MGM Parade is the title of a documentary television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and broadcast by the ABC network during the 1955-56 season on Wednesdays at 8:30pm (E.S.T.), under the alternate sponsorship of American Tobacco (Pall Mall), and General Foods (Instant Maxwell House). Hosted by George Murphy (September 14th, 1955 – March 7th, 1956), Walter Pidgeon (March 14th – May 2nd, 1956) and other MGM stars, the series […]
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The Jack Benny Program, starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th-century American comedy.
Jack Benny made his TV debut in the 1949 season. There is a kinescope of his later November 1949 TV appearance on the intermittent Jack Benny Program special appearances of the time. Benny ran shorter runs in his early seasons on TV into the early 1950s, as he was still firmly dedicated to radio. The regular and continuing Jack Benny Program was telecast on CBS from October 28th, 1950, to September 15th, 1964, and on NBC from September 25th, 1964, to September 10th, 1965. 343 episodes were produced. His TV sponsors included American Tobacco’s Lucky Strike (1950–59), Lever Brothers’ Lux(1959–60), State Farm Insurance (1960–65), Lipton Tea (1960–62), General Foods’ Jell-O (1962–64), and Miles Laboratories (1964–65).
The television show was a seamless continuation of Benny’s radio program, employing many of the same players, the same approach to situation comedy and some of the same scripts. The suffix “Program” instead of “Show” was also a carryover from radio, where “program” rather than “show” was used frequently for presentations in the non-visual medium. Occasionally, in several live episodes, the title card read, “The Jack Benny Show.” During one live episode, both titles were used.
The Jack Benny Program appeared infrequently during its first two years on CBS TV. Benny moved into television slowly: in his first season (1950–1951), he only performed on four shows, but by the 1951-1952 season, he was ready to do one show approximately every six weeks. In the third season (1952–1953), the show was broadcast every four weeks. During the 1953-1954 season, The Jack Benny Program aired every three weeks. From 1954-1960, the program aired every other week, rotating with such shows as Private Secretary and Bachelor Father. Beginning in the 1960-1961 season, The Jack Benny Program began airing every week. It is also worth noting that the show moved from CBS to NBC prior to the 1964-65 season. During the 1953-54 season, a handful of episodes were filmed during the summer and the others were live, a schedule which allowed Benny to continue doing his radio show. In the 1953-1954 season, Dennis Day had his own short-lived comedy and variety show on NBC, The Dennis Day Show.
The Jack Benny Program was shot in Hollywood at Desilu Studios with an audience brought in to watch the finished film for live responses. Benny’s opening and closing monologues were always filmed in front of a live audience. However, from the late 1950s until the last season on NBC, a laugh and applause track was also used for “sweetening” the audience reactions.
In Jim Bishop’s book A Day in the Life of President Kennedy, John F. Kennedy said that he was too busy to watch most television but that he made the time to watch The Jack Benny Program each week.
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 into the Paramount Pictures feature film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942), co-starring Ray Milland and Betty Field.
CBS brought My Favorite Husband to television in 1953, starring Joan Caulfield and Barry Nelson as Liz and George Cooper. The couple now resembled their earliest radio version, with George Cooper a well-to-do bank executive and plots dealing with the couple’s society life. The television version ran two-and-a-half seasons, from October 1953 through December 1955, and was produced live at CBS Television City for most of its run, until switching to film for a truncated third season (ironically, filmed at Desilu) and recasting Liz Cooper with Vanessa Brown.
The Adventures of Champion is an American children’s Western series that aired from September 23rd, 1955 to March 3rd, 1956 for 26 episodes on CBS. In the United Kingdom, the series was re-broadcast under the title Champion the Wonder Horse.
The series starred Barry Curtis as 12-year-old Ricky North, who lived on his uncle’s ranch in the American Southwest. Ricky’s uncle, Sandy North, was played by Jim Bannon. Ricky’s companions were a wild stallion, Champion, and a German Shepherd, Rebel, played by Blaze. The television program used characters similar to those in the 1949-50 radio serial, The Adventures of Champion. The radio serial told of young Ricky West (rather than Ricky North), who was raised on a ranch by his adoptive Uncle Smoky. Ricky was often accompanied by his German Shepherd, Rebel.
