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Series
NET Playhouse
Episode Number
24
Episode
Ustinov Ad Lib
Producing Organization
British Broadcasting Corporation
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/516-x639z91j4g
NOLA Code
NPUL
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Description
Episode Description
1 hour piece produced by the BBC and initially distributed by NET in 1967. It was originally shot on videotape.
Episode Description
Nearly an hour of amusement in the urbane company of Peter Ustinov, the well-known and versatile actor-writer-director. Mr. Ustinov is joined by Dudley Moore (of ?Beyond the Fringe? fame), Antony Hopkins, and Bernard Keefe, in the fun of improvising on musical themes. Totally unrehearsed and unprepared, they invent whole musical items on the spot, perform satires of instrumentalists, and do a collection of hilarious ?interviews? with composers of different nations. Bernard Keefe is the interviewer, while Peter Ustinov becomes a Russian composer, a German composer of electronic music, an American composer, and a doddering English composer. As a finale, Ustinov and Dudley Moore collaborate on an ?instant? commercial opera, ?Madame Chatterfly,? based on ?Lady Chatterley?s Lover.? Ustinov Ad Lib is a National Educational Television presentation and a production of the British Broadcasting Corporation. NET presented a 10 minute piece, Play Bach, as a filler for the Ustinov Ad Lib piece. The Jacques Loussier ?Play Bach? Trio, internationally famous for their provocative jazz renderings of Bach, consist of Jacques Loussier ? piano and organ; Pierre Michelot ? bass; and Christian Garros ? drums. Chorale: Sleepers, Awake! PLAY BACH, a National Educational Television presentation, was produced by Granada TV, England. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
Broadcast Date
1967-03-17
Asset type
Episode
Genres
Performance
Topics
Humor
Media type
other
Credits
Director: Coleman, Francis
Executive Producer: Hearst, Stephen
Performer: Ustinov, Peter
Performer: Keefe, Bernard
Performer: Hopkins, Anthony
Performer: Moore, Dudley
Producer: Coleman, Francis
Producing Organization: British Broadcasting Corporation
AAPB Contributor Holdings
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Citations
Chicago: “NET Playhouse; 24; Ustinov Ad Lib,” 1967-03-17, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed January 25, 2026, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-516-x639z91j4g.
MLA: “NET Playhouse; 24; Ustinov Ad Lib.” 1967-03-17. American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. January 25, 2026. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-516-x639z91j4g>.
APA: NET Playhouse; 24; Ustinov Ad Lib. Boston, MA: American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-516-x639z91j4g