John Cage's first television appearance (1960) 6/05/2009

John Cage performs "Water Walk" on a nine-minute game show segment in which a host reads from a newspaper review to prove that Cage is a legitimate artist--"lest you think this is some sort of a stunt"--and gives him a five-minute introduction. Cage then plays on, and I quote: "a water pitcher, an iron pipe, a goose call, a bottle of wine, an electric mixer, a whistle, a sprinkling can, ice cubes, two cymbals, a mechanical fish, a quail call, a rubber duck, a tape recorder, a vase of roses, a seltzer siphon, five radios, a bathtub and a grand piano."

The audience treats it like a comedy performance, and Cage isn't above hamming it up a bit--he even seems a little corny here. Still, despite his smirk and the laugh track, it's bizarre stuff. Imagine a primetime game show today putting aside ten minutes for this.