50s Television

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=169 style=" border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC;" BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="017a0ad1dyxtip.jpg"> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="698" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 111 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="00d69690.jpg" border=0 width="105" height="105" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER><NOBR><div> Waxahachie Independant School District    <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#00FF00" FACE="Comic Sans MS" >               Waxahachie, Texas</FONT></div> <div> <B>Waxahachie High School Alumni 1962</B></div> <div> <B>WHS Seniors '62</B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=268 BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="01f9b9c3.jpg"> <div>                                                   </div> <div> <B><SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript">  </SCRIPT> </B></div> <bR> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="703" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT= 4357 WIDTH="693"><div> <I><B>"IT'S HOWDY DOODY TIME"</B></I></div> <bR> <div> Magic took hold of America in the 1950's. Across the country in the fading light of day, millions of families sat hypnotized in front of flickering TV sets, huddling around the glowing black and white tube as if it were an electronic fire keeping away the demons of the night.</div> <bR> <div> Americans watched in awe and suspicion as those first magical images pouring forth from their brand new TV sets. And the world was never the same.</div> <bR> <div> Now people could sit on their living room couch and get glimpses of opera, serious drama and newly created TV stars.</div> <bR> <div> Into American awareness came comedy headliners Milton Berle, Lucille Ball, Jack Benny, Jackie Gleason, Sid Ceasar. Singers like Kate Smith, Eddie Fisher, Dinah Shore, and Perry Como crooned to millions of captivated TV viewers who, for the first time, saw the person that went with the voice they heard on the radio.</div> <bR> <div> Captain Video with his blazing ray guns led thousands of kid viewers on amazing outer space adventures every afternoon at 4 PM on the Dumont TV network. Howdy Doody, Rootie Kazootie and Kukla, Fran and Ollie were instant TV puppet pals for American babyboomer children hypnotized by the flickering black and white images.</div> <bR> <div> Music lovers adored Liberace, loved Julius LaRosa, swooned over Korla Pandit and turned cowboy singer/movie star Gene Autry into the owner of a multi-million dollar entertainment empire including professional sports, TV stations, a western museum, and other lucrative holdings.</div> <bR> <div> For the first time in history, we saw news events as they happened. John Cameron Swayze, the cigarette smoking announcer on NBC's nightly 15 minute "Camel News Caravan" was a welcome guest each evening in millions of American homes. Using grainy black and white still pictures and days-old news film, the broadcast brought the world into our homes and changed our lives forever.</div> <bR> <div> Live drama, born of economic necessity and primitive production equipment filled hours of network prime time programming with performances from James Dean, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, James Caan, Richard Kiley, JoAnne Woodward, E.G. Marshall, and others who got their start lighting up 19 inch black and white TV screens with their talent.</div> <div> Boxing, roller derby, baseball, wrestling, basketball and football became national obsessions. Fans everywhere gathered religiously at TV sets in bars, department stores and restaurants to see their favorites fight for victory.</div> <bR> <div> TV programming's mix of art, entertainment, culture, information, and commerce gave vus a look at our world in a way no newspaper, magazine, newsreel, or radio broadcast could match. Seeing events happening live brought the world into our homes where we couldn't escape it.</div> <bR> <div> As one TV critic put it, "the printing press five hundred years ago made learning available to all, now television is making experience universal. Comedian Bob Hope called TV "a piece of furniture that stares back at you."</div> <bR> <div> It took TV a while to become a common item in American homes. In the late 20's, a jittery portrait of a popular cartoon star, Felix the Cat --flickered onto a 2 inch square screen as the first TV program. By the end of 1930, engineers came up with a 25 square inch screen and Americans got their first public look at TV.</div> <bR> <div> During the 30's, the few hundred proud owners of TV receivers, saw little but an occasional test pattern. Most often they stared at a blank screen and admired the quality of the hardwood cabinet that housed the so-far disappointing electronic marvel.</div> <bR> <div> But bit-by-bit, converted radio studios in New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles begantransmitting cartoons, stand up comics, scenes from Broadway plays, a concert by George Gershwin, a Princeton- Columbia University baseball game, live coverage of a man threatening to jump from a 20 story office building, and President Franklin Roosevelt opening the 1939 World's Fair in New York City.</div> <bR> <div> World War II turned off the TV busines. Transmission lines were taken over for the war needs. TV set makers like Westinghouse, General Electric and RCA converted their assembly lines to making radar parts and bomb sights.