This is what Boston-area TV viewers were able to watch on St. Patrick's Day 1961 (which in Boston, but not it's suburbs or anywhere else in Massachusetts, is a local holiday called Evacuation Day, the anniversary of the British evacuating Boston during the Revolutionary War), with listings from that day's Boston Globe TV page.
Additional information on movie titles and color status comes from the TV Week supplement from the March 12th, 1961 issue of the same newspaper.
Stations:
* WGBH-TV, channel 2 Boston (Educational)
* WBZ-TV, channel 4 Boston (NBC)
* WHDH-TV, channel 5 Boston (CBS; was an ABC outlet prior to January 1st, 1961)
* WNAC-TV, channel 7 Boston (ABC; had been a CBS affiliate until January 1st)
* WMUR-TV, channel 9, Manchester (ABC)
* WJAR-TV, channel 10, Providence (NBC primary, ABC secondary)
* WPRO-TV, channel 12, Providence (CBS primary, ABC secvondary)
(Note: WTEV, channel 6 New Bedford/Providence, now WLNE, did not go on the air until January 1st, 1963)
(c) indicates a program in color.
6:00 A.M.
4-Continental Classroom-NBC educational series (c)
6:30 A.M.
4-Sign-On Seminar-WBZ or Group W educational series
5-10-Continental Classroom (c) (6:30 A.M. half-hour not cleared by WBZ; was cleared by WHDH)
7:00 A.M.
4-10-Today (Dave Garroway was still host)
5-Morning Key Club (appears to be a local show of some sort) (c)
7-Three Stooges
12-Popeye Cartoons
7:30 A.M.
7-Rin-Tin-Tin
12-Storytime (local children's show with Beth Chollar)
8:00 A.M.
5-12-CBS News (Richard C. Hottelet was anchoring)
7-My Little Margie
8:15 A.M.
5-12-Captain Kangaroo (with Bob Keeshan)
9:00 A.M.
4-News At Nine (Jack Chase and Betty Adams were co-anchors)
5-12-Romper Room (each station did their own version, Channel 5's was in color and hosted by "Miss" Jean Harrington; her husband was longtime WHDH/WCVB reporter Bill Harrington)
7-Cinema Showcase: "The Informer" (1935) with Victor McLaglen and Preston Foster.
10-Jay Kroll Show (Actually, he hosted a movie: "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1944) with Dick Haymes)
9:15 A.M.
2-21 Inch Classroom (WGBH's title for in-school classroom programming)
9:30 A.M.
4-Truth Or Consequences (delayed broadcast from previous day at 12 Noon; while fed in color by NBC, the show aired on WBZ in black-and-white)
12-Breakfast Playhouse: "Last Train From Madrid" (1937) with Dorothy Lamour.
9:45 P.M.
5-For Women Only (local women's show, hosted on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays by Christine---sometimes billing herself as Chris---Evans; Ms. Evans had been at the old WHDH radio since the mid 1940's; adding TV when WHDH launched Channel 5) (c)
10:00 A.M.
2-21 Inch Classroom
4-Say When (c)
5-Local News (c)
9-Popeye Theatre
10-The World Around Us (likely an educational show; Providence would not get an educational TV outlet for another six years)
10:15 A.M.
2-21 Inch Classroom
5-We Believe (local religious series) (c)
10:30 A.M.
4-10-Play Your Hunch (game show) (c)
5-Video Village (game show emceed by a young Monty Hall)
10:45 A.M.
9-Kathy Peterson Show (probably a local women's show)
12-Local News
11:00 A.M.
2-21 Inch Classroom
4-10-Price Is Right (original version with Bill Cullen) (c)
5-12-Double Exposure (game show which premiered earlier that week)
7-9-Morning Court (court show)
11:30 A.M.
