Classic 1940's Television

Classic TV shows from the 1940's, mostly 1949.

[@MRMcdermott]

For those wondering: some of the shows were produced on film. "The Lone Ranger" TV show started on film in 1949, and is one of the oldest US TV shows for which all the episodes (221 of them!) still exist. The really blurry ones were kinescopes, basically a film camera in front of a TV screen. Sometimes it was filmed for rebroadcast in the western time zones (one reason Hollywood claimed TV looked terrible). Sponsors who put their name on an entire show, would have filmed and kept kinescopes to make sure their commercials aired.

[@Retaliatixn]

"The Italian parliament were discussing now for 36 hours and they will probably go for another day if they feel like it." NOW THAT, THAT IS GOLDEN JOURNALISM.

[@angelsaltamontes7336]

You have hit the pizza on the head. This is what is missing. No anchovies could fill the distance.

[@carlosmpsenyorcapitacollon6977]

@@angelsaltamontes7336 or pinneaple.

[@MrColinwith1L]

my favorite is where he ends the broadcast saying the Mexican secret police have found a rod of uranium that must have been stolen from the US. Well thats the news, good night.

[@rogertemple7193]

"when news did what they were supposed to be doing reporting the news."

[@stevenbennett3805]

Many of the live broadcasts in the 1940s, especially the variety shows, required the performers to wear garish makeup (predominantly blue) on the places on their face that were susceptible to glare from the very very bright arc lights that were required to illuminate the stage due to the poor quality videcon tubes in the cameras. The makeup alone would illicit hilarious laughter from the audience when the host or a guest would come on stage. White shirts for the men would be replaced with blue shirts as would white dresses for the women. On the b&w cameras these blue garments would be perceived as white. Red garments would be replaced with brown as red would appear too dark of a shade.

[@dogerecords5312]

So it would not colorize right would it?

[@calgarywino]

This is very interesting!

[@shannennicoletolentino7001]

Used this as an ambiance/backround sometimes

[@451hist]

Same here!

[@hebneh]

TV broadcasting grew so tremendously in the US in the late 1940s that the Federal Communications Commission put a moratorium in place on issuing licenses for new stations to sort out the bandwidth requirements. This lasted till 1952, and while some big cities had 3, 4, or 5 stations during this time, large parts of the country had no TV stations at all. So millions of people in the USA saw no television programs in the 1940s.

[@angelsaltamontes7336]

They didn't know how lucky they were.

[@natanaelrodriguez9580]

Does anyone else just skip through the video like you're changing the channel?

[@karlstuber6399]

I've been here 3 minutes was about to leave. Don't always skip through. I read comments while a film rolls. This guy talks so well.

[@steadfastcoward]

Nope, and this guy holds your attention. A good communicator.

[@stacyritter4527]

yep

[@calgarywino]

No, I watched it all. I also love the old radio shows.

[@carlosmpsenyorcapitacollon6977]

Lmfao yes.

[@brianarbenz7206]

Clifton gives about three minutes to high school basketball tourney scores, then 10 seconds to stolen uranium being recovered by Mexico. I'm from Indiana, and I know those priorities!

[@breeinatree4811]

Back in the day it wasn't understood how dangerous uranium was. My grandparents once brought me a chunk of it that they bought at a store in New Mexico. I wanted to be a geologists and they thought I would like it.

[@user-rp5qs5ls7z]

POV: you're a soldier in 1945 year and you want to watch some TV after war! "Wow,what a good times"

[@LaptopLarry330]

If you were a soldier or sailor in World War II, and got badly injured in combat, but did not die, and got shipped back to the US to recuperate in a military hospital, chances are, you got your first experience watching television, as there were TV sets there to entertain the troops while they recuperated from their bad injuries and burns.

[@harlanhoyt7403]

For those who want to understand the inception of broadcast television, post World War II life in America, the International and political scene at the time, this is an interesting time capsule. There is a distinct difference from the last forties to the early to mid 50's in all those areas if you look closely .

[@catherineerwin8269]

Art Carney as Newton the waiter on the Morey Amsterdam show. Good video!

[@Kelly-nm4kw]

Hello Catherine, How are you doing?

