Tony Awards telecast of 1969

Having just seen the  broadcast last Sunday, decided to check out the show from 50 years ago on Youtube just to see how times have changed. Boy have they ever. Just a few observations:

Several Special Tonys given on air to Laurence Olivier, Leonard Bernstein, Carol Burnett among others

No Book or Score awards given. Does anyone know why? It couldn't have been lack of quality with "Hair" "Promises Promises," "1776," "Dear World," "Zorba," among others as possible nominees

Biggest ovation of the night for Angela Lansbury's win for "DW"

For those who yearn for including excerpts of nominated plays, be careful what you wish for.

Michael Bennett's choreography for  "Promises" did not win. What??!?!

Everyone in the audience looked so, shall we say, mature.

Patty Duke presented an award as if she were still playing Neely O'Hara.

Al Pacino (winner) and Dustin Hoffman (presenter) were adorable half a century ago and Vanessa Redgrave was very tall (specially standing next to Dustin Hoffman).

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Updated On: 6/13/19 at 11:37 AM

And with all due respect, the original 1968 Broadway production of PROMISES, PROMISES wasn’t a dance show and “Turkey Lurkey Time” was the only dance number in the show. The show did have musical staging with the dancers/ensemble bringing on set pieces during transitions but that’s it. There were no dance numbers except that one.

Also, Patty Duke’s peculiar behavior foreshadowed the fact that years later she was diagnosed as bipolar which validated her public behavior during the late 60s/70s, most notably on award shows.

The "rules" seem to be ever fluid. Remember in 1995 when Sunset Boulevard won Score and Book by default? And Glenn Close's only competition was Rebecca Luker for Show Boat?

(Edited to correct the year, I originally put 96)

Updated On: 6/13/19 at 09:51 PM

Looks like in 1969 (and possibly other years, I didn't check), the winner of Best Musical -1776 - also included the Book writer, Peter Stone, who is listed as having a Tony Award for that show, as did the Music & Lyrics by Sherman Edwards, who is also listed as the Tony winner in those categories.