Retro:Cleveland Monday, December 21, 1953

[TimL]

TV Guide:Lake Erie Edition

Channels:
4 WNBK Cleveland NBC
5 WEWS Cleveland CBS
8 WXEL Cleveland DuMont/ABC
27 WKBN Youngstown CBS/DuMont/ABC
49 WAKR Akron ABC
73 WFMJ Youngstown NBC

Morning

7AM
4 73 Today

8AM
5 News

8:05
5 On Wings Of Song

8:30
5 Beauty For You-Exercise

8:45
5 News Bulletins

8:50
5 Beauty For You-Paige Palmer

9AM
4 Captain Glenn-Glen Rowell
5 Mixing Bowl-Van Cleve
8 Movie-Kiss Of Araby
73 Pictorial Parade

9:25
4 Ohio Today-Tom Haley

9:30
4 Idea Shop-Mildred/Gloria
5 Television I.Q.

9:55
4 Ohio Today-Tom Haley

10AM
4 73 Ding Dong School
5 Arthur Godfrey Time

10:30
4 73 Glamor Girl-Jack McCoy
"Lucky Girl gets Beauty overhaul" (Not unlike today's "makeover" shows)
8 Charming Children-Marjore Harm
TV Kindergarten

11AM
4 73 Hawkins Falls-serial
8 Alice Weston-cooking
27 Morning Movie-Feature

11:15
4 73 Three Steps to Heaven-serial

11:30
4 73 The Bennetts-serial
5 Strike It Rich
8 Movie-Warren Case

11:45
4 73 Follow Your Heart-serial

Afternoon

4 73 Bride And Groom
5 Valiant Lady

12:15
4 Haley's Daily
5 27 Love Of Life
73 Noontime Comics

12:30
4 73 Maggi Byrne-Fashion
5 27 Search For Tomorrow
8 Rena And Bob-TV Shop
"Viewers Buy and Sell On TV"

12:45
5 Guiding Light
27 73 News

1PM
4 Movie-Westward Ho
5 Women's Window-Ethel Jackson
8 Movie-Scarlet Clue (Charlie Chan)
27 Home Cooking-Marion Resch
73 Movie-My Son The Hero

1:30
5 Garry Moore-Guests Roger Price{Known for "Droodles") and Denise Lor
27 Feature Matinee-Movie

2PM
5 Double Or Nothing

2:15
4 Joe Portaro-Fashion
73 Fashion Sketchbook

2:30
4 Nancy Dixon-Shopping
5 Art Linkletter
73 Kitchen Corner-Mariner

2:40
8 You are what You eat

2:45
4 Chef Lorenzo-cooking
8 All For You-Alice Weston

3PM
4 73 Kate Smith
5 Big Payoff
8 Maggi Wulff-Club News
27 Paul Dixon-DuMont

3:30
5 Bob Crosby
8 27 Paul Dixon-DuMont


4PM
4 73 Welcome Travelers
5 Dinner Platter-Bob Dale
8 49 Turn To A Friend-Dennis James-ABC
27 Action In The Afternoon Live Action western series from Philadelphia-CBS

4:30
4 73 On Your Account-Win Elliott
8 King Jack's Toy Box
27 49 Ern Westmore show-ABC

5PM
4 Atom Squad
5 News
8 73 Santa Claus (two different local shows)
27 Movie-Western
49 Hinky Dinks-Game

5:30
4 73 Howdy Doody
5 Movie-Where Trail Ends
8 Desert Deputy-Western (various serial westerns)
49 Corral Time-Western

Evening

6PM
4 Superman-George Reeves
27 Adventure Time
73 News/Weather

6:10
8 Bob Rowley-News
27 Humbard Family-Religion
73 Viz Quiz-Film

6:20
8 Al Rosen-Sports
73 Eddie Lane-Sports

6:30
4 Tom Manning-Sports
5 Dorothy Fuldheim
8 TV Weatherman
27 News Today
49 Tootsie Hippodrome-ABC
73 Film Fare

6:40
4 Weather Factory-Puppets
8 Les Paul/Mary Ford
27 News At Home

6:45
4 Tom Field-News
5 Lee Sullivan-Variety
8 Home with the Grahams
27 Don Gardner-Sports

6:55
5 Johnny Price-Weather
27 Weather

7PM
4 Dangerous Assignment-Syndicated
5 Twenty Fingers-Piano
8 27 Captain Video-DuMont
49 News
73 it Happened Here-History

