Does anyone remember this show?

[bpatrick]

Logged into the Museum of Broadcast Communications
website on my lunch hour today, I watched a game show
called Take Two. It originally aired on ABC Sunday
afternoons in the summer of 1963. The object of the game
was for celebrities and contestants to pick two pictures
from a group of four and tell what they had in common.

Don McNeill was the host of this show, the only show he
ever hosted besides The Breakfast Club and its
primetime spinoff, Don McNeill's TV Club. On the
episode I watched, they departed from the usual format
to celebrate Don's 30th year on the networks; Fran Allison
(of Kukla, Fran, and Ollie), Peter Donald (onetime host of
Masquerade Party), Ted Mack, actor Dennis Morgan,
singers Tommy Leonetti and Johnny Desmond, and comedians
Joe E. Brown and Jim (Fibber McGee) Jordan were on hand in the
studio, while Ed Sullivan, Garry Moore, and Durward Kirby sent
congratulations in pre-taped segments.

Given Don's longevity on ABC radio, I can't understand why
the network didn't make this a primetime special instead of
an installment of an obscure Sunday-afternoon game show.

I do remember the show, and I don't recall the photos being
too difficult to match. Does anyone else remember this show?

 

[mleach]

Since I wasn't born yet of course I don't remember "take two" though I did see that clip on the site you mentioned.

Several years ago I was at a yard sale and for 50 cents I bought the book "Yearbook 1968", published in 1969 it was all about the events of 1968 of course.

The book did mention Don McNeill and "The Breakfast Club" since that show ended it network run in 1968. Two interesting things I remember from reading that article. Now whether or not it they were true..that I do NOT know.

1. "The Breakfast Club" ended due not really so much because it wasn't popular, ABC Radio wanted to keep it since the show was still popular in smaller makets however...New York City's WABC Radio did NOT want the Breakfast Club and neither did Chicago's WLS ( I never heard of WLS airing the show but then again there were owned by ABC ). Both WABC and WLS were well into their top 40 days by 1968 but I didn't know they were THAT important for "The Breakfast Club"? I wonder why ABC just didn't offer that show to other stations in those cities if this was indeed the case? Unless of course Don himself wanted to end it.

2. Don McNeil was offered to do a few game shows in 68 after The Breakfast Club ended and was rumored to be the new host for the NBC game show "Personality". Larry Blyden was the host however he had signed to do the Barbara Streisand movie "On A Clear Day You can See Forever" and Blyden wanted to do movies...not game shows. Of course Blyden stayed with Personality until that show ended in 1969 (?) and he did do that movie even though after On A Clear Day..Blyden's acting was only on TV. Don McNeill...I wonder who besides "personality" were interested in him? Did he tape any pilots?

 

[oldiesfan6479]

1. "The Breakfast Club" ended due not really so much because it wasn't popular, ABC Radio wanted to keep it since the show was still popular in smaller makets however...New York City's WABC Radio did NOT want the Breakfast Club and neither did Chicago's WLS ( I never heard of WLS airing the show but then again there were owned by ABC ). Both WABC and WLS were well into their top 40 days by 1968 but I didn't know they were THAT important for "The Breakfast Club"? I wonder why ABC just didn't offer that show to other stations in those cities if this was indeed the case? Unless of course Don himself wanted to end it.

When ABC split into four networks ("weblets") on 01/01/68, it lifted a huge albatross
off the shoulders of WABC and WLS as they no longer had to carry Breakfast Club
or the hour plus news block at 6:00 PM.

B-Club was then designated for the ABC/E net (WABC and 'LS became ABC/C) and,
IIRC was fed from something like 10:06-10:54 AM ET, with a hole at :30 for the
ABC/E 'cast. I believe there was no FM 'cast at 10:15 due to the show (all four
nets were fed on one Telco line).

Perhaps it also started losing smaller market affils too? The Wiki article states its
last broadcast was on 12/27/68.

 

[wbhist]

1. "The Breakfast Club" ended due not really so much because it wasn't popular, ABC Radio wanted to keep it since the show was still popular in smaller makets however...New York City's WABC Radio did NOT want the Breakfast Club and neither did Chicago's WLS ( I never heard of WLS airing the show but then again there were owned by ABC ). Both WABC and WLS were well into their top 40 days by 1968 but I didn't know they were THAT important for "The Breakfast Club"? I wonder why ABC just didn't offer that show to other stations in those cities if this was indeed the case? Unless of course Don himself wanted to end it.

