WGBH, Channel 2 (Educ.)
|
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Afternoon
|
||
05:15p
|
Magic Doorways
|
|
05:30p
|
Playhouse
|
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Evening
|
||
06:00p
|
Latin Americas
|
|
06:30p
|
News (Louis
Lyons)
|
|
06:45p
|
Background
|
|
07:00p
|
Bulletin Board
|
|
07:30p
|
French Course
|
|
08:00p
|
Boston University Arts Conference
|
|
09:00p
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America Looks Abroad
|
|
09:30p
|
Images
|
|
10:00p
|
Piano Recital
|
|
10:15p
|
News (local)
|
|
Louis Lyons, who anchored the 6:30 evening news and the following show, Background (and probably the 10:15 news as well, although it wasn't listed in the TV Guide) was a legend in the Boston area, beginning as a columnist for the Boston Globe in the '20s. There's an award named after him, the Louis Lyons Award for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism, from Harvard, and that name alone tells us a lot about the man. At this link you can see Lyons interviewing Edward R. Murrow for WGBH.
WBZ, Channel 4 (NBC)
|
||
Morning
|
||
06:30a
|
Horizons
|
|
06:45a
|
Daily Almanac
|
|
06:55a
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Weather (Don Kent)
|
|
07:00a
|
Today
|
|
08:55a
|
The Morning Movie – “Gambling Lady”
|
|
10:00a
|
Home
|
|
11:00a
|
The Price is Right
|
|
11:30a
|
Truth or Consequences
|
|
Afternoon
|
||
12:00p
|
News, Weather
(local)
|
|
12:15p
|
Big Brother
|
|
01:00p
|
Movie – “Life
Begins”
|
|
02:30p
|
Tennessee Ernie Ford
|
|
03:00p
|
Matinee Theater – “Show of Strength” (color)
|
|
04:00p
|
Queen for a Day
|
|
04:45p
|
Movie – “Brother
Rat”
|
|
Evening
|
||
06:45p
|
News (Arch
Macdonald)
|
|
07:00p
|
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
|
|
07:30p
|
Nat “King” Cole
|
|
07:45p
|
The Huntley-Brinkley Report
|
|
08:00p
|
The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (color)
|
|
08:30p
|
Tales of Wells Fargo
|
|
09:00p
|
Twenty-One
|
|
09:30p
|
Robert Montgomery Presents (color)
|
|
10:30p
|
The Man Called X
|
|
11:00p
|
News (local)
|
|
11:15p
|
Ford Theatre
|
|
11:45p
|
Tonight! America After Dark
|
|
I often wondered about the program Ford Theatre. The anthology series started out on radio before moving to television. It's named after its sponsor, of course, the Ford Motor Company, but all the same it's kind of like a show named "Texas School Book Depository Theatre," don't you think?
WCSH, Channel 6 (Portland) (NBC)
|
||
Morning
|
||
06:55a
|
Farm Market News
|
|
07:00a
|
Today
|
|
09:00a
|
Kaleidoscope
|
|
09:30a
|
Romper Room
|
|
10:00a
|
Home
|
|
11:00a
|
The Price is Right
|
|
11:30a
|
Truth or Consequences
|
|
Afternoon
|
||
12:00p
|
Tic Tac Dough
|
|
12:30p
|
It Could Be You
|
|
01:00p
|
Downeast Datelines
|
|
01:30p
|
Trouble with Father
|
|
02:00p
|
Homemaking
|
|
02:30p
|
Tennessee Ernie Ford
|
|
03:00p
|
Matinee Theater – “Show of Strength” (color)
|
|
04:00p
|
Queen for a Day
|
|
04:45p
|
Modern Romances
|
|
05:00p
|
Topper
|
|
05:30p
|
Fun House
|
|
Evening
|
||
06:00p
|
Superman
|
|
06:30p
|
News, Sports,
Weather (local)
|
|
07:00p
|
Youth Cavalcade
|
|
07:30p
|
Nat “King” Cole
|
|
07:45p
|
The Huntley-Brinkley Report
|
|
08:00p
|
The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (color)
|
|
08:30p
|
Tales of Wells Fargo
|
|
09:00p
|
Twenty-One
|
|
09:30p
|
Robert Montgomery Presents (color)
|
|
10:30p
|
Ozzie and Harriet
|
|
11:00p
|
News (local)
|
|
11:15p
|
Tonight! America After Dark
|
|
The star of The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (playing, not surprisingly, Sir Lancelot) was Willliam Russell, perhaps better known to TV fans as Ian Chesterton, part of the original TARDIS crew in Doctor Who.
