April 27, 2020

What's on TV? Saturday, April 25, 1953

I'm going to do a little cutting-and-pasting to give you a visual of something you'd never see in a TV Guide of the 1990s: the listings for an entire day of television, contained in four columns. Of course, this is what happens when you only have four stations, and the earliest program starts at 9:30 in the morning. Chicago may be a toddlin' town; that must mean even the TV people need to sleep in on Saturdays.





4 WBBM (CBS)

   10:00
THERE’S ONE IN EVERY FAMILY

   10:30
ROD BROWN OF THE ROCKET RANGERS—Drama

   11:00
BIG TOP—Circus Fun

   12:00
OPERATION NEW HORIZONS

   12:30
“FUGITIVE VALLEY”
MOVIE

     2:00
NEW WESTERN THEATER—Film

     2:30
MOVIE—Title to be announced

     4:00
CLASSIC THEATER—Music
“Marechiaro,” part 1

     5:00
FARMTOWN U.S.A.—Talks

     5:30
WEEKEND NEWS—Report

     5:45
FILM

     6:00
STORK CLUB—Interviews

     6:30
BEAT THE CLOCK—Games

     7:00
JACKIE GLEASON SHOW

     8:00
PLAY OF THE WEEK—Drama
“Drawing Room A”

     8:30
MEET MILLIE—Comedy Skit

     9:00
QUIZ KIDS—Joe Kelly, Emcee

     9:30
IT’S NEWS TO ME—Panel Quiz

   10:00
“SWAMP FIRE”
MOVIE

   11:10
LATE WORLD NEWS

   11:25
HUTCHINSON WAX

   11:35
“MEDAL FOR THE GENERAL”
MOVIE

I like how Meet Millie is referred to as a "comedy skit." It was, in our terms, a situation comedy. I think of a skit as being more what you'd see on The Jackie Gleason Show at 7:00 p.m. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.


5 WNBQ (NBC)

   12:00
“BAD MAN FROM BIG BEND”
MOVIE

     2:00
NATURE OF THINGS—Science

     2:15
MEET THE VEEP—Discussion

     2:30
AMERICAN INVENTORY
“How To Get Rich”

     3:00
TOP STAKES RACES
Wood Memorial

     3:30
NBC TELEVISION OPERA
“Der Rosenkavalier,” part 1

     5:00
RELIGIOUS PUPPET FILM

     5:00
HOBBY TIME—Bill Healion

     5:30
JET PILOT—Aviation Show

     6:00
MR. WIZARD—Science Study

     6:30
ETHEL & ALBERT—Comedy

     7:00
MY HERO—Situation Comedy

     7:30
ORIGINAL AMATEUR HOUR

     8:00
YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS

     9:30
YOUR HIT PARADE—Musical

   10:00
“NEW ORLEANS”
MOVIE

   11:30
FACES IN THE WINDOW

Der Rosenkavalier is one of the very few—perhaps the only?—operas to be presented over two parts on NBC Opera Theatre. It's one of Richard Strauss' longer operas, but even at that I'm a little surprised that they decided to stretch it out over two weeks rather than make some of the major cuts they've been known to do. Here's part one on YouTube as it was broadcast; part two is available as well.


7 WBKB (ABC)

     9:30
“FIGHTING MUSTANG”

   10:00
SPACE PATROL—Adventure

   10:30
SKY KING—Western Story

   11:00
BEULAH SHOW—Comedy
       
   11:30
“WAGON TRAIL”
MOVIE

   12:00
“WOLF CALL”
MOVIE

     1:00
“TROUBLE AT MELODY MESA”
MOVIE

     2:00
“WATER RUSTLERS”
MOVIE

     3:00
“BRAND OF THE DEVIL”
MOVIE

     4:00
“DEVIL RIDERS”
MOVIE

     5:00
SATURDAY LAUGH TIME—Film

     5:30
ROOTIE KAZOOTIE—Puppets

     6:00
PAUL WHITEMAN’S TEEN CLUB

     6:30
WHAT’S THE ANSWER?—Quiz

     7:00
“DUDES ARE PRETTY PEOPLE”
MOVIE

     8:00
BOXING BOUTS
Tommy Harrison vs Wes Bascom

     9:00
HEART OF THE CITY—Drama

     9:30
“KNIGHT WITHOUT ARMOR”
MOVIE

   11:00
SOMETHING NEW

   11:15
“MAGIC BOW”
MOVIE

   12:30
COMEDY CAMEO—Film Short
“The Adventurer”

I don't want to touch that 7:00 p.m. movie with a ten-foot pole.


