Timeless Black and White TV Classics

[LKellerIII]

"Yes, the color years were down from the b/w years, but I think the switch to color was just coincidental in that regard."

And from what I heard at the time, Griffith was burnt out and tired, and just wanted it to end. If I remember correctly, he pulled the plug even though the ratings were decent and CBS would have liked another year. I guess that was the rationale for "Mayberry RFD"...a desperation move by CBS which should have let the franchise die a more dignified death.

 

[chuckydoll]

At the time "The Jetsons" and "The Flintstones" were the only color shows on ABC, it was because ABC as yet did not have color production facilities (live or tape) -- all they had was a color film chain.

You probably saw those shows on a station that had yet to go color.

Many stations in smaller markets didn't go color until the mid-60's, network color at first, local color later.

 

[Tim L]

At the time "The Jetsons" and "The Flintstones" were the only color shows on ABC, it was because ABC as yet did not have color production facilities (live or tape) -- all they had was a color film chain.

You probably saw those shows on a station that had yet to go color.

Many stations in smaller markets didn't go color until the mid-60's, network color at first, local color later.

In looking over schedules in the Cleveland area in the mid 1960's, If ABC affiliates WEWS-5 Cleveland, WYTV 33 Youngstown, and WAKR 49 Akron aired the same Color ABC program at the same time, many times there would be a note at the end of the listing, "Channels 33 and 49 do not colorcast"

 

[anotherguyTN]

Actually, CBS didn't go full color (in prime time, anyway) till the fall of '66, and had no color shows till the fall of '65.
They were in a position to wait it out because they were number 1, and since RCA manufactured all of the equipment necessary to broadcast in color, CBS could have an attitude of "Why should we make you guys money?"

I'd read where one reason CBS took so long to go color was because of the FCC having chosen RCA's system to be the standard for color TV in the early 50's rather than theirs, so CBS held out as long as possible before going to color broadcasts.

Although CBS's color pictures looked great from what is shown on some websites, it was best that the FCC picked the RCA system. CBS's system used a mechanical color wheel and would have been incompatable with black & white sets.

Here are some links about the CBS system:

http://www.novia.net/~ereitan/Color_Sys_CBS.html

http://www.novia.net/~ereitan/CBS_Chronology_rev_h_edit.htm

The main website for these links at http://novia.net/~ereitan/index.html is a great site for the history of color TV.

Also, here are some links to a site with early network color TV openings and more early color TV history:

http://www.kingoftheroad.net/colorTV/colorTVlogos.html

http://www.kingoftheroad.net/colorTV/index.html

Also, the color wheel idea has made a comeback in DLP TV sets.

 

[bk77]

As for the "Flintstones" Winston ads, it may well be that color prints of them did not survive or were junked. In that day, 16mm B&W prints and/or kinescopes of color shows were made for non-interconnected affiliates without color capabilities, or for overseas uses such as Armed Forces TV. (I have seen 2 or 3 such B&W copies of "The Bugs Bunny Show" which as mentioned above was produced in color.) Could be that one of those prints is all that survives of the Winston ads.

I don't remember where I read this maybe it was on the old Snopes site but there was a discussion about those old Winston Cigarettes/Flintstones commericals. It seems R J Reynolds had as many as 10 different ads with the Flintsones smoking their Winstons. Some old timers swears they remember the cartoon characters doing ads back then for Salem as well since Winston does make that brand. Not really a surprise there considering that Phillip Morris also advertised their Marlboro and Parlament Brands as well as their signature brand on I Love Lucy during that show's original CBS run.

Today most of the ads are lost, from what I heard it was a decision by R J Reynolds Tobacco to have them destroyed. The two or three that remains today very well could have been saved by one of those stations that wasn't inter-connected to ABC.

 

[Corky Marlowe]

And from what I heard at the time, Griffith was burnt out and tired, and just wanted it to end. If I remember correctly, he pulled the plug even though the ratings were decent and CBS would have liked another year.
The ratings were more than decent...Griffith finished in the year end overall top 10 every year he was on, and I think he was number 1 for his final season.

 

[Julius Leonard Marx]

And the color episodes did not wear well in syndication. For a long time TBS and many local stations did not air the color episodes in the normal rotation (sometimes sticking them very early in the morning on weekends). One station reportedly tried running the color episodes in black and white hoping people wouldn't notice.