[@JJJBRICE]

Wow ! Marge Champion listed in the credits of Admiral Broadway Review at 1:11:01 just passed away recently at 101 . I thought all these people had passed years ago . I think she appears with Gower at 1:42: 00

[@steadfastcoward]

Utley has been talking about the 'Atlantic Pact', which is I believe the beginings of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

[@carlosmpsenyorcapitacollon6977]

And it seems just one day before it was signed by what he says.

[@blueacetv4549]

It was more casual and less professional then. I like that

[@Steve-eq8iz]

Most of it was broadcast live. Video tape won't be invented for a decade still.

[@walteralter9061]

How the hell did we get here from there?

[@applepie1272]

WandaVision Probably

[@carlosmpsenyorcapitacollon6977]

Idk.

[@Laforza1952]

The Utley broadcast may have been April 3, 1949.

[@thelonearranger1]

Love the guy's vibrato at 2:51:21

[@Theywaswrong]

As a kid in the 60's, we didnt watch much TV, usually had to be called in at our "curfew" from playing...summer time seems like 9 oclock. But if I had been a kid when these programs were on.....no offense but I would have wanted to stay out playing until bath/bedtime. Yikes.

[@pamfeist5462]

Shoot 9 oclock was bedtime for me in the 60s ! Had to be in before dark

[@sing4theLordJesus]

Wow....a young Paul Tripp as Mr. I. Magination!

[@michaelrutledge7048]

L. V.E. And Walter Matthau as one of the senators!!

[@JENDALL714]

Television was invented in 1927, imagine no depression and no WW2, how far Television technology would have already advanced by the 1940's?

[@WalterDWormack214]

Why is it that a certain segment of the citizens of the United(?) States, *just can't resist putting such a 'wistful', 'delusional', 'spin', on UTTER BULLSHIT!*

[@ApartmentKing66]

@Maxx Fleischer TV wasn't ready to roll out 'til the late 40s? According to whom? You, or someone who was actually there? David Sarnoff announced, at the 1939 World's Fair, the dawn of regularly scheduled commercial TV, and NBC's and CBS's TV stations were each issued a commercial license by the FCC effective July 1, 1941 (so that neither could claim a "first"). NBC's WNBT began regularly scheduled programming on Channel 1, with CBS's WCBW doing the same on Channel 2. I've even seen WNBT's 1941 rate card. Everything hummed along until December when Japan attacked us, but the Tri-State area had regularly scheduled commercial TV for 5 months in 1941, so when you say "not ready to rollout [sic] until the late 40s?" Do some more research.

[@LaptopLarry330]

1939 through 1947 was the "Experimental Era" of television in the US. The stations that were issued licenses by the FCC had multiple call letters and numbers, and were owned by electronics manufacturers and radio networks. According to the program post cards that were mailed by the broadcasters to television owners, some of which can be seen at TVHistory.tv, the broadcast day only lasted for several hours, starting at 6:00 PM at night. NBC, CBS, and Dumont all had TV stations that experimented with different types of programming, including sporting events. ABC got a late start in 1945, only after the US Supreme Court ruled that NBC owning two radio networks violated antitrust laws, and the Red or Blue Network was spun off to become ABC Radio. They immediately started up an experimental TV station that year.

[@danabrown4628]

@@LaptopLarry330 tv history tv

[@nickpaine]

As I recall, the networks evening news programs were only 15 minutes long as late as 1963. JFK assassination resulted in expanding them to 30 minutes. Hard to believe the nation's news could be covered in such brevity then.

[@charliecline7871]

A young Walter Matthau

[@lylewilliams1371]

Thank you!

[@SilentCaligari]

You're welcome!

[@OmegaWolf747]

Loved seeing Sid Caesar and Art Carney.

[@coleparker]

Interesting in seeing Morey Amsterdam considering that he was on the 1960s Dick Van Dyke show. I had not realize that he had been in TV that long.

[@gracieallen8285]

I would have loved to know what year these were first broadcast.

[@EXWiz4rd]

All 1949

[@gracieallen8285]

EXWiz4rd, thanks

[@charlesandrews2360]

The opening newscast was right around March 18th of 1949 and suspense theater episode was broadcast on May 3rd 1949. The news man who opened up this video is the father of Derek Utley who is famous for his covering the Vietnam War

[@danabrown4628]

@@charlesandrews2360 I was five days old when this news program was broadcast. Turning 73 on Sunday the 13th.

