B
Bob1370
Guest
Source, New York Times
Channels
2-WCBW (CBS, now WCBS-TV)
4-WNBT (NBC, now WNBC)
5-WABD (DuMont, now WNYW-Fox)
No morning programs listed
AFTERNOONS
3:00
5-News, music (to 5:00)
EVENING
7:50
4-Television Reporter (newsreel, voiced by John Cameron Swayze)
8:00
4-Hour Glass (variety); Helen Parrish, host
5-Charm School
8:15
2-News, Milo Boulton
8:30
2-Case of the Poisoned Powder (mystery)
5-Film Shorts
8:50
2-Feature Film (title not listed)
9:00
4-Children's Halloween Party
5-Quiz-Cash and Carry, with Dennis James
Hour Glass, with Helen Parrish, on WNBT was the first big-budget hour-long variety show on network TV, sponsored by Chase and Sanborn Coffee. Television historians now count it as a prototype for successful variety shows from Milton Berle through Red Skelton to Dean Martin and Carol Burnett, and its influence is even felt in the formats of contemporary TV talk/variety shows like The Late Show With David Letterman. It was the first show to be seen by a sizable multi-city audience, live in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and Albany, and possibly by kinescope in Chicago. It only aired for one season (1946-47), not because it failed to draw an audience--quite the contrary. It was TV's first hit series, visited by major radio stars like Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy doing their first TV guest shots. And host Helen Parrish was regarded as television's breakout star, someone who was beginning to draw attention to the medium and sell TV sets just the way Milton Berle did two years later. But she left the program to have a baby, and neither she nor Hour Glass returned to the NBC schedule afterward. While Parrish made occasional appearances after Hour Glass in film and on TV, she never again hosted a program. She passed away from cancer in 1959 at the age of just 35, survived by her husband, TV producer John Guedel (best known as Art Linkletter's producer on House Party and People Are Funny) and two children. TV historians sometimes speculate on what might have been, had she remained with the show or returned to network series television for the 1947-48 season.
Channels
2-WCBW (CBS, now WCBS-TV)
4-WNBT (NBC, now WNBC)
5-WABD (DuMont, now WNYW-Fox)
No morning programs listed
AFTERNOONS
3:00
5-News, music (to 5:00)
EVENING
7:50
4-Television Reporter (newsreel, voiced by John Cameron Swayze)
8:00
4-Hour Glass (variety); Helen Parrish, host
5-Charm School
8:15
2-News, Milo Boulton
8:30
2-Case of the Poisoned Powder (mystery)
5-Film Shorts
8:50
2-Feature Film (title not listed)
9:00
4-Children's Halloween Party
5-Quiz-Cash and Carry, with Dennis James
Hour Glass, with Helen Parrish, on WNBT was the first big-budget hour-long variety show on network TV, sponsored by Chase and Sanborn Coffee. Television historians now count it as a prototype for successful variety shows from Milton Berle through Red Skelton to Dean Martin and Carol Burnett, and its influence is even felt in the formats of contemporary TV talk/variety shows like The Late Show With David Letterman. It was the first show to be seen by a sizable multi-city audience, live in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and Albany, and possibly by kinescope in Chicago. It only aired for one season (1946-47), not because it failed to draw an audience--quite the contrary. It was TV's first hit series, visited by major radio stars like Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy doing their first TV guest shots. And host Helen Parrish was regarded as television's breakout star, someone who was beginning to draw attention to the medium and sell TV sets just the way Milton Berle did two years later. But she left the program to have a baby, and neither she nor Hour Glass returned to the NBC schedule afterward. While Parrish made occasional appearances after Hour Glass in film and on TV, she never again hosted a program. She passed away from cancer in 1959 at the age of just 35, survived by her husband, TV producer John Guedel (best known as Art Linkletter's producer on House Party and People Are Funny) and two children. TV historians sometimes speculate on what might have been, had she remained with the show or returned to network series television for the 1947-48 season.
