Season 1, Episode 13, Host:Peter Boyle, with, Al Jarreau and the Shapiro Sisters.

Aired February 14, 1976.

Cold opening:"St. Valentine's Day Massacre"
Chicago, St. Valentine's Day, 1929.  In an underground restaurant, a customer asks the Jimmy waiter to move his car into the parking garage.  Unfortunately, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre is happening above the restaurant.  Jimmy returns full of bullets and bleeding profusely.

He falls down the stairs, then exclaims "Live, from New York, it's Saturday Night!"

Monologue:
In honor of Valentine's Day, host Peter Boyle sings "My Funny Valentine" (written by Rogers and Hart for the musical Babes In Arms) to his girlfriend Lorraine, who's sitting in the audience.

 While Boyle serenades her, Lorraine makes out with the man sitting beside her.

Commercial:"Corrida"
Ricardo Montalbahn (Aykroyd) shills for a car named after bullfighting.

"Samurai Divorce Court":
Samurai Futaba (John Belushi) and his wife (Jane Curtin) both want a divorce.  She alleges mental anguish, he says she committed adultery.

The presiding judge (Boyle) must decide who gets custody of their daughter Bingo (Jenny Shapiro).

The Shapiro Sisters:"This Will Be"
Sisters Helena, Emily and Jenny Shapiro dance and lip sync Natalie Cole's recording of "This Will Be," which reached #6 on the Billboard chart during the previous year.

"Jason & Chole's Slideshow":
Burned out stoners Chloe (Laraine Newman) and Jason (Dan Aykroyd) invite their very normal neighbor Bob (Boyle) to watch a slide show of their recent acid trip.

Al Jarreau:"We Got By"
Al Jarreau performs the title track of his 1975 album.

"Weekend Update":
Chevy Chase's top story is that Pres. Gerald Ford celebrated Valentine's Day "at the White House with the First Family by trimming the tree, hunting for eggs, vetoing a $6.1 billion Public Works employment bill, calling it: "An election year pork barrel" to the confusion of everyone."

Garrett Morris reports on the Winter Olympic games in Austria.

And Emily Litella delivers a commentary opposing "Canker Research."

Commercial:"K-Put Price-Is-Rite Stamp Gun"
Repeat from Episode 5.

"All-Pro Wrestling":
In a tag team bout, the Bees (Boyle and Belushi)...

...face off against the WASPS, as in "White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (Radner and Chase)"!

"Remembrance Of Things Past":
Jane Curtin interviews a masked "statesman" who sounds a lot like a certain disgraced former U.S. President.

Film by Gary Weis:"Pledge Of Allegiance"
A montage of school children reciting pledging allegiance to American Flag, with a surprise "pledger" at the end of the film.

"Dueling Brandos":
While "Deuling Banjos" plays in the background, two Marlon Brandos (Boyle and Belushi) recite dialogue from Brando movies.

"Janitor in the Fridge":
A household is overrun with anthropomorphic cleaning products.

"Home Movie:
A very short movie about a home.

"Garrett's Valentine Card":
Garrett Morris gives Gilda Radner a Valentine card that contains a very suggestive poem he composed about her.

Al Jarreau:"Somebody's Watching You"
This song was released on Jarreau's 1976 album Glow.

Film by Gary Weis:"Homeward Bound"
Repeat from Episode 8.

Goodnights:
At home base, Boyle says they're running a bit late, then acknowledges a "dear friend"  named "Patty" in the audience.  A woman wearing handcuffs waves from the crowd (she's supposed to be Patty Hearst, who was on trial for bank robbery when this episode aired).

Notes about this episode:
The woman Peter Boyle sings to during the monologue was his girlfriend Loraine Alterman, a music journalist and Rolling Stone editor.  They were married in 1977 and were together until Boyle's death in 2006.

The Shapiro Sisters are the daughters of Ken Shapiro, who founded Channel One, a comedy troupe that videotaped sketches and showed them in theaters.  A compilation of Channel One sketches titled The Groove Tube was released theatrically in 1972.

Chevy Chase got his start in Channel One, and before the launch of Saturday Night, Ken Shapiro signed Lorne Michaels to write a movie (which was never produced).  This is likely how the Shapiros got booked on SNL.

At the end of Gary Weis' "Pledge Of Allegiance" film, Garrett Morris appears onscreen in a bald wig.  He's playing Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, the boxer who was wrongly convicted and imprisoned for murder.  Carter's case was a big news story at the time of this episode.  It was later dramatized in the 1999 film The Hurricane, which starred Denzel Washington as Carter.

Dan Aykroyd's "Corrida" commercial is a parody of ads for the Chrysler Cordoba that featured Ricardo Montalban as their celebrity pitchman.  Here's one of Montalbahn's Cordoba comercials:

Montalban famously talked about the Cordoba's seats made of  "rich Corinthian leather."  The leather actually had no connection at all to Corinth, it was a term created by an advertising agency.

Classic Moment:
"Remembrance Of Things Past"-This introduces Aykroyd's impression of Richard Nixon, a role he would play eight more times during his years on SNL.

What stands out:
"Corrida"-Aykroyd is hilarious here.

"Dueling Brandos"-A great sketch, Belushi and Boyle's facial expressions are just as funny as their "Brando" voices.

"Jason & Chloe's Slideshow"-Newman and Aykroyd are great as the stoner couple, Boyle is perfect as their "square" neighbor.  While drug use was frequent behind the scenes and the show featured lots of drug humor, this sketch shows that SNL also depicted the negative impact of drugs.

J.A. Morris' rating:
This is a great episode, Boyle seems like the sort of host who would do just about anything the cast or writers asked of him.  He's especially funny in "Dueling Brandos."  One of the better episodes so far of Season 1.

4 stars.

