Hullabaloo is an American musical variety series that ran on NBC from January 12th, 1965 through August 29th, 1966. Similar to Shindig! it ran in prime time in contrast to ABC’s American Bandstand.
Directed by Steve Binder, who went on to direct Elvis Presley’s ’68 Comeback Special, Hullabaloo served as a big-budget, quality showcase for the leading pop acts of the day, and was also competition for another like-minded television showcase, ABC’s Shindig! A different host presided each week—among these were Sammy Davis, Jr., Petula Clark, Paul Anka, Liza Minnelli, Jack Jones, and Frankie Avalon—singing a couple of his or her own hits and introducing the different acts. Chart-topping acts who performed on the show included Dionne Warwick, The Lovin’ Spoonful, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Sonny & Cher, the Supremes, Herman’s Hermits, The Animals, Roy Orbison and Marianne Faithfull. Many early episodes included segments taped in the UK and hosted by Brian Epstein. Sid Bernstein was the booking agent for Hullabaloo.
Some of the programs in the series were videotaped at NBC Studios in Burbank, California. Most were taped in New York City either at NBC’s Studio 8H (built for Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra and which would later house Saturday Night Live), or in NBC’s color studio in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. Much of the series’ color videotaped footage was later transferred over to kinescope on film – as such copied in black and white. Only three half-hour episodes are known to exist in their original color videotaped form.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the time the show premiered on October 2nd, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is well known for its title sequence. The camera fades in on a simple line-drawing caricature of Hitchcock’s rotund profile. As the program’s theme music, Charles Gounod’s Funeral March of a Marionette, plays, Hitchcock appears in silhouette from the right edge of the screen, and then walks to center screen to eclipse the caricature. He then almost always says “Good evening.” The theme music for the show was suggested by Hitchcock’s long-time musical collaborator, Bernard Herrmann. The caricature drawing, which Hitchcock created himself, and the use of Gounod’s Funeral March of a Marionette as theme music have become indelibly associated with Hitchcock in popular culture.
Hitchcock appears again after the title sequence, and drolly introduces the story from a mostly empty studio or from the set of the current episode; his monologues were written especially for him by James B. Allardice. At least two versions of the opening were shot for every episode. A version intended for the American audience would often spoof a recent popular commercial or poke fun at the sponsor, leading into the commercial. An alternative version for European audiences would instead include jokes at the expense of Americans in general. For later seasons, opening remarks were also filmed with Hitchcock speaking in French and German for the show’s international presentations.
Originally 25 minutes per episode, the series was expanded to 50 minutes in 1962 and retitled The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Hitchcock directed 17 of the 268 filmed episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and one of the 50-minute episodes, “I Saw the Whole Thing” with John Forsythe. The last new episode aired on June 26th, 1965, and the series continued to be popular in syndication for decades.
Actors appearing in the most episodes include Patricia Hitchcock (Alfred Hitchcock’s daughter), Dick York, Robert Horton, James Gleason, John Williams, Robert H. Harris, Russell Collins, Claude Rains, Barbara Baxley, Ray Teal, Percy Helton, Phyllis Thaxter, Carmen Mathews, Mildred Dunnock, Alan Napier, and Laurence Harvey. Many notable actors, like Steve McQueen, Walter Matthau, Robert Vaughn and Barbara Bel Geddes among others, appeared on the series as well.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 25 minutes long, aired weekly at 9:30 on CBS on Sunday nights from 1955 to 1960, and then at 8:30 on NBC on Tuesday nights from 1960 to 1962. It was followed by The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, which lasted for three seasons, September 1962 to June 1965, adding another 93 episodes to the 268 already produced for Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
Two episodes, both directed by Hitchcock himself, were nominated for Emmy Awards: “The Case of Mr. Pelham” (1955) with Tom Ewell and “Lamb to the Slaughter” (1958) with Barbara Bel Geddes. The third season opener “The Glass Eye” (1957) won an Emmy Award for director Robert Stevens. An episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour titled “An Unlocked Window” (1965) earned an Edgar Award for writer James Bridges in 1966.
Among the most famous episodes remains writer Roald Dahl’s “Man from the South” (1960) starring Steve McQueen and Peter Lorre, in which a man bets his finger that he can start his lighter ten times in a row.
