December 26: This Day in TV History

[Stanislav]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on December 26. Discuss or comment as you please……

1921: Comedian/musician Steve Allen is born in New York City.

1927: Comedian Alan King is born (as Irwin Alan Kniberg) in New York City.

1933: Puppeteer Caroll Spinney (Sesame Street) is born in Waltham, Massachusetts.

1945: TV host John Walsh (America’s Most Wanted) is born in Auburn, New York.

1954: Actor Tony Rosato (SCTV, Saturday Night Live) is born in Naples, Italy.

1967: WICA-TV (channel 15) in Ashtabula, Ohio signs off for the last time, its license then returned to the FCC. The only physical remnant of the station’s existence is its transmitting antenna, still sitting atop the tower now used by WREO-FM.

1967: The Beatles’ film "Magical Mystery Tour" airs on BBC1. The film, soundly panned by critics, was described in one documentary thusly: "Largely a project of Paul's, the idea was to travel the English countryside in a bus filled with friends, actors and circus freaks, and to film whatever happened. Unfortunately, nothing did."

1974: Comedian Jack Benny dies in Beverly Hills, California, aged 80.

1974: Actress Tiffany Brissette (Small Wonder) is born in Paradise, California. She retired from acting at the age of 17 and now works as a nurse.

1986: Search for Tomorrow airs its 9,130th and final episode after 35 years on the air.

2005: The last Monday Night Football broadcast (the 555th) airs on ABC, with the rights to the games then passing to ESPN.

(Just a little featurette I hope to do as time permits. It’s an entirely random selection based on a quick Net search, and is not meant to be comprehensive. So, don’t post nasty messages about “you forgot THIS” or “how could you not mention THAT?” Do so, and I’ll just take my keyboard and go home…..)

 

[wbhist]

1968: Benny Hill's last hour-long comedy/variety special for the BBC is aired. After he moved to Thames in 1969, this final BBC show, plus two prior specials (which saw the first appearances of Henry McGee, Bob Todd, little Jackie Wright and Jenny Lee-Wright among Hill's stock company) are destroyed by the Corporation in retaliation, with only filmed inserts from this last BBC special still surviving.

 

[Stanislav]

1968: Benny Hill's last hour-long comedy/variety special for the BBC is aired. After he moved to Thames in 1969, this final BBC show, plus two prior specials (which saw the first appearances of Henry McGee, Bob Todd, little Jackie Wright and Jenny Lee-Wright among Hill's stock company) are destroyed by the Corporation in retaliation, with only filmed inserts from this last BBC special still surviving.

Yeah, the Beeb was really ticked off at Benny jumping ship. BTW, I highly recommend the book "Funny, Peculiar: The True Story of Benny Hill" by Mark Lewisohn. Fascinating read about a man who led an unusual, often solitary, and in some ways quite sad life off-camera.

 

[wbhist]

Yeah, the Beeb was really ticked off at Benny jumping ship. BTW, I highly recommend the book "Funny, Peculiar: The True Story of Benny Hill" by Mark Lewisohn. Fascinating read about a man who led an unusual, often solitary, and in some ways quite sad life off-camera.

I've wondered if Mr. Hill's defection was a part factor in the birth of Monty Python's Flying Circus (three of the participants of which - Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin - had been on a Thames show called Do Not Adjust Your Set, and Thames were planning a third series but couldn't guarantee studio time for another 1-2 years - maybe the BBC, still smarting from the Hill mess, saw an opening as a means of revenge?). Or is it a coincidence that, from my research, nobody who appeared on Python were clients of theatrical agent Richard Stone, who represented Mr. Hill and (until the early 1970's) his co-star Bob Todd?

Incidentally, speaking of DNAYS, its first episode aired on ITV (via original producer Rediffusion London) on Dec. 26, 1967, and in many areas (including London) it led in to a Benny Hill special that was produced by ATV (one of three shows, including two episodes of an Anglo-American production called Spotlight that aired in the U.S. on CBS in summer 1967 and every three weeks on ITV in 1967-68, that Mr. Hill did in one of his rare times away from the BBC) and marked the debuts of three others who were on Hill's Thames shows in the early years - Nicholas Parsons, Bettine Le Beau and Rita Webb.

Oh, and B.T.W., I do have that Funny, Peculiar book; I'd have to concur with you.

 

[Stanislav]

BTW, I highly recommend the book "Funny, Peculiar: The True Story of Benny Hill" by Mark Lewisohn. Fascinating read about a man who led an unusual, often solitary, and in some ways quite sad life off-camera.

