Retro: New York City Fri, June 28, 1957

[Bluenoser]

from New York Herald Tribune

WCBS 2-CBS New York
7:00 Jimmy Dean
7:45 News
8:00 Captain Kangaroo
8:45 News
9:00 Stu Erwin "Egg Noggin"
9:30 My Little Margie "En Garde"
10:00 Garry Moore
10:30 Arthur Godfrey Time
11:30 Strike It Rich
noon Valiant Lady
12:15 Love of Life
12:30 Search for Tomorrow
12:45 Guiding Light
1:00 News (Walter Cronkite)
1:10 Stand Up & Be Counted
2:00 Our Miss Brooks
2:30 Linkletter's Party
3:00 Big Payoff
3:30 Bob Crosby
4:00 Brighter Day
4:15 Secret Storm
4:30 Edge of Night
5:00 Amos 'n' Andy "The Boarder"
5:30 Early Show "The Shopworn Angel"
7:00 World News (Robert Trout)
7:05 New York Report (Ron Cochran)
7:10 Weather Reports
7:15 CBS News
7:30 Beat the Clock
8:00 West Point "Pressure"
8:30 Zane Grey Theater "Courage is a Gun"
9:00 Mr. Adams & Eve "Typical"
9:30 Schlitz Playhouse "The Girl in the Grass"
10:00 The Lineup "The Fisherman's Wharf Case"
10:30 Person to Person (Edward R. Murrow interviews H. Allen & Nelle Mae Smith in Mount Kisco, and then heads to Chicago to interview A.C. & Gertrude Nielsen)
11:00 News (Ron Cochran)
11:10 Weather (Carol Reed)/Sports (Bill Hickey)
11:15 Late Show "The Secret of Dr. Kildare"
12:55 Late Late Show "Appointment in Berlin"

WRCA 4-NBC New York
7:00 Today (Jack Lescoulie subs for Dave Garroway; a look ahead at next week's Chicagoland Fair, and guest Suzanne Bernard)
10:00 Home (look at the Barter Theater, and guest Jerry Lewis)
11:00 Price is Right
11:30 Truth or Consequences
noon Tic Tac Dough
12:30 It Could Be You
1:00 Tex & Jinx Show
1:30 Club Sixty (c)
2:30 Tennessee Ernie Ford
3:00 Matinee Theater "Brief Candle" (c)
4:00 Queen for a Day
4:45 Modern Romances
5:00 Dear Phoebe "Mickey's Engagement"
5:30 Movie 4 "Island of Desire"
6:45 News (Gabe Pressman, followed by Ken Banghart at 6:50)
6:55 Weather (Lynn Dollar)
7:00 Silent Service "Salmon Swims Upstream"
7:30 Helen O'Connell
7:45 NBC News
8:00 Blondie
8:30 Life of Riley "The Unwelcome Guests"
9:00 Joseph Cotten "The Fatal Charm"
9:30 Big Story "The Frame-Up"
10:00 Boxing: at Mechanics Hall, Boston- Brooklyn's Johnny Russo (29-4-1, 14 KO) takes on Larry Boardman (Marlboro CT/34-4, 16 KO)
10:45 Red Barber's Corner (guest is Brooklyn infielder Randy Jackson)
11:00 News (J.K.M. McCaffery)
11:10 Weather (Tex Antoine)
11:15 Tonight Show (guests Hy Gardner, Earl Wilson, Bob Considine, Irv Kupcinet, and Paul Coates; plus visits to Oklahoma City (semi-centennial festivities) and Chicago (Chicagoland Fair))

WABD 5-DuMont New York
9:00 Sandy Becker
10:00 Weather (Sandy's here too)
10:15 Tune In Anytime Theater "Maytime in Mayfair"
3:00 Liberace
3:30 Edgar Kennedy Comedies
4:00 Wendy Barrie
4:30 Mr. & Mrs. North
5:00 Sheldon's Studio Party
5:30 Captain Video
6:00 Gene Autry
6:30 Looney Tunes
7:00 Bugs Bunny Theater
7:30 Gangbusters "The Teen-Age Trouble Case"
8:00 Errol Flynn Theater "The Red Geranium"
8:30 Racket Squad "Kite High"
9:00 Friday Night Movie "Guest in the House"
11:00 Nightbeat (guest is author James M. O'Neill)
mid. James Mason Spotlight (literature readings by James & Pamela Mason and Richard Burton)