The 1962 episode “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” was not initially broadcast by NBC because the sponsor felt that the ending was too gruesome. The plot has a magician’s helper performing a “sawing a woman in half” trick. Not knowing it is a gimmick, the helper cuts the unconscious woman in half.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the time the show premiered on October 2nd, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades. Alfred Hitchcock Presents is well known for its title sequence. The camera fades in on a simple line-drawing caricature of Hitchcock’s rotund […]
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. […]
The Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years (1951–55), then nationally for another 27½ years via the ABC network (1955–71). In 1951, The Lawrence Welk Show started as a local program on KTLA-TV in Los […]
The first incarnation of the Walt Disney anthology television series, commonly called The Wonderful World of Disney, premiered on ABC on Wednesday night, October 27th, 1954 under the name Disneyland. The same basic show has since appeared on several networks under a variety of titles. Originally hosted by Walt Disney himself, the series presented animated cartoons and other material (some […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet is an American situation comedy, airing on ABC from October 3rd, 1952 through March 26th, 1966, starring the real life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television where it continued its success, running on both radio and television for a few years. […]
I’ve Got a Secret is a panel game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson-Todman’s own panel show What’s My Line?. Instead of celebrity panelists trying to determine a contestant’s occupation, the panel tries to determine a contestant’s “secret”: something that is unusual, amazing, embarrassing, or humorous about that person. The […]
The Red Skelton Show is an American variety show that was a television staple for two decades, from 1951 to 1971. The host of the show, Richard Bernard “Red” Skelton, who had previously been a radio star, had appeared in several motion pictures as well. Although his television series is largely associated with CBS, where it appeared for more than fifteen years, it actually began and […]
Truth or Consequences is an American television game show originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph Edwards (1940–1957) and later on television by Edwards (1950–1954), Jack Bailey (1954–1955), and Bob Barker (1956–1975). The television show ran on CBS, NBC and also in syndication. The premise of the show was to mix the original quiz element […]
What’s My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasks celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations. It is the longest-running U.S. primetime network television game-show. […]
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 […]
Perry Como made the move to television when NBC initially televised the Chesterfield Supper Club radio program on December 24th, 1948. A very special guest on that first television show was Como’s eight-year-old son, Ronnie, as part of a boys’ choir singing “Silent Night” with his father. The show was the usual Friday night Chesterfield Supper Club with an important […]
Edward Vincent “Ed” Sullivan (September 28th, 1901 – October 13th, 1974) was an American entertainment writer and television host, best known as the presenter of the television variety program The Toast of the Town, now usually remembered under its second name, The Ed Sullivan Show. Broadcast for 23 years from 1948 to 1971, it set […]
The Original Amateur Hour is an American radio and television program. The show was a continuation of Major Bowes Amateur Hour which had been a radio staple from 1934 to 1945. The television debut came on January 18th, 1948 on the DuMont Television Network with Mack as the host. The regular staff for the television […]
Star Tonight, an American television anthology series, aired on ABC from February 1955 to August 1956.
It consisted of 80 total episodes, 30 from 1955 and 50 from 1956. Each episode was a self-contained story, usually adapted from famous plays, short-stories or novels by some of the writers of the day. It was designed as a showcase for young actors working in New York City. Actors on the series included Buster Crabbe, Richard Davalos and Lois Smith.
Susie (also known as Private Secretary) is an American situation comedy that aired from February 1st, 1953 to September 10th, 1957 on CBS, alternating with The Jack Benny Program on Sundays at 7:30pm EST. The series stars Ann Sothern as Susan Camille “Susie” MacNamara, devoted secretary to handsome talent agent Peter Sands, played by Don Porter.
Susie MacNamara (Sothern) was a former stage actress (and a WAC veteran of WW2 and also a single woman as well) who worked as the private secretary for theatrical agent Peter Sands (Porter) at the fictional New York theatrical agency, International Artists Inc. Susie’s honest, good-natured attempts to help Mr. Sands, especially in romantic matters, always led to comedic complications. Susie was usually assisted by her best friend, Violet “Vi” Praskins (Ann Tyrrell), the office’s nervous and bumbling receptionist. In guest appearances, Jesse White played Mickey “Cagey” Calhoun, a chief competitor and loudmouthed agent business rival to Susie’s boss. One of the show’s trademarks was the set decoration portraying a 1950’s state-of-the-art executive office, with stylish decor, IBM typewriters and the latest office telephone gear from Western Electric. There were occasional references to a young actress, never seen, who was a client of Mr. Sands, named Harriet Lake (Sothern’s real name).