9 WGN (DUMONT)

   10:00
KIDS’ CAMERA CORNER—Film

   10:30
KIDS & COMPANY—Variety

   11:00
TERRY AND THE PIRATES
       
   11:30
MORNING MOVIE TIME—Film
“Reckless Buckaroo”

     1:00
BATTING PRACTICE—Creighton

     1:10
LEAD OFF MAN—Vince Lloyd

     1:25
BASEBALL—Cubs vs St. Louis

     3:30
TENTH INNING—Interviews

     4:00
CAMERA CARAVAN—Film

     4:45
“GHOST OF HIDDEN VALLEY”
MOVIE

     6:00
“VIGILANTES ARE COMING”
MOVIE

     6:30
HOMES FOR BETTER LIVING

     6:45
TALENT TIME—Variety

     7:00
PATHWAYS OF THE WORLD

     7:15
CHRISTOPHER FILM SHORT

     7:30
THIS IS THE LIFE—Drama

     8:00
YOUR SENATOR’S REPORT

     8:15
PATHWAYS OF THE WORLD

     8:30
WRESTLING FROM MARIGOLD

   11:00
“THE COBRA STRIKES”
MOVIE

   12:30
NEWS—Up-To-The-Minute Data

One of the great things about the internet is that you can find out things you never thought you'd want to know. For instance, until I started working on this piece, I had no idea I'd want to find out the score of the Cubs-Cardinals game that was played today. The Cubs won 10-6 before 13,435 at Wrigley. The game was played in less than two and-a-half hours; today, that same game would probably take at least another hour. Progress isn't everything. TV  

12 comments:

  1. I always click "Notify me" on each post, but am only intermittently receiving comments. This has been occurring for about a month. Anyone else experiencing this issue?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Huh. Did it ever work, that you're aware of? Blogger being what it is, I don't know how much satisfaction I'll get, but let me look into it. Thanks for letting me know.

      Delete
    2. I used to receive all comments, now I'm only able to acquire your replies. Thanks for your response.

      Delete
  2. Fun With Due Diligence!:

    The following comes from Don Miller's classic survey, B Movies, first published in 1973:

    Another (Hal) Roach project didn't fare so well.
    The idea was to make a series about two cowboys, one a happy-go-lucky sort (Noah Beery, Jr.), the other dumb but steady (Jimmy Rogers).
    Dudes Are Pretty People(1942) was first, and if anything proved that the conception had far to go.


    Miller goes on to note that Noah Beery Jr (right, Rockford's dad) and Jimmy Rogers (one of Will's sons) went on to do two more in this short-lived series, Calaboose and Prairie Chickens (both 1943), all directed by Hal Roach Jr.
    These were Roach "Streamliners", all running under an hour, which made them ideal for sale to TV stations with an hour to fill (and commercial time to sell).
    Look through all the listings here: lots of movies are scheduled, nearly all of them "Bs" running a hour, more or less (usually less)(Dudes is 44 minutes long; commercials bring it to a neat hour).

    Side Note:
    VCI, a DVD company I often patronize, has been putting out restorations of Roach Streamliners, in all genres; it wouldn't surprise me if this Beery-Rogers trio made it into this marketplace (and if it did, I just might buy it).

    Any of this speak to you?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Instant Followup!:

      Not long after I posed the above, I checked in at Amazon.
      Imagine my surprise …
      It isn't VCI, but a company called ClassicFlix is putting out sets of Roach Streamliners, grouped by series themes.
      The second set, announced for June 15 release, is "The Westerns", consisting of the three Noah Beery Jr-Jimmy Rogers pics mentioned above.
      I read the pitch paragraph: among other fun facts, I learn that Beery's character is called 'Pidge' - which was his real-life nickname (James Garner always called him Pidge in interviews).
      So - might I buy this set?
      Hey, I got a month and a half …

      Delete
  3. Kids & Company was hosted by Johnny Olsen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Really! I'd think he'd be terrific with all the voices he could do.

      Delete
  4. "Meet Millie" was indeed a "Sit-Com" that lasted four years from 1952-56..Live every week..No reruns or summer break. The opening sequence with star Elena Verdugo managed to get saved on YouTube, as well as this brief promo:

    https://youtu.be/0XCuyL4s1LE

    ReplyDelete
  5. I was gonna check out Cubs-Cards on baseball-reference, but you beat me to it! What an indispensable tool of baseball info!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No kidding! That's my go-to as well any time there's anything worth knowing!

      Delete

Thanks for writing! Drive safely!