WesternMusic
This 1967 TV Movie featured the cast of the recent Lincoln Center and Broadway Revival of the classic musical. Starring Ethel Merman, who recreated her original 1946 role as sharp shooter Annie Oakley, the telecast co-starred Bruce Yarnell, Jerry Orbach and Benay Venuta. Running only 90 minutes and with no studio audience, this TV version was the most popular single musical special of the season for NBC. It raked in a total of 60 million viewers. The special retains a certain notoriety as a "lost" program. Seemingly the only surviving videotapes were erased at some point, with no copies found in the collections of Merman or composer Irving Berlin. A complete audio recording captured by a fan off the television can be sourced for listening online.
Directed by Clark Jones