In an unusual move, Private Secretary also had two brief runs on another network. During the summers of 1953 and 1954, reruns from the recent season were shown on NBC as a summer replacement for Your Hit Parade, with the series resuming new shows on CBS each fall. Private Secretary, Your Hit Parade, and Jack Benny were all sponsored by Lucky Strike Cigarettes, its parent company American Tobacco Company had some financial interest in all three programs and their respective network time-slots.
The series was renewed for a sixth season, but Sothern walked out in a contract dispute with producer Jack Chertok, ending the series’ run. Sothern, along with several cast members, went on to star in another weekly series, The Ann Sothern Show, from 1958–61.
Sothern reprised the character of Susie MacNamara for the premiere episode of The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show (later shown in repeats as The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour). In this installment, entitled “Lucy Takes a Cruise To Havana” (which was originally a 75-minute episode), Sothern appeared opposite Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, William Frawley, Hedda Hopper, Rudy Vallee, Cesar Romero and Keith Thibodeaux.
Before Private Secretary went into syndication, the opening title sequence and series name were changed. The series, which was sponsored by American Tobacco for Lucky Strike cigarettes during its original run, featured the companies sponsor I.D. in the opening title sequence which could not be aired in syndication. An animated title sequence was made featuring a cartoon “Susie.”
The series’ name was also changed when producer Jack Chertok withheld the rights to the show’s original title in hopes of replacing Sothern with another actress in the title role. Chertok released Susie into syndication in the fall of 1957. The original title sequence has not been viewed since Private Secretary’s original run.
Ran from September 10th, 1967 to August 31st, 1969, airing a total of 58 episodes in two seasons. Starring Dennis Weaver and Clint Howard (Opie’s brother) and oh yeah, a 650 lb. black bear. The adventures of a Florida Everglades Game Warden. Musician and voice actor Candy Candido provided the voice of Ben. Dennis […]
ABC Scope is a public affairs program that appeared on the ABC television network from 1964–1968, hosted by Howard K. Smith, the future anchor of the ABC Evening News. News reporters Louis Rukeyser, Frank Reynolds and John Scali also appeared.
The program provided its viewer with an in-depth look at the important political, economic and social issues that the world faced in the mid-to-late 1960s. Although Smith hosted the show, the program provided its audience with one-on-one interviews of important newsmakers, documentaries on various subjects and roundtable discussions between a group of experts.
Camp Runamuck is an American sitcom which aired on NBC during the 1965-1966 television season. The series was created and executive produced by David Swift, and aired for 26 episodes.
The series related the wacky goings-on at the titular boys’ summer camp, and at Camp Divine, its girls counterpart across the lake. Runamuck was run by Commander Wivenhoe (Arch Johnson), a man who couldn’t stand kids, and senior counselor Spiffy (Dave Ketchum), his assistant of sorts.
Helping them out were counselor Pruett (Dave Madden), Doc Joslyn, and camp cook Malden (Mike Wagner). Eulalia Divine (Hermione Baddeley) was the owner of the girls’ camp, which was run by chief counselor Mahalia May Gruenecker (Alice Nunn). Nina Wayne (older sister of Carol) played Camp Divine’s curvaceous counselor Caprice Yeudleman. The competitiveness between the two camps and the incidents and accidents that would normally occur at such summer camps – missing kids, people falling into the lake, food poisoning, and so on – formed the basis of most of the show’s plots.
The series was scheduled opposite CBS’s The Wild Wild West and ABC’s The Flintstones and struggled in the ratings. The series was finally canceled in September 1966 after one season.
Composer and bandleader Frank DeVol (who also wrote the series’ theme song) played the part of Doc Joslyn in the pilot episode but illness forced him to quit the role, and he was replaced by Leonard Stone for the actual series. In April 1966, Dell Comics issued a Camp Runamuck comic book. Some of the characters on that show were based on some of the names described in the song “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh” by Allan Sherman, including Joe Spivey.