Oh, and B.T.W., I do have that Funny, Peculiar book; I'd have to concur with you.

Another British comic who led a truly bizarre life was Peter Sellers -- an unmatchable talent on-screen, but boy was he royally f**ked up. I honestly believe that if he hadn't had the creative outlet of acting, he would have ended up in a looney bin. I guess it's a truism that genius and madness often go hand in hand...

 

[bpatrick]

I've heard or read conflicting accounts of Benny's
relations with women. Some accounts say he was
gay; others say he was about to marry a longtime
woman companion at the time of his death. I don't
know which is correct, but I think it's pretty common
knowledge that he largely kept to himself and watched
a lot of television.

Off-subject, and re "Search For Tomorrow," I remember
that last show. Jo (Mary Stuart) is looking up into the
evening sky and buddy Stu (Larry Haines) asks her what
she is searching for. "Tomorrow...and I can't wait!"
Mary Stuart had a difficult time saying goodbye to her
viewers; it fell on Larry Haines to do most of that.

 

[Stanislav]

I've heard or read conflicting accounts of Benny's
relations with women. Some accounts say he was
gay; others say he was about to marry a longtime
woman companion at the time of his death. I don't
know which is correct, but I think it's pretty common
knowledge that he largely kept to himself and watched
a lot of television.

There's no evidence of Hill being gay or bi, but his relations with women were far from normal. He twice proposed marriage to women; both turned him down. He did now and then engage in brief physical flings with rather plain-jane "factory girls." And he had longstanding apparently platonic relationships with a couple of disabled women, with each of whom he would spend a week's holiday every year. Given his reclusiveness, his inherent shyness, and his obsessions (not to mention his cherubic, baby-faced appearance), he was hardly the sort of man that women went after, except for golddiggers (and it was his fear of those that perhaps contributed to his insecurity with relationships). Despite his image of being an oversexed, leering lech on TV, and often appearing with gorgeous women as escorts to public events, it was all basically for show.

 

[Ultimajock]

1967: The Beatles’ film "Magical Mystery Tour" airs on BBC1. The film, soundly panned by critics, was described in one documentary thusly: "Largely a project of Paul's, the idea was to travel the English countryside in a bus filled with friends, actors and circus freaks, and to film whatever happened. Unfortunately, nothing did."

...the real problem here was that the film looks dynamite in colour, but BBC-1 was strictly black&white at the time (Magical Mystery Tour was shown in colour on BBC-2 a few days later, but by then critiques like the one you quoted had killed whatever chances anyone other than hardcore Beatlemaniacs would bother tuning in)...

 

[mleach]

I've heard or read conflicting accounts of Benny's
relations with women. Some accounts say he was
gay; others say he was about to marry a longtime
woman companion at the time of his death. I don't
know which is correct, but I think it's pretty common
knowledge that he largely kept to himself and watched
a lot of television.

There's no evidence of Hill being gay or bi, but his relations with women were far from normal. He twice proposed marriage to women; both turned him down. He did now and then engage in brief physical flings with rather plain-jane "factory girls." And he had longstanding apparently platonic relationships with a couple of disabled women, with each of whom he would spend a week's holiday every year. Given his reclusiveness, his inherent shyness, and his obsessions (not to mention his cherubic, baby-faced appearance), he was hardly the sort of man that women went after, except for golddiggers (and it was his fear of those that perhaps contributed to his insecurity with relationships). Despite his image of being an oversexed, leering lech on TV, and often appearing with gorgeous women as escorts to public events, it was all basically for show.

I dont believe Hill was gay/bi or as they would say now "chubby chaser" either but I have heard various stories about the actual content of Benny's show when it aired in the UK. Of course everyone knows that sex was a big part of the Benny Hill show but over the years I have been told that show featured LOTS of full frontal nudity of both women and men ( not talking about a breast here or there ). I even had a friend of mine once tell me that Benny Hill himself from time to time would appear in the nude ( that I have a VERY hard time believing ).

OTOH, I have heard that actually little was censored in the American syndicated version of Benny Hill as most of the sex was to tease and little more, like the "Hill's Angels". Yeah one would see them in bikinis and such but never totally nude. If the latter is true then in this area then Benny Hill really was ahead of his time since Maxim ( which features lots of women but they aren't nude ) outsells magazines that do feature nudity ( Playboy, Hustler, whatever ). I guess among many of today's crowd, they much rather like to be "teased with sex" than actually see it.

 

[RicoGregg]

1967: The Beatles’ film "Magical Mystery Tour" airs on BBC1. The film, soundly panned by critics, was described in one documentary thusly: "Largely a project of Paul's, the idea was to travel the English countryside in a bus filled with friends, actors and circus freaks, and to film whatever happened. Unfortunately, nothing did."

