Retro: New York City Tues, Aug 28, 1956

[Bluenoser]

from New York Herald Tribune

WCBS 2-CBS New York
6:50 Prevues/Sermon
7:00 Good Morning!
8:00 Captain Kangaroo
9:00 My Little Margie
9:30 Amos 'n' Andy
10:00 Of All Things
10:30 Arthur Godfrey Times (Peter Lind Hayes fills in)
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
1:10 Stand Up & Be Counted
1:30 As the World Turns
2:00 Johnny Carson
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 the Night (that's how it was listed)
5:00 Late Matinee "The Magnet"
5:55 Les Paul & Mary Ford
6:00 World News
6:05 New York Report
6:10 Feature
6:15 Early Show "Wagon Tracks West"
7:10 Weather
7:15 CBS News
7:30 Name That Tune
8:00 Phil Silvers (Sgt Bilko)
8:30 Navy Log "The First Shot"
9:00 Joe & Mabel
9:30 Spotlight Playhouse "The Motive Goes Round & Round"
10:00 $64,000 Question
10:30 Do You Trust Your Wife?
11:00 News
11:10 Weather/Sports
11:15 Late Show "U-Boat Prisoner"
12:30 Late Late Show "Norman Conquest"
1:45 News/Sermon

WRCA 4-NBC New York
6:55 Daily Sermonette
7:00 Today
8:55 Herb Sheldon
10:00 Ding Dong School
10:30 Band Stand
11:00 Home
11:25 Window
noon Tic Tac Dough
12:30 It Could Be You
1:00 One is for Sheldon
1:30 Jinx's Diary
2:00 Richard Willis
2:30 Tennessee Ernie Ford
3:00 Matinee Theatre "House Off Fifth Avenue"
4:00 Queen for a Day (Ben Alexander subs for Jack Bailey)
4:45 Modern Romances
5:00 It's Always Jan
5:30 Evening Theater "Kill or Be Killed"
6:45 News
7:00 Great Gildersleeve
7:30 Frankie Carle
7:45 Camel News Caravan
8:00 Dear Pheobe
8:30 This is Show Business
9:00 Jane Wyman (season premiere)
9:30 Aluminum Hour "A Fragile Affair"
10:30 Big Town
11:00 News
11:10 Weather
11:15 Jimmy Powers
11:20 Steve Allen (Tony Randall guest hosts)
1:00 Sermonette

WABD 5-DuMont New York
8:25 Prevues/Prayer
8:30 It's Fun to Reduce
8:45 Sandy Becker
10:00 Tune In Anytime "The Great Mr Handel"
noon Freddie the Fireman
1:00 Tune In Anytime (no info listed, did they just repeat the same film over again?)
4:00 Wendy Barrie
4:30 Easy Chair
5:00 Food for Thought
5:30 Mr & Mrs North
6:00 Captain Video
6:30 Looney Tunes
7:00 News
7:15 Sports
7:30 Waterfront
8:00 Janet Dean, RN
8:30 Mr & Mrs North
9:00 Beulah
9:30 City Assignment
10:00 Hunter
10:30 Playhouse "Lost & Found"
11:00 Featurama "Are You Safe at Home?"/"Maps We Live By"
mid. Prevues/Prayer

WABC 7-ABC New York
7:45 News
8:00 Tinker's Work Shop
9:00 Romper Room (Miss Jean)
10:00 Drama of Life "The Bean Farm"
10:30 Road of Romance
11:00 Hopalong Cassidy
noon Time for Fun
12:30 Joe Franklin
1:00 Afternoon Show "Letter from an Unknown Woman"
3:00 Film Festival "Third Time Lucky"
5:00 Mickey Mouse Club
6:00 Superman
6:30 Cisco Kid
6:55 Weather
7:00 Sports
7:15 News
7:30 Warner Presents "Cheyenne", followed by "Behind the Cameras" looking at "Toward the Unknown"
8:30 Wyatt Earp (Season premiere)
9:00 Summer Originals "Blizzard Bound"
9:30 Cavalcade Theatre "Doctor on Wheels"
10:00 All-Star Theatre "The Indirect Approach"
10:30 Studio Seven "Another Sunlight"
11:00 News
11:10 Night Show "Casanova Brown"

