April 13, 2015

What's on TV? Friday, April 14, 1961



Even though I've started to branch out to issues from other parts of the country, I always feel most comfortable returning to the Twin Cities editions.  I'm more familiar with the programming, and it's so easy for me to travel back in time and put myself into the story - even if, as is the case this week, I must have been too young to know anything.  So this week I'm going to take a closer look at some of these local shows, and the personalities that made them.  Let's go through it together, shall we?


KTCA, Channel 2 (Educ.)

Morning


09:30a
Fitzpatrick’s Cartoons

10:15a
Ya Hablamos Espanol

10:30a
Animals of the Seashore

11:00a
Ya Hablamos Espanol

Afternoon


01:30p
Record Shop

01:50p
Komm, Lach Und Lerne

02:05p
Science (Grade 4)

02:30p
Mathematics

05:00p
Adventures of Danny Dee

05:30p
Prospects of Mankind

Evening


06:30p
American Perspective

07:00p
Main Street

07:30p
Graphic Arts

08:00p
Cartoon Hour

08:30p
St. Olaf Hour

09:00p
Civil War Background

09:30p
Mythology

10:00p
Briefing Session

10:30p
Background

This is such a typical programming schedule for Channel 2 back in these days.  The station really was dedicated to its educational mission, which is why you see programs such as Komm, Lach Und Lerne - which, although I've never learned German, I'm guessing means "Come, Look and Learn."  Maybe someone out there can correct me.


WCCO, Channel 4 (CBS)

Morning


07:00a
Siegfried and His Flying Saucer

08:00a
CBS Morning News (Richard C. Hottelet)

08:15a
Captain Kangaroo

09:00a
News (local)

09:10a
Dr. Reuben K. Youngdahl

09:15a
Fashion

09:30a
Video Village

10:00a
Double Exposure

10:30a
Your Surprise Package

11:00a
Love of Life

11:30a
Search for Tomorrow

11:45a
The Guiding Light

Afternoon


12:00p
News (local)

12:15p
Something Special

12:20p
Weather (local)

12:30p
As the World Turns

01:00p
Face the Facts

01:30p
House Party (guest Edith Head)

02:00p
The Millionaire

02:30p
The Verdict is Yours

03:00p
The Brighter Day

03:15p
The Secret Storm

03:30p
The Edge of Night

04:00p
Around the Town

04:30p
Bozo the Clown

05:00p
Axel and His Dog

05:30p
Clancy the Cop 

05:55p
Sports (local)

Evening


06:00p
News (local)

06:10p
Weather (local)

06:15p
Douglas Edwards With the News

06:30p
Rawhide

07:30p
Route 66

08:30p
Way Out

09:00p
The Twilight Zone

09:30p
Eyewitness to History (Trial of Adolf Eichmann)

10:00p
News (local)

10:15p
Weather (local)

10:20p
Sports (local)

10:30p
Movie – “Seven Sinners”

Around the Town, which aired at 4pm, was a local show hosted by Arle Haeberle.  You've probably seen this listing a time or two from this feature, but did you ever wonder what it was like?  Wonder no longer - you can check out an excerpt from the show here.  I know you can see features like this on local morning "news" shows today, but don't you think there's something charming about it?

KSTP, Channel 5 (NBC)

Morning


06:00a
Continental Classroom (Chemistry) (color)

06:30a
Continental Classroom (Probability and Statistics) (color)

07:00a
Dave Garroway Today Show

09:00a
Say When

09:30a
Play Your Hunch (color)

10:00a
The Price Is Right (color)

10:30a
Concentration

11:00a
Truth or Consequences

11:30a
It Could Be You (color)

11:55a
NBC News (Ray Scherer)

Afternoon


12:00p
News (local)

12:15p
Weather (local)

12:20p
Treasure Chest

01:00p
Jan Murray (color)

01:30p
Loretta Young

02:00p
Young Dr. Malone

02:30p
From These Roots

03:00p
Make Room for Daddy

03:30p
Here’s Hollywood (guests Earl Holliman, Christina Crawford)

04:00p
Topper

04:30p
T.N. Tatters

05:15p
City Detective

05:45p
Huntley-Brinkley Report

Evening


06:00p
News (local)

06:15p
Weather (local)

06:30p
Happy

07:00p
Five Star Jubilee (host Carl Smith, guest Jimmy Dean)

07:30p
Nanette Fabray

08:00p
Bell Telephone Hour (hostess Arlene Francis, guests Ron Husmann, Paula Stewart, Lauri Peters, Brian Davies, Eileen Rodgers, Harve Presnell, Edward Villella, Patricia McBride, Ruth and Jane Earl, Jaime Laredo, the Chad Mitchell Trio) (color)

09:00p
Michael Shayne

10:00p
News (local)

10:15p
Weather (local)

10:20p
Sports (local)

10:30p
Jack Paar

12:00a
News (local)

Treasure Chest, which airs at 12:20pm, is described as "a 40 minute audience participation ladies show televised live in color."  It's not listed as a colorcast in this issue, which may mean KSTP hasn't gone full color yet, or it could be a typo.  The show's hosted by Jim Hutton (no, not the actor) who would later host the popular Dialing for Dollars show.  Here's a look at the show.

COURTESY KINGOFTHEROAD.NET


KMSP, Channel 9 (Ind.)