4-10-Conmcentration (game show with Hugh Downs)
5-12-Your Surprise Package (game show with George Fenneman; premiered earlier that week)
7-9-Love That Bob (network reruns of "The Bob Cummings Show")
12 Noon
4-Local News (anchored by Jack Chase)
5-12-Love Of Life (soap opera)
7-9-Camoflauge (game show)
10-Truth Or Consequences (game show hosted by a young Bob Barker) (c)
12:15 P.M.
4-Big Brother Bob Emery (a real pioneer of broadcasting, he had done children's shows since the beginning of radio and although he did some children's shows on network radio and the first five-days-a-week network-TV children's show on DuMont in 1947; he's best remembered for this long-running show on WBZ)
12:30 P.M.
5-12-Search For Tomorrow (soap opera)
7-10-It Could Be You (cleared in Boston on WNAC since WBZ passed on it; the only color show WNAC carried in those days!) (c)
9-Number, Please (game show with Bud Collyer)
12:45 P.M.
4-Hollywood Playhouse: "My Wild Irish Rose" (1947) with Dennis Morgan and Arlene Dahl
5-12-The Guiding Light (soap opera)
1:00 P.M.
2-21-Inch Classroom
5-Local News (c)
7-Louise Morgan (local interview show)
10-Movie: "My Marriage" (1936) with Claire Trevor
12-Dr. Hudson's Journal
1:05 P.M.
5-Farm and Food Show (c)
1:30 P.M.
2-21-Inch Classroom
5-12-As The World Turns (soap opera and the most popular one of the bunch through most of the 1960's)
7-Number, Please (delayed broadcast from an hour earlier)
9-Country Folks
2:00 P.M.
5-Face The Facts (short-lived court trial-oriented game show with Red Rowe that premiered earlier in the week and would leave the air that Fall to be replaced by "Password")
7-9-Day In Court (still another court show. They're not a recent phenomenon!)
12-San Francisco Beat (I believe this was the syndicated rerun title for "The Lineup", but I'm not 100% certain)
2:20 P.M.
4-Local News (with Jim Jensen, who a few years later would move on to WCBS-2 New York, where he would become a local legend)
2:30 P.M.
4-10-Loretta Young Theatre (network reruns of "The Loretta Young Show". I've heard an urban legend that her original introductions and narrations were deleted from these reruns because the clothes she wore to film those intros had gone out of style!)
5-12-Art Linkletter's House Party
7-9-Road To Reality (a daytime drama---maybe not exactly a soap opera---concerning a therapy group. Pretty bold idea for 1961)
3:00 P.M.
4-10-Young Dr. Malone (TV version of long-running radio soap opera) (c) (was only colorcast this week to coincide with a color TV promotion being done by RCA Victor and it's TV set dealers)
5-12-The Millionaire (network reruns of famous 1950's prime-time dramatic show about a Mr. Tipton who gives tax-free $1 million checks to unsuspecting people; the episodes revolve around what happens to these people when they get the money)
7-9-Queen For A Day (the legendary or notorious---take your pick---giveaway show hosted by Jack Bailey that had a combined run on radio and TV of almost 20 years)
3:30 P.M.
4-10-From These Roots (soap opera) (c) (again, only colorcast this week)
5-Special: South Boston's St. Patrick's Day Parade (co-anchors: Jess Cain, morning man at the time on WHDH-850; and Julie Dane, who hosted Channel 5's "For Women Only" on Tuesdays and Thursdays) (c)
(NOTE: Between 3:30 and 5 P.M. on weekdays in March of 1961, WHDH normally carried the same network programs as did WPRO)
7-9-Who Do You Trust? (game show with Johnny Casrson)
12-The Verdict Is Yours (court dramatization; a young Jim McKay was host for a time; but I think that by this time, he had left the show and was about to move to ABC and "Wide World Of Sports")
4:00 P.M.
4-10-Make Room For Daddy (network reruns of classic Danny Thomas sitcom; new episodes were being broadcast Monday nights on CBS-TV)
7-9-American Bandstand (with Dick Clark; WNAC only carried the first half-hour)
12-The Brighter Day (soap opera)
4:15 P.M.
