My Favorite Year

Benjy Stone reminisces about one week in his life back in 1954 - his favorite year - when television, especially live comedy shows, were just coming into their own as popular entertainment. He was then a junior writer on one such show, "Comedy Cavalcade", starring the demanding and egotistical Stan 'King' Kaiser. On this week, the guest star was Benjy's swashbuckling movie idol, Alan Swann, who was past his prime as a movie star. Swann had a reputation as a boozer and a carouser, which made King and the production staff nervous about him honoring his commitment to the show. As Swann's biggest booster among the staff, Benjy was assigned to be Swann's chaperon, making sure Swann not only met his commitments, but also behaved in a family friendly manner in public. Benjy's work monitoring Swann was not an easy one, but the two became a guide for the other in navigating through issues in their respective lives. For Benjy, these included how to deal with his overbearing Jewish mother, and how to win the heart of the show's production assistant, K.C. Downing, who only saw in Benjy a manic goof-ball. For Swann, these included how to act responsibly, especially with regard to a twelve year old daughter, Tess, who he had not seen in years. Swann's unpredictability, in part in combination with issues regarding the show's on-going 'Boss Hijack' sketch, which was based on real life mobster Karl Rojeck, led to an interesting end to the week for both Benjy and Swann.