Profiles in Courage is an American historical anthology series that was telecast weekly on NBC from November 8th, 1964 to May 9th, 1965 (Sundays, 6:30-7:30pm, Eastern). The series was based on the recently-assassinated President John F. Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize winning book, Profiles in Courage. The series lasted for 26 episodes, each of which would feature […]
Letter to Loretta (also known as The Loretta Young Show) is an American anthology drama series telecast on NBC from September 1953 to June 1961 for a total of 165 episodes. The filmed show was hosted by Loretta Young who also played the lead in various episodes. Letter to Loretta was sponsored by Procter & Gamble from 1953 through 1960. The final season’s sponsor was Warner-Lambert’s Listerine. The program […]
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 Kaiser Aluminum Hour is a dramatic anthology television series which was broadcast in prime time in the United States during the 1956-57 season by NBC. The Kaiser Aluminum Hour was shown on alternate Tuesday nights at 9:30 pm Eastern time in rotation with the longer-running Armstrong Circle Theatre, with the first broadcast airing on July 3rd, 1956 and the final one on June […]
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 […]
The Alcoa Hour is an American anthology television series that was aired live on NBC from 1955 to 1957. The series was sponsored by Alcoa. Like the Philco Television Playhouse and Goodyear Television Playhouse that had preceded it, The Alcoa Hour was a one-hour live dramatic anthology series presenting both original stories and adaptations of […]
Crossroads is an American television anthology series based on the activities of clergymen from different denominations. It aired from October 1955 to June 1956 on ABC. The series’ second season aired from October 1956 to June 1957 in syndication. The episodes, which often had deep spiritual themes, were usually set in the 1950s, but some were framed for an earlier era. The series […]
The 20th Century Fox Hour is an American drama anthology series televised in the United States on CBS from 1955 to 1957. Presenting both originals and remakes, The 20th Century Fox Hour was telecast on Wednesday nights at 10pm, alternating each week with The U.S. Steel Hour. Many of the programs were shortened versions of […]
Screen Director’s Playhouse is a popular American radio and television anthology series which brought leading Hollywood actors to the NBC microphones beginning in 1949. The radio program broadcast adaptations of films, and original directors of the films were sometimes involved in the productions, although their participation was usually limited to introducing the radio adaptations, and […]
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the time the show premiered on October 2nd, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades. Alfred Hitchcock Presents is well known for its title sequence. The camera fades in on a simple line-drawing caricature of Hitchcock’s rotund […]
Navy Log is an American drama anthology series that initially aired for one season on CBS. It relates the greatest survival war stories in the history of the United States Navy. This series premiered on September 20th, 1955, but the following year, it was moved to ABC, where it aired until September 25th, 1958. The […]
Appointment with Adventure is a half-hour adventure dramatic anthology television series broadcast live on CBS from 1955-1956. The program has no host. It aired at 10 p.m. EST on the Sunday evening schedule between the better known Alfred Hitchcock Presents and What’s My Line? It ran opposite The Loretta Young Show on NBC and Life […]
Star Tonight, an American television anthology series, aired on ABC from February 1955 to August 1956. It consisted of 80 total episodes, 30 from 1955 and 50 from 1956. Each episode was a self-contained story, usually adapted from famous plays, short-stories or novels by some of the writers of the day. It was designed as a showcase for […]
The Millionaire is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from January 19th, 1955, to June 8th, 1960, originally sponsored by Colgate-Palmolive. The series explored the ways sudden and unexpected wealth changed life for better or for worse and became a five-season hit during the Golden Age of Television. The Millionaire told the stories of people who were given one million […]
The first incarnation of the Walt Disney anthology television series, commonly called The Wonderful World of Disney, premiered on ABC on Wednesday night, October 27th, 1954 under the name Disneyland. The same basic show has since appeared on several networks under a variety of titles. Originally hosted by Walt Disney himself, the series presented animated cartoons and other material (some […]
Climax!, later known as Climax Mystery Theater is an American anthology series that aired on CBS from 1954 to 1958. The series was hosted by William Lundigan and later co-hosted by Mary Costa. It was one of the few CBS programs of that era to be broadcast in color (using the massive TK-40A color cameras pioneered and manufactured by RCA, and used primarily by […]
The United States Steel Hour is an anthology series which brought hour-long dramas to television from 1953 to 1963. The television series and the radio program that preceded it were both sponsored by the United States Steel Corporation. The series originated on radio in the 1940s as Theatre Guild on the Air. The television version […]
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric’s Department of Public Relations. The television version of the program, produced by MCA-TV / Revue, was broadcast every Sunday evening at 9:00pm, EST, beginning February 1st, 1953, and […]
Cavalcade of America is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented a musical, such as an adaptation of Show Boat, and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially broadcast on radio from 1935 to 1953, and later on television from 1952 to 1957. Originally on CBS, […]
Four Star Playhouse is an American television anthology series that ran from 1952 to 1956, sponsored in its first bi-weekly season by The Singer Company; Bristol-Myers became an alternate sponsor when it became a weekly series in the fall of 1953 (both sponsors’ names alternated as part of the show’s title in its initial broadcasts). […]
Beat the Clock is a Goodson-Todman game show that aired on American television in several versions since 1950.