</div> <bR> <div> When the war ended in 1945, the GI's came home looking for the stability of a family and home. Supported by cheap goverment loans, the thousands of ex-soldiers moved into the endless row of boring three bedroom houses clumped into suburban developments on the fringes of America's big cities.</div> <bR> <div> TV was eagerly welcomed into these new households where it became part of the family and a constant electronic pal to millions of baby-boomer children who's relationship with TV has influenced American culture and politics ever since.</div> <bR> <div> Television took over the entertainment industry. It left motion picture, radio, newspapers, and magazines scrambling to survive as viewers and advertising dollars moved to embrace the new form of entertainment and information.</div> <bR> <div> In 1946, there were a handful of U.S. stations broadcasting TV programs. Within two years, four TV networks (CBS, NBC, ABC, and Dumont) were filling much of the day and evening hours with a growing variety of programs for East Coast viewers. By 1950, the "passing fad" was the unbeatable leader of show business and advertising.</div> <bR> <div> Tens of thousands of antennas sprouted like aluminum weeds from rooftops. The first family on the block to get a TV set became over-run with neighbors who stopped in to get a glimpse of the TV.</div> <bR> <div> Each evening, chairs would be arranged in the living room so everyone could see the blurry, black and white images on a TV screen smaller than the cover of Time magazine held sideways. Nobody talked during the program, not even when the commercials came on. TV was the most exciting, revolutionary invention America had ever experienced.</div> <bR> <div> The first decade of TV,from 1946 through 1955,was the most creative period in the me</div> <div> dium's history. Chicago vied with New York for prominence in television production. Just as many radio shows had emanated from Chicago (Amos 'n' Andy, Fibber McGee and Mollie, The Breakfast Club) so did many early TV shows, including Kukla, Fran and Ollie ,Dave Garroway, Stud's Place, etc.</div> <bR> <div> However, by the mid 50s, the center of TV production had shifted to New York City to be closer to network headquarters and a steady supply of verteran production talent needed to fill the daily broadcast schedule of live television.</div> <bR> <div> The thousands of directors, writers, actors, set designers, art directors, and others recruited from Broadway theatres, vaudville, and nightclubs gave a very New York City flawor to early TV content.</div> <bR> <div> Meanwhile Hollywood boycotted TV. The mjaor studios like Paramount, MGM, Warner Bros., RKO and 20th Century Fox refused to allow contract stars to appear on TV.</div> <div> They would not sell old movies from their libraries to TV. Instead, executives poured their millions into cinerama, 3-D, cinemascope, and lavish big screen spectaculars to lure audiences out of their living rooms and back to half-empty local theatres.</div> <bR> <div> Forced to rely on its own resources for programming, the networks built studio complexes in Manhattan taking over old theatres along Broadway and run down movie houses. The David Letterman Show is staged in the former Ed Sullivan Theatre, an abandoned movie theatre bought by the CBS network in 1947 to house its Sunday night variety show.</div> <bR> <div> The NBC radio studios at Rockerfeller Plaza were converted to TV facilites and became the home Milton Berle and other stars of TV's early years.</div> <bR> <div> TV became an electronic Broadway. Live drama was the distinguishing trend of TV in the fifties. Because the studios refused to supply acting and creative talent to TV producers, early TV saw an explosion of original scripts or adaptations of classics.</div> <bR> <div> Every night millions of Americans who had never before seen a stage play welcomed the best of theatre's fresh new talent into their homes. It truly was TV's golden age...a level of creative energy and risk taking that will never be duplicated.</div> <bR> <div> These live drama shows still represent the best of TV entertainment. Some of the most memorable moments in American dramatic history came on the Philco Playhouse, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Lux Video Theatre, Robert Montgomery Presents, Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, Goodyear TV Playhouse, Westinghouse Theater, and the U.S. Hour.</div> <div> Live broadcasts of dramatic and literary classics introduced these works to millions of new fans. When NBC presented a live version of Hamlet in 1953, millions more watched the moody Dane in a single evening than had seen it on the stage in the 350 years since it was first performed at the Stratford Theatre in England.</div> <bR> <div> Drawing on talent found in New York's nightclubs, cabarets and vaudeville houses, TV networks filled their broadcast schedule with a mind boggling choice of variety and music shows.</div> <bR> <div> Ed Wynn, Red Skelton, Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Martin and Lewis, Kate Smith, andPinkie Lee hosted TV's version of vaudeville; a mix of comedy, singing, and dancing with guest stars.</div> <div> The biggest of these was Milton Berle. "Mr. Television," as the press dubbed him in 1948, was a vaudeville comic and small time movie actor who ended up hosting the most popular TV show in history.</div> <bR> <div> At his peak, "Uncle Miltie" drew over 65% of the viewing public. No other performer in TV history as even come close to his appeal or his power to spur the sale of TV sets.</div> <bR> <div> Situation comedies with their focus on the family soon became prime time favorites. In the beginning, tight budgets and the demands of live production kept the shows simple and homey. Programs like "The Goldbergs" and "Mama" presented quiet insights in to everyday family matters.