Retro: Central Florida Saturday, October 5, 1968

[bpatrick]

From TV Guide, Central Florida Edition:

WESH Ch. 2 Daytona Beach (NBC)

7 AM Across The Fence
7:30 The Texan
8 AM Saturday--Today (not to be confused with NBC's
Saturday edition of the "Today" show which has
been on since the early '90s)
9 AM Super 6
9:30 Top Cat
10 AM Flintstones
10:30 Banana Splits
11:30 Underdog
12 N Birdman And The Galaxy Trio
12:30 World Series Pre-Game Show
1 PM World Series: Cardinals-Tigers (Game 3--Tigers won the
Series, 4 games to 3)
3:30 Laramie (time approximate)
4:30 Fishing With Gadabout Gaddis
5 PM The Campaign And The Candidates (three that year: Nixon,
Humphrey, and Wallace)
5:30 Flatt And Scruggs
6 PM News, Sports, Weather (still in b&w)
6:30 Frank McGee Report
7 PM Dennis The Menace
7:30 Adam-12
8 PM Get Smart
8:30 Ghost And Mrs. Muir
9 PM NBC Movie: "Khartoum" (Charlton Heston, Laurence Olivier)
11:45 News, Sports, Weather
12:15 Movie: "Please Turn Over!"

WEDU Ch. 3 Tampa (NET)

6:30 Invitation To Art
7 PM More Room For Living (different types of siding)
7:30 NET Jazz (B.B. King performs)
8 PM NET Festival (Duke Ellington at the Cote d'Azur, taped on
the French Riviera in 1966)
9 PM NET Journal ("Justice And The Poor" looks at how the courts
often favor the rich.)
10 PM Local Issue (Texas attitudes toward Federally-imposed school
desegregation)
10:30 Years With Fitz (cartoonist Fitzpatrick, creator of "Rat Alley,"
designed to attack organized crime and political corruption)
sign off 11 PM

WDBO (WKMG) Ch. 6 Orlando (CBS)

6:25 News, Weather
6:30 Sunrise Semester: "Philosophy"
7 AM Grower's Almanac
7:30 Rod Rocket
8 AM Go-Go Gophers
8:30 Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour
9:30 Wacky Races
10 AM Archie Show
10:30 Batman/Superman Hour
11:30 Herculoids
12 N Shazzan!
12:30 Jonny Quest
1 PM Moby Dick And The Mighty Mightor
1:30 Lone Ranger (animated)
2 PM Tom And Jerry (delay from Sun 9 AM)
2:30 Aquaman (delay from Sun 9:30 AM)
3 PM It's The Law
3:30 Branded
4 PM Movie: "Terror By Night"
5 PM Wild Wild West (delay from Fri 7:30)
6 PM Lancer (delay from Tue 7:30, watch for a pre-
"Brady Bunch" Barry Williams in this episode)
NOTE: Ch. 6 carried "Perry Mason" Tuesdays and Fridays
at 7:30.

7 PM Central Florida Showcase
7:30 Jackie Gleason (variety show with Orson Welles,
Milton Berle, and Gene Kelly)
8:30 My Three Sons
9 PM Hogan's Heroes
9:30 Petticoat Junction
10 PM Mannix
11 PM News, Sports, Weather
11:15 Movie: "Goodbye, My Fancy"

WFLA Ch. 8 Tampa (NBC)

6:30 RFD Florida
7 AM Movie: "Beast Of Babylon Against The Son Of
Hercules"
8:30 Little Rascals
9 AM Super 6
9:30 Top Cat
10 AM Flintstones
10:30 Banana Splits
11:30 Underdog
12 N Job Hunter
12:30 World Series Pre-Game Show
1 PM World Series (see Ch. 2 for details)
3:30 TBA
5 PM Fishing With Gadabout Gaddis
5:30 Ch. 8 News Conference
6 PM News, Sports, Weather
6:30 Jerry Lewis (guests: Ray Charles and the Raelets,
Michele Lee, Jack Webb and Harry Morgan, delay
from Tue 7:30)
7:30 Adam-12
8 PM Get Smart
8:30 Ghost And Mrs. Muir
9 PM NBC Movie: "Khartoum"
11:45 News, Sports, Weather
12:10 Movie: "Five Golden Dragons" (several American actors
went to England to do this one in '66: Bob Cummings,
George Raft, and Dan Duryea)

