The Ad-Libbers is a CBS comedy sketch game show that aired in 1951. A summer replacement for Mama

Mama (TV series)

Mama is a weekly Maxwell House-sponsored CBS television comedy-drama series which ran from July 1, 1949 until March 17, 1957.Based on the Kathryn Forbes memoir Mama's Bank Account, which was also adapted for the 1944 John Van Druten play and subsequent 1948 film I Remember Mama, it told the...

, five live shows were broadcast before the series ended.

Format

Home viewers were invited to send in story ideas. The host would read the story outline to the performers, who would then attempt to ad-lib dialogue to fit the story.

Cast

The show was hosted by Peter Donald

Peter Donald

Peter Donald was a British-born actor who worked in American radio and television.-Radio:He was famed as the character of Ajax Cassidy on Fred Allen's radio show, the Irishman who continually complained that he was "not long for this world."In addition to his long run on "Allen's Alley," Donald...

. Regulars included Jack Lemmon

Jack Lemmon

John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...

, Charles Mendick, Patricia Hosley, Joe Silver

Joe Silver

Joe Silver was an American stage, television, film and radio actor. His distinctive deep voice was once described as "the lowest voice in show business; so low that when he speaks, he unties your shoelaces."Silver made his Broadway debut in 1942 in a revival of Tobacco Road...

, Earl Hammond

Earl Hammond

Earl Hammond was an American theater, radio, film and television actor, and, in his later years, a voice actor for several animated films and TV series.-Best known roles:...

 and Cynthia Stone

Cynthia Stone

Cynthia Stone was an American television actress.-Biography:Born in Peoria, Illinois, Stone had a brief career in the 1950s and 1960s as a television actress. Though she mainly appeared in guest spots in various television series, she and then-husband Jack Lemmon starred together in the short...

.

Background

The series was based on a similar program titled What Happens Now? The program aired on local New York station WOR-TV in 1949 and was hosted by Nelson Olmsted

Nelson Olmsted

Nelson Olmsted, was an actor in films, recordings, radio and television from the 1950s to the 1970s. Sometimes billed as Nelson Olmstead, he was best known for an unusual NBC radio series, Sleep No More , in which he narrated his own adaptations of terror tales and science-fantasy stories...

. Regulars on the 1949 program included Ross Martin

Ross Martin

Ross Martin was a Polish-born American Emmy-nominated actor known for playing Artemus Gordon in the western TV series The Wild Wild West, starring Robert Conrad, and Andamo on Mr...

, Carol Ohmart

Carol Ohmart

Armelia Carol Ohmart , better known as Carol Ohmart, is an American actress and beauty pageant title holder who appeared in B movies of the 1950s.-From pageants to Paramount:...

 and Larry Blyden

Larry Blyden

Larry Blyden was an American actor and game show host, best known for his appearances on Broadway and as the host of the game show What's My Line?-Personal life:...

.