Morning television show pioneer Ernie Kovacs fell in love on camera

When producers hired a woman to help out the host of television show Three To Get Ready they matched host Ernie Kovacs with the love of his life

Television and film star Ernie Kovacs with his wife Edie Adams at a cocktail party in Hollywood in 1960.

• Roget much more than a man of his words
• More history from Troy Lennon

In 1951 Philadelphia television station WPTZ was looking for a female cast member for its show Three To Get Ready, hosted by Ernie Kovacs. Director Cal Jones had spotted a young blonde woman, Edie Adams, who had won a television talent contest and thought she might work well with Kovacs so he invited her to audition.

Adams was asked to sing some popular songs, but being classically trained she only knew three. Fortunately that was all they asked her to sing and she was hired. It proved a magic pairing in more ways than one.

Adams and Kovacs had great on-screen chemistry, adding something extra to the show. But the chemistry continued off screen and they were later married.

Born a century ago today Kovacs would still have been a great television comedy pioneer without Adams, but she became a crucial part of his life. However, his personal motto “Nothing in moderation” ensured it was a life of extreme highs and lows.

Comedian, television personality and film star Ernie Kovacs with his wife Edie Adams in 1961.

Born Ernest Edward Kovacs on January 23, 1919, in Trenton, New Jersey, he was the son of Andrew Kovacs, a Hungarian immigrant and Prohibition era bootlegger. When Prohibition ended in 1933 Andrew lost his lucrative income.

The parents opened a restaurant but it failed in 1936 and they split. Ernie’s grades began to drop and the only thing keeping him interested in school was a love of performing. He was class clown, sang in a choir and studied drama. His drama coach Harold Van Kirk arranged a scholarship for Kovacs to drama school in 1937. In 1938 he moved to New York to study acting, taking occasional stage roles and playing late night poker games. But in 1939 his hard work, poor diet and late nights put him in hospital with pneumonia. After recovering he went home to live with his mother and got work selling cigars in a drugstore. He hated the job but developed a love of cigars.

He was rejected when he tried to enlist during WWII in 1941 because his lungs were in poor health. Instead he auditioned as a radio announcer, reading a news bulletin which he peppered with ad libs. He was hired.

Kovacs performs a stunt on his Philadelphia early morning show Three to Get Ready in 1951.

Initially his show was music with occasional announcements, but over time it became more talk than music. His keen sense of the absurd made him a hit with listeners. Kovacs also wrote a newspaper column, radio scripts and gags for comedians.

In 1945 he married dancer Bette Lee Wilcox. They had two daughters, Betty and Kippie. But Bette resented giving up dancing to look after children. She began to neglect the girls and walked out in 1950.

In 1950 Kovacs auditioned for the television fashion game show, Pick Your Ideal, wearing a barrel over a pair of shorts, and got the job. He later hosted cooking show Deadline Tor Dinner, which soon became a comedy cooking show.

As host of Three To Get Ready, Kovacs pioneered the morning television show concept. Before he came along viewers were not in the habit of switching on before 9am. But his format of news and information with skits, ad libs and experimental surreal comedy using television trickery including rotating the camera, splitting screens and superimposing images proved popular. When producers decided his show needed a woman’s touch Adams joined the cast.

In 1952 when Three To Get Ready was cancelled to make way for a national morning show, Kovacs went to New York to host another local show. He divorced Bette in 1952, and unusually for the time, was granted custody of the children on the grounds Bette was mentally unstable

He was given a shot at his own prime time show in 1953, but up against the high-rating Milton Berle show it only lasted three months. That same year Bette kidnapped the girls and took them to Florida. He tried to find them himself and hired private eyes before finally calling the police.

He started The Ernie Kovacs Show on the smaller Dumont television network in 1954 and later eloped to Mexico with Adams where they were married. In 1955 his daughters were finally found and returned to him.

When Dumont closed down in 1956 he moved to another network. He also took his first film role in 1957, a supporting role in the film Operation Mad Ball, forming a friendship with co- star Jack Lemmon. He appeared in 10 films including Bell, Book And Candle and North To Alaska.

Although his subsequent TV shows were short-lived, his marriage to Adams survived his gambling and his excesses. Tragically, he died in 1962 when his car skidded on a wet road and hit a power pole. Lemmon identified the body, Edie was too distraught.

Bette tried to gain custody of the children, but Edie fought to keep them and a court ruled they remain with their stepmother.