[@charlesandrews2360]

@@danabrown4628 That means you were 18 years old in the Summer of Love. How was that? I was only eight so I had no idea what was going on

[@johnazhderian5734]

The average price of a car in 1949 was $1,600. Today (2019) its now $36,000! In the future, a new car will be $1,000,00 for an economy model!

[@xxlunarwolfxx3604]

most certainly

[@luisreyes1963]

Did you see the size of that Nestlè's Crunch candy bar? It's as big as a license plate! Guess they got more candy for less money back in 1949. 🍫

[@trevorevlin445]

Nope

[@carlosmpsenyorcapitacollon6977]

1000?

[@KS-sl4ji]

This reminds me of back in the day when we were kids, we’d play with the video camera and make our own shows. Essentially, these actors and actresses back in the 40s were doing the same thing

[@jaelepke]

Can definitely tell they were trying to go from radio dramas to TV & trying new things w visuals, all that dramatic organ music 😆

[@Theywaswrong]

Did anyone notice Shirley Booth tell the guy "better hurry" when he was buying a ticket?

[@melokc7257]

My mother told me her town citizens didn't really have mass tv ownership until the mid 50s. 40s tv then would have been for a very small percentage of folks, and at a high cost to own.

[@dogerecords5312]

Where'd you get these.

[@gracieallen8285]

Just think they had a Congress who actually worked for the people.

[@jumpinjehoshaphat9075]

@Big Bill O'Reilly you are so stupid, and deceived. Some things never change, and Trump seems to be one of the most lawful 'public servants ', and he is no paragon of virtue.

[@jumpinjehoshaphat9075]

@Big Bill O'Reilly none so blind as those who will not see. No more replies I don't waste time on trolls

[@jumpinjehoshaphat9075]

@Big Bill O'Reilly I will say this though. You will never ever remove him from Office. The way things look right now I think you get to enjoy 5 + more years of the Donald. Have Fun.

[@jumpinjehoshaphat9075]

@Big Bill O'Reilly so we're not friends and colleagues and fellow countrymen who disagree about something? Very sad that you can't be civil. And I am having fun. Everyday is a blessing and I try to see and appreciate what is good. Bye bye troll boy! Savor the rhetoric of the Donald!

[@demoncard1180]

@@jumpinjehoshaphat9075 You were rude to him first, of course he isn't your friend and colleague.

[@coletanner5193]

Is this like an infomercial...I think so..cars were OUTRAGEOUS in 1948..doubled in 8 years

[@lovegodloveothers3404]

me being bored brought me here

[@danielhaslam5179]

Other than the systemic discriminations of these times, life just post-war and especially pre-war seems so much easier to live in than today. There’s a sort of simplicity about man’s day-to-day activities and virtues you just don’t really get today. Sigh.

[@carlosmpsenyorcapitacollon6977]

I generally think that the US was cooler before the cold war except racism.

[@SuperIliad]

(From 12:05 to 41:41): Dead Ernest, Suspense TV, Season 1. Episode 8, episode aired May 3, 1949. Outdoor TV at this time and for quite some more years was a rarity, if seen at all.

[@MurdochMMQCR]

25 to 270? Jesus back then that must've been a helluva jump eh?

[@mynewyork165]

Check out the comment made by the announcer in minute 1:02:00 about discrimination. In 1949, to make an announcement like that was almost taboo. It was to combat racial & religious discrimination. Now, several years later, it still exists.

[@PoisonPinball]

it will always exist, but it is for SURE better than it was in the 1940s haha

[@flyingchimp12]

Still exists??

[@mynewyork165]

@@flyingchimp12 Yes. Racims still exists. What kind of bubble are you living in?

[@glennmillerfan]

The rise of right wing populism in recent years has made racism even worse than it was in 1949.

[@mynewyork165]

@@glennmillerfan You mean the republicans? Oh heck yeah, & it proved to us that it never really went away.

[@fabricenixon7774]

If this was in the 40's why in the battery commercial the guy said that the doc would be in tiem to shake hands with the local 1960 person?

