Really Retro: Birmingham, Thursday Evening 10/16/52 and Friday Daytime 10/17/52

[Charles1]

Source: The Birmingham News

Courtesy of www.birminghamrewound.com

Channels listed:
4-WBRC (NBC); would move to Channel 6 in 1953
13-WAFM (CBS/ABC/Dumont); would become WAPI-TV in 1958, then become WVTM in 1980

Thursday, 5:00 P.M.
4-Ace Drummond
13-Captain Video

5:30
4-Kid’s Korner
13-Hippodrome

5:45
13-News/Sports

6:00
4-City Desk
13-The Lone Ranger

6:15
4-Castle of Angels

6:30
4-Dinah Shore
13-CBS News

6:45
4-Camel News Caravan
13-Heavens to Betsy

7:00
4-You Bet Your Life
13-Burns and Allen

7:30
4-Treasury Men in Action
13-Amos and Andy

8:00
4-Gangbusters
13-Charades (locally produced)

8:30
4-Television Theatre
13-Big Town

9:00
4-Martin Kane, Private Eye
13-Racket Squad

9:30
4-Frank Thomas (University of Alabama football?)
13-Dangerous Assignment

10:00
4-Headlines
13-Touchdown Football

10:15
4-Issues of Day

10:30
4-Short Drama
13-Rocky King

10:45
4-Sports Review

11:00
4-Movie: “The Man Who Walked Alone”
13-Final Edition

11:15
13-The Late Show (assuming it’s a movie…no title given)

Friday, 7:00 a.m.

4-Today Show

8:00
13-Breakfast in Birmingham

9:00
4-Mrs. U.S.A
13-Wheel of Fortune

9:30
4-Campaign Call
13-Ted Russell

10:00
4-United Nations General Assembly
13-Medal Kitchen

10:30
13-Strike It Rich

11:00
4-Modern Living
13-Bride and Groom

11:15
13-Love of Life

11:30
4-Kitchen Magic
13-Search for Tomorrow

11:45
13-Carousel

12:00
4-Call to Worship
13-TV Newsroom

12:30
4-Movie: “City Limits”
13-Garry Moore Show

1:00
13-Double or Nothing

1:30
4-Toward a Better America
13-Guiding Light

1:45
13-Art Linkletter’s Houseparty

2:00
4-The Big Payoff

2:15
13-Mike and….(not clear, no matter how many times I enlarged it)

2:30
4-Welcome Travelers

3:00
4-Kate Smith Hour
13-Afternoon Matinee

4:00
4-Hawkins Falls
13-Western Theater

4:15
4-Gabby Hayes

4:30
4-Howdy Doody

 

[bpatrick]

Wow! I'd like to see some more of these from the '50s.

"Mike And..." is Mike Wallace and his then-wife, Buff Cobb,
an actress and niece to the humorist Irvin S. Cobb. She was
a panelist on "Masquerade Party" from 1953-55, essentially playing
the role Betsy Palmer did on "I've Got A Secret," seemingly unable
to come up with the most obvious identifications.

"Wheel Of Fortune" replaced "Arthur Godfrey Time" on Fridays (Arthur
was usually at his Virginia farm and did the Friday show on radio only).
It bore no resemblance to the show that made Pat Sajak and Vanna White
famous; instead, people who had done some good deed spun a wheel which
landed on a cash amount ($30-$1000), and they had to answer a set number
of questions to win the money. The host of the show was Todd Russell, so I
wonder if "Ted Russell" was a typo or a local Birmingham personality.

 

[Ultimajock]

"Mike And..." is Mike Wallace and his then-wife, Buff Cobb,
an actress and niece to the humorist Irvin S. Cobb. She was
a panelist on "Masquerade Party" from 1953-55, essentially playing
the role Betsy Palmer did on "I've Got A Secret," seemingly unable
to come up with the most obvious identifications.

...actually, I recall Palmer getting more "secrets" than Bess Myerson or Faye Emerson ever did...

 

[bpatrick]

Could be, but one time they brought out a man with a
live squirrel on his head; Garry Moore was to ignore the
squirrel while the man "whispered his secret": "I have a
live squirrel on my head." Palmer missed, and after the
show Gil Fates asked her how she could have missed something
so obvious. It was so obvious, she said, that she thought the
producers were trying to put one over on her. The whole spot
was premised on the fact that Palmer had difficulty guessing secrets,
and that she couldn't possibly miss something so obvious.

But since neither I nor anyone else ever kept score as to how many
secrets each panelist guessed, I won't say you're wrong.

One of the dynamics of pairing Buff Cobb and Ilka Chase on "Masquerade
Party" was the contrast of the seeming bimbo (Cobb) and the sophisticated
society lady (Chase); that might have been behind the pairing of Palmer and
Emerson (and later Myerson) on "Secret."

Another form of pairing was good cop/bad cop (Arlene Francis/Dorothy Kilgallen
on "What's My Line?" or Bill Cullen/Henry Morgan on "Secret." Kitty Carlisle/Peggy
Cass on "To Tell The Truth" would be another example; Cass, though, was as good a
game player as Kilgallen and seldom failed to identify the truth-teller.).

One side note, sort of off-topic: before he died, Henry Morgan published his autobiography
and was uncomplimentary of Steve Allen, who replaced Garry Moore as host of "Secret"
in 1964; he said that Moore was willing to sit back and let the panel and contestants have
the spotlight; Allen always seemed to be competing with them for laughs. Palmer, when she
read this, came forward and agreed that Moore was the better host (and though a lot of you
will disagree with me, I think Moore was better than Bud Collyer on "To Tell The Truth").

 

[Ultimajock]

One side note, sort of off-topic: before he died, Henry Morgan published his autobiography
and was uncomplimentary of Steve Allen, who replaced Garry Moore as host of "Secret"
in 1964; he said that Moore was willing to sit back and let the panel and contestants have
the spotlight; Allen always seemed to be competing with them for laughs. Palmer, when she
read this, came forward and agreed that Moore was the better host (and though a lot of you
will disagree with me, I think Moore was better than Bud Collyer on "To Tell The Truth").

...well, although Garry Moore did have comedy variety shows on both radio (with Jimmy Durante) and TV, Moore (like Dave Garroway, Ed Sullivan and Arthur Godfrey) was always more of a broadcaster than an entertainer per se. Collyer and Steve Allen were established as performing entertainers before their game show careers. Allen was also infamous for having one of the most overstuffed egos in Hollywood; Jack Paar wrote in his memoir P.S. Jack Paar, "I am very fond of Steve [Allen], but not nearly as much as Steve is" ;D ...