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Date: 10/30/2015
I’m not sure if we could describe Public Broadcasting today as having a subversive satiric streak, but in the early 1970s there certainly was one.
In 1974 PBS stations began running “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” to great popular acclaim. Today the “Python” TV show and films still remain greatly popular, not just with people my age who saw it 41 years ago.
But do you remember the show that preceded it for two years that certainly had the same challenging attitude as Python?
I sure do. I was a loyal watcher of the “The Great American Dream Machine,” a PBS show that ran two seasons from 1971 to 1973.
Although the show had more structural links to “Laugh In” – short varied bits – it was an American cousin to Python.
Now S’More Entertainment has released a four-disc set of the show and I’ve found that my pleasant memories of the program are accurate. This was some innovative and daring television.
Although there were recurring performers – Marshall Efron and Ken Shaprio were the standouts – there was no official host. The episodes were centered about loose themes that usually could be said as to explore what the “American dream” meant.
According to Alvin Perlmutter, executive producer of the original series with Jack Willis, “The Dream Machine was born at a time in public television when producers were encouraged to explore new ways to use the medium – to be spontaneous, to stun, to shock, to amuse, to annoy, to anger – to give viewers a different way of seeing. It was a time when producers were constrained by neither sponsor concerns nor government pressures. We were exploring alternatives to commercial television.”
Most shows had a segment that asked that question to people with some interesting results and most shows presented American popular culture that flew beneath the radar in the early 1970s.
There was a segment on a demolition derby during which the owner of the track denied that Americans enjoyed violence.
Another story explored a movement to combat feminism that encouraged women to act like children to sway their husbands.
Evel Kneivel was profiled on one show as was roller derby superstar villain Ann Calvello – neither could be considered mainstream popular culture.
The show did a segment interviewing newlyweds honeymooning at a resort in the Poconos complete with heart shaped bathtubs that is a time capsule for the 1970s.
This was television that was truly experimental and remains so. The format and style of “The Great American Dream Machine” would be considered revolutionary still today.
I was surprised to see just how animated shorts figured so prominently into the show – I had forgotten – and was happy to see how much independent American animation was used.
Two show’s two stalwarts – Efron and Shapiro – contributed funny and thoughtful compelling bits to the show. I loved his take on TV weather forecasters.
Shapiro had been part of a revolutionary underground theater that made fun of television.
He continued his satire on “Dream Machine,” and then went on in 1974 to making a very funny and very successful feature film, “The Groove Tube.”
Efron had a sharper satiric edge and he took on consumer issues. His skit on how olives are classified by their size was brilliant as was his exploration of what ingredients are in a frozen lemon cream pie. At the conclusion he noted, while holding a store-bought “No lemon, no cream. Just pie.”
“Dream Machine” was a starting point for many performers including Albert Brooks who wrote and directed a funny short film about “The School for Comedians” and Chevy Chase who worked with Shapiro.
Andy Rooney performed the type of essays he did later for “60 Minutes” first on “Dream Machine.”
With a running time of 777 minutes, there is a wealth of comedy and satire to savor. Perhaps some enterprising PBS producer would have enough backbone to remake it today.
At least now we have the original back to be discovered and rediscovered.