October 27: This Day in TV History

[Stanislav]

Just a few random TV related events that happened on October 27. Discuss or comment as you please……

1920: Actress Nanette Fabray is born (as Nanette Ruby Bernadette Fabares) in San Diego, California.

1939: Actor/comedian John Cleese (Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Fawlty Towers) is born in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England.

1947: WMAR-TV (channel 2) begins broadcasting in Baltimore. It is the eleventh television station in the United States, and the first in Maryland.

1953: The U.S. Steel Hour begins a 10-season run on ABC and, later, CBS.

1954: The first Disney anthology series, Disneyland, debuts on ABC.

1954: WTVW (channel 12, now WISN-TV) signs on in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The original calls stood for “Wisconsin's TeleVision Window.”

1958: WEDU-TV (channel 3) signs on in Tampa, Florida.

1959: Anglia Television, the ITV franchise for Eastern England, begins operations.

1966: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown airs for the first time on CBS.

1996: Actor/comedian Morey Amsterdam (The Dick Van Dyke Show) dies in Los Angeles, aged 87.

(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…..)

 

[WMC2006]

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[Ultimajock]

1954: The first Disney anthology series, Disneyland, debuts on ABC.

1954: WTVW (channel 12, now WISN-TV) signs on in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The original calls stood for “Wisconsin's TeleVision Window.”

...as http://content.mpl.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/RememberWhe&CISOPTR=264&CISOBOX=1&REC=5 shows, the original studio facilities for WTVW/12 didn't even have a window -- the station started its operations in a tent in the chief engineer's backyard!...

 

[bpatrick]

Although technically not a television event, Groucho's
"You Bet Your Life" began on radio October 27, 1947,
making the move to television three years later. During
the '50s the radio and television versions used the same
contestants but the two shows were not exactly alike,
since visual bits would have to be cut from the radio tape.
ABC carried the radio show from 1947 to 1949, CBS in the
1949-50 season (the television pilot was filmed at CBS),
and NBC from 1950 to 1959, with the television show running
from 1950 to 1961 on NBC.

 

[RicoGregg]

RE: You Bet Your Life

I was wondering how they made the duck work on radio.

Chico: "Ok, why a duck?"
Groucho: "Why a duck? I'm fine, how are you?"

From "The Coconuts", 1929

 

[bpatrick]

The duck wasn't introduced until about the seventh
week of the television show. Before that, the secret
word would be displayed in various ways, such as hidden
inside George Fenneman's jacket.

On radio (pre-TV) a bell would ring and the orchestra
would play a chorus of "Be Kind To Your Web-Footed
Friends" when the word was said. When the show aired
in both media, Groucho simply said that if anybody said
the secret word the duck would come down and pay them
an extra $100. So radio listeners knew from the fanfare
that the duck had come down and let it go at that.

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1964: Ronald Reagan launches his political career by giving a televised speech, "A Time for Choosing," on behalf of Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater.

 

[Ultimajock]

1964: Ronald Reagan launches his political career by giving a televised speech, "A Time for Choosing," on behalf of Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater.

...by any chance, was this one of the Republican purchases on NBC that pre-empted That Was The Week That Was, thereby helping to kill off that series?...

 

[Tim from Springfield IL]

1963: The former Mrs. Donald Trump, Marla Maples, is born in Dalton, GA. Her TV credits include appearances on "Dallas," "Spin City," and "Something Wilder" (1994).