</div> <bR> <div> However, independent Hollywood film producers who operated outside the control of the large studios, saw TV's demand for programming as an opportunity. And within a few short years, many sitcoms were being shot on film rather than presented live. "I Love Lucy" was the first and most memorable sitcom filmed with a live audience.</div> <bR> <div> Its astounding success paved the way for countless other Hollywood based efforts: "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," "Father Knows Best," "Leave It to Beaver," "Make Room for Daddy," "The Andy Griffith Show," "Our Miss Brooks," and other family centered comedies.</div> <bR> <div> Cops and private eyes became a TV staple. And like other forms of TV programming, the early efforts such as "Martin Kane, Private Eye," were live productions staged in New York.</div> <div> Soon, however, Hollywood was contributing its own brand of crime show with Dragnet which debuted in 1953 setting the tone and style of cop dramas ever since.</div> <bR> <div> America's hunger for western action and adventure was satisfied early in TV history. In 1947, retired western movie star William Boyd sold the rights to his B-movie series Hopalong Cassidy to local TV stations around the country hungry for programming.</div> <bR> <div> He became an instant millionaire and opened the door for other Saturday afternoon movie matinee idols to find new fans among the growing audience of baby boomers looking for something to watch on TV.</div> <bR> <div> Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, The Lone Ranger, and the Cisco Kid turned out hundreds of weekly episodes with efficiency using methods learned while shooting a B-western per week at Republic, Mascot, and Monogram studios.</div> <bR> <div> As TV viewing increased, Americans began to expect coverage of important or interesting news events. Live coverage of events as they occurred became common in the 50's, a practice started in radio and continued with even greater success by TV.</div> <bR> <div> The networks also came up with a video version of the nightly radio news cast. Soon catching the news at dinner time or before bedtime quickly became part of the family routine.</div> <bR> <div> TV made news presenters John Cameron Swayze, Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, and Douglas Edwards into national celebrities. They soon became familiar guides to the day's events and eventually more important than the news they reported.</div> <bR> <div> Meanwhile radio game shows, were given new life on TV as viewers could see the participants struggling to win cash and gifts. "What's My Line," "Truth or Consequences," and "You Bet Your Life," were but a few to capture viewers attention.</div> <bR> <div> Radio soap opera fans weren't ignored in TV's early days. "The Guiding Light" " Edge of Night," and other daytime radio favorites were easily adapted to the tiny screen and soon had even more fans, especially among the growing number of stay-at-home-with-the-kids suburban housewives.</div> <bR> <div> For the first TV generation, held spellbound by the flickering tube, the new medium would have a lasting impact. Radio had already opened new vistas for home audiences, now no living room was so small it could not host a symphony, a football game or a Presidential inauguration.</div> <bR> <div> But TV lets people see the concert, the game or the ceremony. And it was this visual power of TV that provided a powerful sense of immediacy and intimacy that has affected the way we see ourselves and our world ever since.</div> <bR> <div> The pattern of contemporary TV was formed in those early years. All of the conventions, practices and strategies used in today's TV business were born of the confusion, chaoas and creativity of the "golden age of television."</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="information_highway.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Information Highway"><B>Back</B></A></div> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Our 50s"><B>Our 50's </B></A><B>      </B>            <B>       </B>                   </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=42 style=" border-top: 1px solid #CCCCCC;" BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="0182a2f1dyxtip.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="http://whs62.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net">Home</A>     <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Roll" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Roll">Roll Call</A>    <A HREF="http://whs62.net/In_Memory" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/In_Memory">In Memory</A>   <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Long_Ago" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Long_Ago">Long Ago</A>    <A HREF="http://www.whs62.net/Our_50s/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.whs62.net/Our_50s/">Our 50's</A>   <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Reunions" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Reunions">Reunions</A>   <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Today" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Today">Today</A>    <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Contacts" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Contacts">Contacts</A>    <A HREF="http://whs62.net/Links" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://whs62.net/Links">Links</A></div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>