Retro: New England - Sunday March 23, 1952

[MCarney]

Source: New England Region TV Guide, with supplementary information from Wikipedia and IMDB

A couple of notes: WBZ was primary NBC and WNAC was primary CBS and secondary ABC and DuMont, but both ABC and DuMont programming appeared on WBZ due to deals with networks and sponsors.

I have done my best to match shows to networks, and show time shifts. If anyone has any more info or corrections on any of this it would be welcomed.

4 – WBZ Boston (NBC) – now a CBS O&O
10:00a Frontiers of Faith – Religion
10:30a Mr. Wizard – Don Herbert (NBC)
11:00a Our Believing World – religion
11:30a Youth Wants to Know – Discussion; Emanuel Celler (D-NY) is guest
12:00p The Magic Clown – for youngsters (NBC)
12:15p WBZ-TV Film Shorts
12:30p Back Porch Experts – J. O’Leary
01:00p Community Auditions – Gene Jones
01:30p Claudia – comedy series (according to IMDB the title is Claudia: The Story of a Marriage) (NBC)
02:00p You Asked For It – Art Baker (ABC)
02:30p American Forum of the Air – “Is there waste in defense spending?”
03:00p Fairmeadows, U.S.A – drama (NBC)
03:30p WBZ-TV Film Shorts
04:00p Meet the Press (NBC)
04:30p Hallmark Hall of Fame – story of Harriet Quimby, first aviatrix (NBC)
05:00p Zoo Parade – Marlin Perkins (NBC)
05:30p Royal Showcase – variety; Humorist Herb Shriner, singer Delores Gray and 4-H Club winners (NBC)
06:00p Electric Theater – movie
06:30p The Big Picture – documentary (ABC – produced by the U.S. Army Signal Corps)
07:00p The Range Rider
07:30p Young Mr. Bobbin – comedy; scoutmaster Alex is caught in paper drive (NBC)
08:00p Colgate Comedy Hour – Dean Martin and zany Jerry Lewis (NBC)
09:00p Philco TV Playhouse “The Best-Laid Schemes” with Joseph Buloff and Eileen Heckart (NBC)
10:00p Red Skelton Show – comedy (NBC)
10:30p The Big Story – drama
11:00p T-Men in Action – Drama (NBC – delayed from Thursday @ 8:30p)
11:30p Telenews Review of the Week

6 – WNHC New Haven (ABC/CBS/DuMont/NBC) – moved to channel 8; now WTNH (ABC)
10:00a Frontiers of Faith – Religion
10:30a Mr. Wizard – Don Herbert (NBC)
11:00a Ranger Joe – Kid’s Variety (ABC – from Philadelphia)
11:15p Hippodrome – variety
11:30a Kit Carson – Serial Film
12:00p All Star Revue – musical variety (NBC; delayed from Saturday @ 8p)
01:00p Life is Worth Living – Bishop Sheen (DuMont; delayed from Tuesday @ 8p)
01:30p The Cisco Kid
02:00p Roy Rogers TV Show (NBC; delayed from Sunday @ 6:30p)
02:30p Claudia (NBC)
03:00p The Name’s The Same (ABC; delayed from Sunday @ 6:30p)
03:30p WNHC-TV Film Shorts
04:00p Meet the Press (NBC)
04:30p Adventures of Ellery Queen (DuMont – delayed from Thursday @ 9p)
05:00p The Trouble With Father (ABC – delayed from Friday @ 8:30p)
05:30p Super Circus (ABC – 2nd half of live show)
06:00p Fred Waring Show – variety (CBS – delayed from Sunday @ 9p)
06:30p Break the Bank (NBC – delayed from Wednesday @ 10p)
07:00p The Greatest Story Ever Told
07:30p This is Show Business – guests Harvey Stone, comedian; John Juliano, singer (CBS)
08:00p Toast of the Town – Ed Sullivan; Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer is scene from “Venus Observed”; Lew Parker and Virginia Grey as “The Bickersons”; vocalist Eddie Fisher; acrobat Jackie (CBS)
09:00p Philco TV Playhouse “The Best-Laid Schemes” with Joseph Buloff and Eileen Heckart (NBC)
10:00p Celebrity Time – panel (CBS)
10:30p Electric Theater – film
11:00p Sunday News Special
11:15p Fireside Theater – play
11:45p Twenty Questions – Bill Slater (DuMont – delayed from Friday @ 8p)

7 – WNAC Boston (ABC/CBS/DuMont) – now WHDH (NBC)
11:00a Word of Life Songtime – religion
11:30a Pentagon: Washington Documentary
12:00p Ranger Joe – Kid’s Variety (ABC – from Philadelphia)
12:15p Hippodrome – variety
12:30p What’s My Line? – quiz (CBS – delayed from Sunday @ 10:30p)
01:00p WNAC Film Feature
02:00p WNAC Film Short
02:15p This Week in Sports
02:30p Where Do You Stand? – discussion
03:00p The Quiz Kids – panel (CBS)
03:30p See It Now – Edward R. Murrow (CBS)
04:00p C.B.S. Television Workshop – “The Gallow Tree” by Halsted Welles (CBS)
04:30p What in the World? – panel (CBS – from Philadelphia)
05:00p Super Circus – Three Rings (ABC – from Chicago; in pattern)
06:00p The Plainclothesman “The Cultured Mug” (DuMont – delayed from Sunday @ 9:30p)
06:30p The Name’s the Same – panel; Robert Q. Lewis, Abe Burrows, Meredith Wilson and Joan Alexander (ABC)
07:00p The Gene Autry Show “The Sheriff is a Lady”
07:30p This is Show Business – guests Harvey Stone, comedian; John Juliano, singer (CBS)
08:00p Toast of the Town – Ed Sullivan; Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer is scene from “Venus Observed”; Lew Parker and Virginia Grey as “The Bickersons”; vocalist Eddie Fisher; acrobat Jackie (CBS)
09:00p Fred Waring Show – music (CBS) – this is on the CBS schedule as an hour
09:30p Break the Bank – quiz; Kathryn Lee, dancer, is guest (NBC – delayed from Wednesday @ 10p)
10:00p Celebrity Time – panel (CBS)
10:30p Prince Television Theater – movie