WNAC, Channel 7 (ABC, CBS)
|
||
Morning
|
||
07:00a
|
Jimmy Dean
|
|
07:45a
|
Film Short
|
|
08:00a
|
Captain Kangaroo
|
|
08:45a
|
Morning Star Time
|
|
10:00a
|
Garry Moore
|
|
10:30a
|
Arthur Godfrey
|
|
11:30a
|
Strike it Rich
|
|
Afternoon
|
||
12:00p
|
Valiant Lady
|
|
12:15p
|
Love of Life
|
|
12:30p
|
Search For Tomorrow
|
|
12:45p
|
The Guiding Light
|
|
01:00p
|
Louise Morgan
|
|
01:30p
|
As the World Turns
|
|
02:00p
|
Mr. and Mrs. North
|
|
02:30p
|
House Party
|
|
03:00p
|
The Big Payoff
|
|
03:30p
|
Bob Crosby
|
|
04:00p
|
The Brighter Day
|
|
04:15p
|
The Secret Storm
|
|
04:30p
|
My Little Margie
|
|
05:00p
|
Mickey Mouse Club
|
|
Evening
|
||
06:00p
|
Steve Donovan
|
|
06:30p
|
Rosemary Clooney
|
|
07:00p
|
News, Weather
|
|
07:15p
|
Patti Page
|
|
07:30p
|
Robin Hood
|
|
08:00p
|
Burns and Allen
|
|
08:30p
|
Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts
|
|
09:00p
|
I Love Lucy
|
|
09:30p
|
December Bride
|
|
10:00p
|
Studio One
|
|
11:00p
|
News (local)
|
|
11:05p
|
Dangerous Assignment
|
|
11:35p
|
Movie – “Hangmen
Also Die”
|
|
Tonight's episode of Studio One (or Studio One in Hollywood, to be precise) is "The Out-of-Towners," a romantic comedy by Tad Mosel (not to be confused with the play of the same name by Neil Simon). Mosel was one of the greats of early television, although his name doesn't always get the same publicity as Serling, Rose, Siliphant and others. (I neglected to mention him myself in my essay on live television last week). He's probably best-known for his play All the Way Home, which won the Pulitzer in 1961, and was based on James Agee's novel A Death in the Family, which won the Pulitzer in 1958. Is that the only time an original work and it's adaptation have both won Pulitzers in different categories?
WMTW, Channel 8 (Portland) (ABC, CBS)
|
||
Afternoon
|
||
12:00p
|
News (local)
|
|
01:00p
|
CBS News (Walter Cronkite)
|
|
01:10p
|
Stand Up and Be Counted
|
|
01:30p
|
Rhythm Ranch
|
|
02:00p
|
Our Miss Brooks
|
|
02:30p
|
Cooking Can Be Fun
|
|
03:00p
|
Afternoon Film Festival – “Hamlet” (part 1)
|
|
05:00p
|
Mickey Mouse Club
|
|
Evening
|
||
06:00p
|
News (Charles
Tarkinson)
|
|
06:15p
|
Movie – “Music
for Madame” (part 1)
|
|
07:00p
|
National News
|
|
07:30p
|
Wire Service
|
|
08:30p
|
Voice of Firestone (guest Eugene Conley)
|
|
09:00p
|
All Star Theater
|
|
09:30p
|
Lawrence Welk’s Top Tunes
|
|
10:30p
|
Boxing – Hart
vs. Wilson
|
|
11:15p
|
News, Sports,
Weather (local)
|
|
Charles Tarkinson anchored the first newscast on WMTW when it went on the air in 1954. He stayed with the station until 1962, when he moved over to WGAN, the CBS affiliate in Portland, doing the news until 1970. After that, he went into the insurance business - can you imagine today's news anchors, with their six-figure salaries, making that kind of transition?
