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October 11: This Day in TV History

S

Stanislav

Just a few random TV related events that happened on October 11. Discuss or comment as you please……

1919: Actress and voice artist Jean Vander Pyl (The Flintstones, The Jetsons) is born in Philadelphia.

1949: WOR-TV (channel 9, now WWOR-TV) launches in New York City. It is the last of the city’s 7 VHF channels to sign on.

1952: The first televised hockey game takes place in Canada.

1953: Actor David Morse (St. Elsewhere, House) is born in Hamilton, Massachusetts.

1957: Actress Dawn French (French and Saunders, The Vicar of Dibley) is born in Holyhead, Wales.

1959: KXGO-TV (channel 11) begins operations in Fargo, North Dakota. After call changes to KEND-TV, then KTHI-TV, the station is now KVLY-TV.

1960: The Bugs Bunny Show debuts on ABC in prime-time.

1964: Writer/comedian Michael J. Nelson (Mystery Science Theater 3000) is born in St. Charles, Illinois.

1966: Actor Luke Perry (Beverly Hills 90210) is born in Mansfield, Ohio.

1968: Actress Jane Krakowski (Search for Tomorrow, Ally McBeal, 30 Rock) is born in Parsippany, New Jersey.

1971: KMPH-TV (channel 26) signs on in Visalia, California.

1975: Late-night TV will never be the same as NBC’s Saturday Night (later Saturday Night Live) debuts. The guest host is George Carlin, and the show features the TV debut of Andy Kaufman, lip-syncing to a record of the “Mighty Mouse” theme song.

1976: NBC’s Today debuts its new anchor team of Jane Pauley and Tom Brokaw..

1985: Actress Michelle Trachtenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gossip Girl) is born in New York City.

1988: Puppeteer Wayland Flowers (Madame’s Place) dies of complications from AIDS, aged 58.

1991: Actor Redd Foxx (Sanford and Son) collapses from a fatal heart attack on the set of The Royal Family, aged 68. Reportedly, the rest of the cast initially thinks Foxx is just joking around (he was, after all, known for his dramatic fake heart attacks on Sanford and Son). DYK: He was born John Elroy Sanford, hence the surname of his most famous TV character.

1991: On an Indio, California street, televangelist Jimmy Swaggart is stopped by police and found to be in the company of prostitute Rosemary Garcia. This follows by 3 ½ years a previous incident in which Swaggart was found (by a private investigator) cavorting with another lady of ill repute (Debra Murphree) in a Louisiana motel. (That debacle had caused Swaggart to be defrocked by the Assemblies of God.) In contrast to his dramatic, tearful, publicly televised “confession” (he never gave specifics) of the earlier sin, this time Swaggart would announce to his faithful that "The Lord told me it's flat none of your business."

2006: 30 Rock debuts on NBC.

(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…..) ;)
 
Stanislav said:
1919: Actress and voice artist Jean Vander Pyl (The Flintstones, The Jetsons) is born in Philadelphia.

1968: Actress Jane Krakowski (Search for Tomorrow, Ally McBeal, 30 Rock) is born in Parsippany, New Jersey.

1985: Actress Michelle Trachtenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gossip Girl) is born in New York City.
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One of the things I like about the modern era of entertainment is that more and more performers are not changing or Anglicizing their names. Past times in show biz would have had the latter two of the above list change their names to something like Jane Kramer or Michelle Trent. I wouldn't be surprised if Ms. Vander Pyl encountered immense pressure early in her career to shorten her surname.
 
RicoGregg said:
Stanislav said:
1919: Actress and voice artist Jean Vander Pyl (The Flintstones, The Jetsons) is born in Philadelphia.

1968: Actress Jane Krakowski (Search for Tomorrow, Ally McBeal, 30 Rock) is born in Parsippany, New Jersey.

1985: Actress Michelle Trachtenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gossip Girl) is born in New York City.
Click to expand...

One of the things I like about the modern era of entertainment is that more and more performers are not changing or Anglicizing their names. Past times in show biz would have had the latter two of the above list change their names to something like Jane Kramer or Michelle Trent. I wouldn't be surprised if Ms. Vander Pyl encountered immense pressure early in her career to shorten her surname.
Click to expand...

That's a very interesting observation, Rico -- one I had never thought about before. You're right -- nowadays actors consider an unusual name to be more of an advantage than a disadvantage. Whether it's an "ethic" surname or just an off the wall first name that came from ex-hippie parents, they've learned that it can be something that distinguishes them from the rest.

BTW, doesn't "Mrs. Vander Pyl" sound like a character that would have been played by either Margaret Dumont or Symonia Boniface? ;D
 
Stanislav said:
BTW, doesn't "Mrs. Vander Pyl" sound like a character that would have been played by either Margaret Dumont or Symonia Boniface? ;D
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...or the wife of a cartoon boss in a Hanna-Barbera show. ;D
 
Stanislav said:
1975: Late-night TV will never be the same as NBC’s Saturday Night (later Saturday Night Live) debuts. The guest host is George Carlin, and the show features the TV debut of Andy Kaufman, lip-syncing to a record of the “Mighty Mouse” theme song.
Click to expand...

BTW, Howard Cosell's guests on the Oct. 11, 1975 episode of his short-lived ABC series "Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell" were (per Wikipedia) Barry Manilow, Aretha Franklin, and the Rockettes.
 
M.J. said:
Is (W)WOR doing anything to mark their 60th anniversary?
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Afraid not, from what I could tell. If they are, I'd be surprised. When RKO owned WOR-TV, they junked any and all pre-1986 videotapes and kinescopes when they left 1481 Broadway in Manhattan for 9 Broadcast Plaza in Secaucus in early 1986. Whatever pre-1986 is still around of Channel 9 is held by the producers of Firing Line (which was taped in their studios from 1966 to 1971 when they went fully public TV), Joe Franklin, and New Yorkers who had the presence of mind to tape whatever was on the station at the moment in the years following the introduction of the Betamax in 1976. I don't think even the test pattern slides survive today, but again, if they do, it'd be a surprise to me.
 
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