Beginning in 1950, The Gene Autry Show, a western/cowboy television series, aired for 91 episodes on CBS. The Adventures of Champion was a prime time spinoff for the 1955-1956 season. In real life, the Wonder Horse, Champion, was owned by Gene Autry who, over many years, owned a succession of celebrity horses bearing the same name. The horse starring in The Adventures of Champion was known as Television Champion, or TV Champ, for short. He was distinguished by his chestnut coat, blond mane and tail, four white stockings and broad white facial blaze. TV Champ made frequent appearances with Autry in films and television during the 1950s.
Douglas Edwards was America‘s first network news television anchor, anchoring CBS‘s first nightly news broadcast from 1948–1962, which was later to be titled CBS Evening News.
In 1948, as CBS’s top correspondents and commentators shunned the fledgling medium of television, Edwards was chosen to present regular CBS television news programs and to host CBS’s television coverage of the 1948 Democratic and Republican conventions. The term “anchor” would not be used until 1952, when CBS News chief Sig Mikelson would use it to describe Walter Cronkite’s role in the network’s political convention coverage.
At first, Edwards would be eclipsed by John Cameron Swayze of NBC News’s Camel News Caravan, but he would eventually regain his ratings lead. By the mid-1950s, the nightly 15-minute newscast Douglas Edwards with the News was watched by nearly 30 million viewers.
Mayberry R.F.D. is an American television series produced as a spin-off and direct continuation of The Andy Griffith Show. When star Andy Griffith decided to leave his series, most of the supporting characters returned for the new program, which ran for three seasons (78 episodes) on the CBS Television Network from 1968–1971. During the final season of The Andy Griffith Show, widower farmer Sam Jones (Ken […]
The Vise is a half-hour dramatic anthology television series which aired at 9:30 p.m. EST on Fridays on ABC from December 1955 to June 1957.
Produced in London and hosted by Australian actor Ron Randell, the suspense series depicted people unwittingly trapped in “the vise” of fate due to their own actions, usually of a criminal nature. Each episode boasted a different cast and was an entity unto itself. Donald Gray, a native of South Africa, played the title role of private detective Mark Saber.
In 1957, The Vise was altered and moved from ABC to NBC under the title Saber of London, with Gray still in the lead role. Petula Clark, Honor Blackman, and Patrick McGoohan – at the time all unknown in the States – were among those who appeared on the show.
90 Bristol Court is the umbrella title of a short-lived NBC experiment comprising three situation comedies set in a Southern California apartment complex located at the title address. The 90-minute block aired Monday nights and consisted of Karen (7:30-8:00pm), Harris Against the World (8:00-8:30pm), and Tom, Dick, and Mary (8:30-9:00pm).
While they were promoted as a single programming block, the three components were individual series with separate casts, writing and production staffs. Besides the umbrella title/address, the only on-air continuity from one series to the next was provided by Guy Raymond, who portrayed handyman Cliff Murdoch, often seen greeting the residents as they approached their apartments.
Premiering October 5th, 1964, 90 Bristol Court faced formidable competition opposite the venerable To Tell the Truth, I’ve Got a Secret, and Andy Griffith Show on CBS and a fledgling Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea on ABC. NBC’s programming experiment came to an end on January 4th, 1965 as Harris Against the World and Tom, Dick, and Mary, victims of low Nielsen ratings, aired their final episodes. Karen lasted the 1964-1965 television season but was not renewed for a sophomore year; its last episode was a rerun broadcast on August 30th, 1965.
