December Bride
December Bride is an American sitcom that aired on the CBS television network from 1954 to 1959, adapted from the original CBS radio network series that aired from June 1952 through September 1953. December Bride centered around the adventures of Lily Ruskin, a spry widow played by Spring Byington, who was not, in fact, a […]
Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best was an American radio and television comedy series which portrayed a middle class family life in the Midwest. It was created by writer Ed James in the 1940s, and ran on radio from 1949 to 1954 and on television from 1954 to 1960. The May 27th, 1954 episode of The Ford Television Theatre show was called “Keep It in the […]
The George Gobel Show
The George Gobel Show, was a comedy show that ran on NBC from 1954 to 1960 (the last season on CBS, alternating with The Jack Benny Program). It was a showcase of George Gobel’s quiet, homespun style of humor, a low-key alternative to what audiences had seen on Milton Berle‘s shows. A huge success, the popular series made […]
The Jimmy Durante Show
The Jimmy Durante Show is a 51-episode half-hour comedy/variety television program presented live on NBC from October 2nd, 1954 to June 23rd, 1956. Several guest stars on the program later developed successful show business careers of their own. Jimmy Durante’s long nose, piano, and broken vocabulary were the mainstays of the program, which aired at 9:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturdays. In the first […]
The Lineup
The Lineup is an American police drama which aired on CBS radio from 1950 to 1953 and on CBS television from 1954 to 1960. The television version was set specifically in San Francisco and was produced with the cooperation of the San Francisco Police Department, which received a credit at the close of each episode. It starred Warner Anderson as Guthrie and Tom Tully as Grebb, who was now an inspector instead […]
Shower of Stars
Shower of Stars (also known as Chrysler Shower of Stars) is an American variety television series broadcast live in the United States from 1954 to 1958 by CBS. The series was broadcast in color which was a departure from the usual programming broadcast by CBS. Shower of Stars is typically composed of musical comedy revues with an occasional straight play. It was shown […]
Caesar’s Hour
Caesar’s Hour is a live, hour-long American sketch comedy television program that aired on NBC from 1954 until 1957. The program starred, among others, Sid Caesar, Nanette Fabray, Carl Reiner, Howard Morris, Janet Blair and Milt Kamen, and featured a number of cameo roles by famous entertainers such as Joan Crawford and Peggy Lee. Caesar’s Hour expanded on the format of Your Show of Shows with many sketches running a half-hour or more, including […]
People are Funny
People Are Funny is an American radio and television game show, created by John Guedel that remained popular throughout the 1940s and 1950s. The program ran from 1942 to 1960. The program’s stunts and audience participation were calculated to reveal the humorous side of human nature. After contestants were sent from the studio to perform […]
Medic
Medic is an American medical drama that aired on NBC beginning in 1954. Medic was television’s first doctor drama to focus attention on medical procedures. Created by its principal writer James E. Moser, Medic tried to create realism (The Doctor and City Hospital had not) which would typify medical shows from then on. Moser had previously written for the radio shows Dragnet and Dr. Kildare. He went on to write […]
Lassie
Lassie is an American television series that follows the adventures of a female Rough Collie dog named Lassie and her companions, human and animal. The show was the creation of producer Robert Maxwell and animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax and was televised from September 12th, 1954, to March 24th, 1973. The show chalked up seventeen seasons […]
It’s a Great Life
It’s a Great Life (also known in syndicated reruns as The Bachelors) is an American situation comedy which aired on NBC from 1954 to 1956. Frances Bavier, six years before being cast as Aunt Bea in CBS’s The Andy Griffith Show, played a somewhat similar role as Mrs. Amy Morgan, the owner of a boarding […]
Stage Show
Stage Show was a popular music variety series on American television originally hosted on alternate weeks by big band leaders and brothers Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. Produced by Jackie Gleason, the CBS-TV show included the first national television appearances by Elvis Presley. Introduced by Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Bill Randle, Presley first appeared on January 28th, 1956, performing “Shake, Rattle and Roll”, “Flip, Flop and Fly” […]
The Tony Martin Show
The Tony Martin Show is a 15-minute weekly musical variety television series hosted by entertainer Tony Martin, which aired in NBC prime time from April 26th, 1954, to February 27th, 1956. It was produced by Bud Yorkin and featured the singing group The Interludes and the Hal Bourne and David Rose orchestras, the latter affiliated with The Red Skelton Show. Martin began each episode with a song at […]
The Martha Raye Show
The Martha Raye Show is an hour-long comedy/variety show which aired live on NBC from January 23rd, 1954, to May 29th, 1956. The series was hosted by Martha Raye, a Montana native, who often called herself “The Big Mouth.” Her boyfriend on the program and a foil for her humor was portrayed by retired middleweight boxer Rocky Graziano. Nat Hiken, her writer and director, went on […]
Topper
Topper is an American fantasy sitcom based on the 1937 film of the same name, itself based on the novels by Thorne Smith. The series was broadcast on CBS from October 9th, 1953 to July 15th, 1955, and stars Leo G. Carroll in the title role. Sophisticated but stuffy Cosmo Topper is the vice president […]
The Big Picture
The Big Picture is an American documentary television program which aired on ABC-TV from 1951 to 1964. The series consisted of documentary films produced by the United States Army Signal Corps Army Pictorial Service, showing weaponry, battles, and biographies of famous soldiers. The half-hour weekly program featured famous or before-they-were-famous actors and actresses in quality […]
Person to Person
Person to Person is a popular television program in the United States that originally ran from 1953 to 1961. Edward R. Murrow hosted it until 1959, interviewing celebrities in their homes from a comfortable chair in his New York studio (his opening: “Good evening, I’m Ed Murrow. And the name of the program is ‘Person to Person’. It’s all […]
Make Room For Daddy
The Danny Thomas Show (known as Make Room for Daddy during the first three seasons) is an American sitcom which ran from 1953-1957 on ABC and from 1957-1964 on CBS. A revival series known as Make Room for Granddaddy aired on ABC from 1970-1971. In March 1953, Danny Thomas first signed the contract for the show with ABC and chose Desilu Studios to film it using its three-camera method. […]
Dollar a Second
Dollar a Second is an American comedy game show hosted by Jan Murray which originally aired from September 20th, 1953 to June 14th, 1954 on the DuMont Television Network. One pair of contestants (or a solo player) were selected to perform a certain task, which could be anything. They earn one dollar for every second […]
My Favorite Husband
My Favorite Husband is the name of an American radio program and network television series. The original radio show, co-starring Lucille Ball, was the initial basis for what evolved into the groundbreaking TV sitcom I Love Lucy. The series was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) written by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted […]
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