Break the Bank is an American quiz show which aired variously on Mutual Radio and ABC, CBS and NBC television from 1945 to 1957. From October 1956 to January 1957, NBC Television aired a short-lived prime-time version called Break the $250,000 Bank.
Sponsored by Vicks, the series began on radio October 20, 1945, heard Saturdays on Mutual until April 13th, 1946. Initially, it featured different hosts each week, including John Reed King and Johnny Olson. Bert Parks became the full-time host in 1946. With Vitalis Hair Tonic as the sponsor, the series returned Friday, July 5th, 1946, on ABC for a run until September 23rd, 1949. Bud Collyer and Bob Shepherd were the announcers, and Peter Van Steeden provided the music.
The questions were written by Joseph Nathan Kane, the author of Famous First Facts, who hand-delivered the sealed envelopes to the radio studio. Jack Rubin directed for producers Walt Framer and Ed Wolfe. On October 5th, 1949, the series moved to NBC, continuing until September 13th, 1950. It was heard weekdays on NBC in 1950-51 and weekdays on ABC (1951–53). With Miles Laboratories as the sponsor, it moved back to weekdays on NBC (1953–55), overlapping with a weekdays series on Mutual (1954–55). Contestants were drawn from the studio audience and brought up on stage to play a quiz game. The contestant was asked a series of questions, each worth progressively more money. The goal was to provide enough correct answers (eight, later seven) before making two mistakes. The final question was the “break the bank” question worth all the money in the bank, which began at $1,000. The first incorrect answer returned the player to the previous cash level, and a second miss ended the game and the contestant kept his or her current winnings. The same amount would then be added to the bank. At first, the question values before the bank were $10, $20, $50, $100, $200, $300, and $500. By the mid 1950s, the first right answer won the contestant $25, and the values increased to $50, $100, $200, $300, $500, and finally the bank. On the short-lived daytime edition, the values were $10, $20, $30, $50, $100, $200, $300, and the bank which started at $500.
Here Come the Brides is an American comedy Western series from Screen Gems that aired on the ABC television network from September 25th, 1968 to April 3rd, 1970. The series was loosely based upon the Mercer Girls, Asa Mercer‘s efforts to bring civilization to old Seattle by importing marriageable women from the east coast of the United States in the 1860s, where the ravages of the American Civil […]
Lancer is an American Western series that aired on CBS from September 1968, to May 1970. Lancer lasted for fifty-one hour-long episodes shot in color. The series stars Andrew Duggan, James Stacy, and Wayne Maunder as a father with two half-brother sons, an arrangement similar to the more successful Bonanza on NBC. Duggan stars as […]
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, […]
Laredo is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from September 16th, 1965, to April 7th, 1967. Laredo stars Neville Brand, William Smith, Peter Brown, and Philip Carey as Texas Rangers. It is set on the Mexican border around Laredo, Texas. The program was produced by Universal Television. The pilot episode of Laredo […]
Branded is an American Western series which aired on NBC from 1965 through 1966, sponsored by Procter & Gamble in its Sunday night 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time period, and starred Chuck Connors as Jason McCord, a United States Army Cavalry captain who had been drummed out of the service following an unjust accusation of cowardice. […]
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, […]
Brave Eagle is a 26-episode half-hour western television series which aired on CBS from September 28th, 1955, to March 14th, 1956, with rebroadcasts continuing until June 6th. Keith Larsen, who was of Norwegian descent, starred as Brave Eagle, a peaceful young Cheyenne chief. The program reflected the Native American viewpoint towards the settlement of the American West, and was the first series to feature an […]
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 […]
Warner Bros. Presents is the umbrella title for three series telecast as part of the 1955-56 season on ABC: Cheyenne, a new Western series that originated on Presents, and two based on classic Warner Bros. films, Casablanca and Kings Row. At first, Warner Bros., like most other Hollywood studios, had seen television as a threat that it wished would disappear. Jack Warner tried to dismiss it as a mere passing fad, but by […]
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 Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp is a western television series loosely based on the life of frontier marshal Wyatt Earp. The half-hour black-and-white program aired for 229 episodes on ABC from 1955 to 1961 and featured Hugh O’Brian in the title role. O’Brian was chosen for the role in part because of his […]
The Gene Autry Show is an American western/cowboy television series which aired for 91 episodes on CBS from July 23rd, 1950 until August 7th, 1956, originally sponsored by Wrigley’s Doublemint chewing gum. Series star Gene Autry had already established his singing cowboy character on radio and the movies. Now he and his horse Champion were featured in a weekly television series of western adventures. Gene’s role changed almost weekly […]
The Lone Ranger is an American western drama television series that ran from 1949 to 1957, starring Clayton Moore (John Hart from 1952 to 1954) with Jay Silverheels as Tonto. The live-action series initially featured Gerald Mohr as the episode narrator. Fred Foy served as both narrator and announcer of the radio series from 1948 […]
Studio One is an American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC.