12-The Secret Storm (soap opera, best remembered for it's opening, film of waves kicked-up by a major ocean storm lashing against rocks on the shoreline)
4:30 P.M.
4-10-Here's Hollywood (showbiz interviews and gossip, a precursor to "Entertainment Tonight", "Access Hollywood", etc.)
7-Early Show: "Fighting O'Flynn" (1949) with Douglas Fairbanks. Jr.
12-The Edge Of Night (soap opera)
5:00 P.M.
4-Boston Movietime: "Three Cheers For The Irish" (1940) with Thomas Mitchell and Patricia Lane
5-Bozo The Clown (c)
9-Popeye Theatre
10-Movie: "The Horn Blows At Midnight" (1945) with Jack Benny (for the rest of his life, Jack would make jokes on his various radio and TV shows about his acting in this movie)
12-Cartoon Carnival
5:30 P.M.
2-Children's Corner (this I suspect featured a young Fred "Mr." Rogers)
5-(George) Burns and (Gracie) Allen Show (sitcom rerun)
9-Rin-Tin-Tin
12-Salty Brine's Shack (local children's show with the beloved Providence radio personality)
6:00 P.M.
2-Invitaton To Art
5-Local News (c)
7-ABC News Evening Report (with Bill Shadel, who had just taken over for John Charles Daly when the latter left ABC)
9-Kartoon Karnival (with "Uncle" Gus Bernier)
6:05 P.M.
5-Dateline Boston (local public-affairs show) (c)
6:15 P.M.
7-Local News
6:30 P.M.
2-Local News (anchored by Louis Lyons)
4-10-12-Local News
9-ABC News Evening Report
5-Science Fiction Theatre (narrator: Truman Bradley)
7-Yogi Bear
6:45 P.M.
2-Backgrounds (news analysis with Robert Barum)
4-10-(Chet) Huntley/(David) Brinkley Report (NBC's nightly newscast)\
9-Local News
12-CBS Evening News (with Douglas Edwards)
7:00 P.M.
2-A Way Of Thinking
4-Death Valley Days
5-Local News (c)
7-Whirlybirds (syndicated adventure about the people running a helicopter service)
9-The Skiing Priest (possibly a show giving ski lessons and reporting conditions at New England ski areas)
10-Shotgun Slade (western)
12-Brave Stallion (western)
7:15 P.M.
5-CBS Evening News
7:30 P.M.
2-Jazz with Father O'Connell
4-Happy (sitcom with Ronnie Burns)
5-12-Rawhide (western with Gil Favor and Clint Eastwood)
7-Tightrope! (adventure)
9-Passport To Danger
10-77 Sunset Strip (either a delayed broadcast of last Friday's episode, or WJAR got an advance print of the episode the rest of the ABC network would see later that evening)
8:00 P.M.
2-The Red Myth
4-Five Star Jubilee (country music show from Springfield, Missouri (c) (yes, the station originating it did it live and in color!)
7-Harrigan and Son
9-Racket Squad (reruns of 1950's police drama)
8:30 P.M.
2-Age Of Overkill
4-10-Westinghouse Playhouse (actually a sitcom series with Nannette Fabray and also known as "Yes, Yes, Nannette!")
5-12-Route 66
7-The Flintstones (landmark prime-time cartoon show. And yes, it was sponsored by Winston Cigarettes during it's first season!)
9-The Pendulum
9:00 P.M.
2-Metropolia (about city planning, I would think)
4-10-Bell Telephone Hour: "Much Ado About Music", linking music to Shakespeare. With Sir John Gielgud, Patrice Munsel, others. Hosted by Dr. Frank Baxter (c)
7-9-77 Sunset Strip
9:30 P.M.
