U.S. TV PRODUCER GREG GARRISON DIES
by David Morgan
Sunday, 10 April 2005

The Associated Press reported that television director/producer Greg Garrison passed away on March 25, at the age of 81.

In addition to working with such notables as Dean Martin, George Burns, Lucille Ball and Jack Benny, Garrison will be remembered as the producer of the NBC summer replacement series "Dean Martin's Comedy World," which aired in 1974.

The show, hosted by Jackie Cooper, introduced clips from programs and live stage acts from around the world, including excerpts from a BBC show called "Monty Python's Flying Circus."

Although some members of Python has appeared on US television as early as
1973 (on "Midnight Special" and the "Tonight Show," live and with clips from the German episodes), "Comedy World" marked the first time that footage from the Pythons' BBC TV series was seen in the United States. Because Garrison had paid for the rights, he in effect paid for the then-costly conversion from PAL to NTSC, which aided efforts to have Monty Python's Flying Circus sold to public television stations.

Thanks, Greg.