Morning


09:50a
Chapel of the Air

09:55a
Newsbeat (local)

10:00a
Jack LaLanne

10:30a
Movie – “Private Nurse”

Afternoon


12:00p
Kartoontime

12:30p
Willy

01:30p
Racket Squad

02:00p
Movie – “Homecoming”

04:00p
How to Marry a Millionaire

04:30p
Mr. Adams and Eve

05:00p
Susie

05:30p
Our Miss Brooks

Evening


06:00p
Looney Tuners Club

07:00p
Cannonball

07:30p
Flight

08:00p
Stories of the Century

08:30p
The Californians

09:00p
Movie – “Captains Courageous”

10:35p
News (local)

10:50p
Sports (local)

10:55p
Weather (local)

11:00p
TV Hour of Stars

Tony Parker, host of Newsbeat at 9:55am, was actually Channel 9's sportscaster, and he was a fixture on the station for years.  This obituary of him from a few years ago describes him pretty much as I remember.  He did the local pre-game show prior to Channel 9's telecast of AFL football on Sundays, as well as doing the sports on the local news Monday through Friday.  At the end of his career he'd moved to WCCO where, I think, he might have done some weekend sports.  It was like a flashback to childhood seeing him.


WTCN, Channel 11 (ABC)

Morning


07:55a
Farm News

08:00a
Good Morning Minnesota!

08:30a
Cartoon Circus

09:00a
Romper Room (Miss Betty)

09:45a
Shape Up

10:15a
Ways With Food

10:30a
The Life of Riley

11:00a
Morning Court

11:30a
Love That Bob!

Afternoon


12:00p
Camouflage

12:30p
Number Please

01:00p
About Faces

01:25p
ABC News (Al Mann)

01:30p
Dr. Hudson’s Secret Journal

02:00p
Day in Court

02:30p
Seven Keys

03:00p
Queen for a Day

03:30p
Who Do You Trust?

04:00p
American Bandstand (guest Jack Scott)

05:00p
5 O’Clock Report (local)

05:05p
Casey Jones with Popeye

05:30p
Rin Tin Tin

Evening


06:00p
Matty’s Funday Funnies

06:30p
Harmon Killebrew Show

06:40p
Baseball Roundup

06:55p
Baseball (Twins vs. Orioles)

09:45p
Scoreboard

10:00p
News (local)

10:15p
Weather (local)

10:20p
Sports (local)

10:30p
Two Faces West

11:00p
News (local)

11:05p
Theater 11 – “Captain Blood”

12:30a
News (local)

Whenever I run across Romper Room on a local broadcast, I always make sure to include the name of the "teacher" if it's listed, because so many of us can still remember her from our childhoods (if we're old enough).  For Channel 11, that was "Miss Betty," aka Mary Douglass, who filled the role for ten years in the Twin Cities.  You can see more about her here.

That was fun - we'll have to do it again some time! TV  

7 comments:

  1. The era of retitling sitcom reruns is alive: "Susie" is a renamed "Private Secretary", while "Love That Bob" is just reruns of "The Bob Cummings Show". When did this stop?
    "Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal" is based on a novel that also inspired "Magnificent Obsession", the Jane Wyman/Rock Hudson weepie. It was about a playboy who reforms his life after killing a saintly doctor; the "journal" was written in code by the late doctor, and was used by the playboy as he learned how to be a doctor.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Susie was the show's title when aired in Australia back in the early '60s. It was one of my mum's favourite shows when she first saw TV.

      Is the different name due to syndication?

      Delete
  2. Funny you mention Romper Room. There were different versions of it in different parts of Australia, but just last week was news that the Adelaide-based version (1965-1974) with "Miss Michelle" is now being remembered with a reunion to mark the 50th anniversary of its debut.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC_Qb0f-UsE

    Romper Room though has been long gone in Australia. Is it still being made in the US?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nope, it stopped production in 1991. Most local productions (it was a franchised show) ended by the late 70s; a few stations ran a nationally syndicated version in the 80s.

      Delete
  3. Here, there, and everywhere ...

    - Noticing that the ABC station, channel 11, preempted the network's prime time for the Twins game.

    For the record, here are the preempted ABC shows:
    7:00: Harrigan & Son, Pat O'Brien's lawyer sitcom.
    7:30: The Flintstones.
    8:00: 77 Sunset Strip.
    9:00: The Detectives, Robert Taylor's cop show.
    9:30 : An ABC News special on the Eichmann trial, which in its turn preempted James Whitmore's The Law And Mr. Jones.

    Just curious: did ch11 run "make-good" showings of the preempts, in off-hours on the succeeding days? Our locals here in Chicago did that quite a bit back then ...
    ... in fact, they still do: Channel 7, the ABC station, is going to be carrying certain Cub games this year, which will send General Hospital and Jeopardy! into the overnight hours every now and then.
    (How the Tribune - WGN sweetheart deal with the Cubs came to an end is a story yet to be told ...)

    - Retitling series for syndication goes back to the earliest days of the medium.
    It wasn't limited to sitcoms: Dragnet was syndicated as Badge 714, The Lineup as San Francisco Beat, The Millionaire as If You Had A Million, quite a few others.
    This was usually done when the original was still in network first-run.
    "To avoid confusion", or so the studios said - which frankly fooled nobody ...
    ... which is why the practice came to an end in the early '70s ( the practice of five-day a week stripping was another factor).

    - Not much else to talk about today, so I'll stand down for now.
    Any questions?

    ReplyDelete
  4. A few years before his death, Walter Cronkite was interviewed and noted that while he and a CBS camera crew were in Israel for the start of the Eichmann trial, he and his crew were sent to Moscow after Russian Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space (on April 12th) to try to interview him.

    Supposedly, Cronkite and a CBS correspondent in Moscow got to interview Gagarin (right after he rode in a parade in his honor the day after his flight) and got the film back to New York in-time for it to be broadcast on the April 14th "Eyewitness To History".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for that. I used this information in my Twilight Zone wrap-up:

      http://galacticjourney.org/april-22-1961-out-of-time-twilight-zone-season-2-eps-22-24/

      Delete

Thanks for writing! Drive safely!