...the real problem here was that the film looks dynamite in colour, but BBC-1 was strictly black&white at the time (Magical Mystery Tour was shown in colour on BBC-2 a few days later, but by then critiques like the one you quoted had killed whatever chances anyone other than hardcore Beatlemaniacs would bother tuning in)...

I consider myself a hardcore Beatlemaniac. I was a fan from early 1964 during my junior high days. After many frustrating years, I was finally able to see The Magical Mystery Tour on the USA Network program Night Flight in the mid-80s. It was explained that they only had a scratchy, grainy print to show because the original negative had been lost. Earlier, a friend who had seen MMT at a midnight movie theater showing warned me not to pay more than a buck to see it. Still I watched with an open mind, and a fan's anticipation.

Long story short, it was so bad that I felt like I had been robbed of both an hour and an hour's worth of electricity. In the book Shout!, the other Beatles were quick to blame it all on Paul. I like to think that if manager Brian Epstein had lived, this disaster would have been avoided in the first place.

I can't believe that the Beatles would do something this bad, but they did.

 

[firepoint525]

1967: The Beatles’ film "Magical Mystery Tour" airs on BBC1. The film, soundly panned by critics, was described in one documentary thusly: "Largely a project of Paul's, the idea was to travel the English countryside in a bus filled with friends, actors and circus freaks, and to film whatever happened. Unfortunately, nothing did."

...the real problem here was that the film looks dynamite in colour, but BBC-1 was strictly black&white at the time (Magical Mystery Tour was shown in colour on BBC-2 a few days later, but by then critiques like the one you quoted had killed whatever chances anyone other than hardcore Beatlemaniacs would bother tuning in)...

I consider myself a hardcore Beatlemaniac. I was a fan from early 1964 during my junior high days. After many frustrating years, I was finally able to see The Magical Mystery Tour on the USA Network program Night Flight in the mid-80s. It was explained that they only had a scratchy, grainy print to show because the original negative had been lost. Earlier, a friend who had seen MMT at a midnight movie theater showing warned me not to pay more than a buck to see it. Still I watched with an open mind, and a fan's anticipation.

Long story short, it was so bad that I felt like I had been robbed of both an hour and an hour's worth of electricity. In the book Shout!, the other Beatles were quick to blame it all on Paul. I like to think that if manager Brian Epstein had lived, this disaster would have been avoided in the first place.

I can't believe that the Beatles would do something this bad, but they did.

Pretty much everything the Beatles did that was unsuccessful (or questionable) was blamed on Paul. John blamed Paul for Let It Be (the movie).

 

[Stanislav]

1967: The Beatles’ film "Magical Mystery Tour" airs on BBC1. The film, soundly panned by critics, was described in one documentary thusly: "Largely a project of Paul's, the idea was to travel the English countryside in a bus filled with friends, actors and circus freaks, and to film whatever happened. Unfortunately, nothing did."

...the real problem here was that the film looks dynamite in colour, but BBC-1 was strictly black&white at the time (Magical Mystery Tour was shown in colour on BBC-2 a few days later, but by then critiques like the one you quoted had killed whatever chances anyone other than hardcore Beatlemaniacs would bother tuning in)...

I consider myself a hardcore Beatlemaniac. I was a fan from early 1964 during my junior high days. After many frustrating years, I was finally able to see The Magical Mystery Tour on the USA Network program Night Flight in the mid-80s. It was explained that they only had a scratchy, grainy print to show because the original negative had been lost. Earlier, a friend who had seen MMT at a midnight movie theater showing warned me not to pay more than a buck to see it. Still I watched with an open mind, and a fan's anticipation.

Long story short, it was so bad that I felt like I had been robbed of both an hour and an hour's worth of electricity. In the book Shout!, the other Beatles were quick to blame it all on Paul. I like to think that if manager Brian Epstein had lived, this disaster would have been avoided in the first place.

I can't believe that the Beatles would do something this bad, but they did.

Pretty much everything the Beatles did that was unsuccessful (or questionable) was blamed on Paul. John blamed Paul for Let It Be (the movie).

