Retro; New York City, December 24, 1948

[Bob1370]

Source; New York Times

WCBS-TV Channel 2 (CBS O&O)

Afternoon
4:45-Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremonies, at the White House
5:30-Carols at Grand Central Station

Evening
6:30-Lucky Pup, With Doris Brown
6:40-Hob Howard Show
7:00-Surprise From Santa: Bill Robinson.
Kathryn Lee, Borah Minnevich Harmonica
Rascals. St. Vincent Ferrer
Boys' Choir., Ray Bloch Orchestra:
and Others
8:30-Morey Amsterdam Show
9:00-Television News
9:15-Film Theatre: Made for Each Other: Carole Lombard. James Stewart
10:45-Christmas Program 11:00-Service From Old St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Baltimore
12:00-St. Patrick's Cathedral Midnight Mass

WNBT-Channel 4 (NBC O&O)

Afternoon
4:45-Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremonies, at the White House
5:30-Howdy Doody Show-Bob. Smith

Evening
6:00-Easy Does It, and Films
7:30-Musical .Merry-Go-Round
7:50-Newsreel
8:00-Christmas story
8:30-Santa Rdes Again: Pick-Ups From New York, PhUadelphia, Baltimore. Washington
and News Reports
11:30-Carols and Mass From St Patrick's Cathedral

WABD-Channel. 5 (DuMont O&O)
7:00 A, M.-Clock: Weather: Keep Fit
7:30-Clock, School Reporter: Headlines
8:30-Kindergarten
9:00-News:- Morning Chapel
9:45-Amanda
10:00-Th. Shopper: Friendship Circle
11:00-Stan Shaw

Afternoon
12.00-Clock: News; Interviews: Ted Steele
1:00-Okay Mother-Dennis James -
1:30-News; Music: Women's Programs
2:45-Spare Room-Phil Harris: Music
3:00-Needle Shop: Vincent Lopes
3:45-Women's Club Variety
5:00-Plano; Weather: Children's Plays
6:00-Small Fry Club Christmas Party, With Bob Emory
6:30-Sports; Russ Hodges and Films
7:00-Key to the Missing
7:30-Camera Headlines: News
7:45-Russ Hodges
8:00-Carols From Grace Church. to 9:10

WIZ-TV-Channel 7 (ABC O&O)

Evening
6:00-ABC Christmas Party: Films
7:00-News and Views: Gordon Fraser
7:15-The Fitzgeralds
7:30-Tales of the Red Caboose
8:00-Dickens' A Christmas Carol
9:00-Break the Bank. With Bert Parks
10:00-Gay Nineties Revue
10:30-Film: Beyond Tomorrow: Charles Winsinger, C. Aubrey Smith and Others
11:30-Carols and Mass From St. Patrick's Cathedral

WPIX-Cbannel 11 (Ind)

Evening
6:00-News: Six-Gun Playhouse
7:00-News: Film: Shorts
7:30-Newsreel
7:40-Film: Stage Door Canteen: Ray Bolger,
Gypsy- Rose Lee and Katharine Hepburn
9:00-News and Newsreel

WATV-Channel 13 (Ind)

Morning
10 A M.-Test Pattern

Afternoon
2:45-Music and Announcements
3:00-Feature Film and Western
5:06-Junior Frolic
5:30-Film: Devil Horse

Evening
6:50-Camera Highlights .
7:00-Film: Aces and Eights
8:00-Film: Doughnuts and Society: Louise Fazenda, Eddie Hugest and Ann
Rutherford.
9:00-Film; Starlight Night

 

[bpatrick]

Strange you don't mention that Perry Como's popular radio show
"Chesterfield Supper Club" had its television debut that night on NBC
at 11 PM, the first network late-night show. That first show was
simply the radio show with a camera on it; the music stands and sheet
music were in full view. Later, the show added sets. It ran in primetime
against Ed Sullivan for about a year (1949-50).

 

[Mike Stroud]

Methinks your finger slipped inadvertently on the keyboard while you were attempting to render the call sign of channel 7. It was "WJZ," not "WIZ." But think about it, if it were true, though, the station would have had an excellent early slogan. "Gee WIZ! All your favorite shows are on channel 7!" The WJZ calls, of course, wound up on the Westinghouse/Group W station in Baltimore in the late Fifties.