After season five:
Barney left.
The show's producer left.
Most of the original writers left and the new bunch just didn't get the show.
And maybe Andy didn't care any more.

Otis did two color episodes. One in season six and one in season seven (in addition to 30 black and white episodes).

 

[LKellerIII]

"Today most of the ads are lost, from what I heard it was a decision by R J Reynolds Tobacco to have them destroyed. The two or three that remains today very well could have been saved by one of those stations that wasn't inter-connected to ABC."

I was a kid, but well remember those cigarette commercials. Though most were upbeat and catchy (people having fun while smoking)...some were serious and would push the "health benefits" of the Kent Micronite Filter...or whatever. Seeing that kind of thing now would be more damning evidence that the tobacco companies were misleading consumers.

My personal favorite slogan (and catchy jingle)- "Lucky Strike separates the men from the boys...but not from the girls."

 

[RicoGregg]

My personal favorite slogan (and catchy jingle)- "Lucky Strike separates the men from the boys...but not from the girls."

Another old cigarette jingle, this time from Winston:

(singing) It's not how long you make it, but how you make it long.

 

[Julius Leonard Marx]

The hottest, sexiest thing - ever - on television was Julie London singing the Marlboro song (before the "Marlboro Man" campaign). She was standing on the Staten Island ferry on a foggy night with the lights of lower Manhattan behind wearing a trench coat (and in my fantasy, nothing else).
And the way she sang, "You get a lot to like with a Marlboro....
filter....
flavor ....
flip-top box."
The way she sang "flip-top box" was Viagra for the 60s.

 

[RADIO TRUTH]

I have always had a fond spot in my heart for "Car 54 Where Are You". I always wondered about the show only being on two years (60 episodes) yet it was on the cover of TV Guide twice. I would rate it my favorite sitcom of all time with Dobie Gillis and Mr. Ed right behind it.

 

[FreddyE1977]

Someone had mentioned Rocky and Bullwinkle. Those shows were actually produced in color,
although we all watched them in black-and-white for many years. (my father was never an
early-adapter, and parsimonious to the extreme).

Some of my black-and-white favorites:

- The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. (my wife finally convinced me to remodel
our kitchen when we turned it on one day and noticed that Ozzie and Harriet
had the same wallpaper).

- The Untouchables (just re-appeared on my screen thanks to RTN)

- the original black-and-white episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies (they were more of
a literary work at that time, unlike the more slapstick-y color episodes)

- original Dragnet

- Twilight Zone

- The D_ck Van D_ke Show

 

[Stanislav]

To me, one of the real neglected classics is "Bilko." (Or "Sgt. Bilko" or "You'll Never Get Rich" or any of the other titles it has gone by.) Great cast, funny situations, great writing, but for whatever reason not at all appreciated today. Except, oddly enough, in England where there is a huge Bilko cult and I believe it has never been off the air. Outside of the brief months it aired on TV Land a few years ago, I don't think anyone in the U.S. has shown it in the last couple decades. (Maybe it turned up on a few low-budget UHFs or something.)

 

[LKellerIII]

RE: Sgt. Bilko - very true, and I've often wondered why it never got more re-run play. Even in the early 60s when local TV in LA was filled with reruns of Father Knows Best, Danny Thomas, Lucy (of course), Our Miss Brooks, Leave it to Beaver, and other 50s sitcoms that got constant airplay - Bilko rarely appeared - and only for a few months here and there. Even those few originally syndicated The Honeymooners shows were on constantly for years, but not Bilko.

I remember that Phil Silvers even had a new mid-60s sitcom where he tried to re-create the Bilko magic...he was again a fast talking comic con-man with a crew of men working for him. Other than that, I don't remember name of the show, or the concept. I believe it only lasted 13 weeks, or perhaps one season.

 

[Julius Leonard Marx]

Not beat a dead horse here, but I recently viewed a collection Bilko DVDs from Netflix. My memory of Bilko was much better than actually seeing it again. The show did not age well. Some shows hold up, some don't.