Yes, MMT was Paul's fiasco, but really the entire group at the time was into that whole 60's zeitgeist of spontaneity and such, incorporating spur of the moment things into their music. (As George Martin once put it, "They were in that phase of, "hell, if Laurence Olivier walks into the studio, we'll put him into the song, it'll be great!!") Really, the quintessential example of such a "happy accident" was John's, when on a lark he mixed audio in real time from a live BBC Radio performance of Shakespeare's "King Lear" into "I Am the Walrus." In a track full of multiple (and bizarre) layers of sound, both the sounds of the radio being tuned (with that almost avant-garde sound of nighttime AM squeaks, squeals, and heterodynes) and the dialogue surfacing here and there as John played with the radio fit so well it almost seems planned and edited.

But such synchronicity is the exception, not the rule. Paul was convinced that just going on a psychedelic lark into the English countryside with a bunch of weird people and a film camera (and no script) would yield a major work of art. No such luck.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

But such synchronicity is the exception, not the rule. Paul was convinced that just going on a psychedelic lark into the English countryside with a bunch of weird people and a film camera (and no script) would yield a major work of art. No such luck.
Add to that the fact that there was such a wave of critical acclaim after "Sgt. Pepper" that they probably thought they were bulletproof. And drugs. Can't forget drugs. Regarding the thought that Brian Epstein wouldn't have let MMT happen, Lennon was quoted as saying that the group knew deep down that they were finished after he died.

 

[RicoGregg]

But such synchronicity is the exception, not the rule. Paul was convinced that just going on a psychedelic lark into the English countryside with a bunch of weird people and a film camera (and no script) would yield a major work of art. No such luck.
Add to that the fact that there was such a wave of critical acclaim after "Sgt. Pepper" that they probably thought they were bulletproof. And drugs. Can't forget drugs. Regarding the thought that Brian Epstein wouldn't have let MMT happen, Lennon was quoted as saying that the group knew deep down that they were finished after he died.

Right you are, Corky. Virtually every knowledgeable Beatles fan agrees that the death of Brian Epstein was truly the beginning of the end. It was only just a matter of time.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

Off-subject, and re "Search For Tomorrow," I remember
that last show. Jo (Mary Stuart) is looking up into the
evening sky and buddy Stu (Larry Haines) asks her what
she is searching for. "Tomorrow...and I can't wait!"
Mary Stuart had a difficult time saying goodbye to her
viewers; it fell on Larry Haines to do most of that.

The clip of the last scene of SFT is on YouTube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l7kbLbFxMA

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1976: Canadian actress Nadia Litz, whose TV credits include appearances on "Due South" (1997), is born in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

 

[bpatrick]

But such synchronicity is the exception, not the rule. Paul was convinced that just going on a psychedelic lark into the English countryside with a bunch of weird people and a film camera (and no script) would yield a major work of art. No such luck.
Add to that the fact that there was such a wave of critical acclaim after "Sgt. Pepper" that they probably thought they were bulletproof. And drugs. Can't forget drugs. Regarding the thought that Brian Epstein wouldn't have let MMT happen, Lennon was quoted as saying that the group knew deep down that they were finished after he died.

Right you are, Corky. Virtually every knowledgeable Beatles fan agrees that the death of Brian Epstein was truly the beginning of the end. It was only just a matter of time.

Brian Epstein was the master of soothing ego-related tensions among the Beatles. Had he lived, the breakup might have come a lot later, perhaps not until John Lennon's death, if then (if he hadn't been living in New York).

 

[mleach]

Brian Epstein was the master of soothing ego-related tensions among the Beatles. Had he lived, the breakup might have come a lot later, perhaps not until John Lennon's death, if then (if he hadn't been living in New York).

...but on the other hand would that had been a good thing say that the Beatles would had stayed together through the 70's and 80's but still it would had been interesting to say the least. Would the Beatles had gotten into disco as the Rolling Stones did with their tune 1978's "Miss You"? Would the Beatles have gotten into country music or even into writting country songs as the Bee Gees did with Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers' "Islands in the Stream"? Yeah that does sound odd but still.... Would the Beatles end up doing concerts in small cities such as Charleston, West Virginia as Elvis Presley had done? ( My guess is that they would had ) Would the Beatles even be remembered as being well "big"had they lasted for another ten or twenty years?

Lots of questions and ideas as to "what if" and chances are lots of opinions too.

I have to agree that had Epstein had lived through the 70's the group would had been around much longer however considering how musical tastes and style had changed during that decade..what part would the Beatles had played ?

 

[Ultimajock]

Would the Beatles have gotten into country music or even into writting country songs...Yeah that does sound odd but still....

...considering that Harrison ("Behind that locked door" on All Things Must Pass), Starr (Beaucoups of Blues) and McCartney ("Sally G" and writing "On The Wings of a Nightingale" for The Everly Brothers) all dabbled in country music after the split, it isn't an odd idea at all...