June 20, 2016

What's on TV? Wednesday, June 24, 1959

For this week, I thought we'd take a look at Wednesday's listings. (We're in Dallas-Fort Worth, by the way.) We haven't done a Wednesday lately, and unless there's something outstanding that causes me to choose a particular day, I like to change them up, provide a bit of variety, especially if we've been travelling in the same year or two.

This week we've advanced a bit in the late '50s - we're up to 1959, and although we may not see it here, I think we're entering an era where television starts to get a little more sophisticated, the technical aspects a tad more sophisticated. Not when we compare it to the '70s, of course, or even the late '60s, but progress is being made nonetheless. Let's see what kind of shows stand out.


KRLD, Channel 4 (Dallas) (CBS)

Morning


07:30a
Cartoons

08:00a
CBS Morning News with Richard C. Hottelet

08:15a
Captain Kangaroo

08:45a
News (local)

09:00a
On the Go

09:30a
Sam Levenson (guest Mrs. Andy Griffith)

10:00a
I Love Lucy

10:30a
Top Dollar

11:00a
Love of Life

11:30a
Search for Tomorrow

11:45a
The Guiding Light

Afternoon


12:00p
News (local)

12:15p
Fashions in Faces

12:30p
As the World Turns

01:00p
Jimmy Dean

01:30p
House Party

02:00p
The Big Payoff

02:30p
The Verdict is Yours

03:00p
The Brighter Day

03:15p
The Secret Storm

03:30p
The Edge of Night

04:00p
Movie – “Destiny”

05:15p
Party Time

Evening


06:00p
News, Weather (local)

06:15p
Douglas Edwards with the News

06:30p
Twilight Theater

07:00p
Keep Talking

07:30p
Trackdown

08:00p
The Millionaire

08:30p
I’ve Got a Secret

09:00p
Armstrong Circle Theater

10:00p
News (local)

10:15p
Weather (local)

10:20p
People and Places

10:30p
Movie – “This Is the Life”

I referred to Sam Levenson a couple of weeks ago, I believe. His guest is Barbara Griffith, the first of the three Mrs. Andy Griffiths. I always blanch a bit when I see a woman referred to as "Mrs. So-and-So"; I don't think you have to be a raving feminist to recognize that women have an existence and an identity separate from their husbands. Even if their primary (only?) claim to fame is through their spouse, they deserve to be recognized for who they are, not just what they are.



WBAP, Channel 5 (Fort Worth) (NBC)

Morning


07:00a
Today (guests former heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, singer Arlyne Frank)

09:00a
Dough Re Mi

09:30a
Treasure Hunt

10:00a
The Price is Right

10:30a
Concentration

11:00a
Tic Tac Dough

11:30a
It Could Be You

Afternoon


12:00p
News (local)

12:30p
The People’s Choice

01:00p
Queen for a Day

01:30p
Court of Human Relations

02:00p
Young Dr. Malone

02:30p
From These Roots

03:00p
Truth or Consequences (color)

03:30p
County Fair

04:00p
Movie – “She’s Got Everything”

05:30p
Teen-Age Downbeat (color)

Evening


06:00p
News, Weather (color)

06:15p
The Huntley-Brinkley Report

06:30p
Wagon Train

07:30p
The Price is Right (color)

08:00p
Dave King (color)

08:30p
Bat Masterson

09:00p
This Is Your Life

09:30p
Deadline

10:00p
News (local)

10:15p
Weather (local)

10:25p
News (Charles Vaughn)

10:30p
Sports (Bud Sherman)

10:35p
Jack Paar Tonight (guests Danny Scholl, Carmel Quinn)

12:00a
News (Charles Murphy)

Nice to see Jack Dempsey guesting on the Today show. It's been 33 years since Dempsey was world heavyweight champion, and at this point his celebrity probably rests on his New York City restaurant, which opened in 1935 and didn't close its doors until 1974. nine years before his death. I don't see anything else in his biography to suggest why he might have been on TV at this particular time.


KCEN, Channel 6 (Temple) (NBC)

Morning


07:00a
Today (guests former heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey, singer Arlyne Frank)

09:00a
Dough Re Mi

09:30a
Treasure Hunt

10:00a
The Price is Right

10:30a
Concentration

11:00a
Tic Tac Dough

11:30a
It Could Be You

Afternoon


12:00p
Weather (Eddie Schuster)

12:05p
Farm Report

12:25p
News (Eddie Schuster)

12:30p
TV Reader’s Digest

01:00p
Queen for a Day

01:30p
Court of Human Relations

02:00p
Young Dr. Malone

02:30p
From These Roots

03:00p
Truth or Consequences (color)

03:30p
County Fair

04:00p
Our Miss Brooks

04:30p
Happy Hour

05:00p
Popeye

05:30p
Roy Rogers

Evening


06:00p
News (local)

06:10p
Sports (Eddie Schuster)

06:15p
The Huntley-Brinkley Report

06:30p
Wagon Train

07:30p
The Price is Right (color)

08:00p
Death Valley Days

08:30p
The Gray Ghost

09:00p
This Is Your Life

09:30p
U.S. Border Patrol

10:00p
Weather, News, Sports

10:30p
Jack Paar Tonight (guests Danny Scholl, Carmel Quinn)

Does anyone remember Bert Parks? For many years he was the host of the Miss America pageant. "There she goes, Miss America" - it all comes back now, doesn't it? What fewer people remember was his role as host of the afternoon game show County Fair, succinctly described as a "daytime game show filled with music and variety." You just don't have shows like that anymore, do you?