WNHC 8-ABC/CBS New Haven
6:45 Man to Man
7:00 Good Morning Connecticut
9:00 Breakfast Playhouse "The Lodge"/"Second Sea"/"Captain January with Baby Piggy"/"Buddy's Beer Garden"
10:30 Yankee Peddlers
11:00 My Little Margie
11:30 Looney Tunes
noon News
12:15 Love of Life
12:30 Search for Tomorrow
12:45 Guiding Light
1:00 Bontempis
1:45 Channel 8 Matinee
2:00 Channel 8 Matinee "I'll Never Know When"
2:30 Linkletter's Party
3:00 Film Festival "Third Time Lucky"
5:00 Mickey Mouse Club
6:00 Stage 8 "Second Sight"
6:30 Sportscope
6:40 Weather
6:45 News
7:00 Superman
7:30 Warner Presents
8:30 Wyatt Earp (season premiere)
9:00 Summer Originals "Blizzard Bound"
9:30 Cavalcade Theatre "Doctor on Wheels"
10:00 $64,000 Question
10:30 People's Choice
11:00 News
11:10 Weather
11:15 Les Paul & Mary Ford
11:20 Nitecap Theatre "Who Killed Doc Robin?"
1:00 News

WOR 9-Ind New York
11:00 Kiddie Video
noon Cartoon Parade
12:30 Fun for Lunch
1:00 Camera 9 Feature "Summer Night"
1:30 New Products
1:40 Stories Before Game "The Hard Way"/"Jealousy"
2:10 Happy Felton
2:15 Baseball doubleheader: Dodgers-Chicago Cubs
7:00 Greatest Fights: Barney Ross v Billy Petrolle
7:30 Million Dollar Movie "Top Hat"
9:00 Hour of Danger "The Saint in Palm Springs"
10:00 Million Dollar Movie (repeat from 7:30)
11:30 Hour of Danger (replay from 9pm)

WPIX 11-Ind New York
1pm Man to Man
1:15 Transition
1:30 Hollywood Movietime "Michael O'Halloran"
3:00 Sightseeing
3:30 Candid Camera
4:00 First Show "Wall of Death"
5:30 Cartoon Comics
6:00 Clubhouse Gang
6:30 Ramar of the Jungle
7:00 News
7:10 Weather
7:15 New York News
7:30 Jimmy Powers
7:45 Bud Palmer
7:55 Red Barber
8:10 Baseball: Yankees-Kansas City Athletics
10:35 Red Barber
10:45 Post-Game Theatre
11:00 News
11:10 Weather

WATV 13-Ind New York
11:58 TV Pastor Marsh
noon Coffee Club
12:30 Junior Carnival
1:00 Mystery Film "Phantom of 42nd Street"
2:00 Movie Matinee "Strange Illusion"
3:15 Club Tel Aviv
3:30 Western Roundup "Desert Bandit"
4:30 Junior Frolics
5:30 Super Serial "Fighting with Kit Carson" (Chapter 11)
6:00 Western Theatre "Fighting Shadows"
7:00 Mystery Hour (replay of 1pm film)
8:00 University "Backyard Zoology"
8:30 Thrills in Sports
9:00 Feature Film (replay of 2pm movie)
10:00 Western Feature "Unknown Valley"
10:55 News
11:00 Mystery Hour "Bluebeard"

WICC 43-ABC/DuMont Bridgeport
6pm Film Shorts
6:30 News/Sports
7:00 Telecomics
7:15 Film Shorts
7:30 Warner Presents
8:30 Film Shorts

 

[Tim L]

from New York Herald Tribune

[WABD 5-DuMont New York

10:00 Tune In Anytime "The Great Mr Handel"
noon Freddie the Fireman

1:00 Tune In Anytime (no info listed, did they just repeat the same film over again?)