WMUR, Channel 9 (Manchester) (ABC, CBS)
|
||
Afternoon
|
||
02:45p
|
What’s Your Trouble?
|
|
03:00p
|
Afternoon Film Festival – “Hamlet” (part 1)
|
|
04:30p
|
Cartoons
|
|
05:30p
|
Guest House
|
|
Evening
|
||
06:00p
|
News, Sports,
Weather
|
|
06:15p
|
Joe Palooka Story
|
|
06:45p
|
Frankie Laine
|
|
07:15p
|
John Daly and the News
|
|
07:30p
|
Wire Service
|
|
08:30p
|
Voice of Firestone (guest Eugene Conley)
|
|
09:00p
|
Press Conference
|
|
09:30p
|
Lawrence Welk’s Top Tunes
|
|
10:30p
|
Boxing – Hart
vs. Wilson
|
|
11:15p
|
News, Sports,
Weather (local)
|
|
11:30p
|
Movie – “The
Trail Beyond”
|
|
Press Conference was a lot like Meet the Press, and for good reason - its moderator was Martha Roundtree, who with Lawrence Spivak created Press in 1947. It originally went on the air in a suicide timeslot, going up against Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan. Let's see - variety shows or politics. Which one of these?
WJAR, Channel 10 (Providence) (ABC, NBC)
|
||
Morning
|
||
06:45a
|
N.E. Farm Report
|
|
06:50a
|
Industry on Parade
|
|
06:55a
|
News, Weather
(local)
|
|
07:00a
|
Today
|
|
08:55a
|
The Morning Movie – “Bullet Scars”
|
|
10:00a
|
Home
|
|
11:00a
|
Operation Schoolhouse
|
|
11:30a
|
Truth or Consequences
|
|
Afternoon
|
||
12:00p
|
My Little Margie
|
|
12:30p
|
It Could Be You
|
|
01:00p
|
Movie – “Eight
O’Clock Walk”
|
|
02:15p
|
Catholic Chapel
|
|
02:30p
|
Tennessee Ernie Ford
|
|
03:00p
|
Matinee Theater – “Show of Strength” (color)
|
|
04:00p
|
Queen for a Day
|
|
04:45p
|
Modern Romances
|
|
05:00p
|
Cartoons
|
|
Evening
|
||
06:00p
|
Superman
|
|
06:30p
|
Looney Tunes
|
|
06:45p
|
News, Sports,
Weather (local)
|
|
07:00p
|
Broken Arrow
|
|
07:30p
|
Nat “King” Cole
|
|
07:45p
|
The Huntley-Brinkley Report
|
|
08:00p
|
The Adventures Sir Lancelot (color)
|
|
08:30p
|
Tales of Wells Fargo
|
|
09:00p
|
Twenty-One
|
|
09:30p
|
Robert Montgomery Presents (color)
|
|
10:30p
|
State Trooper
|
|
11:00p
|
News (local)
|
|
11:15p
|
Movie –
“Gentleman’s Agreement”
|
|
I don't want to make too much of this except there isn't much else to note here, but it's slightly ironic: we all know about the troubles that Nat King Cole had getting sponsors for his show, and clearance from stations in the South, because of his race. Thankfully, such was not the case in New England. As if to reinforce this, the late movie on Channel 10 is Gentleman's Agreement, which has to do with anti-Semitism. A coincidence, I know, but still.
WPRO, Channel 12 (Providence) (CBS)
|
||
Morning
|
||
07:00a
|
Jimmy Dean
|
|
07:45a
|
CBS Morning News (Richard C. Hottelet)
|
|
08:00a
|
Captain Kangaroo
|
|
08:45a
|
Romper Room
|
|
09:45a
|
News (Virginia
Stuart)
|
|
10:00a
|
Garry Moore
|
|
10:30a
|
Arthur Godfrey
|
|
11:30a
|
Strike it Rich
|
|
Afternoon
|
||
12:00p
|
Valiant Lady
|
|
12:15p
|
Love of Life
|
|
12:30p
|
Search For Tomorrow
|
|
12:45p
|
The Guiding Light
|
|
01:00p
|
Amos ‘n’ Andy
|
|
01:30p
|
As the World Turns
|
|
02:00p
|
Trouble with Father
|
|
02:30p
|
House Party
|
|
03:00p
|
The Big Payoff
|
|
03:30p
|
Bob Crosby
|
|
04:00p
|
The Brighter Day
|
|
04:15p
|
The Secret Storm
|
|
04:30p
|
The Edge of Night
|
|
05:00p
|
Mickey Mouse Club
|
|
Evening
|
||
06:00p
|
Salty Brine’s Shack
|
|
06:30p
|
News, Sports,
Weather
|
|
07:00p
|
Stage 7
|
|
07:30p
|
Robin Hood
|
|
08:00p
|
Burns and Allen
|
|
08:30p
|
Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts
|
|
09:00p
|
I Love Lucy
|
|
09:30p
|
December Bride
|
|
10:00p
|
Studio One
|
|
11:00p
|
News (local)
|
|
11:15p
|
Hollywood Movie Cavalcade – “Polo Joe”
|
|
In case you were wondering, according to the always-reliable Wikipedia: "Polo Joe is a 1936 American comedy film directed by William C. McGann and starring Joe E. Brown, Carol Hughes and Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher. Despite a fear of horses, a man takes up polo to impress a woman." If this had been made for TV in 1957, I might be more inclined to agree with Patton Oswalt.