WABC 7-ABC New York
7:30 Early Bird Cartoons
8:00 Tinker's Work Shop
8:30 Tinkertoons
9:30 Morning Feature "One Touch of Venus"
11:00 Road of Romance "Wonderful Day for a Wedding"
11:30 Cartoon Comedies
noon Time for Fun
12:30 Joe Franklin
1:30 Afternoon Show "Room Service"
3:00 Afternoon Film Festival "Deadly Nightshade"
4:30 Cartoon Club
5:00 Mickey Mouse Club
6:00 Oswald Rabbit & Pals
6:30 Byline "Columnist"
6:55 Weather (Janet Tyler)
7:00 Sports (Howard Cosell)
7:15 News (John Daly)
7:30 Rin Tin Tin "Forward Ho!"
8:00 Jim Bowie "Spanish Intrigue"
8:30 Crossroads "A Green Hill Far Away"
9:00 Key Club Playhouse "Remembrance Day"
9:30 The Vise "Death Wears a Coronet"
10:00 Date with the Angels "Little White Lie"
10:30 Hawkeye "Hawkeye's Homecoming"
11:00 News (John Cameron Swayze)
11:10 Night Show "Adventure in Manhattan"

WNHC 8-ABC/CBS New Haven
7:00 Breakfast Time
8:30 Happy the Clown
9:00 Movietime, USA "Kid Glove Killer"
10:30 This, Our Faith
11:00 University of the Air
11:30 Bontempis
noon News at Noon
12:15 Love of Life
12:30 Bugs Bunny
1:00 Hollywood's Best "Haunted Honeymoon"
2:45 Meet the Stars
3:00 My Little Margie
3:30 Bandstand
5:00 Mickey Mouse Club
6:00 Popeye the Sailor
6:10 News/Sports/Weather
6:30 Stage 8 "The Rites of Spring"
7:00 Variety Show (Jim Kenney)
7:15 People's Lobby (Michael J. Goode)
7:30 Rin Tin Tin "Forward Ho!"
8:00 Jim Bowie "Spanish Intrigue"
8:30 Crossroads "A Green Hill Far Away"
9:00 Sports Time (Harry Wismer)
9:15 Adventure in News
9:30 The Vise "Death Wears a Coronet"
10:00 Date with the Angels "Little White Lie"
10:30 News/Weather
10:45 World's Best Movies "The Big Story"
12:30 News

WOR 9-Ind New York
1:30pm Screening the World
2:00 Scrub Club (Claude Kirchner)
3:00 Ted Steele
4:55 News
5:00 Steele's Bandstand
6:00 Round-Up "Come On Ranger"
7:00 Terrytoon Circus (Claude Kirchner)
7:30 Million Dollar Movie "Born to Kill"
9:00 Crusader "Berlin Love Story"
9:30 War in the Air "Combined OPS" (air situation in the West, 1942-spring 1943)
10:00 Million Dollar Movie (rerun of the 7:30 movie)
11:30 He-Man Theater "And Then There Were None"

WPIX 11-Ind New York
1:30pm Building America "Keys to Happiness"
2:00 Understanding World "Images from a Child's World"
2:30 Hollywood Movietime "Our Town"
4:00 First Show "Of Mice and Men"
5:30 Clubhouse Gang
6:30 Sheena, Queen of the Jungle "Elephant God"
7:00 News (Kevin Kennedy)
7:10 Weather
7:15 News (John Tillman)
7:30 Baseball Hall of Fame (Cleveland pitcher Bob Lemon)
7:45 Bill Stern
7:55 Red Barber
8:10 Baseball: Yankees-Kansas City (KC's team was the Athletics)
10:50 Showcase of Sports
11:00 Cat Mysteries "Killer at Large"
11:30 New York Crusade (members of Billy Graham's stafdf)
11:45 News