7:15
5 Art Linkletter-Kids
8 News Parade-Lang/Dudley
27 Rambling Reporter-News
49 Kenny Nichols-Quiz
73 Film Short

7:30
4 Arthur Murray
5 27 CBS News-Douglas Edwards
8 49 Jamie-ABC

7:45
4 73 NBC News-John Cameron Swayze
5 Perry Como
27 The Pastor-Religion

8PM
4 73 Name That Tune
5 Burns And Allen
8 Twenty Questions-DuMont
49 You Asked For It-ABC

8:30
4 73 The Voice Of Firestone
5 Talent Scouts
8 The Big Issue-ABC
27 Of Many Things-Discussion
49 Teen WHO Club

9PM
4 73 Dennis Day
5 I Love Lucy
8 Lingo-word game
49 Junior Press Conference-ABC

9:15
8 Bible Forum

9:30
4 73 Robert Montgomery Presents
5 27 Masquerade Party
8 This Is The Life-ABC
49 Why The Chimes Rang

10PM
5 27 Studio One "Cinderella '53"
8 Carling Boxing=DuMont
Bob Baker/Clarence Henry-Heavyweight bout
49 Mystery Theater

10:30
4 73 Badge 714-Dragnet Reruns
49 Akron Bar Association

10:45
8 Ringside Interviews

11PM
4 Tom Field-News
5 73 Polka Revue
8 27 Warren Guthrie-Your Sohio Reporter
49 News/Sports/Weather

11:05
4 Ken Coleman-Sports

11:10
4 Joe Finan-Weather
8 Ted Malone-Today's Top Story
27 Sid Davis-News

11:15
4 Movie-Mississippi Rhythm
8 John Fitzgerald-Sports

11:20
8 Movie-"Fear"
27 Movie-TBA

12:00 Midnight
5 News
73 News

12:05
5 Movie-Cheating Blondes

12:15
4 News

12:30
27 News

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

Tim Lones takes us back to Cleveland on December 21st, 1953, courtesy of the local TV Guide (Lake Erie Edition):

> 11AM
> 4 73 Hawkins Falls-serial

> 11:15
> 4 73 Three Steps to Heaven-serial

> 11:30
> 4 73 The Bennetts-serial
(and "Follow Your Heart" at 11:45)

I get the impression that through the history of network television, daytime soaps don't work ratings-wise prior to 12 Noon, considering how few soaps over the years have been broadcast in the morning.

> 5 Strike It Rich

Hosted by Warren Hull, this was possibly the most infamous and controversial game show ever broadcast. During the show's peak years, there were numerous newspaper articles detailing how down-and-out people somehow went to New York to try out for the show, and if they failed, often ended up on the local welfare rolls.

"Strike It Rich" ended in January, 1958, not because of the controversy, but because the ratings had slipped.


> 12:30
> 8 Rena And Bob-TV Shop
> "Viewers Buy and Sell On TV"

This must have been one show so bad, it was good!

> 1:30
> 5 Garry Moore-Guests Roger Price{Known for "Droodles") and
> Denise Lor

I believe Roger Price (and his "Droodles") made frequent guest appearances on all of Garry Moore's TV variety shows from the first one in 1950 through the final one in 1966.

I also believe Denise Lor became a regular on Moore's TV variety shows not too long after this date and remained a regular until the end of his long-running (1958-64) prime-time show.

> 2:30
> 5 Art Linkletter

Given how close it was to Christmas, Art probably got to ask the children that day what they wanted for Christmas, and probably prodded them into giving hilarious answers!

> 2:40
> 8 You are what You eat

Was the Food Police even around in 1953???

> 4PM
> 27 Action In The Afternoon Live Action western series from
> Philadelphia-CBS

Actually done in the studios (with exterior scenes in the back parking lot) of then-CBS affiliate WCAU-10. The only television Western series ever done live.

> 4:30
> 4 73 On Your Account-Win Elliott

Win Elliott was better known as a sportscaster.

> 6:30
> 49 Tootsie Hippodrome-ABC

Wasn't this a kinescope of a live show done on Saturday or Sunday??

> 6:40
> 4 Weather Factory-Puppets

Puppets "helping out" a TV weather forecaster wetre actually common during the 1950's.

> 6:45
> 27 Don Gardner-Sports

Was this the same Don Gardner who later went on to be a radio news anchor at ABC??

