I remember a few of these shows back in the 1950’s but just a little here and there as I was a little kid, but we all watched the programs my parents did at the time, like the Ed Sullivan show or Playhouse 90 and such.
I remember a few of these shows from the past as a small kid in the 1950’s, like Ed Sullivan and the Playhouse 90 but only slightly, as I was too young but my father and mother watched at the time, and you always watched what they watched. A few of these programs were on live at the time!
Your Show of Shows
And a few of these shows were broadcast live at the time and playhouse 90 had some great programs, it was Television in black and white in entertainment!
Your Show of Shows was a weekly 90 minute variety program that starred Imogene Coca and Sid Caesar that ran 90 minutes. It was on from 1950 to 1954, Other featured performers were Carl Reiner, Howard Morris, Bill Hayes, baritone singer Jack Russell, Judy Johnson, the Hamilton Trio and the soprano Marguerite Piazza, Jose Ferrer also made several guest appearances on the series.
The show has been featured in several lists of the greatest television series. Most of the series has been preserved to some extent, but only some sketches have been released on home video.
The Philco Television Playhouse
The Philco Television Playhouse was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955 the series was sponsored by Philco and was produced by, Fred Coe and of the golden age of Television it was one of the most respected dramatic shows, and in 1954 won a Peabody award, and also also nominated 8 times for Emmy’s between 1951 and 1956. many well known stars began their career’s in the early days of Television.
The Colgate Comedy Hour
The Colgate Comedy Hour was a variety program series that included musical and comedy show that ran on NBC from 1950 to 1955 and many notable stars of comedy and the entertainment era were guest stars!
The program evolved from NBC’s first TV variety showcase, Four Star revue sponsored by Motoroa, The weekly show was proposed to be hosted by four comedians in a four-week rotation, to provide competition for Ed Sullivan’s Toast of the Town on CBS The first episode, starring Hans Conried, Rosemary Decamp and Dick was written and produced by the then 22-year-old Peggy Webber, who appeared in over 100 episodes of Dragnet with with Jack Webb.
The new format was heavily backed by its sponsor, Colgate – Palmolive, to the tune of $3 million in the first year, and the 8:00 p.m. ET, Sunday evening format show was a spectacular success.
Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90 is an American television was an anthology drams series that aired on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. The show was produced at CBS Television City in California Since live anthology drama series of the mid-1950’s usually were hour-long shows, the title highlighted the network’s intention to present something unusual: a weekly series of hour-and-a-half-long dramas rather than 60-minute plays.
From the start, productions were planned to be both live and filmed, with a filmed show every fourth Thursday to relieve the pressure of mounting the live telecasts.The first filmed Playhouse 90 was, The Country Husband (November 1, 1956) with Barbara Hale and Frank Lovejoy portraying a couple in a collapsing marriage. The filmed episodes were produced variously, by Screen Gems and CBS.
Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts
it was the highest rated television show for the 1951–1952 season. It remained a highly popular show through the decade. The show took a great drop in ratings after orchestra bandleader Archie Bleyer left in the 1954–1955 season, but rebounded as the scouts continued to discover more talent. However, by the fall of 1957, television audiences began to prefer westerns and adventure shows to quiz programs and Godfrey’s ratings dropped out of the top 30 Nielsen Chart.The show aired its final episode on January 1, 1958.
On December 24, 1956, the show became the first entertainment program to be videotaped for broadcast, as the then-new technology was used for a time-delayed rebroadcast in the Pacific Time Zone An Ampex quadruplex videotape machine recorded the initial live broadcast to the Eastern part of the country, which was replayed three hours later.
The Ed Sullivan Show – Beginning in 1948 as The Toast of the Town and renamed in 1955 (though commonly referred to as The Ed Sullivan Show for years prior), this is probably the most famous television variety show in history. It ran continuously until 1971 and is responsible for introducing so many entertainment stars to a national American audience. There were many acts and musical events, like Elvis Presley, the Beatles and so many more. His show was viewed on Sunday eveing’s.
Fireside Theatre – is an American anthology drama series that ran on NBC from 1949 to 1958, and was the first successful filmed series on American television. Early episodes (1949-1955) were low-budget and often based on Public Domain stories. While the series was dismissed by critics, it remained among the top ten most popular shows for most of this period.
For the 8th season Jane Wyman 1955–1956 became the host and producer making it only the second filmed prime time network drama anthology to be hosted by a woman. Later episodes (1955–1958) were written by important freelance television writers such as, Rod Sterling “The Twilight Zone fame” Aaron Spelling and Gene Roddenberry “of The Star Trek” frame. It predates the other major pioneer of filmed television production in America, I Love Lucy by two years.
Evert F. Baumgardner – National Archives and Records Administration., CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
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