When ABC split into four networks ("weblets") on 01/01/68, it lifted a huge albatross off the shoulders of WABC and WLS as they no longer had to carry Breakfast Club or the hour plus news block at 6:00 PM.

B-Club was then designated for the ABC/E net (WABC and 'LS became ABC/C) and, IIRC was fed from something like 10:06-10:54 AM ET, with a hole at :30 for the ABC/E 'cast. I believe there was no FM 'cast at 10:15 due to the show (all four nets were fed on one Telco line).

Perhaps it also started losing smaller market affils too? The Wiki article states its last broadcast was on 12/27/68.

After ABC was split into four networks, from what I've recalled, Breakfast Club's title had been changed to The Don McNeill Show. In the New York area, the program was heard in its last year on WJRZ (970 AM, later WWDJ and now WNYM). Also, the FM network would've been rock-oriented.

 

[bpatrick]

WABC was indeed probably more than happy to see
The Breakfast Club go, since it would have
to interrupt its top-40 format from 9-10 AM, then
try to win back its regular audience. Since the show
originated in Chicago, I wonder who carried it if
WLS didn't want it. And the poster who said that
WABC could unload its 6-7 PM news block was also
correct. McNeill could, of course, have followed Paul
Harvey's lead; Harvey was practically a network of his own,
with stations affiliated with each of ABC's four networks.
I suspect most of those stations would have been ABC/E
affiliates. But maybe he was ready to hang it up after 35 years.
Before his death in 1996 a reporter tried to get him to reminisce
about the show. "You've got two chances, slim and none,"
he answered.

As for Larry Blyden, Personality was replaced by
the original Sale Of The Century in September 1969.
He went on to host The Movie Game and, of course,
What's My Line?; he was set to host ABC's Showoffs
when he was killed in an automobile accident in Morocco in 1975.
Gil Fates said that while Blyden was very good at game shows,
even adding a new dimension to Line with his genuine interest
in the lines and the Mystery Guests, hosting game shows wasn't
really what he wanted to do. Not that he wasn't a talented actor,
but by 1975 he was nearly 50 and his handsomeness was, for women,
a matter of taste.

Back to Don McNeill: Take Two barely belongs on his resume,
having aired from May 5-August 11, 1963.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

I have never heard of the show, "Take Two" until this thread. I have to think it would have been very hard to get much of an audience for this program. In 1963, when a small percentage of people had air conditioning, many wouldn't be sitting in a hot house watching TV on a Sunday afternoon in the summer. Also, at that same time, in many markets, ABC-TV had to share the same channel with one of the other networks (and it seemed the other network's show was the one that was aired) or it was on a UHF channel that many people couldn't get because of not having a converter or was difficult to receive because of reception problems (not having a good UHF antenna, too far from the station, etc.).

Of course, I certainly remember Don McNeill and "The Breakfast Club" on ABC Radio. There was even a segment toward the end of each show when there would be a few moments for a prayer. I have a very faint memory of this show being shown here on television in the early 1950's.

 

[radioman148]

>>1. "The Breakfast Club" ended due not really so much because it wasn't popular, ABC Radio wanted to keep it since the show was still popular in smaller makets however...New York City's WABC Radio did NOT want the Breakfast Club and neither did Chicago's WLS ( I never heard of WLS airing the show but then again there were owned by ABC ). Both WABC and WLS were well into their top 40 days by 1968 but I didn't know they were THAT important for "The Breakfast Club"? I wonder why ABC just didn't offer that show to other stations in those cities if this was indeed the case? Unless of course Don himself wanted to end it. >>

WLS had been airing the show since the prairie farmer days. In the late 60s WABC & WLS were desperately looking for a way out. Being Top 40 stations the show interfered with the flow of their format.
I believe it was Jan 1, 1968 when ABC adopted the contemporary news format that both stations dropped The Breakfast Club.

 

[LKellerIII]

Was the Breakfast Club just an east coast thing? It was the Top 40 era for me growing up in Los Angeles, but my mother was a big KABC junkie. KABC was already a talk format by the mid 60s, so the show would have fit in, but I'm quite sure they never ran Breakfast Club. The station had a all-news block in morning drive, followed by Michael Jackson, who started his 32 year tenure on KABC in 1966.