WFTV Ch. 9 Orlando (ABC)

7:25 News, Weather
7:30 Agriculture Time
8 AM Movie: "Pygmy Island" (Johnny Weissmuller, from '50)
9 AM Robin Hood
9:30 Sir Lancelot
10 AM Zorro (I have a cousin who never missed this on Saturdays,
and he was forever singing the theme song.)
10:30 My Friend Flicka
11 AM Journey To The Center Of The Earth
11:30 Fantastic Four
12 N George Of The Jungle
12:30 Championship Wrestling From Florida
1:30 Happening '68 (first of four specials; guest is Wilson Pickett)
2 PM TBA
2:45 Wide World Of Sports (the National Drag Racing Championships
from Indianapolis Raceway; rerun of the 1967 International
Figure-Skating Championships)
4:15 NCAA Pre-Game
4:30 NCAA Football: Washington-Oregon State
7:30 Dating Game (celebrity guest: Meredith MacRae of "Petticoat
Junction," time approximate)
8 PM Newlywed Game
8:30 Lawrence Welk (fall on campus)
9:30 Hollywood Palace (host Jimmy Durante, Joey Heatherton, Don
Ho and the Aliis, the Lennon Sisters, the comedy team of
Lewis and Christy, six finalists in the tryouts for the U.S. Olympic
gymnastics team--a Republican political talk follows)
10:30 News, Weather, Sports
10:40 Movie: "Aphrodite, Goddess Of Love"
12:30 ABC News (Keith McBee)

WLCY (WTSP) Ch. 10 St. Petersburg (ABC)

7:15 Davey And Goliath
7:30 Hercules
8 AM Space Station
9 AM New Casper Cartoon Show
9:30 Adventures Of Gulliver
10 AM Spider-Man
10:30 Fantastic Voyage
11 AM Journey To The Center Of The Earth
11:30 Fantastic Four
12 N 10's Bandstand
12:30 American Bandstand (guests: the Iron Butterfly
and Eddie Floyd)
1:30 Happening '68
2 PM 10's Bandstand
2:30 Teen Scene
2:45 Wide World Of Sports
4:15 NCAA Pre-Game
4:30 NCAA Football: Washington-Oregon State
7:30 Dating Game (time approximate)
8 PM Bill Anderson
8:30 Lawrence Welk
9:30 Hollywood Palace
10:30 All-American College Show (Dennis James hosts;
the Carpenters got their first exposure on this show)
11 PM Movie: "Her Crime Was Love"
1 AM ABC News
1:15 Best Of Open Mike

WINK Ch. 11 Ft. Myers (CBS)

8 AM Go-Go Gophers
8:30 Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour
9:30 Wacky Races
10 AM Archie Show
10:30 Batman/Superman Hour
11:30 Herculoids
12 N Shazzan!
12:30 Jonny Quest
1 PM Moby Dick And The Mighty Mightor
1:30 Lone Ranger (animated)
2 PM Movie: TBA
4 PM Championship Wrestling From Florida
5 PM Bowling
6 PM Forest Rangers
6:30 Western Star Theatre
7 PM CBS News (Roger Mudd)
7:30 Jackie Gleason
8:30 My Three Sons
9 PM Hogan's Heroes
9:30 Petticoat Junction
10 PM Mannix
11 PM News, Sports, Weather
11:20 Movie: "Outlaw's Son"

WTVT Ch. 13 Tampa (CBS)

