Retro; New York City, Monday, June 13, 1949

[Bob1370]

Source; New York Times TV/Radio Listings 6/13/49

Channel;
2-WCBS-TV (CBS)
4-WNBT (NBC)(now WNBC)
5-WABD (DuMont)(now WNYW-Fox)
7-WJZ-TV (ABC)(now WABC-TV)
11-WPIX (ind)(now CW network)
13-WATV (ind)(now WNET, PBS)

MORNING

10 AM
5-Your Television Shopper
11 AM
5-Rumpus Room (children's)
11:30 AM
2-Music and Film Shorts
5-Margaret Johnson, songs
11:45 AM
5-Morning Chapel

AFTERNOON

12 noon
2-Ted Steele Show
5-Amanda, songs
7-News (1 hour)
12:15
5-Man on the Street
12:30
2-Vanity Fair (talk show with Dorothy Doane, host; guests include Margaret Bourke White, Jerome Beatty, Col. David Douglas Young)
5-TBA
11-News headlines; test pattern and recorded music (till 5 PM)
1:00
2-Jack Sterling (talk show)
5-Okay Mother (game show, Dennis James, host)
7-News
1:30
5-Needle Shop (sewing instruction)
1:45
5-Women's Club
1:55
7-News headlines; sign-off for afternoon
2:00
5-Test pattern, music
3:00
4-Sign-on; The Three Flames (music)
3:15
4-Meet The Experts with Eloise McElhone
3:30
13-Test pattern, music
3:45
4-Figure Magic; Clare Mann
4:00
4-Ed McGinley, pianist
13-Western films
4:30
4-NBC Presents (film series)
5:00
4-Western Balladeer
5-Test Pattern, music
11-Evening sign-on; Comics On Parade (cartoons)
13-Film Shorts
5:15
2-Weather
11-Pixie Playhouse (children)
5:30
2-Chuck Wagon Theater with Sheriff Bob Dixon (Western films)
4-Howdy Doody with Buffalo Bob (children)
5:45
11-Three-a-pix (children's)
5:50
5-Children's show

EVENING

6:00
4-Kids' Athletic Club (children, sports)
5-Small Fry Club with Bob Emery (children)
11-Six-Gun Playhouse (western films)
6:30
2-Lucky Pup (children)
4-Easy Does It (variety)
5-Alan Logan Trio (music)
6:45
2-Bob Howard Show (variety)
5-Vincent Lopez (pianist/orchestra)
6:50
4-Weather with Tex Antoine
6:55
4-Thrills on Wheels
7-Evening sign-on; news headlines
7:00
2-Your Sports Special
4-Judy Splinters (children)
5-Inside Photoplay with Wendy Barrie (a forerunner to shows like Entertainment Tonight)
7-Film shorts
11-News; John Tillman
13-Western film (title not given)
7:10
11-Newsreel
7:15
2-Manhattan Showcase (music/variety; Marshall Young, Arlene Joyce, Ann Crowley, guests)
4-Mary Kay and Johnny (situation comedy)
7-The Fitzgeralds (talk/variety; Ed & Pegeen Fitzgerald, hosts)
11-Jimmy Powers, sports
7:30
2-CBS News with Douglas Edwards
4-Morton Downey with the Carmen Mastren Trio (music/variety)
5-A Woman To Remember (drama)
7-On Trial (public affairs/talk)(this evening's topic; Should Communists Be Permitted to Teach In Universities?)
11-Comedy Film (title not listed)
7:40
11-Charlie Chaplin films
7:45
2-Cliff Edwards Show (music, featuring Tony Mottola Trio)
4-Camel News Caravan; John Cameron Swayze, anchor
5-Manhattan Spotlight (variety)
8:00
2-Preview with Tex McCrary and Jinx Falkenburg
4-Live Drama; "Weather Ahead" starring Brian Donlevy
5-Views of the News (commentary)
7-Film; "Petticoat Parade"
11-Benny's Place with Benny Rubin (music/variety; Jackie Coogan, Marion Carter, guests)
13-Film Shorts
8:05
7-Travelogue films
8:30
2-It Pays To Be Ignorant (comedy/game show); Tom Howard, host; Lulu McConnell, Harry McNaughton, George Shelton, panelists
4-Suspense (drama); "The Wives"
5-Doorway to Fame (talent competition)
7-Barn Dance (variety/country music, from Chicago)
11-Jolts and Jabs with Jack McCarthy
13-Baseball; Buffalo Bisons at Newark Bears (International League, AAA minors)
8:45
11-Boxing from Coney Island Velodrome; Aldo Minelli vs. Johnny Britenbruck
9:00
2-Television Theater (live drama); "Light Up The Sky", starring Sam Levene, Barry Nelson, Glenn Anders, Audrey Christie, Carol Goodner, Phyllis Povah
4-Play; "Applause of Thousands", starring Valerie Cossart and Mel Ceane
5-Feature Theater (films-title not given)
7-Skip Farrell Show (variety)
9:30
4-Americana; Ben Grauer, host; Vivian Farrar, guest
7-Roller Derby
10:00
2-People's Platform (public affairs discussion); Quincy Howe, moderator; Sen. Homer Ferguson, Clifford Durr, panelists; this week's topic, "Are Loyalty Tests In The Public Interest?"
4-The Three Flames (music); live network broadcast, not a repeat of the 3 PM local show
5-Newsreel
10:30
2-Jean Bargy, songs
4-News
10:45
2-News
11-News

All stations appear to have signed off by 11 PM.