The Ghost & Mrs. Muir is an American situation comedy based on the 1947 film of the same name, which was based on the 1945 novel by R. A. Dick. Itpremiered in September 1968 on NBC. After NBC canceled the series, it aired on ABC for one season before being canceled a final time. The series stars Hope Lange as Carolyn Muir, a young widow […]
Adam-12 is a television police drama that followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they rode the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by R. A. Cinader and Jack Webb, who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a typical […]
This tape will self-destruct in 5 seconds…. Mission: Impossible is an American television series that was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicles the missions of a team of secret government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs, played by Steven […]
Shane is a western television series that aired in 1966 and was based on the 1949 book of the same name by Jack Schaefer (there had also been a 1953 film of the novel, Shane). The series was created by Herschel Daugherty and Gary Nelson, and starred David Carradine as the title character. The series, […]
Get Smart is an American comedy television series created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry that satirizes the secret agent genre. It ran from September 18th, 1965, to May 15th, 1970. The show stars Don Adams (as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86), Barbara Feldon (as Agent 99), and Edward Platt (as Chief). Henry said they created […]
The King Family Show is an American musical variety series that featured The King Sisters and their extended musical family. The series first aired on ABC from January 1965 to January 1966. The series was revived in 1969, airing from March to September 1969. After an appearance on The Hollywood Palace in May 1964 drew […]
Mr. Broadway is an American 13-episode CBS adventure and drama television series starring Craig Stevens as New York City public relations specialist Mike Bell. The program aired at 9 p.m. Eastern time Saturdays from September 26th to December 26th, 1964. Also featured were Bell’s assistant, Toki, portrayed by Lani Miyazaki, and his police contact, Hank […]
Gilligan’s Island is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz and originally produced by United Artists Television. The situation comedy series featured Bob Denver, Alan Hale, Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Russell Johnson, Tina Louise, and Dawn Wells. It aired for three seasons on the CBS network from September 26th, 1964, to April […]
The Entertainers is a one-hour American variety show that aired on CBS from September 25th, 1964 through March 27th, 1965. The series, produced by Joe Hamilton, featured three stars, Hamilton’s wife Carol Burnett, Caterina Valente, and Bob Newhart. Each week, the series, originating from New York, presented comedy sketches and musical numbers performed by a […]
The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo is an animated television series, produced by United Productions of America, which aired on NBC for one season (1964 –1965) of 24 episodes. The television series was based on the original cartoon of the same name, with Jim Backus reprising the voice over of the role he did on […]
Flipper, from Ivan Tors Films in association with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television, is an American television program first broadcast on NBC from September 19th, 1964, until April 15th, 1967. Flipper, a bottlenose dolphin, is the companion animal of Porter Ricks, Chief Warden at fictional Coral Key Park and Marine Preserve in southern Florida, and his two young […]
Shindig! is an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16th, 1964 to January 8th, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O’Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles at the time, who also created the show, along with his wife Sharon Sheeley and production executive Art Stolnitz. Shindig! was conceived as […]
We got a right to pick a little fight Bonanza! If anyone fights anyone of us, he’s got a fight with me. We’re not a one to saddle up and run Bonanza! Bonanza is an NBC television western series that ran from September 12th, 1959, to January 16th, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, […]
High Finance is a quiz show created and hosted by Dennis James which aired on CBS from July 7th to December 15th, 1956. It followed Gunsmoke on the CBS schedule. High Finance aired at 10:30 p.m. Saturdays opposite NBC’s Your Hit Parade. On the program, contestants answered questions about current events. The player would be asked five questions based on three newspapers which he or she studied before […]
Encore Theatre, a dramatic anthology series first telecast July 7th, 1956 and ran through September 14th, 1957. Encore Theatre was just that, an encore presentation of the various anthology programs available that aired on Saturday nights at 10:00pm. Encore Theatre was the summer replacement for the George Globel Show and ran in the summer of […]
The Grand Ole Opry started as the WSM Barn Dance in the new fifth-floor radio studio of the National Life & Accident Insurance Company in downtown Nashville on November 28th, 1925. On October 18th, 1925, management began a program featuring “Dr. Humphrey Bate and his string quartet of old-time musicians.” On November 2nd, WSM hired […]
The Big Surprise is a television quiz game show broadcast in the United States by NBC from October 8th, 1955 to June 9th, 1956 and from September 18th, 1956 to April 2nd, 1957. It was hastily created by NBC in response to the overwhelming ratings success of The $64,000 Question, which had premiered on CBS in Summer 1955 and almost instantly became a smash hit. The Big Surprise […]
The Honeymooners is an American situation comedy, based on a recurring 1951–55 sketch of the same name. It originally aired on the DuMont network’s Cavalcade of Stars and subsequently on the CBS network’s The Jackie Gleason Show, which was filmed before a live audience. The Honeymooners debuted as a half-hour series on October 1st, 1955. […]
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television. […]
It’s Always Jan is an American situation comedy starring Janis Paige, which aired on CBS in the 1955-1956 season. It was the lead-in program at 9:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturday evenings to the first season of the long-running western, Gunsmoke, starring James Arness. The program centers on war widow and single mother Jan Stewart and her two single female roommates, secretary Pat Murphy (Patricia Bright), […]