Just a few random TV related events that happened on March 9. Discuss or comment as you please……
1921: Actor Carl Betz (The Donna Reed Show, Judd for the Defense) is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1926: Talk show host Joe Franklin is born in Bronx, New York.
1934: Actress Joyce Van Patten (As the World Turns, The Danny Kaye Show, The Good Guys) is born in New York City.
1937: The first experimental transmissions of electronic television in the Soviet Union take place in Moscow, using equipment manufactured and installed by RCA.
1943: Journalist Charlie Gibson (Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight) is born in Evanston, Illinois.
1954: CBS broadcasts the See It Now episode "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy," produced by Fred Friendly and hosted by Edward R. Murrow. By using recordings of McCarthy himself in action, Murrow and Friendly display what they feel is the key danger to democracy: not suspected Communists, but McCarthy's actions themselves. The broadcast brings thousands of letters, telegrams and phone calls to CBS, running 15 to 1 in favor of Murrow. It has often been referred to as “television's finest hour.”
1957: The Louisiana State Department of Education signs KLSE (channel 13) on the air in Monroe, Louisiana, the first non-commercial station within the state’s borders, to be soon followed 3 weeks later by New Orleans’ WYES-TV. (It would be 18 years before any additional public TV stations signed on in Louisiana.) KLSE would struggle financially, unable to afford a full-power signal or tall tower, until finally going dark in 1964. It would be 12 years before the market would regain a local non-commercial station, when KLTM began operating on the same channel.
1959: Destined to be a quirky cult classic, the cartoon series Clutch Cargo debuts in syndication. The series most notable aspect is the use of the “Syncro-Vox” process -- superimposing live-action human lips over limited-motion animation (or even static, motionless animation cels). This enabled the creators to produce the show on an extremely limited budget, even lower than Hanna-Barbera in their pioneering limited animation TV shows such as Ruff and Ready, and Huckleberry Hound.
1975: Actor Larry Vincent dies in Burbank, California of stomach cancer, aged 50. Vincent’s KTLA (Los Angeles) horror movie host character “Seymour” became a cult favorite, and his practice of verbally heckling the lousy low-budget films he showed was one of the inspirations for Mystery Science Theater 3000.
1976: Family premieres on ABC.
1983: KSPR (channel 33) signs on as Springfield, Missouri’s first independent station. They would gain an ABC affiliation three years later when the network dropped KDEB-TV (channel 27, now KSFX-TV).
1989: Webster ends a 6-season run on ABC. (And about time: this is also the 18th birthday of diminutive star Emmanuel Lewis.)
1996: Actor/comedian George Burns dies in Beverly Hills, California, aged 100. Upon being interred with wife Gracie, the crypt's marker was changed to "Gracie Allen & George Burns -- Together Again." (George had said that he wanted Gracie to have top billing.)
2005: On the 24th anniversary of his debut at the anchor desk (and under pressure and scrutiny over the controversial 60 Minutes report on George W. Bush’s military record), Dan Rather retires from the CBS Evening News.
(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…..)
1921: Actor Carl Betz (The Donna Reed Show, Judd for the Defense) is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1926: Talk show host Joe Franklin is born in Bronx, New York.
1934: Actress Joyce Van Patten (As the World Turns, The Danny Kaye Show, The Good Guys) is born in New York City.
1937: The first experimental transmissions of electronic television in the Soviet Union take place in Moscow, using equipment manufactured and installed by RCA.
1943: Journalist Charlie Gibson (Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight) is born in Evanston, Illinois.
1954: CBS broadcasts the See It Now episode "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy," produced by Fred Friendly and hosted by Edward R. Murrow. By using recordings of McCarthy himself in action, Murrow and Friendly display what they feel is the key danger to democracy: not suspected Communists, but McCarthy's actions themselves. The broadcast brings thousands of letters, telegrams and phone calls to CBS, running 15 to 1 in favor of Murrow. It has often been referred to as “television's finest hour.”
1957: The Louisiana State Department of Education signs KLSE (channel 13) on the air in Monroe, Louisiana, the first non-commercial station within the state’s borders, to be soon followed 3 weeks later by New Orleans’ WYES-TV. (It would be 18 years before any additional public TV stations signed on in Louisiana.) KLSE would struggle financially, unable to afford a full-power signal or tall tower, until finally going dark in 1964. It would be 12 years before the market would regain a local non-commercial station, when KLTM began operating on the same channel.
1959: Destined to be a quirky cult classic, the cartoon series Clutch Cargo debuts in syndication. The series most notable aspect is the use of the “Syncro-Vox” process -- superimposing live-action human lips over limited-motion animation (or even static, motionless animation cels). This enabled the creators to produce the show on an extremely limited budget, even lower than Hanna-Barbera in their pioneering limited animation TV shows such as Ruff and Ready, and Huckleberry Hound.
1975: Actor Larry Vincent dies in Burbank, California of stomach cancer, aged 50. Vincent’s KTLA (Los Angeles) horror movie host character “Seymour” became a cult favorite, and his practice of verbally heckling the lousy low-budget films he showed was one of the inspirations for Mystery Science Theater 3000.
1976: Family premieres on ABC.
1983: KSPR (channel 33) signs on as Springfield, Missouri’s first independent station. They would gain an ABC affiliation three years later when the network dropped KDEB-TV (channel 27, now KSFX-TV).
1989: Webster ends a 6-season run on ABC. (And about time: this is also the 18th birthday of diminutive star Emmanuel Lewis.)
1996: Actor/comedian George Burns dies in Beverly Hills, California, aged 100. Upon being interred with wife Gracie, the crypt's marker was changed to "Gracie Allen & George Burns -- Together Again." (George had said that he wanted Gracie to have top billing.)
2005: On the 24th anniversary of his debut at the anchor desk (and under pressure and scrutiny over the controversial 60 Minutes report on George W. Bush’s military record), Dan Rather retires from the CBS Evening News.
(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…..)
