Re: 1960 Mikado TV production

John Holland (jholland@chipublib.org)
Thu, 11 Jul 2002 09:42:00 -0700 (PDT)

If you can't find a listing in WorldCat, then I too would guess that it has never
been released. I have had a lot of experience with opera productions on video, and
I have never run across this as anything other than a soundtrack album on LP
(Columbia Special Products, if I remember correctly, but I wouldn't want to bet on
Sony reissuing it on CD). What I want to know is how someone got a video copy of a
telecast that predates home VCR's - it must have come from the TV station's
archives.
I have heard from several people who saw it that it was a big disappointment.
Groucho was WAY past his prime by 1960, as was the Wagnerian soprano Helen
Traubel, who played Katisha opposite him. It looked interesting on paper at least!

Barbara Rhodes wrote:

> Videofolk--
>
> I have been offered a copy of the 1960 Southwestern Bell TV production of
> Gilbert & Sullivan's "Mikado" which was unique in having Groucho Marx play
> the role of Ko-Ko. I would like to add this to my personal collection, but I
> wonder if it can possibly be a legal copy and not a bootleg. My only reliable
> information source, World Cat, does not show a video copy in existence. IMDB
> lists it in Groucho's output, but does not say if it was ever available on
> video. Do any of you wise folk have a source that would tell me whether or
> not it was ever legally available? Bad as I want it, I don't want to support
> any pirates.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
>
> Barbara Rhodes
> Media Consultant
> Northeast Texas Library System

--
John Holland
Librarian
Chicago Public Library
Media Express
(312) 747-4100