6:45 Fishing, Weather
7 AM News
7:05 Movie: "Tarzan And The Trappers" (Gordon Scott
competes against himself, in this movie and the
"Son Of Hercules" movie on Ch. 8)
8:30 Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour
9:30 Wacky Races
10 AM Archie Show
10:30 Batman/Superman Hour
11:30 Herculoids
12 N Shazzan!
12:30 Jonny Quest
1 PM Moby Dick And The Mighty Mightor
1:30 Lone Ranger (animated)
2 PM Opportunity Line
2:30 Alcalde Caucus (this was five years before we
moved to Tampa so I don't know if this is related
to a local election)
3:30 Championship Bowling (Earl Johnson and Joe Joseph
vs. Tim Harahan and Tommy Tuttle)
4 PM Car And Track
4:30 This Week In The NFL
5 PM Gunsmoke (delay from Mon 7:30)
6 PM News, Sports, Weather
6:30 Perry Mason
7:30 Jackie Gleason
8:30 My Three Sons
9 PM Hogan's Heroes
9:30 Petticoat Junction
10 PM Mannix
11 PM News, Sports, Weather
11:30 Movie: "Deep In My Heart" (Jose Ferrer as
composer Sigmund Romberg)

WSUN Ch. 38 St. Petersburg (Ind.)

2:30 Keyhole
3 PM Target (not to be confused with "Target: The
Corruptors")
3:30 Movie: "Border Treasure"
4:30 People Are Funny
5 PM Storybook Of Fables
6:30 Sports
7 PM Championship Wrestling From Florida
8 PM Men In Crisis (the rise and fall of '20s-era New
York mayor James J. Walker)
8:30 Men In Crisis (the story of the Nautilus submarine)
9 PM Pelicula: "Una Mujer Para Cada Hombre"
sign off 10 PM

Trivia question: who narrated "Wacky Races"?

 

[azumanga]

WTVT Ch. 13 Tampa (CBS)

2:30 Alcalde Caucus (this was five years before we
moved to Tampa so I don't know if this is related
to a local election)

Maybe, as "Alcade" is Spanish for "Mayor".

 

[Charles1]

4:30 NCAA Football: Washington-Oregon State

Oregon State prevailed 35-21. They would finish the season at 7-3, while Washington finished 3-5-2. As seemingly lackluster as this game appeared, the other games of the day were not all that appealing, either. Among the other matchups:

#1 Purdue at Northwestern (43-6, Boilermakers)
#13 Miami at #2 USC (21-3, Trojans)
#3 Penn State at West Virginia (31-20, JoePa and the boys)
#4 Florida vs. Mississippi State (31-14 Gators)
#5 Notre Dame at Iowa (51-28 Irish)
#6 Ohio State vs. Oregon (who presumably was wearing far more conservative uniforms back then; 21-6 TOSU)
#7 Nebraska vs. Open Date
#8 Kansas vs. New Mexico (KU tied Oklahoma for the Big 8 title that year; they beat the Lobos 68-7)
#9 UCLA vs. Syracuse (The Orangemen upset the Bruins 20-7)
#10 LSU vs. Baylor (48-16, LSU)

 

[Ultimajock]

WDBO (WKMG) Ch. 6 Orlando (CBS)

7:30 Jackie Gleason (variety show with Orson Welles,
Milton Berle, and Gene Kelly)


WINK Ch. 11 Ft. Myers (CBS)

7:30 Jackie Gleason


WTVT Ch. 13 Tampa (CBS)

7:30 Jackie Gleason

Trivia question: who narrated "Wacky Races"?

...Jackie Gleason claimed it was Orson Welles that tagged him with his nickname "The Great One"...

...and it was Cliff "Charley Weaver" Arquette's old sidekick Dave Willock that narrated Wacky Races. Now here's two back atcha: What was Dick (Paul Winchell) Dastardly's nickname for The Narrator, and in what unrelated comic strip did that nickname appear soon afterwards when applied to a different character?...

 

[bpatrick]

Dick Dastardly called the Narrator "Boopsie," later the name
of a female character in "Doonesbury."

I've also heard the story that Orson Welles gave Gleason
the nickname "The Great One." On this particular 1968
show, Welles did his magic act (I can only hope he had
better luck than he did with Lucy--of course, the Lucy
episode was scripted).