WATV 13-Ind New York
noon Junior Carnival
12:30 Western Theater "Fighting Ranger"
1:30 Feature Film "Bridge of San Luis Rey"
3:00 A Woman's Work
3:30 Coffee Club (Dr. Robert E. Jennings and Dr. Richard Cupaiuoli from the Orange Medical Center in NJ speak on "Poison-Its Danger, Treatment, Control, and Prevention")
4:00 Feature Film "Red Stallion in the Rockies"
5:30 Junior Frolics
6:30 Flash Gordon "Space Soldiers"
7:00 Play Ball (Bert Lee Jr.)
7:05 Cartoon Comics
7:30 Famous All-Star Movie "Behind Green Lights"
9:00 Request Performance "Quiet Please, Murder"
10:30 Famous All-Star Movie (rerun from 7:300
mid. Newsreel (John Gleason)
12:05 Foreign Correspondent
12:30 Ringside with Rasslers

WICC 43-ABC/DuMont Bridgeport (studios in Trumbull)
6pm Picture Window
6:30 News/Shorts/Rosary
9:30 Open Shutter

FYI, here's where all the stations had their studios:

New York City
WCBS 2: 485 Madison Ave
WRCA 4: 30 Rock
WABD 5: 207 E 67th St
WABC 7: 7 W 66th St
WOR 9: 1440 Broadway
WPIX 11: 220 E 42nd St
WATV 13: Empire State Bldg

Connecticut
WNHC 8: 1110 Chapel St, New Haven
WICC 43: Booth Hill Rd, Trumbull

 

[wbhist]

"NBC News" on Channel 4 at 7:45 P.M. was, at this point, a year away from acquiring the overall name by which it would be known up to July 31, 1970 - The Huntley-Brinkley Report. The "bright new" anchor team of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley were already in place at this point, having anchored the newscast since Oct. 29, 1956.

Also, the Empire State Building was where WATV had their transmitter, unless they also had secondary studios there. Their main studios were situated at the "Mosque Theatre" a.k.a. the "Symphony Hall Building" at 1020 Broad Street in Newark, which would later be the first home of WNJU-TV 47. The Herald-Tribune was always New York-oriented in terms of addresses; after WATV became WNTA-TV, for example, the H-T gave the station's address as 10 Columbus Circle, whereas TV Guide listed the Newark address.

As for the then-Kansas City Athletics who played the Yankees on Channel 11: It was, under the ownership of Arnold Johnson, considered a de facto farm team of the Yankees, with many players shifted from the A's to the Yanks under his five year reign that began in 1955 and ended with his death in 1960. Its second-division status for much of his run earned Johnson a spot among the worst baseball owners in Bruce Nash and Allan Zullo's The Baseball Hall of Shame - Vol. 2.

At this point, both WRCA and WABC had some of the pictures from the massive RKO library in their respective inventories, as based on Channel 7's airing of The Marx Brothers' Room Service this day; it was a few years before all these pictures would slink over to WOR-TV.

 

[Gregg]

Notice that on Channel 7 from 12:30 to 1:30 is the Joe Franklin Show, also known as Joe Franklin's Memory Lane. He may be the only person in this TV listing not only still alive but still broadcasting. He does weekend features for WBBR Bloomberg Radio 1130 (also heard on Sirius/XM).

Just as he did on the Channel 7 show (later moving to Channel 9 and running mornings and late nights for decades) on Bloomberg he interviews stars of the past, movies, TV and music. Even though he's easily in his 80s now, he really doesn't sound like he's lost a step. His features aren't live. I'm sure they're edited. But he still sounds sharp.

Betty White also had a sitcom at this point, I think on DuMont, called Life with Elizabeth, although that's not listed on this day. White and Franklin may be the only TV personalities from this era still working.


Gregg
[email protected]

 

[oldiesfan6479]

WCBS 2-CBS New York
1:00 News (Walter Cronkite)
1:10 Stand Up & Be Counted
2:00 Our Miss Brooks

No As The World Turns at 1:30 PM?

 

[Bluenoser]

WCBS 2-CBS New York
1:00 News (Walter Cronkite)
1:10 Stand Up & Be Counted
2:00 Our Miss Brooks

No As The World Turns at 1:30 PM?

Didn't indicate in the listings, but there seemed to be a few blanks here and there, I've cross-referenced the week's listings to make sure everything there that's supposed to be...

 

[bpatrick]

Sounds like a misprint on the part of the Herald-Tribune;
I can't imagine "ATWT" not being on Ch. 2 at 1:30 either.

