As a kid in the 50s and early 60s, I just loved this show! It was “The Phil Silvers Show,” but who didn’t just call it “Sergeant Bilko”?
Phil Silvers played the oily, slick, fast-talking Sergeant Bilko to Paul Ford’s longsuffering, endlessly put-upon Colonel Hall. Bilko came up with one scheme after another, always several jumps ahead of everybody else.
We had a peacetime draft in those days, so an awful lot of people could relate to an Army comedy. If we’d had a few more real-life Sergeant Bilkos in our military, we could have won wars without fighting. Just turn Bilko loose on the enemy: he’d cheat the enemy’s pants off, and the enemy would thank him for it.
Ah, Phil Silvers! A very funny man. He had a long career in movies and TV, but “Sergeant Bilko” was his signature achievement.
But it’s probably a good thing more kids didn’t grow up to be like Sergeant Bilko.
Those who did, probably wound up in Congress or on Wall Street.
Thought Phil Silvers was very good as Sargent Bilko. Did not like the film.
Phil Slivers was a classic – loved him as Sergeant Bilko. Steve Martin made a movie acting the part of Bilko but it was a dud (so I thought).
Johnathan Winters was another great from that era.
I never saw the original. I did see the Steve Martin move and liked it well enough, and I can definitely see that they borrowed heavily from the original for the movie. In both cases, there was obviously a lot of snake oil on the character of Bilko.
That was an “always watch” in our family. The kids loved it, and I didn’t mind it either.