Among those I've seen lately that did not hold up were:
Make Room For Daddy.
Father Knows Best
Ozzie and Harriet
All the Warner Brothers western and detective shows except Maverick
I was very, very disappointed in Mr. Peepers after all these years.

 

[mleach]

Not beat a dead horse here, but I recently viewed a collection Bilko DVDs from Netflix. My memory of Bilko was much better than actually seeing it again. The show did not age well. Some shows hold up, some don't.

Among those I've seen lately that did not hold up were:
Make Room For Daddy.
Father Knows Best
Ozzie and Harriet
All the Warner Brothers western and detective shows except Maverick
I was very, very disappointed in Mr. Peepers after all these years.

There are a LOT of shows from the past who for a variety of different reasons don't hold up well today for a lot of people.

Some shows like I Married Joan, Burns & Allen, Jack Benny, Life of Riely, or December Bride mainly because of age and the fact that just about everyone in the cast is no longer with. Joan Davis for example has been dead now for over 40 years.
Difficult to laugh at someone who has been dead for so long I have heard. Of course this doesn't make sense to me considering many of these same people still laugh at the Three Stooges and it has been well over 30 years since Moe Howard and Larry Fine had died and over 50 years when Curly passed on.

I Love Lucy, true it is still on the air today but many say that show hasn't held up over the years mainly because of all the smoking scenes and the few scenes where Ricky spanks Lucy. Today some would call Ricky an abusive husband.

Those old Bondie and Dagwood movies from the 40s, they have been seen on TV for years. Not so much anymore. One reason is that in a few of those movies , African-Americans were shown as being "stupid". I believe AMC when they ran a Blondie marathon a few years back actually received a number of complaints from viewers about that.

Car 54, Where Are You was a great show, but a lot people didn't get the Jewish humor on the show.

Hogans Heroes and Dennis The Menace and even though its from the 80s, one can add Diff'rent Strokes to the list. Those shows suffered mainly because of the personal problems of its co-stars. Kinda like watch a Joan Crawford movie today. For many its hard to watch one of her classic movies without thinking "..NO MORE WIRE HANGERS !!"

Some shows like I Love Lucy can get away being dated or whatever and still continue to be on TV today while others really don't.

 

[kirkiefan]

B&W days...ah yes!

The (original)Price is Right with Bill Cullen(Don Pardo was announcer during its 50s NBC run)
Howdy Doody
You Bet Your Life/Best of Groucho
Sky King
The Cisco Kid(first seasons in B&W before switching to color)
Adventures of Superman(also B&W switching to color)
Early Hanna-Barbera cartoons (Ruff & Reddy,Huckleberry Hound,Yogi Bear..went to color in mid 60s)
Andy(Devine)'s Gang (pluck 'yer magic twanger Froggy!)
Wild Bill Hickok (also co-starred Devine as comedy relief Jingles)
Fury(the story of a horse..and a boy who loves him!...da-da-da-da DUMMMMM!)
The Twilight Zone
Dobie Gillis
The Roy Rogers Show (a horse opera that co-starred Pat Brady's jeep)
Death Valley Days(original host "The Old Ranger")
December Bride-the series that spawned "Pete and Gladys" (if anyone ever wondered what happened to Dean Miller as Matt Henshaw..he moved back to Ohio and owned a radio station until he passed away in 2001..he was also a TV news anchor in D.C. Miami and Detroit in the 70s)
Sea Hunt (Lloyd Bridges made scuba diving look adventurous and cool)
The Everglades
Upbeat( HEY LET'S GO WITH THE UPBEAT SHOW!!!)
Shindig (Howdy-hi shindiggers...ROCK-'EM!)
Circus Boy (Mickey Dolenz,later of Monkees fame played title role...billed as Mickey Braddock)
Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
The Dick Clark Show(Saturday night prime time complement to American Bandstand)
Where The Action Is(where Dick Clark gave us Paul Revere and the Raiders and the hit title song by Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon)

It Could Be YOU! (almost similar to "This Is Your Life" as was produced by Ralph Edwards who also gave us "Truth or Consequences" with Bob Barker)

 

[LKellerIII]

"I Love Lucy, true it is still on the air today but many say that show hasn't held up over the years mainly because of all the smoking scenes and the few scenes where Ricky spanks Lucy. Today some would call Ricky an abusive husband."