Yes..I have a Reprint NYC TV Guide for September 8-14, 1956 (Elvis Presley Cover)..Channel 5 did repeat the same movie, not unlike WOR-9's "Million Dollar Movie"

 

[Stanislav]

WICC 43-ABC/DuMont Bridgeport
6pm Film Shorts
6:30 News/Sports
7:00 Telecomics
7:15 Film Shorts
7:30 Warner Presents
8:30 Film Shorts

Wow -- a whole 3 hours of programming. Boy, what would those early struggling UHFs do without those public domain film shorts, huh? Odd that they are listed as ABC/DuMont, yet there's not a single network show on the sked. (Except maybe "Warner Presents?" -- what was that?)

Looking at this, it's not hard to imagine why so many early UHFs failed. I'm sure most folks in the Bridgeport area could get at least watchable VHF signals from NYC and New Haven. Look at the schedules -- what would YOU be watching that night? Would ANYONE be struggling with a balky converter box to watch channel 43? Highly doubtful.

 

[wbhist]

I see WRCA-TV's late afternoon movie show at this point was called Evening Theater. At what point did it become Movie 4? (I'm guessing prior to March 1958.)

As to WABC-TV's Night Show (when exactly did that premiere?), that umbrella was used until September 1963 when it was revamped as The Best of Broadway. That title first took effect at the same time Channel 7 premiered their first attempt at a late-afternoon movie program, called The Big Show, which was an ancestor to their fondly-remembered The 4:30 Movie. Unless their 1:00 Afternoon Show and 3:00 Film Festival were even earlier predecessors to The 4:30 Movie.

As to the Channel 43 listing for Warner Presents: This was Warner Bros. Presents which also aired on WABC.

 

[Stanislav]

As to WABC-TV's Night Show (when exactly did that premiere?), that umbrella was used until September 1963 when it was revamped as The Best of Broadway.

I've always been puzzled by the latter title when I've seen it in old listings. These were movies showing on a TV station -- nothing to do with Broadway plays or musicals. And WABC-TV wasn't located on Broadway at any time AFAIK. So where did the "Broadway" of the title fit in? Maybe just "Broadway" in the sense of a generic concept of New York culture/glamour/history?

 

[Tim L]

WBHist:
I think the 3:00 "Film Festival" You are referring to is the "Afternoon Film Festival"..A series of British movies that actually ran on the ABC network in 1956-57, being replaced by American Bandstand in August 1957.

 

[andreajesus]

from New York Herald Tribune

WCBS 2-CBS New York
1:30 As the World Turns

and I believe that 52 YEARS LATER, it's STILL on at 1:30 PM (but that's just MY memory...I don't watch soap operas... )

Andrea

 

[wbhist]

As to WABC-TV's Night Show (when exactly did that premiere?), that umbrella was used until September 1963 when it was revamped as The Best of Broadway.

I've always been puzzled by the latter title when I've seen it in old listings. These were movies showing on a TV station -- nothing to do with Broadway plays or musicals. And WABC-TV wasn't located on Broadway at any time AFAIK. So where did the "Broadway" of the title fit in? Maybe just "Broadway" in the sense of a generic concept of New York culture/glamour/history?

At least a few movies aired under this umbrella - such as the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - did start out on Broadway. And it's conceivable a few stars of the films shown also appeared on Broadway within their respective careers. But I agree that this title didn't make that much sense. (It was on TBOB, in 1967, that Hitchcock's Psycho was first shown on TV, B.T.W.)

And while WABC-TV itself was never located on Broadway, its AM radio sister powerhouse ("Musicradio 77") had their studios at 1926 Broadway between 1964 and 1966, after which they moved to ABC's then-corporate headquarters of 1330 Avenue of the Americas.

 

[bpatrick]

"As The World Turns" has aired at 2 PM since
1987; "The Bold And The Beautiful" airs on
CBS at 1:30.