> 7:15
> 8 News Parade-Lang/Dudley

Unless one of these people did only sports or weather, this was a case of a newscast anchored (likely) by two men, at least three years before Huntley and Brinkley!!

Maybe now I know where NBC got the idea!

> 8PM
> 4 73 Name That Tune

Given it was the last show prior to Christmas, I wonder if the songs contestants tried to guess that week included Christmas songs and carols.

> 5 Burns And Allen
> 8 Twenty Questions-DuMont
> 49 You Asked For It-ABC

Three classic shows in that timeslot.

> 10PM
> 8 Carling Boxing=DuMont
> Bob Baker/Clarence Henry-Heavyweight bout

Was this bout held in Cleveland??

> 10:45
> 8 Ringside Interviews

Likely "post-fight reaction" from the fighters (unless the loser got knockied out), trainers, sportswriters who were at ringside, etc. And if Baker and Henry were top contendors, perhaps the announcer asked some of the sportswriters how soon the winner would get a title shot.

> 11:05
> 4 Ken Coleman-Sports

One of the big names in the history of sportscasting both in Cleveland and in Boston.

 

[bpatrick]

> Tim Lones takes us back to Cleveland on December 21st, 1953,
> courtesy of the local TV Guide (Lake Erie Edition):
>
> > 11AM
> > 4 73 Hawkins Falls-serial
>
> > 11:15
> > 4 73 Three Steps to Heaven-serial
>
> > 11:30
> > 4 73 The Bennetts-serial
> (and "Follow Your Heart" at 11:45)
>
> I get the impression that through the history of network
> television, daytime soaps don't work ratings-wise prior to
> 12 Noon, considering how few soaps over the years have been
> broadcast in the morning.

You're right on that score. I might add that, at the time,
NBC never gave its soaps a chance to build an audience. As
a rule, a soap needs at least 18 months for the audience to
find it and for the producers to figure out what works. In
the '50s, NBC seldom let one run more than a year (notable
exceptions: From These Roots from 1958-61, and Young Dr.
Malone from 1959-63). NBC didn't strike gold until the '60s,
with The Doctors, Another World, and one still on the air:
Days Of Our Lives.
>
> > >
> >
>
>
>
> >
> >
>
> > 4:30
> > 4 73 On Your Account-Win Elliott
>
> Win Elliott was better known as a sportscaster.
Dennis James became the host of this show when it moved
to CBS in 1954. Its replacement in 1956 was The Edge
Of Night.
>
> >
>
> > 6:45
> > 27 Don Gardner-Sports
>
> Was this the same Don Gardner who later went on to be a
> radio news anchor at ABC??

No. Don Gardiner was a news anchor at NBC in the '40s;
he was often heard on a noontime newscast there. He
did switch to ABC; I remember him when I was a kid.
>
> >
> >9:30
5 27 Masquerade Party

I know that Douglas Edwards was host of this show
on CBS in the summer of 1953 and suspect he was
still the host at this time. How long was Masquerade
Party on CBS Mondays at 9:30?
>
> >
>
>
> >

 

[TimL]

.
>
> > 7:15
> > 8 News Parade-Lang/Dudley
>
> Unless one of these people did only sports or weather, this
> was a case of a newscast anchored (likely) by two men, at
> least three years before Huntley and Brinkley!!
>
> Maybe now I know where NBC got the idea!

Highly unlikely. I did evening schedules from this same year earlier..Bob Lang and Jimmy Dudley (Cleveland Indians radio announcer) did something Called "Gray Drug News" On channel 5 about 6 months earlier..This appears to be the same show moved to channel 8 under a different name

>
> > 10PM
> > 8 Carling Boxing=DuMont
> > Bob Baker/Clarence Henry-Heavyweight bout


>
> Was this bout held in Cleveland??

It doesnt say but I would think it was in New York. I read on Clarke Ingram's DuMont History pages where DuMont usually did live sports in cities where they had owned stations.
>
>

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

> How long was Masquerade
> Party on CBS Mondays at 9:30?

According to Brooks and Marsh, it was in the Summers of 1953 and 1954.

However, since it was listed for December 21st, 1953, it may have been a one-shot Christmas "special episode", pre-empting Red Buttons, whose show normally had the Mondays at 9:30 P.M. (ET) slot on CBS in the 1953/1954 season.