11 – WJAR Providence (ABC/CBS/DuMont/NBC) – moved to channel 10 (NBC)
11:30a Sunday Chapel – religion
12:00p Ranger Joe – Kid’s Variety (ABC – from Philadelphia)
12:15p Hippodrome – variety
12:30p Wild Bill Hickok – western
01:00p Frontiers of Faith – religion
01:30p The Name’s the Same – panel (ABC; delayed from Sunday @ 6:30p)
02:00p Paul Whiteman TV Teen Club (ABC – from Philadelphia; delayed from Saturday @ 8p)
02:30p All Star Revue – variety (NBC; delayed from Saturday @ 8p)
03:30p Life is Worth Living – Bishop Sheen (DuMont; delayed from Tuesday @ 8p)
04:00p Meet the Press (NBC)
04:30p Hallmark Hall of Fame – story of Harriet Quimby, first aviatrix (NBC)
05:00p Zoo Parade – Marlin Perkins (NBC)
05:30p Lamp Unto My Feet – religion
06:00p Roy Rogers TV Show (NBC – delayed from Sunday @ 6:30p)
06:30p Claudia (NBC)
07:00p Royal Showcase – variety; Fred Allen, vocalist Nancy Andrews (NBC)
07:30p Young Mr. Bobbin – comedy; scoutmaster Alex is caught in paper drive (NBC)
08:00p Colgate Comedy Hour – Dean Martin and zany Jerry Lewis (NBC)
09:00p Philco TV Playhouse “The Best-Laid Schemes” with Joseph Buloff and Eileen Heckart (NBC)
10:00p Red Skelton Show – comedy (NBC)
10:30p Vanity Fair Theater – film
10:45p Foreign Intrigue – drama (NBC)
11:15p WJAR-TV Feature Theater

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

A few notes:

(1) I'm pretty sure the "Sunday News Special" at 11 P.M. on WNHC-6 New Haven was actually produced by CBS News, and from 1951 until 1962 was anchored by a young Walter Cronkite.

(2) "Prince Television Theatre" was likely sponsored by the pasta manufacturer of the same name, which at the time was based in the Boston area (Lowell??). Prince gained national notoriety in the 1970's for a spaghetti commercial where a North End (of Boston) mother has finished making spaghetti and called out for her son "An-thony! An-thony!!" (I suspect this spot is somewhere on You Tube).

(3) While "Big Picture" did appear on ABC during this period, I believe it was also simultaneously syndicated to local TV stations (the show would remain in first-run syndication into the 1970's, when anti-Vietnam sentiment finally killed it), so while WBZ-4 had a secondary affiliation with ABC at the time, the show may have been from a film print broadcast from the WBZ studios.

(4) I'm not 100% sure, but I thought the episodes of "Colgate Comedy Hour" co-hosted by Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (once monthly??) were generally the only times "Colgate" out-drew Ed Sullivan in the ratings. Who knew when Dean and Jerry went their separate ways in the mid-1950's that both of them would become much bigger stars as "singles" than they ever were as a team??

 

[Corky Marlowe]

(2) "Prince Television Theatre" was likely sponsored by the pasta manufacturer of the same name, which at the time was based in the Boston area (Lowell??). Prince gained national notoriety in the 1970's for a spaghetti commercial where a North End (of Boston) mother has finished making spaghetti and called out for her son "An-thony! An-thony!!" (I suspect this spot is somewhere on You Tube)

Because Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day.

 

[MCarney]

With so many shows time shifted did the stations do their own kinescopes or did the networks send kinescopes or films (in the case of filmed shows)?

 

[Tim L]

Frontiers of Faith, American Forum Of The Air and Youth Wants to Know are all NBC Public Affairs Shows..

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

To answer Maureen Carney's question, where kinescopes were made depended on how soon the program was aired after the network fed it.

If network programs were shown by either WBZ-4 or WNAC-7 within a couple of days after their live network broadcast, the stations themselves probably made the kinescope.

If the delay was longer than that, the network probably made the kinescope and air-shipped it to Boston.

For programs on film, they'd be produced enough in advance that they could be shipped to a station for broadcast the same day as the rest of the network (for affiliates not yet connected to network lines in the early 1950's), or after the show appeared on the rest of the network (for "interconnected" afffiliates).

 

[Grace North]

Back Porch Experts (show)

4 – WBZ Boston (NBC) – now a CBS O&O

12:30p Back Porch Experts – J. O’Leary

Hi : ) Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I might learn more about this show (BACK PORCH EXPERTS), and if any footage from it is stored anywhere? As a child, my mother was a guest panelist on it twice, some time in the late 1940's or early 50's...

It would be interesting to know more about what years the show ran, etc. Apparently the host would gather a small group of people in a studio, and asked their opinion on various current events. I don't know if the panel was usually grownups, and only occasionally (or always?) children who were the guests, but it would be neat to know more.

Any information or leads anyone has as to researching this show would be appreciated : )

Thanks!