The Desert Song (Max Liebman Presents)

"The Desert Song" is the fifteenth episode of the American television musical variety series Max Liebman Presents, adapted from the 1926 operetta The Desert Song, which was based on a true event - an uprising of the Riff tribes against French colonial rule in Morocco in 1925.

The music for the operetta was composed by Sigmund Romberg. The book and the lyrics were written by Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach, Frank Mandel, and Laurence Schwab. Writers for the television adaptation were William Friedberg, Will Glickman and Neil Simon. First telecast live in the United States on May 7, 1955, on NBC. The conductor for the production was Charles Sanford - while the choreographer for all of the dances and musical segments was Rod Alexander. Due to the time constraints for the live telecast, the television version had to be abridged and adapted and it is therefore slightly different from the original operetta. NBC broadcast the live telecast two years after the film version of The Desert Song with Gordon MacRae and Kathryn Grayson was made.

The television version features the only surviving footage of Nelson Eddy in a complete live musical.