Re Betty White: "Life With Elizabeth" was a syndicated
show; she was about to start a new sitcom, "Date With
The Angels," which aired on ABC Friday nights in the fall
of '57; IIRC, when the show flopped, she got a variety show
on Wednesdays in early 1958. BTW, the announcer on "Date
With The Angels" was on the verge of making it big: Tom Kennedy
(brother Jack Narz had been the announcer on "Life With Elizabeth").

And in a little over a month, "American Bandstand" would debut on
Ch. 7 at 3 PM.

 

[RALfan]

I didn't see the 9:00am listing for WRCA. Was this another misprint? If so, what aired in that slot?

 

[KeithE4]

Betty White also had a sitcom at this point, I think on DuMont, called Life with Elizabeth, although that's not listed on this day. White and Franklin may be the only TV personalities from this era still working.

Life With Elizabeth was syndicated by KLAC-TV (now KCOP) Los Angeles between 1953 and 1955. I don't know if KLAC syndicated the reruns.

Besides, Dumont was dead by 1957, except for O&Os WABD New York and WTTG Washington operating as independents.

 

[KeithE4]

WOR 9-Ind New York
7:00 Terrytoon Circus (Claude Kirchner)

Interesting that WOR-TV was still running Terrytoons in 1957, since CBS had bought the company a couple of years earlier. Finishing out a previous contract, maybe? I would think, at least in NYC, they would have been running on WCBS-TV by this time.

 

[bpatrick]

Interesting to see "Tinker's Work Shop" on Ch. 7 at 8 AM.
Bob Keeshan started that show, and its popularity (it actually
beat the second hour of CBS's "Morning Show," but then, what
doesn't beat CBS in the early morning?) led CBS to cut out the
second hour of "The Morning Show" and start "Captain Kangaroo"
in 1955. And we all know who played the Captain.

Actually, there was one CBS show that beat the "Today" show:
Jimmy Dean had a 45-minute show (7-7:45 AM) in 1957, but CBS
decided to put him on at 2 PM (its most troublesome daytime slot
from the time of Robert Q. Lewis' departure in 1956 to the debut
of "Password" in 1961) and he met the same fate as all CBS 2 PM
shows at the time.

You may have noticed the listing "Bandstand" on Ch. 8. IIRC, theirs
was called "Connecticut Bandstand" and it continued to air for some
time after the debut of "American Bandstand." Not long ago, someone
asked if "Bandstand" stayed on the air in Philadelphia during the 3:30-4
PM slot when ABC was showing "Who Do You Trust?". The answer is yes
("Trust" aired on delay at 1:30); although Dick Clark fought to get ABC to
move "Trust," the Alphabet network ended up cutting the 3-3:30 portion
of "Bandstand" and gave it a starting time of 4 PM, although (somebody from the Philadelphia
market correct me, but I've never heard of "Trust" airing at 3:30 there) I think
"Bandstand" still aired locally from 3:30-4 as well.

 

[Tim L]

You may have noticed the listing "Bandstand" on Ch. 8.  IIRC, theirs
was called "Connecticut Bandstand" and it continued to air for some
time after the debut of "American Bandstand." 

In Cleveland, there was a show titled "Bandstand" Saturday afternoons from 1954-59, first on WEWS-5 then moving to WJW-TV 8..Hosted by Cleveland DJ Icon Phil McLean and Teen hostess Darlene Kane.  In November 1959, McLean was replaced by Kemal Kassim, "Casey At The Mike" on WJW-AM 850..Of course we know him as "Casey Kasem" of AT 40, Shaggy of Scooby Doo and NBC announcer fame..

 

[bpatrick]

In his book "Rock, Roll & Remember," Dick Clark mentions that
show in Cleveland and how in 1955, after having substitute-hosted
the Philadelphia show (Bob Horn was hosting it then), he offered
his services to the general manager at WEWS, whose response was,
"I don't want to put that ---- on the air. I don't even want to talk
to you." Clark admitted in the book that he wasn't unhappy about the
turndown; had he left Philadelphia, he said, nothing would have happened
to him in television. Could the Cleveland show have already moved to Ch. 8
and a new g.m. taken over at Ch. 5 by any chance, or is Clark perhaps practicing
selective memory? (Memories get hazy as one gets older; Clark also mentions
working at WKTV Utica, NY; Don Morrow says he replaced Clark at WHEN (WTVH)
Syracuse when Clark went to Philadelphia, but Clark says the Syracuse offer fell
through when the g.m. at WKTV called WHEN's g.m. and said, in effect, "hands off,"
giving Clark a raise in the process. It wasn't long after that that Clark's father
suggested he call a friend, Roger Clipp, g.m. at WFIL, and the rest is history.)