And just think about the fact of three competing stations carrying the same live coverage of the St. Patrick's Cathedral Midnight Mass. No exclusive rights in those days, it seems. I know circumstances like that would never occur again, before long.

 

[Bob1370]

Could be that the Perry Como simulcast was a last minute addition to the schedule.

It would have been easy to do.

The reference books like Brooks and Marsh all say the original Perry Como telecast in its earliest days was a simple simulcast with cameras just brought into the radio auditorium while Perry and his guests stood at floor-stand mikes and had their scripts in front of them on music stands, the way a radio show would have been staged back in the day.

A little later they started staging the show more seriously, with regular (if siimple) sets, and Perry and his guests moving around on stage like the kind of staging we're used to seeing in a variety show.

 

[Tim L]

Source; New York Times

WJZ-TV-Channel 7 (ABC O&O)

10:30-Film: Beyond Tomorrow: Charles Winsinger, C. Aubrey Smith and Others

I posted this on my Cleveland Classic Media Facebook Page on December 18:

"Sunday, December 23, 1951:The "General Electric Sunday Matinee On Television" WXEL-9 aired this from 2-4 PM (Followed by The Browns-LA Rams football game)..With "News-Comedy-Short Subject-Cartoon"..The Feature film was the Holiday Themed "Beyond Tomorrow" which has been available on Public Domain DVD/VHS seemingly since the beginning of time.."

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...6096739326.141367.245324499326&type=1&theater

Cleveland Plain Dealer ad for the Movie slot..Interesting how "Beyond Tomorrow" has been on TV practically since the beginning..And that it's been Public Domain since the beginning of VHS tape, if not before..

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

Beyond Tomorrow is an interesting film - especially for the time it was made - 1940. It seems to get on TV around Christmas. I remember watching it on Christmas Eve in 1985. What drew me to it was Richard Carlson. I've always liked watching him in films and TV shows.

 

[bpatrick]

To show just how primitive early television could be, take a look
at "Tales Of The Red Caboose" on Ch. 7. Sponsored by Lionel Trains,
the program consisted simply of model trains going around and around
on tracks while an unseen narrator told stories of the railroads. The
show aired from October 29, 1948-January 14, 1949, meaning it was
probably a Christmas promotion by Lionel.

Similar, and more successful, was CBS's "Roar Of The Rails," which
ran from October 26, 1948-December 12, 1949, and sponsored by
American Flyer. You'd think it would have gotten an extra couple of
weeks to take full advantage of the 1949 Christmas shopping season.

 

[joebtsflk1]

Was surprised to see Dumont's WABD with a full daytime schedule starting at 7 AM...though they were the first to call it a night

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

I suspect the coverage of the Midnight Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral may have been a pooled effort, not of WCBS-2, WNBT-4 and WJZ-7, but of the CBS, NBC, and ABC networks (likely their news divisions), since according to that day's Boston Globe, the two TV stations in Boston at the time (WBZ-4 and WNAC-7, both of which signed-on the previous June) both broadcast that Mass.

And according to that paper, both Boston TV stations carried the White House Christmas Tree lighting earlier that evening as well (nowadays, it's not on Christmas Eve, but earlier in the month), through their respective networks.

 

[DaveArnold]

WABD-TV with radio talent Stan Shaw,Ted Steele and Russ Hodges/Yankees then Giants PBP.

 

[Ultimajock]

WCBS-TV Channel 2 (CBS O&O)

7:00-Surprise From Santa: Bill Robinson.
Kathryn Lee, Borah Minnevich Harmonica
Rascals. St. Vincent Ferrer
Boys' Choir., Ray Bloch Orchestra:
and Others

...interesting, as his Wikipedia listing claims Borrah Minevich (their spelling) retired from performing in 1947 and moved to Paris to become a film producer and distributor (Minevich set up the theatrical distribution deals for Jacques Tati's pictures Jour de Fête and Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot/Mr. Hulot's Holiday in the USA). Perhaps this was a one-time farewell performance by Minevich, or the Harmonica Rascals continued performing using Minevich's name, not unlike the post-WW2 Glenn Miller Orchestra. As a side note, Frank Sinatra claimed on a Tonight Show he guest-hosted that, while attending Minevich's funeral in Paris in 1955, director Lewis Milestone heard noises from the crematorium next to the chapel, and later recalled that experience to come up with the funeral sequence for the original Ocean's 11 in 1960...