[@OIOIIIOIIiioi]

진짜 빈티지감성이 충만한 시기는 이때인데 이 시대는 별로 살고싶지가 않다ㅠㅠ전쟁이 많이 일어나던 시기 아니었나?ㅠㅠ2002년생이지만 1970~1980년대에서는 살아보고싶은데 1930~1940년대에서는 살고싶지가 않네요ㅠㅠ이젠 진짜로 전쟁이 안일어났으면 좋겠어요

[@witherblaze]

I always found it weird watching TV from the 40s. I always thought of TVs as from the 50s.

[@williamsharpe7458]

wow unbiased news hard to believe they can even do it

[@hewitc]

No Murdoch Republican propaganda back then.

[@williamsharpe7458]

So we have progressed to outright lying by the news media, by the likes of MSNBC or CNN and the others, I don't care what their political leaning are, but it would be nice to have unbiased 100% truthful news reporting not twisted Marxist renditions of the news.

[@AngelVazquez-vs9xp]

@@hewitc Democratic propaganda is not any different than Republican propaganda. Prove to me otherwise

[@themagicminstrels476]

@@hewitc lmao yeah cause we have a “Republican Propaganda” problem you dimwit

[@peopleskarmasquad1042]

Women were much classier back then.

[@donalddees5503]

Woooow

[@luisreyes1963]

So that's what network news was like back in the early days of TV. Also, the episode of Suspense was quite entertaining. 😳

[@LaptopLarry330]

If you want to get a better idea of what news broadcasts were like in the early years of television, check out an episode of "The Camel News Caravan/Plymouth News Caravan", with John Cameron Swayze (yes, the man who appeared in all those Timex Watch commercials ) on NBC, or "Douglas Edwards With The News" on CBS. A handful of these newscasts are available for viewing here on KZbin. Note: news broadcasts in the early years of television were only 15 minutes long. They would not go to a 30-ninute newscast until the 1960s. As for ABC, there is a partial newscast of "John Daly And The News" (yes, he was the host of "What's My Line?" on CBS) from the mid-1950s, that was part of a CBS special on the history of television that was broadcast in the mid-1970s, and features context by Charles Kuralt. It can be seen here on KZbin.

[@pamfeist5462]

I didnt think they had tv until the 50s are you sure these werent movie theater commercials ?

[@pamfeist5462]

I googled ot they were onvented in 1928 and in production by the late 1930s

[@thunderpop20]

Power of attorney

[@kujo5998]

Is that Mr Rogers in the first clip? That news about car costs???!!!

[@kkwok9]

Would be nice to got to live in those days

[@brianarbenz7206]

Is he related to Garrick Utley?

[@LorenIpsum75]

Yes. Clifton Utley is Garrick Utley's father.

[@markgranrtz5359]

His father

[@Channel-uc6kp]

Hope you are coming

[@blacknight7643]

It shows in wiki Clifton Utley was born 1939...if it was 1949 he would have only been 10 years old....

[@danafo81]

Him and his son had the same first name but different middle names. Clifton Maxwell Utley was born in 1904, his son Clifton Garrick Utley was born in 1939.

[@pedroper859]

If the tv from that era was "live tv", how we get this récords?

[@Sassyjass2012]

Via kinescope recordings. They were done with a type of camera that filmed live programs, for rebroadcast in other time zones. This method was supplanted by the development and superior quality of videotape, in the late 1950s.

[@dougdimmadome9241]

38:15 is gonna stick with me forever

[@dflf]

Inventing tv on the fly

[@k.zukarov6777]

I miss the Morey Amsterdam show

[@michaelrutledge7048]

K. Zukarov A GREAT comedian!! Very underrated.

[@luisreyes1963]

Seriously? 🤨

[@HopefulWisdom_]

God dame

[@voodoo49]

Ed Norton L o v e d Captain Video!!

[@luisreyes1963]

Captain Video was a DuMont program.

[@A-Aron118]

Anyone know who the women is at 132:35 ? and is that Walter mathou at 209:45 ?

[@LaptopLarry330]

I believe that the woman was actress/comedienne Mary McCarty, who was a cast member of "The Admiral Broadway Revue". The woman who played the oriental dancer was Imogene Coca, who would later star with Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris on "Your Show Of Shows" on NBC.

