Carr's reputation for hosting expensive and lavish parties and creating spectacular production numbers led AMPAS to hire him to produce the 61st Academy Awards and create the show based on his promise that he would turn it around from the dry, dull show it had been in previous years. It was inspired by "Beach Blanket Babylon", the musical revue show featuring Snow White at Hollywood after the dwarves during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Promising "the antithesis of tacky," and despite the best Nielsen ratings in five years, it proved to be a career disaster for Allan, culminating in the infamous pairing of Snow White (played by Eileen Bowman) and Rob Lowe singing a parody of "Proud Mary." Before that, when Snow White first entered the theater from the rear, she seemed to surprise and even put off the movie stars she was singing to, using a high-pitched imitation (bordering on parody) of the Disney cartoon. During the main number, before Rob Lowe's entrance, a crooning Merv Griffin introduced a procession of once famous Hollywood stars ranging from Alice Faye to Roy Rogers and Dale Evans to Vincent Price, which seemed more forced than natural as the elders were practically guided across the stage by male dancers (some dressed as chairs and tables). Also, there was no host that year. Instead, actors and actresses traded off, ranging from Tom Selleck (who opened) to Bob Hope and Lucille Ball (the latter died three weeks later). His no host theme was centered on "compadres, costars, couples and companions," and his no host theme wouldn't be repeated until the Oscars of 2019.