WFAA, Channel 8 (Dallas) (ABC)

Morning


07:30a
Sherwood Forest (aka Robin Hood)

08:00a
Topper

08:30a
Romper Room

09:30a
The Life of Riley

10:00a
Burns and Allen

10:30a
Julie Benell

11:00a
TV Hour of Stars

Afternoon


12:00p
Across the Board

12:30p
Pantomime Clubhouse

01:00p
Music Bingo

01:30p
Our Miss Brooks

02:00p
Day in Court

02:30p
Gale Storm

03:00p
Beat the Clock

03:30p
Who Do You Trust?

04:00p
American Bandstand (guest Bobby Dell)

05:30p
The Mickey Mouse Club

Evening


06:00p
News (local)

06:20p
Sports (Wes Wise)

06:30p
Music for a Summer Night (guests Jacqueling McKeever, Elaine Malbin, Theodor Uppmann, Jack Russell, Alice Ghostley, Earl Wild, Buddy Weed)

07:30p
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet

08:00p
The Wednesday Night Fights (Bobby Scanlon vs. Mario Vecchiato)

08:45p
Locker Room

09:00p
Donna Reed

09:30p
Colonel Flack

10:00p
News (local)

10:15p
Weather (local)

10:20p
Sports (Wes Wise)

10:30p
Movie – “Island Retreat”

Wes Wise, who gave the sports on WFAA, was a mainstay of Dallas television for decades. His primary fame came at KRLD, where in addition to being sports director he played a pivotal role in the station's coverage of the Kennedy assassination. So well known was he for being on TV, he was elected to the Dallas City Council in 1967, and became mayor in 1971.



KWTX, Channel 10 (Waco) (CBS, ABC)

Morning


08:00a
CBS Morning News with Richard C. Hottelet

08:15a
Captain Kangaroo

09:00a
On the Go

09:30a
Sam Levenson (guest Mrs. Andy Griffith)

10:00a
I Love Lucy

10:30a
Top Dollar

11:00a
Better Living

11:30a
Search for Tomorrow

11:45a
The Guiding Light

Afternoon


12:00p
CBS News (Walter Cronkite)

12:05p
News (Joe Saragusa)

12:15p
Farm Report (Johnny Watkins)

01:00p
Jimmy Dean

01:30p
House Party

02:00p
The Big Payoff

02:30p
The Verdict is Yours

03:00p
The Brighter Day

03:15p
The Secret Storm

03:30p
The Edge of Night

04:00p
American Bandstand (guest Bobby Dell)

05:30p
The Mickey Mouse Club

Evening


06:00p
News (local)

06:15p
Douglas Edwards with the News

06:30p
Disneyland

07:30p
Zorro

08:00p
The Millionaire

08:30p
I’ve Got a Secret

09:00p
U.S. Marshall

09:30p
Bold Venture

10:00p
News (local)

10:15p
Weather (local)

10:20p
Sports (Ben Vaughn)

10:30p
TV Theater

According to this issue, Friday is the last day for Jimmy Dean's afternoon variety show, which aired on CBS. I think we may have seen it before, but it's worth reliving: the show in which Jimmy broke the news to his viewers, and had a few choice words to say in the bargain.




KFJZ, Channel 11 (Fort Worth) (Ind.)

Morning


09:00a
The Little Rascals

09:45a
Movie Double Feature – “Straight, Place and Show”, “Havana Widows”

11:55a
Take Five

Afternoon


12:00p
Cartoon Clubhouse

12:45p
Movie Double Feature – “A Long Way from Texas”, “As the Earth Turns”

02:40p
Take Five

02:45p
Ann Alden

03:00p
I Married Joan

03:30p
Roy Rogers

04:00p
Abbott and Costello

04:30p
Early Show

05:30p
Popeye

Evening


06:00p
Wild Bill Hickok

06:30p
The Three Stooges

06:50p
Bugs Bunny

07:00p
Casey Jones

07:30p
Baseball Warmup

07:45p
Baseball (Indianapolis Indians vs. Fort Worth Cats)

10:00p
Movie Double Feature – “Law of the Tropics”, “Nine Girls

I like the second half of the afternoon double feature - As the Earth Turns. I can envision a couple of television executives sitting around a room bouncing some ideas off each other. "That would be a great title for a daytime show, wouldn't it? As the Earth Turns. Catchy, but philosophical as well. Ties in to the circle of life and all, you know."