2-Image Series
5-12-Jackie Gleason Show (half-hour interview show launched in the aftermath of Gleason's game-show fiasco "You're n The Picture")
10:00 P.M.
2-Heritage
4-10-Micheal Shayne (detective drama)
5-12-The Twilight Zone (sci-fi anthology hosted and narrated by Rod Serling)
7-The Detectives (starring Robert Taylor)
9-The Third Man (syndicated TV version of the 1946 film, co-starring Micheal Rennie and Jonathan Harris; five years later, the two would reunite in a two-part episode of Harris's "Lost In Space")
10:30 P.M.
2-Backgrounds (repeat)
5-12-Eyewitness To History (CBS News series reviewing the biggest national or world news story of the previous week; hosted by Walter Cronkite)
7-The Third Man
9-The Law and Mr. Jones (drama with Henry Fonda)
10:45 P.M.
2-Local News
11:00 P.M.
4-5-9-10-12-Loal News
5-Local News (c)
11:15 P.M.
4-Play Of The Week: "June and the Paycock" with Hume Cronyn and Walter Matthau. (syndicated drama)
5-10-Tonight Show (with Jack Paar; during this period, the Friday show was a rerun. While the Monday-through-Thursday editions were listed as being in color, the Friday edition wasn't during this period)
7-Late Movie: (1) "Fighting Father Dunne" (1948) with Pat O'Brien; (2) "Patrick The Great" (1945) with Donald O'Connor.
9-Movie 9 (not listed)
12-Movie: "Star Maker", with Bing Crosby
1:15 A.M.
4-Big Movie: "Angel From Texas" (1940) with Eddie Albert and Jane Wyman
It should be noted that all of WHDH-5's local programs were broadcast in color; they were the first New England station (and I think still the only one in March of 1961) that could produce local live/taped programs in color.
You'll also note that most of the movies listed for telecast were filmed prior to 1948. A few years earlier, when the libraries of major Hollywood studios finally began being released to TV, there was a "gentleman's agreement" that kept most post-1948 films off of television. By the early 1960's, that "agreement" was crumbling, and before long, on both networks and local stations, viewers would be able to see much newer films.
Additional information on movie titles and color status comes from the TV Week supplement from the March 12th, 1961 issue of the same newspaper.
Stations:
* WGBH-TV, channel 2 Boston (Educational)
* WBZ-TV, channel 4 Boston (NBC)
* WHDH-TV, channel 5 Boston (CBS; was an ABC outlet prior to January 1st, 1961)
* WNAC-TV, channel 7 Boston (ABC; had been a CBS affiliate until January 1st)
* WMUR-TV, channel 9, Manchester (ABC)
* WJAR-TV, channel 10, Providence (NBC primary, ABC secondary)
* WPRO-TV, channel 12, Providence (CBS primary, ABC secvondary)
(Note: WTEV, channel 6 New Bedford/Providence, now WLNE, did not go on the air until January 1st, 1963)
(c) indicates a program in color.
6:00 A.M.
4-Continental Classroom-NBC educational series (c)
6:30 A.M.
4-Sign-On Seminar-WBZ or Group W educational series
5-10-Continental Classroom (c) (6:30 A.M. half-hour not cleared by WBZ; was cleared by WHDH)
7:00 A.M.
4-10-Today (Dave Garroway was still host)
5-Morning Key Club (appears to be a local show of some sort) (c)
7-Three Stooges
12-Popeye Cartoons
7:30 A.M.
7-Rin-Tin-Tin
12-Storytime (local children's show with Beth Chollar)
8:00 A.M.
5-12-CBS News (Richard C. Hottelet was anchoring)
7-My Little Margie
8:15 A.M.
5-12-Captain Kangaroo (with Bob Keeshan)
9:00 A.M.