[@invisibleman1028]

I thought I could come to this channel and get away from the political b.s. There are plenty of other channels where you can throw around various versions of reality that you never experienced and feel like you've made a point for humanity.

[@Anne-mz1jj]

...and all of these people are long dead now. That's a little creepy when you think about it.

[@steadfastcoward]

Clinton Utley...Garrick's father?

[@annettewalker9639]

Yes. I looked it up.

[@ApartmentKing66]

Yes. I didn't look it up. I already knew.

[@mikeycondry1493]

A better America

[@michaelrutledge7048]

Mikey Condry MUCH better!!

[@luisreyes1963]

Did he just say "Commies"? Didn't think Fox News Channel existed back then. 🤨

[@lawrencemanross1456]

Any relation to Garrick Utley?

[@luisreyes1963]

He was his father.

[@mygaffer]

It's all been downhill since this.

[@Desnes7]

Uhmm...

[@k.m.h7480]

Wow nothing new under the sun . We’re still on this news lol

[@gerryfromthevoid8986]

Fran was pretty good at steamrolling her way through the classic 1940s chauvinist attitude, lolz

[@angelsaltamontes7336]

It is genuinely astonishing to anyone with a fair steeping in radio and TV, prose and music, of the third quarter pf the 20th Century (1950-1975), who has any habit of taking note or plain retaining production minutiae (personnel, especially), to find in this archive literally dozens of names and references here that are present and often prominent in that much-matured later time. Technical quality aside (if you're inclined to Exit this document, remember and indulge it with the same slack you allowed the earliest fax, cellular (and, before that, plain old "portable", non-cellular) phone, video and all the other stepping-stone techs) this collection has value just as a set of rosters, in the same way there are verses or chapters in the Bible that are "only" lists. They mean SOMETHING. At (2:30:00), just to snag one and point at it: the Dumont Network, which in those early times looked as big as anybody & for awhile DID get bigger, presents Morey Amsterdam. Yes, the same Morey Amsterdam who a dozen years later with Rose Marie costarred with a young guy named Dick Van Dyke in that new young comedian's mirror-in-a-mirror-in-a-mirror TV show about fictional TV writers for the fictional "Allan Brady Show". A VERY small world, also a very large one, which came to be seen with higher fidelity. And a good thing, too, as Van Dyke's TV wife was a newcoming ingenue named Mary Tyler Moore. The Amsterdam show has its own young lady, here in the late 1940s: Jacqueline Susann. Yup, she who in HER maturity penned a novel called "Valley of the Dolls". Perhaps you've heard of it. Things grew up fast. This document shows the almost bare ground. It's not perfect; baby steps never are. These are Baby TV's first steps.

[@thunderpop20]

The rulera timeline

[@ddivincenzo1]

@1:01:50, those bad are scary.

[@luisreyes1963]

Better than The Kardashians, eh? 😆

[@JJJBRICE]

At 2:45,future author Jacqueline Susann !

[@fromthesidelines]

Yes, she briefly appeared as the "Cigarette Girl" on Morey's program, during 1949.

[@MBison-im2qy]

27:58 lol wut? batteries need water? do they also need wood chippings and a little igloo?

[@dehoedisc7247]

....."the 40's" is misleading as can be. The number of American households that had a TV set was just about ZERO, in the 40's. A few households (upper middle class) had a small TV set in 1950. I know, I was there. (born in 1945) The programming that was available was extremely hard to find, because the industry did not generate much profit, much Money. So, anyway, I had a good laugh at the notion that Americans watched TV in the "40's". NOPE, they did NOT.

[@bkenglandUTube]

True in the early to mid-1940s. Not so true by the end of the decade. For us, our family had a reasonably-sized Packard Bell set new in 1948 that we didn't replace until well into the 1960s.

[@njhawksworth1588]

The first news broadcast referred to 1949 as "this year". Are you saying he's lying? People need to realise what they themselves personally experienced isn't the sum total of reality. Your family didn't have a television. My grandparents did, and it's still in my garage.

[@dehoedisc7247]

@@njhawksworth1588 to refer to the year "1949" as "The 40's" is just plain Ridiculous. It creates a false impression, and if you can't see that, you are Blind. And there was virtually a tiny amount of programming, so Having a TV set was only useful for a very short "day". What good is a TV set when there is No Programming for most of the day?