The original show, hosted by Bud Collyer, ran on CBS from 1950 to 1958 and ABC from 1958 to 1961. The show was revived in syndication as The New Beat the Clock from 1969 to 1974, with Jack Narz as host until 1972, when he was replaced by the show’s announcer, Gene Wood.
Contestants were required to perform tasks (called “problems”) within a certain time limit which was counted down on a large 60-second clock. If they succeeded, they were said to have “beaten the Clock”; otherwise, “the Clock beat them.” The show had several sponsors over its run, with the most longstanding being the electronics company Sylvania.
The stunts performed on the show were mostly created by staff stunt writers Frank Wayne and Bob Howard. In the early days of the show, playwright Neil Simon was also a stunt writer. The stunts were usually aimed towards fun with difficulty being secondary. The stunts would usually be constructed out of common household props such as cardboard boxes, string, balloons, record players, dishes, cups, plates, cutlery, and balls of almost every type. As was the case with many other game shows during television’s infancy, the budget was low.
The stunts performed varied widely, but there were some common themes. Most stunts in some way involved physical speed or dexterity. Contestants often had to balance something with some part of their body, or race back and forth on the stage (for example, releasing a balloon, running across the stage to do some task, and running back in time to catch the balloon before it floated too high). Often the challenge was some form of target practice, in terms of throwing, rolling, bowling, etc.
The setup for the stunt was often designed to look easy but then have a complication or gimmick revealed. For example, Collyer would say “All you have to do is stack four plates”, check the Clock to see how much time they had to do it, and then add “Oh, and one more thing… you can’t use your hands”. Common twists included blindfolding one or both contestants, or telling them they couldn’t use their hands (or feet or any body part that would be obvious to use for whatever the task was).
The other common element in the stunts was to get one of the contestants messy in some way often involving whipped cream, pancake batter, and such (usually limited to the husband of the couple). While it was not a part of every stunt, and sometimes it didn’t even happen in an episode, it was common enough that when a couple brought a child on, Collyer would often ask what they thought the parents might have to do and the child would often respond “get whipped cream in their face.” Many times the wife would be shown a task, be blindfolded, and then her husband would be quietly brought out and unknown to her she would be covering him with some sort of mess. When the mess was not hidden from the wife, Collyer would often jokingly tell the husband (who usually had a short haircut) that they would put a bathing cap on his head “to keep your long hair out of your eyes” before revealing what form of mess he would be involved with. Occasionally Collyer himself would get caught in the mess accidentally.
In order to determine if the stunts could actually be performed, and to set appropriate time limits for them, the producers hired out-of-work actors to try them out. One of those who did this work was James Dean, who was said to be able to perform any task the producers gave him to try. He was so adept that he had to be let go, as he was too fast to set the time limits by. Collyer also noted on the air a number of times that he himself tested many of the stunts while they were being developed, often noting that the contestant performed the stunt with far more ease than he had. Another up-and-coming actor who would gain stature later in his career, Warren Oates, was also said to have worked on the show as a stunt tester.