The gaps in the published daily schedules of these stations are not omissions by the source, but are typical of how television was programmed in its early years in most American markets. During the spring and summer of 1949, no station in New York was yet broadcasting on a continuous schedule from morning through the night, as would be customary just a few years later. Stations would either operate on a split schedule with late morning and midday programs followed by several hours of downtime before re-starting with their evening schedules (like channels 2, 5. 7 and 11), or offer no programs in morning or midday, start the broadcast day with an afternoon sign-on, and program continuously through the evening until roughly 11 PM (channels 4 and 13).

Channel 9 (WOR-TV, later WWOR) is totally missing from these lists because it was still under construction in June of 1949, would not begin testing for some weeks, and would not sign on for the first time with a regular programming schedule until October 11 of that year.

 

[bpatrick]

I noticed that "It Pays To Be Ignorant" was the summer replacement
for "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts." "IPTBI" was quite popular on radio,
but never caught on on television, even though this version, as well as
the 1951 version that replaced Groucho for the summer, had the same
cast as the radio show (the syndicated 1973 version had Charles Nelson
Reilly, Joanne Worley, Billy Baxter, and host Joe Flynn--yes, Captain
Binghamton). Critics complained that Tom Howard and the panel spent
too much time looking down at their scripts (for those not familiar with the
show, a contestant from the audience would pull a question from a "dunce
cap" on stage; the questions were the sort of things Groucho asked for a
consolation prize, like "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" The panel never came
up with the right answer, and their quips and asides were all written out. The
idea was to satirize popular radio quizzes like "Information Please" and "Dr. IQ."

Or maybe the audience was getting too sophisticated; wait: this was when
Milton Berle was number one. I have heard a few broadcasts of the radio show;
give it a try. You might find it corny, but then again you might, as I do, find
yourself laughing.

 

[wbhist]

I noticed that "It Pays To Be Ignorant" was the summer replacement for "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts." "IPTBI" was quite popular on radio, but never caught on on television, even though this version, as well as the 1951 version that replaced Groucho for the summer, had the same cast as the radio show (the syndicated 1973 version had Charles Nelson Reilly, Joanne Worley, Billy Baxter, and host Joe Flynn--yes, Captain Binghamton). Critics complained that Tom Howard and the panel spent too much time looking down at their scripts (for those not familiar with the show, a contestant from the audience would pull a question from a "dunce cap" on stage; the questions were the sort of things Groucho asked for a consolation prize, like "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" The panel never came up with the right answer, and their quips and asides were all written out. The idea was to satirize popular radio quizzes like "Information Please" and "Dr. IQ."

Or maybe the audience was getting too sophisticated; wait: this was when Milton Berle was number one. I have heard a few broadcasts of the radio show; give it a try. You might find it corny, but then again you might, as I do, find yourself laughing.

What about Jackie Gleason's frequent "It Pays to Be Ignorant" segments on his 1962-66 American Scene Magazine, one of which featured Professor Irwin Corey and Jayne Mansfield among the panel? Wouldn't that count as a revival attempt?

Speaking of the 1973 syndicated version, I noticed that too didn't fare so well . . . (I noticed in the New York metro market, it aired on WTNH/8 in New Haven, CT, but from what I could tell, none of the New York stations themselves picked it up.)

 

[bpatrick]

I don't recall the segments on the Gleason show, but Jayne
Mansfield and Prof. Irwin Corey would certainly be ideal for
that kind of a show. So yes, I'd say that was a revival attempt.

I was a freshman at the University of Georgia when the 1973 version
aired; none of the Atlanta stations carried it, but we got it on cable
on WLOS/13 Asheville, NC. I watched it a time or two, but I prefer
the original '40s version.

 

[pqgeorge]

I don't recall the segments on the Gleason show, but Jayne
Mansfield and Prof. Irwin Corey would certainly be ideal for
that kind of a show. So yes, I'd say that was a revival attempt.

I was a freshman at the University of Georgia when the 1973 version
aired; none of the Atlanta stations carried it, but we got it on cable
on WLOS/13 Asheville, NC. I watched it a time or two, but I prefer
the original '40s version.

WCVB-TV (Channel 5/Boston) also ran the 1973 version of "It Pays To Be Ignorant". I recall watching the show in the summer of 1974. Even after Joe Flynn's untimely death in that summer, the station still ran repeats for a few weeks until the contract had expired.

 

[wbhist]

I don't recall the segments on the Gleason show, but Jayne Mansfield and Prof. Irwin Corey would certainly be ideal for that kind of a show. So yes, I'd say that was a revival attempt.

Perhaps this will jog your memory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnTZiKr3k00