"Yeah, but we can't get the rights to the title. Besides, the movie didn't have anything to do with that."

"Wait a minute, I just had an idea. What if we just changed the title a little bit..." TV  

5 comments:

  1. On the subject of "Mrs. Andy Griffith"---there was a time (pre-medical privacy days) when hospital admissions and dismissals were listed in the papers. My brothers and I were all born in the 60s, and when my mother was admitted to the hospital to have each of us, she was listed only as "Mrs. Burleigh Bartlett," without a first name of her own. Even accounting for the fashion of the time, this seems particularly odd.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Odds & Ends (even odder than usual):

    - One of Jack Paar's guests Tonight! is Pat Harrington Jr.; if I read the listing right, this is from when he was still maintaining the character of "Italian golf pro Guido Panzini", which is how he broke into on-camera performing.
    "Panzini" scored a major success, to the point where the Department of Immigration actually started an investigation to determine just when he'd entered the US; once they found out that he was a Manhattan-born Irishman, they withdrew, somewhat embarrassedly ...

    - I note that the Wednesday Night Fight is on in Dallas at 8pm, Standard Time.
    This fight originated in Chicago, where it aired at 9pm, Daylight Time.
    By '59, the Dallas stations had mastered the tape delay necessary to conform with the Central Time Zone, but the fight was a live broadcast, and had to be carried as such (an hour's delay would obviously have an influence on betting on the bout).
    WFAA delayed Donna Reed from its normal 8pm timeslot and bypassed the 8:30 entry, Accused (the prime time version of Day In Court).

    - Noting that Andy Griffith didn't begin his show until the fall of 1960 (at this point he was just coming off his big Broadway success in No Time For Sergeants) ...

    ... I wonder if you've had a chance to look at the recently published Andy And Don, written by Don Knotts's brother-in-law.
    It's a pretty unsparing look at the two men, whose close friendship dated back to Sergeants.
    One revelation in the book: Andy Griffith and Aneta Corsaut became even closer off-camera than Sheriff Andy and Helen the teacher were on-camera (and Griffith was still married at the time).
    Think about that the next time you watch a Griffith rerun ...

    More later (maybe) ...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Quick addition to the above:

    - Kraft Music Hall Presents The Dave King Show:
    That's the full title.
    Kraft was marking time until Perry Como took on the Wednesday night time in the fall.
    Dave King was a popular singer-comedian in Britain, with several hit records over there to his credit.
    Like many Brit entertainers, King wanted to be a star in the States, so when Kraft offered him a summer show in New York, he leaped at the chance.
    I recall this show as being fairly good: King had a better-than-average handle on American accents, which helped with the comedy.
    As a singer, King held his own; one week, he was joined by lyricist Johnny Mercer for a medley of the latter's many hits.
    After the summer run, Dave King stayed on for a while to do a couple of guest shots with Perry Como, but for whatever reason, it didn't take, and he returned to Britain, where he ultimately emerged as a respected character actor.

    - While scrolling around, I finally noticed Pantomime Clubhouse on ch8.
    This was in fact Mike Stokey's Pantomime Quiz, on the ABC network during the course of its endless march through the TV schedules.
    Its best-known incarnation, as Stump The Stars, was still several seasons away.

    - Two features in the slick section:

    There's a two-page spread of the Three Stooges at the outset of their late-career comeback.
    Moe, Larry, and their new partner Curly Joe are at a night club in Philadelphia, playing an early show for a mostly kid audience.
    The Stooges shorts had only started showing on TV the previous fall.
    After this, nobody doubted the power of TV again.

    - Also, take a look at the one-page feature about character actor Lawrence Dobkin.
    The pictures show Dobkin in various makeups and costumes for his many on-camera appearances, but curiously doesn't even mention his voice-over work, which over the years made him just as much money.
    Dobkin's best-known voice gig began that season.
    You'll definitely place his voice, speaking the immortal words:
    There are eight million stories in The Naked City.
    This has been one of them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Two notes:

    (1) Didn't Kraft sponsor Milton Berle's short-lived comeback show in the 1958-59 season that had Dave King as a summer replacement?

    (2) Can I assume that KRLD's "Party Time" and WBAP's "Teenage Downbeat" were both local clones of "American Bandstand"?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. (1) Kraft owned that hour on NBC on Wednesday nights for decades, going back to radio days, when Bing Crosby hosted the Music Hall.
      When NBC wanted to give up on the live Kraft Television Theater in '58, it was they who urged Milton Berle on Kraft as a quick filler; Berle's infamous 30-year contract still had 20 or so years left, and this was one of the bones that NBC threw him.
      It all became academic the following year when Kraft won a bidding war for Perry Como - but that's another story ...

      Delete

Thanks for writing! Drive safely!