In 1948, Markle made a quantum leap from radio to television. Sponsored by Westinghouse Electric Corporation, the television series was seen on CBS (which Westinghouse owned between 1995 and 2000), from 1948 through 1958, under several variant titles: Studio One Summer Theatre, Studio One in Hollywood, Summer Theatre, Westinghouse Studio One and Westinghouse Summer Theatre. It was telecast in black-and-white only.
Lux Video Theatre is an American anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays. The Lux Video Theatre was a spin-off from the successful Lux Radio Theater series broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934-1935) and CBS (1935–55). Lux Video Theatre began as a live 30-minute Monday evening […]
The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show featured many notable comedians and entertainers of the era as guest stars. The program evolved from NBC’s first TV variety showcase, Four Star Revue, sponsored by Motorola. The “running gag” sketches were […]
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 […]
The Gene Autry Show is an American western/cowboy television series which aired for 91 episodes on CBS from July 23rd, 1950 until August 7th, 1956, originally sponsored by Wrigley’s Doublemint chewing gum. Series star Gene Autry had already established his singing cowboy character on radio and the movies. Now he and his horse Champion were featured in a weekly television series of western adventures. Gene’s role changed almost weekly […]
Your Hit Parade is an American radio and television music program that was broadcast from 1935 to 1955 on radio, and seen from 1950 to 1959 on television. It was sponsored by American Tobacco’s Lucky Strike cigarettes. André Baruch continued as the announcer when the program arrived on NBC television in summer 1950 (Del Sharbutt […]
Armstrong Circle Theatre is an American anthology drama television series which ran from 1950 to 1957 on NBC, and then until 1963 on CBS. It alternated weekly with The U.S. Steel Hour. The series featured original dramas by noted writers, although sometimes comedies were shown. Its guidelines specifically called for the avoidance of violence. Originally a half-hour production, in 1955 the show expanded […]
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 […]
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. […]
Robert Montgomery Presents is an American dramatic television series which was produced by NBC from January 30th, 1950 until June 24th, 1957. The live show had several sponsors during its seven-year run, and the title was altered to feature the sponsor, usually Lucky Strike cigarettes, for example, Robert Montgomery Presents Your Lucky Strike Theater, ….The Johnson’s Wax Program, and so on. Initially offering hour-long […]
Life Begins at Eighty is a panel discussion series which aired on American television from 1950 to 1956. The show first aired on NBC on January 13th, 1950, then on DuMont from March 21st, 1952 to July 24th, 1955, and finally on ABC. The last show was aired on ABC on February 25th, 1956. In […]
The Life of Riley, with William Bendix in the title role, is a popular American radio situation comedy series of the 1940s that was adapted into a 1949 feature film, a long-running 1950s television series (originally with Jackie Gleason as Riley for one truncated season, then with Bendix for six seasons), and a 1958 comic […]
The Big Story is an American radio and television crime drama which dramatized the true stories of real-life newspaper reporters. The only continuing character was the narrator, Bob Sloane. The radio series was adapted for television where it debuted on NBC on September 16th, 1949. The series continued to air on NBC until June 28th, […]
The Lone Ranger is an American western drama television series that ran from 1949 to 1957, starring Clayton Moore (John Hart from 1952 to 1954) with Jay Silverheels as Tonto. The live-action series initially featured Gerald Mohr as the episode narrator. Fred Foy served as both narrator and announcer of the radio series from 1948 […]
Mama is a weekly Maxwell House and Post-sponsored CBS television comedy-drama series that ran from July 1st, 1949 until March 17th, 1957. It is based on the memoir Mama’s Bank Account by Kathryn Forbes, which was also adapted for the 1944 John Van Druten play and the subsequent 1948 film I Remember Mama, and told […]
Stop the Music was a prime time television game show that aired for an hour on Thursday evenings on ABC from May 5th, 1949 to April 24th, 1952, and again for a half-hour from September 7th, 1954 to June 14th, 1956. The show had also been broadcast on radio from 1948 to 1949. http://archive.org/download/stopTheMusic-Misc1955Episode/StopTheMusic1955.mp4 The program aired at 9 pm ET on Thursdays for […]
Fireside Theater is an American anthology drama series that ran on NBC from 1949 to 1958, and was the first successful filmed series on American television. Stories were low budget and often based on public domain stories or written by freelance writers such as Rod Serling. While it was panned by critics, it remained in the top ten most popular shows for most of its run. It […]
The Camel News Caravan was a 15-minute American television news program aired by NBC News from February 14th, 1949, to October 26th, 1956. Sponsored by the Camel cigarette brand and anchored by John Cameron Swayze, it was the first NBC news program to use NBC filmed news stories rather than movie newsreels. On February 16, 1954, the Camel News Caravan became the first news program broadcast in color, making use of 16mm color film.In early […]
Arthur Godfrey and His Friends is an American television variety show hosted by Arthur Godfrey. The hour-long series aired on CBS Television from January 1949 to June 1957 (as The Arthur Godfrey Show after September 1956), then again as a half-hour show from September 1958 to April 1959. Many of Godfrey’s musical acts were culled from Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, which was airing on […]
Kukla, Fran and Ollie is an early American television show using puppets, originally created for children but soon watched by more adults than children. It did not have a script and was entirely ad-libbed. It first aired from 1947 to 1957. Burr Tillstrom was the creator and only puppeteer on the show, which premiered as […]
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 […]
Lancer is an American Western series that aired on CBS from September 1968, to May 1970. Lancer lasted for fifty-one hour-long episodes shot in color. The series stars Andrew Duggan, James Stacy, and Wayne Maunder as a father with two half-brother sons, an arrangement similar to the more successful Bonanza on NBC.