WGAN, Channel 13 (Portland) (CBS)
|
||
Morning
|
||
07:00a
|
Jimmy Dean
|
|
07:45a
|
CBS Morning News (Richard C. Hottelet)
|
|
08:00a
|
Captain Kangaroo
|
|
08:45a
|
CBS Morning News (Richard C. Hottelet)
|
|
09:00a
|
Along Maine Street
|
|
09:30a
|
Star Performance
|
|
10:00a
|
Garry Moore
|
|
10:30a
|
Arthur Godfrey
|
|
11:30a
|
Strike it Rich
|
|
Afternoon
|
||
12:00p
|
Valiant Lady
|
|
12:15p
|
Love of Life
|
|
12:30p
|
Search For Tomorrow
|
|
12:45p
|
The Guiding Light
|
|
01:00p
|
CBS News (Walter Cronkite)
|
|
01:10p
|
Stand Up and Be Counted
|
|
01:30p
|
As the World Turns
|
|
02:00p
|
Our Miss Brooks
|
|
02:30p
|
House Party
|
|
03:00p
|
The Big Payoff
|
|
03:30p
|
Bob Crosby
|
|
04:00p
|
The Brighter Day
|
|
04:15p
|
The Secret Storm
|
|
04:30p
|
The Edge of Night
|
|
05:00p
|
Adventureland
|
|
Evening
|
||
06:30p
|
News, Sports,
Weather
|
|
07:00p
|
Dr. Christian
|
|
07:30p
|
Robin Hood
|
|
08:00p
|
Burns and Allen
|
|
08:30p
|
Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts
|
|
09:00p
|
I Love Lucy
|
|
09:30p
|
December Bride
|
|
10:00p
|
Studio One
|
|
11:00p
|
News (local)
|
|
11:20p
|
Movie – “The
Astonished Heart”
|
|
I'll make the wild guess that your Boston edition didn't have a detailed listing for Twenty-One.
ReplyDeleteMy Chicago edition does.
Here it is, verbatim (italics mine):
Hank Bloomgarden of New York City. winner of $52,500 so far, meets his challenger, James Snodgrass of New York City, after tying him twice before. Tonight they play for $1500 a point.
Those names familiar?
Snodgrass was the guy who almost blew Twenty-One's cover way early, by correctly answering a question he was supposed to miss (I'm guessing that this would have been last week's show).
The movie Quiz Show, mentioned here in the past, depicted this incident as being seen by Dick Goodwin on an old kinescope, while Charles Van Doren was still appearing on Twenty-One; it didn't happen until Van Doren had long since left for full-time employment on the Today show.
(And of course, Goodwin's investigation didn't happen until 1959, after Twenty-One had left the air - but that's another story ...)
- The Studio One play by Tad Mosel had a later life of its own.
In 1963, Mosel turned it into a screenplay, under the new title Dear Heart, which starred Glenn Ford and Geraldine Page. It got good reviews, did respectable box office, and the title song by Henry Mancini and Livingston & Evans was Oscar-nominated (you may have heard it a time or two).
- Oh, by the way, officially it was Westinghouse Studio One.
Sponsor identification was commonplace in those days:
Philco Playhouse
Goodyear Theatre
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Kaiser Hour
DuPont Theatre
Robert Montgomery Presents Your Lucky Strike Theatre
The Gillette Cavalcade Of Sports
The Voice Of Firestone
The United States Steel Hour
... and a whole bunch of others.
Where you got that Texas School Book Depository business ...
Funny thing:
A few years later, the Ford Motor Co. had the notion of sponsoring Tennessee Ernie Ford's new variety show.
