PRIME TIME TV IN THE LATE 1940s

Some of the shows that began their run in 1948 and 1949.

[@lilymarie4030]

Wow! What a trip down memory lane. We were the first family in our neighborhood to get a television. We didn't have much money but Dad bought one on time. It was a BIG box with a ten inch screen. I was four years old in 1948 but I remember most of what is in this video. We also had one telephone with a three party line. Gosh, do you kids even know what a party line is? LOL Just an old lady reminiscing.

[@disoriented1]

Lily Marie I've heard of party lines; how did you ever make a call?...and I don't remember party lines, but I do remember learning my phone number in kindegarten starting with letters..they changed it to all digits the next year

[@lilymarie4030]

disoriented1 I remember when I was very small they dropped one house off our line and we had our house and one other household. As far as making calls, if you picked up the phone and the other party was using it, you just said "excuse me" and hung up. Of course, people didn't talk on phones all the time like they do now. I can remember my phone number from then. It was 3698W and my best friend's number was 0894R. Can't remember what I had for breakfast, but I can remember that. Lol. We had telephone operators too of course. Ah, the day that we got a private line was amazing.----- I always said that I would never tell "old people stories" but I find myself doing it.

[@disoriented1]

where were you where you had such short telephone numbers?...mine was GL2-6013...for the Gladstone exchange in Kansas City, Missouri

[@lilymarie4030]

disoriented1 We lived in a small town in the Detroit Metro area. Where I grew up, it was total country---gravel roads, farms and woods. I can't remember for sure when we got the longer number beginning with letters. Might be when we finally got a dial phone system. The exchange was Parkway. PA-1- - - - The reason that I didn't give the entire number is because it remained my father's number until he died in 1997 and it might be reassigned to some one else now because there are still a lot of PA-1 [721] numbers here. The old shorter number was in the late 40s and early 50s. I still live in the same area which now, is all city; strip malls, housing developments, condos and CEMENT! I'm still a country girl at heart but have never managed to reclaim that kind of life.

[@jimkey920]

We got our first TV in 1950. it was a 1947 7" Admiral with radio and Phonograph. We had to close the curtains to be able to see the screen in daylight. I first saw TV at a freinds house in 1946. It was the Mummers Parade in Philadephia. My freinds dad was the Underaker.

[@jakebadenhorst9570]

Imagine being alive at the time and watching this live. Then watching it again nearly 70 years later...

[@brie.bunnie7952]

Haha I have social media pages dedicated to that. Most I've disabled temporarily... Keep Calm Vintage Have my 92 year old grandma watching this a few states away with me. With dementia...these videos make her so happy!!

[@marcchevalier3750]

wrong. I wouldn't waste my time watching these. I would go live the world and not be in the house too often. Shopping, park, buildings, diners/foods, etc..

[@jamesmiller4184]

@@marcchevalier3750 Well Jason, as one of those who actually lived it, I can say as a witness, it was ALL of apiece - a continuum - which experience is now not duplicatable. Only in memories (still viable) does it exist as whole.

[@davidfrehlini968]

@@jeannieheard1465. Hello from Palermo Sicily. Well I am 75 going on 76 and the Mrs. is just a couple of years younger but we still remember and yes indeed we miss these days and these shows very much. The Parents were very strict and kept us in line. We look back and realize that we did have it great and some. And here are some more great oldies TV Shows. Police Station, Calling all Cars, The Maury Amsterdam show, East Side/West Side, Target, Straightaway, The US Steel hour, Navy Log, Bunco Squad, P.C. 49 ( British ), Harbor Command, Matinee Theater, Breaking Point, Kraft Television theater. And way so many more. God Bless. Oh. And never forget, Lassie, London the littlest Hobo, Dragnet, Route 66, Superman, The Arthur Godfrey talent search, the 64,000 dollar question, the Loretta Young show and that's it for now. God Bless.

[@fromthesidelines]

Yes, remember when your neighbors often turned up for "television nights", crowding your living room to see "Uncle Miltie" and other programs.....before they went out and bought sets of their own?

[@charlottereynolds1329]

It is awesome to go back in time and remember television back in those early years. We were appreciative of what little entertainment that we had in those times. Thank you!

[@dgm2485]

It's sad to think how much of early TV was live and lost to history. So recordings like this are pure gold.

[@peterstilla8733]

Wow. Very impressive. Network TV didn't even begin until 1946 or 47, so these go back to TV's infancy.

[@janethartwig774]

We didn’t get our first TV set until 1955 so I don’t remember any of these shows. Whenever my parents went to Sears or Montgomery Wards they dropped us off in the TV section to watch all of the TV’s much to our delight. My sisters and I never missed TV because we enjoyed playing cards, Monopoly, Chinese Checkers, dominos, coloring, reading and needlework. There were lots of fun children’s programs on the radio.I loved playing games with my older sisters and our parents.

[@karenryder6317]

We got ours in 1956 but I remember some of these playing in the background when I visited my friends.

[@ferociousgumby]

I've watched this a million times! It's such a time machine.