4-News At Nine (Jack Chase and Betty Adams were co-anchors)
5-12-Romper Room (each station did their own version, Channel 5's was in color and hosted by "Miss" Jean Harrington; her husband was longtime WHDH/WCVB reporter Bill Harrington)
7-Cinema Showcase: "The Informer" (1935) with Victor McLaglen and Preston Foster.
10-Jay Kroll Show (Actually, he hosted a movie: "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1944) with Dick Haymes)
9:15 A.M.
2-21 Inch Classroom (WGBH's title for in-school classroom programming)
9:30 A.M.
4-Truth Or Consequences (delayed broadcast from previous day at 12 Noon; while fed in color by NBC, the show aired on WBZ in black-and-white)
12-Breakfast Playhouse: "Last Train From Madrid" (1937) with Dorothy Lamour.
9:45 P.M.
5-For Women Only (local women's show, hosted on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays by Christine---sometimes billing herself as Chris---Evans; Ms. Evans had been at the old WHDH radio since the mid 1940's; adding TV when WHDH launched Channel 5) (c)
10:00 A.M.
2-21 Inch Classroom
4-Say When (c)
5-Local News (c)
9-Popeye Theatre
10-The World Around Us (likely an educational show; Providence would not get an educational TV outlet for another six years)
10:15 A.M.
2-21 Inch Classroom
5-We Believe (local religious series) (c)
10:30 A.M.
4-10-Play Your Hunch (game show) (c)
5-Video Village (game show emceed by a young Monty Hall)
10:45 A.M.
9-Kathy Peterson Show (probably a local women's show)
12-Local News
11:00 A.M.
2-21 Inch Classroom
4-10-Price Is Right (original version with Bill Cullen) (c)
5-12-Double Exposure (game show which premiered earlier that week)
7-9-Morning Court (court show)
11:30 A.M.
4-10-Conmcentration (game show with Hugh Downs)
5-12-Your Surprise Package (game show with George Fenneman; premiered earlier that week)
7-9-Love That Bob (network reruns of "The Bob Cummings Show")
12 Noon
4-Local News (anchored by Jack Chase)
5-12-Love Of Life (soap opera)
7-9-Camoflauge (game show)
10-Truth Or Consequences (game show hosted by a young Bob Barker) (c)
12:15 P.M.
4-Big Brother Bob Emery (a real pioneer of broadcasting, he had done children's shows since the beginning of radio and although he did some children's shows on network radio and the first five-days-a-week network-TV children's show on DuMont in 1947; he's best remembered for this long-running show on WBZ)
12:30 P.M.
5-12-Search For Tomorrow (soap opera)
7-10-It Could Be You (cleared in Boston on WNAC since WBZ passed on it; the only color show WNAC carried in those days!) (c)
9-Number, Please (game show with Bud Collyer)
12:45 P.M.
4-Hollywood Playhouse: "My Wild Irish Rose" (1947) with Dennis Morgan and Arlene Dahl
5-12-The Guiding Light (soap opera)
1:00 P.M.
2-21-Inch Classroom
5-Local News (c)
7-Louise Morgan (local interview show)
10-Movie: "My Marriage" (1936) with Claire Trevor
12-Dr. Hudson's Journal
1:05 P.M.
5-Farm and Food Show (c)
1:30 P.M.
2-21-Inch Classroom
5-12-As The World Turns (soap opera and the most popular one of the bunch through most of the 1960's)
7-Number, Please (delayed broadcast from an hour earlier)
9-Country Folks
2:00 P.M.
5-Face The Facts (short-lived court trial-oriented game show with Red Rowe that premiered earlier in the week and would leave the air that Fall to be replaced by "Password")
7-9-Day In Court (still another court show. They're not a recent phenomenon!)
12-San Francisco Beat (I believe this was the syndicated rerun title for "The Lineup", but I'm not 100% certain)
2:20 P.M.
4-Local News (with Jim Jensen, who a few years later would move on to WCBS-2 New York, where he would become a local legend)
2:30 P.M.