Also, I know that CapCities at one time owned both Ch. 6 in Philadelphia and
Ch. 8 in New Haven; is there any connection between that fact and the fact
that both stations had a local "Bandstand" before the Philadelphia show went
network?

 

[wbhist]

Also, I know that CapCities at one time owned both Ch. 6 in Philadelphia and Ch. 8 in New Haven; is there any connection between that fact and the fact that both stations had a local "Bandstand" before the Philadelphia show went network?

By the time CapCities took over both the Philly and New Haven stations (and changed their call letters accordingly), Clark's American Bandstand was already in Hollywood (based out of ABC's Prospect & Talmadge studios) for slightly over seven years, and in color for nearly four; as well as having been a once-a-week Saturday afternoon offering for almost eight years. At the time his Bandstand went national, the two stations were owned by Walter Annenberg's Triangle Publications which also published The Philadelphia Inquirer and TV Guide. It's probable that Triangle stations may've had a local Bandstand in their respective cities; what is known that then-WFIL and then-WNHC also had late night movie shows called World's Best Movies.

 

[wbhist]

Not to mention the change in AB from weekdays to once a week in '63 opening up local ABC affiliates' and O&O's plugging the holes with their own afternoon movie shows; including WABC-TV in New York putting on a movie show that was an ancestor to what became famous as The 4:30 Movie.

 

[bpatrick]

ABC didn't give back 4:30-5 until 1967; from 1963-65 it
carried "Trailmaster," reruns of the Ward Bond "Wagon Train"s
from 4-5; from 1965-67 it carried "Where The Action Is" from
4:30-5, following a couple of soaps: "Never Too Young," which
didn't make it through the 1965-66 season; and "Dark Shadows,"
which debuted in June 1966.

 

[Tim L]

I recently acquired home access to Cleveland Plain Dealer Archives from 1845-1991 through obtaining a Cleveland Public Library Card..

According to those archives, a music show called "Bandstand" was scheduled to premiere Saturday, February 13, 1954 on WEWS from 2 to 4 in the afternoon, hosted by Phil McLean and Barbara Page..I'm not sure where the Dick Clark Story fits in here..

 

[Tim L]

The Cleveland "Bandstand" move to WJW-TV 8 was March 2, 1957..American Bandstand began August 5, 1957 and was carried on WEWS..

 

[trusty]

WABD 5-DuMont New York
9:00 Sandy Becker
10:00 Weather (Sandy's here too)
10:15 Tune In Anytime Theater "Maytime in Mayfair"
3:00 Liberace
3:30 Edgar Kennedy Comedies

10:15-3:00 is quite a stretch for a movie. Does the name "Tune in Anytime" mean the movie was repeated during the day?

 

[Bluenoser]

WABD 5-DuMont New York
9:00 Sandy Becker
10:00 Weather (Sandy's here too)
10:15 Tune In Anytime Theater "Maytime in Mayfair"
3:00 Liberace
3:30 Edgar Kennedy Comedies

10:15-3:00 is quite a stretch for a movie. Does the name "Tune in Anytime" mean the movie was repeated during the day?

That would be my guess, and it seemed to be the practice on some of the indies, based on 9 and 13's evening line-up...

 

[LKellerIII]

WABD 5-DuMont New York
9:00 Sandy Becker
10:00 Weather (Sandy's here too)
10:15 Tune In Anytime Theater "Maytime in Mayfair"
3:00 Liberace
3:30 Edgar Kennedy Comedies

10:15-3:00 is quite a stretch for a movie. Does the name "Tune in Anytime" mean the movie was repeated during the day?

That would be my guess, and it seemed to be the practice on some of the indies, based on 9 and 13's evening line-up...

Indy stations ran so many movies during their broadcast day in the 50s and 60s, that some of the show titles got a bit bizarre. I recall KHJ-TV's afternoon "Groovie Movie" in the late 60s. Naturally, the theme song for the show - played at the beginning and into commercial breaks - was The 59th Street Bridge Song (you know ..."Feelin' groovy...") by Harper's Bizarre.