Retro; New York City, Saturday, December 25, 1948

[Bob1370]

Source; NY Times

Channels/Stations

2-WCBS-TV (CBS)
4-WNBT (NBC)
5-WABD (DuMont)
7-WJZ-TV (ABC)
11-WPIX (Ind)
13-WATV (Ind)

MORNING
10:00
13-Test pattern
11:30
7-Film: Miracle on Main Street (Drama, 1939); Walter Abel, Margo
11:45
2-Music and weather

AFTERNOON

12:00
2-Christmas Castle with Doris Brown
1:00
2-Film Theater; Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (Drama/Fantasy, 1938); Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart
1:15
7-Film; Pot o' Gold (Comedy, 1941); James Stewart, Paulette Goddard
2:00
2-St. Albans Veterans' Hospital Party
4-Knightsbridge Veterans' Hospital Party
5-Handel's Messiah
2:45
13-News, weather
3:00
13-Feature Film
3:45
7-Film; Beyond Tomorrow (Drama/Fantasy, 1940); Jean Parker, C. Aubrey Smith, Charles Winniger, Maria Ouspenskaya
4:00
4-Film; Little Men (Comedy/Drama, 1940); Kay Francis, Jack Oakie, George Bancroft, Jimmy Lydon
5-Merry Christmas Variety Show (to 8:30)
5:00
11-Toy Parade
13-Junior Frolic (children)
5:50
13-Camera Highlights (news)

EVENING

6:00
2-Dickens' Christmas Carol, with the Baltimore Children's Group
4-Films
11-News; Six Gun Playhouse
6:30
7-Alexander's Quizdom Class
7:00
2-Film; Enchanted Forest (1945, Drama); Edmund Lowe, Brenda Joyce
7-News and Views; Christmas Story
13-Film; Lightnin' Bill Carson (Western, 1936); Tim McCoy
7:30
4-Television Screen Magazine with Roy Forrest
7-Joe Hazel Sports Review
11-Newsreel
7:40
11-Your New York
7:45
7-Earl Wrightson Show
8:00
2-Christmas Present Variety Show; Gypsy Rose Lee, Georgia Gibbs
4-NBC Christmas Concert
7-At Home, And How
13-Film; Starlight Night
8:30
7-Film; Golden Glory
9:00
2-Film; Silver Skates (1943, Musical); Kenny Baker
4-Film; Cheers for Miss Biishop (1941, Drama); Martha Scott, William Gargan
7-NBA Basketball; New York vs. Chicago
11-Film; Jungle Book (1942, Fantasy), Sabu
10:15
11-Newsreel

This is how New York area TV viewers celebrated Christmas in 1948.

 

[Ultimajock]

2-WCBS-TV (CBS)

1:00
2-Film Theater; Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (Drama/Fantasy, 1938); Reginald Owen, Gene Lockhart

6:00
2-Dickens' Christmas Carol, with the Baltimore Children's Group

9:00
2-Film; Silver Skates (1943, Musical); Kenny Baker

...boy, Bill Paley and Frank Stanton must have had a huge affection for Charles Dickens ;D ...

...interesting that Kenny Baker's name should pop up here. Baker had been the tenor on Jack Benny's Jell-O Program on NBC radio, but left that show in 1938 because he was becoming too popular as an individual attraction and General Foods didn't want to pay the money Baker demanded for a new contract. IIRC, he did appear on Benny's annual "Christmas shopping" episode in 1939, ostensibly bumping into his successor, Dennis Day, in a New York department store. He appeared in 17 Hollywood musicals, including Stage Door Canteen, but returned to radio on Fred Allen's Texaco Star Theater over CBS from 1940 until Allen's sabbatical from radio in '42. Baker also appeared in the original cast of the musical One Touch of Venus on Broadway. For such a successful career, it's interesting that today, if anybody mentions the name Kenny Baker, the most likely point of reference is to the actor who was inside the robot R2D2 in the Star Wars movies, or even the similarly-named musician who was part of the '60s pop group Spanky & Our Gang...

 

[bpatrick]

Yesterday Turner Classic Movies showed "The Man Who
Came To Dinner" with Monty Woolley from the early '40s;
in the credits I noticed the name Russell Arms. The name
may not mean anything today but for several years in the
'50s he was one of the stars of "Your Hit Parade" (along with
Dorothy Collins, Gisele MacKenzie, and Snooky Lanson).

Barney Fife even mentioned Kenny Baker once, when he
was about to replaced in the Mayberry community chorus
(Gomer, of course, was the first pick).

 

[landtuna]

For such a successful career, it's interesting that today, if anybody mentions the name Kenny Baker, the most likely point of reference is to the actor who was inside the robot R2D2 in the Star Wars movies, or even the similarly-named musician who was part of the '60s pop group Spanky & Our Gang...

I had never heard of Kenny Baker until I began listening to old Jack Benny radio programs of the 30's. He had a great voice but in comparing him to Dennis Day I find Dennis' singing and his comedy more enjoyable than Bakers. It's as if Baker originated the character but Day perfected it.

 

[Ultimajock]

IIRC, [Kenny Baker] did appear on [Jack] Benny's annual "Christmas shopping" episode in 1939, ostensibly bumping into his successor, Dennis Day, in a New York department store.

...just checked my OTR tapes, and it was actually the 1940 "Christmas shopping" episode, and it wasn't Dennis that Kenny bumped into but Benny himself. However, earlier in the same program it was claimed that Kenny had been showing Dennis around New York the prior week...