179     March 21, 1956
Bill, Jayne, Henry, Faye

Betty Connell from Florida: “I’m eating dinner underwater” 
Connell is in a water-filled tank onstage.  She and other talented swimmers perform as “mermaids” for various tourist attractions in Florida.  Shows typically featured attractive young women in what is essentially a giant aquarium, swimming, twirling and occasionally doing ordinary, everyday activities underwater. Of course, they’re also outfitted with a mermaid tail.  Among the most famous of this very specific form of theater is the Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, which still has mermaid shows today.   

Arthur Dry: “I’ve memorized the World Almanac” 
Before the internet, almanacs were indispensable single-volume reference books published annually and stuffed with lists and tables about every subject imaginable.  The World Almanac, by far the most famous, was named not for its “global” collection of facts but because it was originally published by the New York World newspaper.  Another famous almanac of the day, the Information Please Almanac, has its origins in a radio game show of that name. The original World Almanac was printed in 1868.  It continues to be published today, though the need for a printed volume has waned in an era when such facts are a mouse click away.  Dry’s photographic memory is on full display here.   

Special Guests the Cast of The Phil Silvers Show: “We’re going to build a snowman” 
Originally titled You’ll Never Get Rich, The Phil Silvers Show (1955-1959) earned three consecutive Emmys as Best Comedy Series.  It starred Silvers as Sgt Bilko, a lovable Army con man who was assisted in various get-rich-quick schemes by members of his platoon.  Silvers was unquestionably the star, but a large roster of regular and recurring characters made “Bilko” (as it was often called) one of the first ensemble workplace comedies in television.  Allan Melvin, Herbie Faye, Maurice Gosfield, Billy Sands, Maurice Brenner and Harvey Lembeck are featured here.  They’re building a snowman in the studio on the first day of spring.