In the years before Jackson, I believe they ran Pamela Mason (wife of actress James Mason), who had a light gossipy Hollywood-centric show.

 

[LKellerIII]

Was the Breakfast Club just an east coast thing? It was the Top 40 era for me growing up in Los Angeles, but my mother was a big KABC junkie. KABC was already a talk format by the mid 60s, so the show would have fit in, but I'm quite sure they never ran Breakfast Club. The station had a all-news block in morning drive, followed by Michael Jackson, who started his 32 year tenure on KABC in 1966.

In the years before Jackson, I believe they ran Pamela Mason (wife of actress James Mason), who had a light gossipy Hollywood-centric show.

OK, I should do my Google "research" before I post. I found a link to this 1960 LA radio program schedule. For KABC, it lists the Breakfast Club at 10:00 AM. Pamela Mason is on at 1:00 PM. So the show did run in LA in the early 60s, in any case.

http://www.jjonz.us/RadioLogs/pagesnfiles/logs_files/1960/60_12Dec/%5BL%5D60-12-19-(Mon).pdf

 

[mleach]

As for Larry Blyden, Personality was replaced by
the original Sale Of The Century in September 1969.
He went on to host The Movie Game and, of course,
What's My Line?; he was set to host ABC's Showoffs
when he was killed in an automobile accident in Morocco in 1975.
Gil Fates said that while Blyden was very good at game shows,
even adding a new dimension to Line with his genuine interest
in the lines and the Mystery Guests, hosting game shows wasn't
really what he wanted to do. Not that he wasn't a talented actor,
but by 1975 he was nearly 50 and his handsomeness was, for women,
a matter of taste.

Talk about a tragic family !!! Blyden's wife, Carol Haney died very young at age 39. Then Larry himself would die at 49 in that 1975 car accident.
And his son Joshua ( who appeared in at least one "Whats My Line" died in 2000 at age 42. Several years ago someone actually had up a Joshua Blyden tribute page on the net ( I can't find it now ) and I seem to remember reading on that site where in 1999 he was attacked by LA gang members, so severe that the attack not only left him totally blind ( from what I remember they actually tried to cut out his eyes ) and left him unable to talk and walk.

 

[Ultimajock]

>>1. "The Breakfast Club" ended due not really so much because it wasn't popular, ABC Radio wanted to keep it since the show was still popular in smaller makets however...New York City's WABC Radio did NOT want the Breakfast Club and neither did Chicago's WLS ( I never heard of WLS airing the show but then again there were owned by ABC ). Both WABC and WLS were well into their top 40 days by 1968 but I didn't know they were THAT important for "The Breakfast Club"? I wonder why ABC just didn't offer that show to other stations in those cities if this was indeed the case? Unless of course Don himself wanted to end it. >>

WLS had been airing the show since the prairie farmer days. In the late 60s WABC & WLS were desperately looking for a way out. Being Top 40 stations the show interfered with the flow of their format.

...actually, WLS *did not* carry the show under Prairie Farmer ownership; it was bumped over to the backup affiliate for NBC Blue/ABC programming in Chicago, WCFL (as it was the day after the Pearl Harbor attack), or run on a delayed basis when NBC Blue/ABC-owned WENR had the frequency it shared with WLS. Prairie Farmer's refusal to carry "The Breakfast Club" in lieu of its own morning show was a bitter point of contention between WLS and the network for years. (Ironically, although WCFL carried the show, it originated during that time from studios in the Merchandise Mart that NBC used to operate WENR and WMAQ.) Eventually, it was carried by WLS after ABC bought out Prairie Farmer and merged WENR and WLS circa 1959...

 

[radioman148]

>>1. "The Breakfast Club" ended due not really so much because it wasn't popular, ABC Radio wanted to keep it since the show was still popular in smaller makets however...New York City's WABC Radio did NOT want the Breakfast Club and neither did Chicago's WLS ( I never heard of WLS airing the show but then again there were owned by ABC ). Both WABC and WLS were well into their top 40 days by 1968 but I didn't know they were THAT important for "The Breakfast Club"? I wonder why ABC just didn't offer that show to other stations in those cities if this was indeed the case? Unless of course Don himself wanted to end it. >>

WLS had been airing the show since the prairie farmer days. In the late 60s WABC & WLS were desperately looking for a way out. Being Top 40 stations the show interfered with the flow of their format.