4-10-Loretta Young Theatre (network reruns of "The Loretta Young Show". I've heard an urban legend that her original introductions and narrations were deleted from these reruns because the clothes she wore to film those intros had gone out of style!)
5-12-Art Linkletter's House Party
7-9-Road To Reality (a daytime drama---maybe not exactly a soap opera---concerning a therapy group. Pretty bold idea for 1961)
3:00 P.M.
4-10-Young Dr. Malone (TV version of long-running radio soap opera) (c) (was only colorcast this week to coincide with a color TV promotion being done by RCA Victor and it's TV set dealers)
5-12-The Millionaire (network reruns of famous 1950's prime-time dramatic show about a Mr. Tipton who gives tax-free $1 million checks to unsuspecting people; the episodes revolve around what happens to these people when they get the money)
7-9-Queen For A Day (the legendary or notorious---take your pick---giveaway show hosted by Jack Bailey that had a combined run on radio and TV of almost 20 years)
3:30 P.M.
4-10-From These Roots (soap opera) (c) (again, only colorcast this week)
5-Special: South Boston's St. Patrick's Day Parade (co-anchors: Jess Cain, morning man at the time on WHDH-850; and Julie Dane, who hosted Channel 5's "For Women Only" on Tuesdays and Thursdays) (c)
(NOTE: Between 3:30 and 5 P.M. on weekdays in March of 1961, WHDH normally carried the same network programs as did WPRO)
7-9-Who Do You Trust? (game show with Johnny Casrson)
12-The Verdict Is Yours (court dramatization; a young Jim McKay was host for a time; but I think that by this time, he had left the show and was about to move to ABC and "Wide World Of Sports")
4:00 P.M.
4-10-Make Room For Daddy (network reruns of classic Danny Thomas sitcom; new episodes were being broadcast Monday nights on CBS-TV)
7-9-American Bandstand (with Dick Clark; WNAC only carried the first half-hour)
12-The Brighter Day (soap opera)
4:15 P.M.
12-The Secret Storm (soap opera, best remembered for it's opening, film of waves kicked-up by a major ocean storm lashing against rocks on the shoreline)
4:30 P.M.
4-10-Here's Hollywood (showbiz interviews and gossip, a precursor to "Entertainment Tonight", "Access Hollywood", etc.)
7-Early Show: "Fighting O'Flynn" (1949) with Douglas Fairbanks. Jr.
12-The Edge Of Night (soap opera)
5:00 P.M.
4-Boston Movietime: "Three Cheers For The Irish" (1940) with Thomas Mitchell and Patricia Lane
5-Bozo The Clown (c)
9-Popeye Theatre
10-Movie: "The Horn Blows At Midnight" (1945) with Jack Benny (for the rest of his life, Jack would make jokes on his various radio and TV shows about his acting in this movie)
12-Cartoon Carnival
5:30 P.M.
2-Children's Corner (this I suspect featured a young Fred "Mr." Rogers)
5-(George) Burns and (Gracie) Allen Show (sitcom rerun)
9-Rin-Tin-Tin
12-Salty Brine's Shack (local children's show with the beloved Providence radio personality)
6:00 P.M.
2-Invitaton To Art
5-Local News (c)
7-ABC News Evening Report (with Bill Shadel, who had just taken over for John Charles Daly when the latter left ABC)
9-Kartoon Karnival (with "Uncle" Gus Bernier)
6:05 P.M.
5-Dateline Boston (local public-affairs show) (c)
6:15 P.M.
7-Local News
6:30 P.M.
2-Local News (anchored by Louis Lyons)
4-10-12-Local News
9-ABC News Evening Report
5-Science Fiction Theatre (narrator: Truman Bradley)
7-Yogi Bear
6:45 P.M.
2-Backgrounds (news analysis with Robert Barum)
4-10-(Chet) Huntley/(David) Brinkley Report (NBC's nightly newscast)\
9-Local News
12-CBS Evening News (with Douglas Edwards)
7:00 P.M.