"Warner Brothers Presents" started as a series
of three rotating shows (sort of like "NBC Mystery
Movie" in the '70s): "Cheyenne," "Casablanca,"
and "King's Row." The last ten minutes of the show
were devoted to "previews of coming attractions"--
Warner films at your local theater. The second year
(1956-57) only "Cheyenne" returned, alternating with
something called "Conflict," and the previews were
dropped. Year three, "Cheyenne" and "Sugarfoot"
alternated, joined in the 1958-59 season by "Bronco,"
a series hastily created when "Cheyenne" star Clint
Walker refused to work until he got the raise he demanded.

 

[Ultimajock]

As to WABC-TV's Night Show (when exactly did that premiere?), that umbrella was used until September 1963 when it was revamped as The Best of Broadway.

I've always been puzzled by the latter title when I've seen it in old listings. These were movies showing on a TV station -- nothing to do with Broadway plays or musicals. And WABC-TV wasn't located on Broadway at any time AFAIK. So where did the "Broadway" of the title fit in? Maybe just "Broadway" in the sense of a generic concept of New York culture/glamour/history?

At least a few movies aired under this umbrella - such as the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - did start out on Broadway. And it's conceivable a few stars of the films shown also appeared on Broadway within their respective careers. But I agree that this title didn't make that much sense. (It was on TBOB, in 1967, that Hitchcock's Psycho was first shown on TV, B.T.W.)

...well, remember, Anthony Perkins was nominated for a Tony for his work in Look Homeward Angel on Broadway a couple of years before making Psycho, so that umbrella theory about the title fits in his case. As I recall, CBS had the rights to air Psycho prior to 1967 but Bill Paley himself was scared to put the thing on TV, even that late in time...

 

[wbhist]

...well, remember, Anthony Perkins was nominated for a Tony for his work in Look Homeward Angel on Broadway a couple of years before making Psycho, so that umbrella theory about the title fits in his case. As I recall, CBS had the rights to air Psycho prior to 1967 but Bill Paley himself was scared to put the thing on TV, even that late in time...

TV Guide, at the time of WABC's first airing of Psycho, mentioned that CBS intended to air the film earlier in the 1966-67 season, but chickened out. For years, Psycho aired, if at all, late at night; only a decade or more later, by which time WOR-TV held the airing rights, was it shown in the daytime.

 

[Bluenoser]

WICC 43-ABC/DuMont Bridgeport
6pm Film Shorts
6:30 News/Sports
7:00 Telecomics
7:15 Film Shorts
7:30 Warner Presents
8:30 Film Shorts

Wow -- a whole 3 hours of programming. Boy, what would those early struggling UHFs do without those public domain film shorts, huh? Odd that they are listed as ABC/DuMont, yet there's not a single network show on the sked.

WICC didn't have a lot of programs...here's the complete sked for Sun 8/26-Sat 9/1/56 (again from the HT):

Sunday, August 26
6pm Christophers
6:30 This is the Life
7:00 Film Shorts
7:30 Famous Film Festival "The Promoter"
9:00 Guided Tour
9:30 Film Shorts
10:00 Travel Theater

Monday, August 27
6:00 Picture Window
6:30 News
6:35 Film Shorts
6:45 Family Rosary
7:00 Telecomics
7:15 Film Shorts
7:30 Picture Pastime
8:30 Open Shutter
9:00 Film Fair "Caravan"

Tuesday, August 28
6:00 Film Shorts
6:30 News/Sports
7:00 Telecomics
7:15 Film Shorts
7:30 Warner Presents "Cheyenne"
8:30 Film Shorts

Wednesday, August 29
6:00 Picture Window
6:15 Film Shorts
6:35 News
6:45 Family Rosary
7:00 Telecomics
7:15 Film Shorts
7:30 Picture Pastime
8:30 Video Varieties
9:30 Eddy Arnold
10:00 Guided Tour

Thursday, August 30
6:00 Picture Window
6:30 News/Sports
6:45 Family Rosary
7:00 Telecomics
7:15 Film Shorts
8:00 Local Film
9:30 Open Shutter

Friday, August 31
6:00 This is the Life
6:30 News/Film Shorts
6:45 Family Rosary
7:00 Telecomics
7:15 Film Shorts
10:00 Post Time, USA
10:15 Industry on Parade

Saturday, September 1
No scheduled programs