[@JENBETH5]

@@dehoedisc7247 wrong go look at wikkipida

[@amyclarke41]

ok

[@paulforgette4910]

OK Let youtube run by itself and you wake up ay 25 min in ...going to the morge !!! yikes

[@DMBall]

40's television all right, but "classic," I don't know.

[@TheAbsolutestillness]

It’s not your television it’s the mans face lol wtf

[@CannedHorror]

People talking absurdity when they say that this was a better time of America. America is at its peak right now.

[@ericg4915]

My grandfather was a police officer in 49 with 5 kids in private school and a stay at home wife and about 3-4 cars. Do you think any police officers/public servants or ANYONE in middle america today could do that? No you couldn't and it wasn't called the glory years for nothin. Not to mention we have never matched the economic growth of the 50s where we saw GDPs of 7% which is unheard of for today.

[@lincolnpaul1814]

Agent J. You live in a bubble

[@mikeycondry1493]

No it isn’t

[@CannedHorror]

@@mikeycondry1493 wym it isnt. You fucking high?! Women were dying when giving birth far more than now. Sicknesses were far more incurable. There was far more racism. So, there is no better time in America than now. I could order anything with a few clicks, I could communicate with anyone in the world in a matter of nanoseconds, I can get flights to any part of the world, families on avg own 2 cars compared to back then, woman don't have to worry about dying when giving birth, racism is far less common, and I can turn on my flat screen TV or my pixel and have limitless content, oh and most of all anyone can get an education without having to worry if their university will accept them or not based on race/economic situation.

[@CannedHorror]

@@ericg4915 correction "yes they could." If we are talking about police officers you're completely wrong. Depending on the county you work in. In LA county Police officers make a avg of 66k when entering and some of the officers I know make up to 73k in 4ish years. And they have insane health benefits, dental plans, pensions plans, retirement plans, vacations, sick leave benefits. Also let's compare owning vehicles. Right now most homes own 2 cars lol while in the 40's that wasn't even close to common. Having their children in a private is dependant on the school so prices vary. Now if you're talking about paramedics yeah we are fucked I should easily be getting paid more.

[@s4m4r1nd4]

2:59:40!?

[@jeanbaptistevallee4500]

These horrible , cringe provoking films, shall live forever!

[@MichaelS1995]

Back when the U.S. actually was tolerable.

[@petelarosa282]

I just wanted to say to Jesus love you very much and died for you. You can accept him as your savior anytime you want. As the old saying goes he is only a prayer away

[@CannedHorror]

20:30 $5 only wtff

[@xxlunarwolfxx3604]

as prices fluctuate a lot, at that time 10 dollars are about 100 dollars nowadays (I'm not an expert)

[@hankaustin7091]

I guess my tastes in 2018 are just too sophisticated for this kind of comedy, I kept skipping ahead trying to find the funny parts.. never did find any...

[@glennso47]

Hank Austin Not too much different from now. There are lots of comics who are not funny

[@CannedHorror]

I agree as well

[@CannedHorror]

@A. Nonny Mouse yes, media from today is better than this.

[@karlstuber6399]

Who told you this was funny. It's educational.

[@ApartmentKing66]

@@karlstuber6399 He's just being a sarcastic asshat. Thing is, he's found a following.

[@Rickswars]

Back when the democrat party wasn't the enemy within, weird!

[@keithhyttinen8275]

You got that backwards. We know where the treason rests. And we're voting in 2020.

[@williamjackson5942]

The enemy within is Traitor Trump and his enablers!

[@hewitc]

Putin owns Trump.. You don't come out of bankruptcy to buying golf resorts without help. "We get all the financing we need from Russia" No wonder Trump want the US out of NATO. Putin wants western Europe again.

[@AngelVazquez-vs9xp]

The Democratic Party was always an enemy. In the 1940’s they were in control of the southern states and were responsible for segregation and had a following by the KKK within those states.

[@Rickswars]

@@AngelVazquez-vs9xp true! they were always terrible, but not like today, they are the enemy of all the people!!

[@krulzy1]

Is that Walter Matthau?