2-A Way Of Thinking
4-Death Valley Days
5-Local News (c)
7-Whirlybirds (syndicated adventure about the people running a helicopter service)
9-The Skiing Priest (possibly a show giving ski lessons and reporting conditions at New England ski areas)
10-Shotgun Slade (western)
12-Brave Stallion (western)
7:15 P.M.
5-CBS Evening News
7:30 P.M.
2-Jazz with Father O'Connell
4-Happy (sitcom with Ronnie Burns)
5-12-Rawhide (western with Gil Favor and Clint Eastwood)
7-Tightrope! (adventure)
9-Passport To Danger
10-77 Sunset Strip (either a delayed broadcast of last Friday's episode, or WJAR got an advance print of the episode the rest of the ABC network would see later that evening)
8:00 P.M.
2-The Red Myth
4-Five Star Jubilee (country music show from Springfield, Missouri (c) (yes, the station originating it did it live and in color!)
7-Harrigan and Son
9-Racket Squad (reruns of 1950's police drama)
8:30 P.M.
2-Age Of Overkill
4-10-Westinghouse Playhouse (actually a sitcom series with Nannette Fabray and also known as "Yes, Yes, Nannette!")
5-12-Route 66
7-The Flintstones (landmark prime-time cartoon show. And yes, it was sponsored by Winston Cigarettes during it's first season!)
9-The Pendulum
9:00 P.M.
2-Metropolia (about city planning, I would think)
4-10-Bell Telephone Hour: "Much Ado About Music", linking music to Shakespeare. With Sir John Gielgud, Patrice Munsel, others. Hosted by Dr. Frank Baxter (c)
7-9-77 Sunset Strip
9:30 P.M.
2-Image Series
5-12-Jackie Gleason Show (half-hour interview show launched in the aftermath of Gleason's game-show fiasco "You're n The Picture")
10:00 P.M.
2-Heritage
4-10-Micheal Shayne (detective drama)
5-12-The Twilight Zone (sci-fi anthology hosted and narrated by Rod Serling)
7-The Detectives (starring Robert Taylor)
9-The Third Man (syndicated TV version of the 1946 film, co-starring Micheal Rennie and Jonathan Harris; five years later, the two would reunite in a two-part episode of Harris's "Lost In Space")
10:30 P.M.
2-Backgrounds (repeat)
5-12-Eyewitness To History (CBS News series reviewing the biggest national or world news story of the previous week; hosted by Walter Cronkite)
7-The Third Man
9-The Law and Mr. Jones (drama with Henry Fonda)
10:45 P.M.
2-Local News
11:00 P.M.
4-5-9-10-12-Loal News
5-Local News (c)
11:15 P.M.
4-Play Of The Week: "June and the Paycock" with Hume Cronyn and Walter Matthau. (syndicated drama)
5-10-Tonight Show (with Jack Paar; during this period, the Friday show was a rerun. While the Monday-through-Thursday editions were listed as being in color, the Friday edition wasn't during this period)
7-Late Movie: (1) "Fighting Father Dunne" (1948) with Pat O'Brien; (2) "Patrick The Great" (1945) with Donald O'Connor.
9-Movie 9 (not listed)
12-Movie: "Star Maker", with Bing Crosby
1:15 A.M.
4-Big Movie: "Angel From Texas" (1940) with Eddie Albert and Jane Wyman
It should be noted that all of WHDH-5's local programs were broadcast in color; they were the first New England station (and I think still the only one in March of 1961) that could produce local live/taped programs in color.
You'll also note that most of the movies listed for telecast were filmed prior to 1948. A few years earlier, when the libraries of major Hollywood studios finally began being released to TV, there was a "gentleman's agreement" that kept most post-1948 films off of television. By the early 1960's, that "agreement" was crumbling, and before long, on both networks and local stations, viewers would be able to see much newer films.