...actually, WLS *did not* carry the show under Prairie Farmer ownership; it was bumped over to the backup affiliate for NBC Blue/ABC programming in Chicago, WCFL (as it was the day after the Pearl Harbor attack), or run on a delayed basis when NBC Blue/ABC-owned WENR had the frequency it shared with WLS. Prairie Farmer's refusal to carry "The Breakfast Club" in lieu of its own morning show was a bitter point of contention between WLS and the network for years. (Ironically, although WCFL carried the show, it originated during that time from studios in the Merchandise Mart that NBC used to operate WENR and WMAQ.) Eventually, it was carried by WLS after ABC bought out Prairie Farmer and merged WENR and WLS circa 1959...

Thanks for the history lesson.

 

[bpatrick]

Someone mentioned seeing The Breakfast Club
on television. ABC did try a simulcast in 1954; although
the show was fully sponsored on radio, ABC couldn't
give ad time away on television. The ratings weren't
all that bad, but apparently not good enough to please
advertisers and their agencies, so ABC dropped the TV
version after about a year and left the morning to CBS
and Arthur Godfrey.

It's ironic, in a way, that McNeill was on network radio
twelve years before Godfrey (Breakfast Club started
in 1933, Arthur Godfrey Time in 1945), yet in the end,
McNeill had to live in Godfrey's shadow. Maybe if McNeill
had fired a singer or two...

 

[radioman148]

Someone mentioned seeing The Breakfast Club
on television. ABC did try a simulcast in 1954; although
the show was fully sponsored on radio, ABC couldn't
give ad time away on television. The ratings weren't
all that bad, but apparently not good enough to please
advertisers and their agencies, so ABC dropped the TV
version after about a year and left the morning to CBS
and Arthur Godfrey.

It's ironic, in a way, that McNeill was on network radio
twelve years before Godfrey (Breakfast Club started
in 1933, Arthur Godfrey Time in 1945), yet in the end,
McNeill had to live in Godfrey's shadow. Maybe if McNeill
had fired a singer or two...

I never knew there was a TV version. Interesting.

 

[Ultimajock]

Someone mentioned seeing The Breakfast Club
on television. ABC did try a simulcast in 1954; although
the show was fully sponsored on radio, ABC couldn't
give ad time away on television. The ratings weren't
all that bad, but apparently not good enough to please
advertisers and their agencies, so ABC dropped the TV
version after about a year and left the morning to CBS
and Arthur Godfrey.

...I have a VHS tape of all manner of Chicago TV clips; among the clips is the opening of a "Breakfast Club" telecast...

 

[NeilRattigan]

"Take Two" was actually a syndicated show. It's clearances included what was then WRCV-TV, the NBC O&O in Philadelphia.

McNeill's entry into tv in 1954 came at a time when ABC was battling DuMont for affiliates. Many markets had stations with dual ABC/DuMont affiliations, and by 1956, DuMont was history.

 

[radioman148]

"Take Two" was actually a syndicated show. It's clearances included what was then WRCV-TV, the NBC O&O in Philadelphia.

McNeill's entry into tv in 1954 came at a time when ABC was battling DuMont for affiliates. Many markets had stations with dual ABC/DuMont affiliations, and by 1956, DuMont was history.

I remember the Dumont network----barely.

 

[bpatrick]

Sorry, but if you check either Castleman and Podrazik's
"The TV Schedule Book" or Wesley Hyatt's "Encyclopedia
Of Daytime Television," you'll find that "Take Two" was
on ABC; apparently WFIL (now WPVI) didn't carry the show,
so the NBC station in Philadelphia took it instead. Here in
North Carolina there were only two ABC affiliates in the
spring and summer of 1963: WRAL Raleigh and WLOS Asheville,
and both of them carried "Take Two." In Charlotte it aired
on NBC affiiliate WSOC and in Greensboro (which was about
to get an ABC affiliate in October) on CBS affiliate WFMY.

I think the reason for the extensive coverage, even on non-ABC
affiliates, is because the sponsor was United States Gypsum, and
at the end of their commercials they would list where their products
were available in the station's viewing area (coincidentally, one of
those places in the Raleigh/Durham area was called McNeill & Roberts).

But I have two reliable sources that say that "Take Two" was on ABC.