Season 1, Episode 12; Host:Dick Cavett, with Jimmy Cliff, Marshall Efron, Al Alen Petersen

Aired January 31, 1976.

Cold opening:"Voodoo Doll"
Chevy Chase has decided to open this episode with a song instead of the customary fall.  Garrett Morris has other ideas and takes out a "Chevy" voodoo doll!

When he throws the doll against the wall, this causes the real Chevy to fall off the stage and exclaim "Live, from New York, it's Saturday Night!"

Monologue:
Host Dick Cavett talks about his first visit to the RCA-NBC building, when he interviewed to be an NBC page.

"The Total Woman":
Ann (Jane Curtin), a widowed mother of two, is reading a book called The Total Woman, which says single mothers can't be particular about men.  Her belief in this theory will be tested when Ann's new boyfriend Michael (Chase), an avid hunter, accidentally guns down everyone she loves.

Commercial:"Dick Cavett School of Auto Refinishing and Upholstery"
Cavett says that the "real money" is in auto refinishing and upholstery, so he's started a school to train more workers for that field.  

Jimmy Cliff:"The Harder They Come"
Reggae singer Jimmy Cliff performs the title song of the film The Harder They Come.  This song (and the movie) help popularize Reggae all over the world when it was released in 1972.

Commercial:"H&L Brock" #1
Written by Alan Zweibel.
Lowell Brock (John Belushi) gives a list of reasons why you have your taxes prepared by his company instead of H&R Block.  Reason #1 is that Brock will help you cheat on your taxes.

"Weekend Update":
Chevy Chases top stories include:
"The CIA has denied an attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro with an invisible exploding cigar."

Plus, Emily Litella delivers a commentary opposing the "Eagle Rights Amendment."

And Tom Schiller (dressed as Ricky Ricardo), curator for the I Love Lucy Museum, introduces a new segment: "News For I Love Lucy Fans."

Commercial:"Felina Cat Food"
Repeat from Episode 3.

Commercial:"The Dick Cavett School of Hydroplane Operation"
Cavett informs viewers that "the trained hydroplane operator has a solid employment future," so he's opened a school to train hydroplane pilots.

"Our Town":
Dick Cavett promotes a new production of the play Our Town.  Except this play was NOT written by Thornton Wilder and it takes place in the poverty-stricken New York City of 1976.  

Jimmy Cliff:"Many Rivers To Cross"
This gospel-tinged song was first released on Cliff's homonymous 1969 album and it gained a bigger audience when it was included on the soundtrack of The Harder They Come.

"Dick Cavett Lookalike":
The host is introduced to Dwayne Christiansen (Marshall Efron), winner of the 1976 Dick Cavett Lookalike Contest.  Cavett suspects that someone is pulling his leg.

Film by Gary Weis:
Gary Weis asks a plastic surgeon how he would improve the face of a clothing designer and asks the designer how he would improve the surgeon's clothing.

"Dance To The Nation":
First Lady Betty Ford (Curtin) answers letters from citizens seeking advice while performing a modern dance routine.

Commercial:"H&L Brock" #2
Written by Alan Zweibel.
Lowell continues his list of reasons why you should select his firm to do your taxes, which includes paying off the officials of the Internal Revenue Service!

Talk show:"Looks At Books":
Chevy Chase interviews Dick "The Stick" Cavett, who has written a book about his side career as a pimp in Nebraska.

Jimmy Cliff:"Wahjahka Man"
This song appeared on Cliff's 1975 album Follow My Mind.

Commercial:"H&L Brock" #3
Written by Alan Zweibel.
The final Brock ad touts the company's ties to organized crime.

Home Movie:"Apple Follies"
An apple performs a strip tease, but it's interrupted when the "apple police" arrive and shut down the theater.

Al Alen Petersen:"I Gotta Be Me"
Al Alen Petersen, dressed as a construction worker, performs the song "I Gotta Be Me," which was written for the 1968 Broadway musical Golden Rainbow.

A few bars into the song, Petersen begins to strip, revealing that he's wearing women's underwear.

"Goodnights":
Cavett appears alone at home base and jokes that Petersen's performance isn't something you'll see during the Family Hour.  He tells the viewers "if our show was not seen in your city tonight, please write, and let us know what you thought of it," and says goodnight.

Notes about this episode:
During the third H&L Brock commercial, SNL producer Lorne Michaels crawls onstage and ties John Belushi's shoes together, which causes Belushi to laugh and break up.

Betty Ford was a dance student of Martha Graham, one of the most influential choreographers of the 20th century.  That's why Jane Curtin portrays Ford as a dancer in "Dance To The Nation."  Here's a photo of the real Betty Ford dancing in the White House on her last day as First Lady:

Marshall Efron, who plays the Cavett lookalike, is a humorist and character actor.  At the time, he was best known for hosting The Great American Dream Machine, a variety series that aired on PBS in 1971-72.  The series included contributions from future SNL-ers Chevy Chase and Albert Brooks.

What Stands Out:
"H&L Brock"-Belushi is very funny as the sleazy accountant Lowell Brock.

Jane Curtin in "The Total Woman" and "Dance To The Nation"-Curtin was often cast in "straight" roles where she reacted to "funny" characters.  In both these sketches, she demonstrates that she could play the comic lead as well as any member of the cast.  

Jimmy Cliff-I enjoyed all three of Cliff's performances.  "Many Rivers To Cross" is one of the best moments of this episode.

What Doesn't Work:
"Dick Cavett Lookalike"-While Marshall Efron brings lots of enthusiasm to this bit, it feels like filler.

J.A. Morris' rating:
This is a good, solid episode even if it's not exactly essential viewing.  Dick Cavett's dry sense of humor is used effectively here and this one is especially recommended for fans of Jimmy Cliff's music.

3 stars.