Season 1, Episode 22, Host:Elliott Gould, with Leon Redbone, Harlan Collins & Joyce Everson

Aired May 29, 1976.

Cold opening:"Wax Museum"
In a wax museum, a flasher (Chevy Chase) approaches several wax statues and exposes himself to them.

He then approaches a wax statue of a woman (Gilda Radner) and kisses her neck.  Suddenly, the statues comes to life and slaps the flasher!  He slaps her back, she returns fire with a slap that sends the flasher tumbling offstage.

The flasher then looks into the camera and announces "Live, from New York, it's Saturday Night!"


Monologue:"Anything Goes"
Host Elliott Gould performs the song "Anything Goes," the title song of Cole Porter's 1934 musical of the same name.

Commercial:"Academy Of Better Careers"
Repeat from Episode 1.

"European Poker:
In 19th century New Orleans, a man named Mr. Rousseau (Dan Aykroyd) plays poker with a European man named Ramone Diarga (Chase) and his translator Moe Greenstein (Gould).  They use "European Rules" to cheat Rousseau out of his money.

Commercial:"National Uvula Association"
Written by Rosie Shuster.
A PSA that encourages viewers to have their uvula regularly treated.

Leon Redbone:"Shine On Harvest Moon"
This song was written by Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth and first performed as part of  Ziegfeld Follies in 1908.  Leon Redbone recorded it for his 1976 album Double Time.

Star Trek:"Last Voyage Of The Starship Enterprise"
Written by Michael O'Donoghue.
Captain Kirk (John Belushi), Mr. Spock (Chase), Dr. McCoy (Dan Aykroyd) encounter a menace that even they can't defeat:Cancellation!

"Muppets Postcard":
Gilda Radner reads a postcard from the Muppets, who are in England.

"Weekend Update":
Anchor Chevy Chase reports on the days headlines, which include:
"Cuban premier Fidel Castro announced that he is pulling out of Angola. A frustrated Angola could not be reached for comment."

Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter and his wife Roslyn have their cheeks epoxied together.  

Audrey Peart Dickman (Jane Curtin) junior chairperson of the Bicentennial Business Affairs Committee defends ad campaigns that exploit America's Bicentennial celebration...while Chevy makes faces behind her back.

Plus, a new feature:News For Emily Litella Fans!  Chevy repeats the night's top story with the aid of editorial commentator Miss Emily Litella.

Commercial:"Rovco Vibramatic"
A couple (Gould and Newman) promotes a vegetable slicer that's also a "personal massager!"

"Shirley Temple in Ghana":
U.S. Ambassador to Ghana Shirley Temple Black (Newman) gets leaders (Gould and Garrett Morris) of warring factions in Ghana to settle their differences by singing and tap-dancing instead of killing each other.

Film by Gary Weis:"Uncle Charlie's School"
Weis and Gould visit Charlie Lowe's School Of Theatrical Arts, where Gould took dancing and diction lessons as a child.

"Bee Honeymooners":
Ralph Kramden (Belushi) accidentally sits on his wife Alice's (Radner) knitting needles.  Since Alice is always knitting, Ralph's neighbor Ed (Aykroyd) theorizes that she's pregnant.  

Leon Redbone:"My Walking Stick"
"My Walking Stick was written by Irving Berlin and was first recorded by Ray Noble and his Orchestra in 1938.  Redbone's recording of the song appeared on his 1975 album On The Track.  Tubist Jonathan Dorn provides accompaniment to Redbone.  

"Show Us Your Guns"
Repeat from Episode 1.

Harlan Collins & Joyce Everson:"Heaven Only Knows"

The duo performs "Heaven Only Knows."
(see notes below)

"Goodnights":
Gould and the cast appear on home base dressed as cowgirls.  The host says they're taking a vacation and they all sing "Happy Trails," which was written by Dale Evans and made famous by Evans and her husband Roy Rogers.  Evans and Rogers first recorded "Happy Trails" in 1952.  

Notes about this episode:
John Belushi says "Promise" at the end of the 'Star Trek' sketch.  This is a reference to William Shatner's appearances in commercials for Promise brand margarine, which ended with Shatner saying "Promise."  Here's a video of one of those commercials:

Speaking of the Star Trek sketch, Mr. Sulu is played by SNL production designer Akira Yoshimura.  He's worked on the show from the beginning to the present.  Yoshimura also played Sulu in two other Star Trek sketches during seasons 12 and 19.

Akira Yoshimura as Mr. Sulu.

The "Shirley Temple In Ghana" sketch is based on Shirley Temple's second career.  In case anyone doesn't know, 1930s child star Shirley Temple did indeed serve as U.S. Ambassador to Ghana.  She was known as Shirley Temple Black during her diplomatic career, which began when Pres. Richard Nixon appointed Black to be a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly in 1969.  She was appointed Ambassador to Ghana by Pres. Gerald Ford in 1974 and later appointed by Pres. George W. Bush to serve as Ambassador to Czechoslovakia.

Shirley Temple Black, seen here while she served as U.S. Ambassador to Ghana.

"Heaven Only Knows,"  the song performed by Harlan Collins & Joyce Everson on this episode, was never released on any album.  Harlan Collins was kind enough to answer my question about the song on his Facebook page.  While searching for info about the song, I also discovered that Collins writes a one-sentence humor piece for Tribune Newspapers called Today's Chuckle.

Jane Curtin plays an editorial commentator named Audrey Peart Dickman.  This name is a reference to the the real Audrey Peart Dickman, who served as SNL's Associate Producer for many years.

Associate Producer Audrey Peart Dickman during the early years of SNL.

Classic moment:
The Star Trek sketch has appeared in lots of SNL clip shows and has been called the greatest Saturday Night sketch of all time.  I wouldn't go that far, but it's one of the strongest sketches of season one and it's still hilarious 44 years after it aired.  Everyone does an impression of William Shatner today, but Belushi was the first and his performance is still amazing to behold, one of Belushi's best moments on the show.

What stands out:
"Shirley Temple in Ghana"-This great sketch is a nice showcase for the singing and dancing talents of Laraine Newman, Garrett Morris and Elliott Gould.

"Uncle Charlie's School"-This is one of Weis' better films this season and it was nice to learn more about Gould's background.  

"Bee Honeymooners"-An excellent parody of the classic comedy show and a new, clever way to use the Bees.  Aykroyd, Belushi, Curtin and Radner are all great in this sketch.  

J.A. Morris' Rating:
This is another great episode, Star Trek earns the episode a 4-star rating all by itself, but it's a strong episode from start to finish.  

4 stars!