’s, but more often it was a lesser celebrity that we convinced to appear in exchange for a free dinner. 

The real big names felt television was beneath them and as a result most of our guests actually needed a free meal. Our guests were people like Billy Gray, who ran a comedy room in Hollywood called the Band Box and Kay Thompson, the singer who made Andy Williams famous. And then there was Buster Keaton. 

Buster Keaton came into Ciro’s to drink. He was never booked at the club, but we convinced him to do the TV show. Hover interviewed him about the old days and then he did a pantomime routine. I stood at the side of the soundstage in awe. I was only twenty-two years old.