They called it The Ford Show (cute, huh?).
Some people didn't get it, though ...
I remember seeing Snodgrass on PBS on the "Quiz Show Scandals" episode of THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, and he read part of the registered letter that he'd written to himself on Saturday May 11, 1957 in preparation for that next week's show on May 13, so he not only survived the show this week but went on at least another week. I just looked at my copy of TV Guide for the following week, also the New England Edition, and there were no details for that week either. The movie QUIZ SHOW, in compressing the timeframe of all these events, put Snodgrass' appearance in 1958 instead of 1957, and also made him look like a sort of Bohemian beatnik artist. You can read about his testimony before Congress, as well as the testimony of two other contestants on other game shows, here: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6555/
DeleteFor Snodgrass's 21 appearance to have preceded Van Doren's (as QUIZ SHOW depicts), the 'compression' would have pushed it back to 1956.
DeleteWhile I'm here, I'd like to cite my personal favorite historical "fudge" from QUIZ SHOW:
It comes in two parts.
Part I:
That lawn party at the Van Doren estate, celebrating Mark Van Doren's birthday.
This was supposed to be during Charlie's TWENTY-ONE run, which would put it at the turn of '56-'57.
The attendees include such literati as Edmund Wilson and Thomas Merton - and investigator Dick Goodwin, who didn't even meet Charlie until after he'd been defeated on '21'.
This fabricated scene is in the movie to establish that
(a) Charlie knows the name of the newly-crowned King of Belgium, Baudouin (boe-dwan).
(b) Goodwin knows that he knows.
Baudouin is the answer that Charlie got wrong, which knocked him off the show.
And that leads us to -
Part II:
Charlie's on air, in the isolation booth, and Goodwin's in the audience watching -
- and Charles Van Doren just casually tosses off King Leopold, the wrong answer.
You know, like he's deliberately blowing it, to get himself off the show.
Well, of course, that's what he's doing, but the movie makes it look like he's crossing up TWENTY-ONE's producers, who are shown going into a panic.
That's not what happened.
In his NEW YORKER confessional piece, Van Doren is clear: his TWENTY-ONE departure was scheduled, just as his arrival was.
Also, on the actual broadcast Charlie made a real performance of the whole thing: flexing his fists, repeating "The son of Leopold, the son of Leopold - I know the name ...", finally shaking his head and saying "I'll say Leopold, although it's probably wrong."
That's not in the movie; Ralph Fiennes just gives the wrong name, and the Panic That Didn't Happen, happens.
A few weeks back, I mentioned a brief TV Guide piece about Vivienne Nearing, the lady who won that night - that was on the newsstands that very week.
Coincidence?
I saw QUIZ SHOW in theaters several times during its theatrical run.
Each time I saw it, when the movie ended I'd hear someone say, "You know, that all really happened."
Boy, did I ever want to say something to those people ...
... I stopped myself, though.
At the time, I didn't think it was worth the trouble.
The Internet was some time off ...
"Ozzie and Harriet" was an ABC show, but I would think that WMTW didn't carry it, allowing WCSH to do so (even though on a delayed basis; 10:30 P.M. seemed too late an hour for a "family sitcom").
ReplyDelete"Tonight! America After Dark", hosted by "Today Show" alumnus Jack Lescoulie, was a complete fiasco both in format (it was more like "Today" than a late-night talk/variety show as we now know the genre) and ratings, and was cancelled in June.
Indeed, one published account suggested that in the six-month run of "America After Dark", the show's "clearance" dropped from 130 stations (when Steve Allen left) to just sixty stations (when "America After Dark" ended). But the number of stations carrying Jack Paar jumped from 62 when he began to 160 by the fall of 1960 (although it would include such cities like Boston and Cleveland where the local NBC station wouldn't clear Paar but another station in that city did).
Because Paar and his producers/musicians/cast wouldn't be ready until late July, "America After Dark" actually stayed on the air for a month after it was cancelled, with New York disc jockey Al "Jazzbo" Collins serving as interim host until Paar was ready.
WBZ Channel 4 (along with the other NBC affiliate Group W/Westinghouse owned at the time, KYW, then of Cleveland) dropped "America After Dark" effective the night Collins took over as caretaker host until Paar was ready.
WBZ didn't carry "The Tonight Show" again until 1966, almost four years after it's most famous host, the legendary Johnny Carson, had taken over.