Duggan stars as the less than admirable Murdoch Lancer, the patriarch of the Lancer family. Stacy appears as half-Mexican gunslinger Johnny Madrid Lancer. Wayne Maunder was cast as Scott Lancer, the educated older son (though he is younger than Stacy) and a veteran of the Union Army, in contrast to Stacy’s role of former gunslinger. Paul Brinegar also appeared as Jelly Hoskins, a series regular from season two after making a one off guest appearance during the first season. Elizabeth Baur (who later replaced Babara Anderson in ‘Ironside’ from season five to eight) also was a series regular cast member as Murdoch Lancer’s ward Teresa O’Brien. Guest stars included Joe Don Baker, Scott Brady, Ellen Corby, Jack Elam, Sam Elliott, Bruce Dern, Kevin Hagen, Ron Howard, Wright King, Cloris Leachman, George Macready, Warren Oates, Stefanie Powers, Tom Selleck, and William Tannen.
The program was rerun on CBS during the summer of 1971.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Chance of a Lifetime was a competitive talent show which aired on ABC in 1952 – 1953 and 1955 – 1956 and on DuMont 1953 – 1955. Dennis James was the host of the ABC version which ended on August 20th, 1953, and John Reed King was the host of the DuMont version, which ran […]
“Ladies and Gentlemen: The story you are about to hear is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.” Dragnet is an American radio, television and motion picture series, enacting the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners. The show takes its name from the […]
The Goodyear Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was telecast live on NBC from 1951 to 1957 during the “Golden Age of Television.” Sponsored by Goodyear, Goodyear alternated sponsorship with Philco, and the Philco Television Playhouse was seen on alternate weeks. In 1955, the title was shortened to The Goodyear Playhouse and it […]
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 […]
You Asked for It was a popular human interest show created and hosted by Art Baker. Initially titled The Art Baker Show, the program originally aired on American television between 1950 and 1959. On the show, viewers were asked to send in postcards describing something that they wanted to see on television, such as the […]
The Colgate Comedy Hour is an American comedy-musical variety series that aired live on the NBC network from 1950 to 1955. The show featured many notable comedians and entertainers of the era as guest stars. The program evolved from NBC’s first TV variety showcase, Four Star Revue, sponsored by Motorola. The “running gag” sketches were […]
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. […]
Life Begins at Eighty is a panel discussion series which aired on American television from 1950 to 1956. The show first aired on NBC on January 13th, 1950, then on DuMont from March 21st, 1952 to July 24th, 1955, and finally on ABC. The last show was aired on ABC on February 25th, 1956. In […]
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 […]
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 […]
Ford Theatre, spelled Ford Theater for the radio version and known as Ford Television Theatre for the TV version, was a radio and television anthology series broadcast in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s.
At various times the television series appeared on all three major television networks, while the radio version was broadcast on two separate networks and on two separate coasts. Ford Theatre was named for its sponsor, the Ford Motor Company, which had an earlier success with its concert music series, The Ford Sunday Evening Hour (1934–42).
The first Ford Theatre on U.S. television appeared on October 17th, 1948, near the dawn of regularly scheduled prime time network programming. It was an hour-long drama, broadcast live, as was most television of the era. This series used primarily Broadway actors. The program began as a monthly series, switching to bi-weekly a year later, in alternation on Friday nights at 9pm Eastern time with the 54th Street Revue. During this period, programming included adaptations of Little Women, with June Lockhart and Kim Hunter, and One Sunday Afternoon, with Burgess Meredith and Hume Cronyn. During the following season, the final season for the program on CBS, the alternation in the same time slot was with Magnavox Theater.
A half-hour filmed Ford Theatre returned to the airwaves on NBC for the 1951-52 season on Thursday nights at 9:30pm Eastern. At this time production was moved from New York to Hollywood, and featured actors based there rather than on Broadway. Some of these programs were comedies instead of dramas. Performers appearing during this era included Frank Bank, Scott Brady, Claudette Colbert, Charles Coburn, Ed Hinton, Peter Lawford, Ida Lupino, Thomas Mitchell, Karen Sharpe, Ann Sheridan, Barry Sullivan and Beverly Washburn. Also appearing for the first time together were Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis, in an episode entitled “First Born”, which first aired on February 3rd, 1953. In October 1954, Ford Theatre became the first network television series to be filmed regularly in color. After four seasons on NBC, the program was shown for a final season on ABC during the 1956-57 season. The time slot was changed to Wednesdays at 9:30pm. The last prime time broadcast of Ford Theatre was on July 10th, 1957.
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.