I have no desire to defend 'I Love Lucy' particularly, but I think that when we watch these shows, we need to adjust our attitudes and accept that it was a different time. Those few light spanks Ricky gave Lucy in an episode or two hardly qualify as spousal abuse, and the smoking was also widely accepted at the time. I'm sure it was also encouraged by the tobacco companies, which spent a lot of money on advertising.

I'm often disappointed by shows that I think are dated, but its usually because the humor is out of date or the pacing is slow. Some of the action-adventure shows of the 50s and 60s (77 Sunset Strip, and that genre) seem dated because they are talky, slow paced, badly written and REALLY cheap looking - even compared to the cookie-cutter Quinn Martin shows of the 70s, which seem like big budget epics in comparison.

I've seen the Jack Benny Program over the decades from time to time, and thought it held up well. I've always figured it doesn't get much play because of Rochester. On the surface, especially with his voice, he seems to show a bit of the "Steppin Fetchit" like character we've reviled since the Civil Rights era, but if you pay attention, he comes up as one of the smarter characters on the show, certainly wiser than the cheapskate selfish and deluded boob Benny played.

 

[Stanislav]

I have no desire to defend 'I Love Lucy' particularly, but I think that when we watch these shows, we need to adjust our attitudes and accept that it was a different time. Those few light spanks Ricky gave Lucy in an episode or two hardly qualify as spousal abuse, and the smoking was also widely accepted at the time. I'm sure it was also encouraged by the tobacco companies, which spent a lot of money on advertising.

Slightly OT (not TV), but what amazes and amuses me when I watch old movies (from the 30's and 40's, especially) is the amount of alcohol those people consumed. Good grief, they were ALWAYS drinking, it seems. (Think, for an egregious example, of the "Thin Man" flicks.) How everyone didn't die by 50 of cirrhosis of the liver is beyond me. :

I've seen the Jack Benny Program over the decades from time to time, and thought it held up well. I've always figured it doesn't get much play because of Rochester. On the surface, especially with his voice, he seems to show a bit of the "Steppin Fetchit" like character we've reviled since the Civil Rights era, but if you pay attention, he comes up as one of the smarter characters on the show, certainly wiser than the cheapskate selfish and deluded boob Benny played.

Eddie Anderson's character was light years removed from Stepin Fetchit and his ilk. In many ways, Rochester was one of the least stereotypical African-American characters in popular media of the era. He was funny, resourceful, clearly smarter than Benny, and not afraid to tease or outright insult his boss when he deserved it. Benny was a legend, but for my money Rochester was the funniest character on that show -- he got so many of the best lines. And that foghorn voice made every line even funnier. (Anderson claimed that he wrecked his vocal cords as a paperboy in his youth, hawking his wares at the top of his lungs on street corners...)

 

[Julius Leonard Marx]

I've seen the Jack Benny Program over the decades from time to time, and thought it held up well. I've always figured it doesn't get much play because of Rochester. On the surface, especially with his voice, he seems to show a bit of the "Steppin Fetchit" like character we've reviled since the Civil Rights era, but if you pay attention, he comes up as one of the smarter characters on the show, certainly wiser than the cheapskate selfish and deluded boob Benny played.

Eddie Anderson's character was light years removed from Stepin Fetchit and his ilk. In many ways, Rochester was one of the least stereotypical African-American characters in popular media of the era. He was funny, resourceful, clearly smarter than Benny, and not afraid to tease or outright insult his boss when he deserved it. Benny was a legend, but for my money Rochester was the funniest character on that show -- he got so many of the best lines. And that foghorn voice made every line even funnier. (Anderson claimed that he wrecked his vocal cords as a paperboy in his youth, hawking his wares at the top of his lungs on street corners...)

The character or "Rochester" (Eddie Anderson only played Rochester) underwent a considerable evolution from the time he started with Benny in the late 30s and the TV show 20 or more years later. Rochester was written close to the Stepin Fetchit stereotype in the early years on radio. Even later on, he alone continued to address other characters formally as "Mr.," or "Miss" (and the other characters when speaking to referred to White characters in the third person as "Mr." or "Miss"). White characters addressed each other and referred to each other familiarly by first names. This is a clear indicator of "Rochester" being assigned subordinate status.