BTW, the anniversary of Welles' "War Of The Worlds" radio
broadcast is coming up Oct. 30 (appropriately, a Sunday,
as it was in 1938 when the broadcast originally aired), and
it reminds me of a story: not long afterwards, with Welles
suddenly a household word, FDR invited him to the White
House. "You know, Orson, you and I are the two greatest
actors in America," FDR told him. Welles didn't know how to
answer, so he bowed politely. (I still get a chuckle when I
see the Lucy episode with Welles and their first meeting in the
department store with Lucy wearing a diver's mask and flippers;
"My Martian broadcast was eighteen years ago (this was 1956),"
says Welles. "What kept you?")

 

[Ultimajock]

Dick Dastardly called the Narrator "Boopsie," later the name
of a female character in "Doonesbury."

...give that man a cheroot! ;-) ...

I've also heard the story that Orson Welles gave Gleason
the nickname "The Great One."

...in fact, Gleason told that to Morley Safer when appearing on 60 Minutes shortly after Smokey & The Bandit was released...

BTW, the anniversary of Welles' "War Of The Worlds" radio
broadcast is coming up Oct. 30 (appropriately, a Sunday,
as it was in 1938 when the broadcast originally aired), and
it reminds me of a story: not long afterwards, with Welles
suddenly a household word, FDR invited him to the White
House. "You know, Orson, you and I are the two greatest
actors in America," FDR told him. Welles didn't know how to
answer, so he bowed politely.

...Welles himself told that story in a clip on the October 1986 episode of Our World that dealt largely with that broadcast. (Welles had died the previous year)...

...later on in the same program, Welles tells thestory of how he was on CBS that night opposite Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy (The Chase & Sanborn Hour) on NBC Red. A few days after the broadcast, and after Dorothy Thompson's influential newspaper column about it began to remove Welles from being American Paraiah #1, he got a letter saying, "Most of America was listening to the dummy, and all the dummies were listening to you." In the Our World clip, Welles attributed the letter to FDR, while most written accounts credit Alexander Woolcott with it. Then again, who besides Welles would have remembered Woolcott by the mid-'80s? So he made it a better story by putting FDR in it instead...

(I still get a chuckle when I
see the Lucy episode with Welles and their first meeting in the
department store with Lucy wearing a diver's mask and flippers;
"My Martian broadcast was eighteen years ago (this was 1956),"
says Welles. "What kept you?")

...interestingly enough, there's a September 1957 Westinghouse Studio One downloadable at http://www.archive.org/details/Studine_10x01_The_Night_America_Trembled about the Welles Martian broadcast -- and in it Welles' name is never mentioned outright!...

 

[bpatrick]

That remark about "all the dummies were listening to you" sounds
more like Woolcott or some other member of the Algonquin Round Table.

Actually, I have read things about "War Of The Worlds" that point out
that it may have been the reason there was little panic three years
later when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Since the Welles broadcast
came about a month after Neville Chamberlain allowed Hitler to take
the Sudetenland (and Hitler had troops ready to roll before an agreement
was reached), many listeners thought the Martians were actually Germans
about to attack the U.S. for real (don't forget that many people didn't read
their newspaper radio listings that morning and thought "War Of The Worlds"
was straight news). When the base in Hawaii was hit, some people thought
it was another radio prank; others figured, well, it was coming. So I think a
good case can be made that America got the jitters out of its system concerning
an attack on that Sunday in 1938.

There's also an ABC movie of the week; I think it's called "The Night America
Panicked." I'd like to see that on some cable channel this Halloween season.

 

[Stanislav]

I love the story (maybe apocryphal...who knows) of a Spanish language adaptation being broadcast some years later in South America. Panic ensued, and when people subsequently learned that they had been duped, they responded by burning down the radio station!

 

[Ultimajock]

...it wasn't apocryphal -- in fact, it was quite deadly...

http://www.war-ofthe-worlds.co.uk/war_worlds_quito.htm