[@rickballentine3052]

Man, how times have changed since 1948. Humor changes dramatically, it was very slapstick back then compared to 2021.

[@DavidSmith-sb2ix]

I was born in 1947 so some of these I don't remember being too young and our family not having a TV until a few years later. Still have the original. I do remember Lone Ranger, Life of Riley, Life of Riley and Charlie Ruggles, Milton Berle and Ed Wynn from the 50s.

[@daniellack3559]

For those too young to remember, take it from an oldtimer, The Texaco Star Theatre, featuring Milton Berle (Uncle Miltie) at the 2:05 mark , is the show that turned tv into an unreal sensation...

[@jamesrobiscoe1174]

We are the men of Texaco, we work from Maine to Mexico...

[@ronatopaz2793]

As someone who first saw Perry Como as an elderly, grandfather like figure in the early 70’s, it’s a revelation to see him here as a much younger man but with the same voice and personality! Thanks for posting.

[@jamesrobiscoe1174]

Mr. Como was a talented, warm, and generous man from top to bottom, from beginning to end.

[@steelers6titles]

Perry was a barber from Canonsburg, Pa. He was, perhaps, the most relaxed singer who ever lived.

[@aaaht3810]

People who never experienced early TV will never know what a sensation it was. Just amazing to watch entertainment in your own home.

[@ApartmentKing66]

Speaking of sensations, so was color TV when it started to catch on in the mid-60s.

[@harf59]

My mother told me, the one thing they did not like about television. They were the first on the block to have a Television set. They felt obligated to let anyone in the neighborhood who asked come in to watch TV. It got annoying quickly

[@aaaht3810]

Yep. It happened all over the country. Sports programming was especially popular for a neighborhood group watch. @@harf59​

[@geoben1810]

The magic eye of television..... Wow! 8yrs before I was born. When you think about how television was the first medium that was able to bring the world into our living room and then the internet and how I'm able to now communicate in real time with the world with a small hand-held device.

[@gordonadams5891]

I recall early tv shows of 15 minute duration. Now, the usual half hour show is barely longer.😉 Most people didn't even get a TV until the early to mid 50's. Radio was still the norm. I remember The Lone Ranger was on both media for a few years.

[@danielthoman7324]

I remember Groucho Marx you bet your Life was on radio and TV at the same time.

[@Bernard91784]

These are bloody incredible! Cheers from Australia 🇦🇺

[@Musicradio77Network]

This was way before my time, and people who don't have TV sets can still listen to the radio and hear "Jack Benny", "Burns & Allen", "Life of Riley", "Amos 'N Andy", and many more. This was where TV was beginning to take shape and competing with radio. Many people prefer Radio over TV. When radio shows started to fade away by the early 1960's, TV became the winner of the war.

[@jamesrobiscoe1174]

And "Beulah". Don't forget "Beulah."

[@fromthesidelines]

"THE BEULAH SHOW" was on TV from 1950 through 1953. It was also heard on radio at the time.

[@lenisbennett8285]

I was six when we got our first TV in 1951. We had 3 channels to chose from.When the stations would sign off we would just watch the test pattern !

[@YourTubeVideoss]

Not Far From You lol .. I Remember TV in 1970 ( i was 7 years old ) 4 Channels On TV .. Little More Advanced Than Your Time , Stations Did Not Sign Off The Air ( i wish , i would have got more Sleep When I Was a Kid .. Small House TV in Next Room , My Bedroom Next To It .. Rough Times Going To Sleep .. School Nights .. On Well ... Healing Now LOL

[@lennyanders1639]

Interestingly Betty White made her TV debut in 1939, at 17 years old Betty was on an experimental TV station in Los Angeles where her and her friend sang songs from the Merry Widow making Betty White's TV career span 80 years.

[@ApartmentKing66]

Wonder what experimental station that was. She became a staple on Channel 13 when it was still KLAC-TV.

[@califdad4]

my parents were like the 1st people on the street with a large TV in 1952-53, Mom said some of the programing was awful but you watched it as you might not get reception the next day. MY father replaced it with a consol Admiral Color TV in 1967 and paid the same price for the color TV as the console tv from the early 50's. My older brothers told me that people would come over with pie to share and watch TV

[@janethartwig774]

califdad4 Wow, your dad must have been a doctor or lawyer to have a large TV in 1952!

[@karenryder6317]

They were "like" the first people with a tv? I wonder who the 1st people really were?

[@califdad4]

@@karenryder6317 re-read it, 1st on the street

[@califdad4]

@@janethartwig774 actually no , dad worked for the rail road and mom was a telephone operator, but 2 income's made life pretty good

[@johnscanlan6337]

My parents bought their first television in 1947. It cost $400! That was at a time when their rent in a very nice apartment building in Brooklyn was $72 a month.

[@chugmug1016]

Thats $4,593 now

[@frdjr2529]

@TheBrabon1 Uncle Miltie helped to sell lots of TVs in the late 40s. People who didn't own TVs visited their neighbors on Tuesday night just to see Uncle Miltie.

[@Tj11813]

@@chugmug1016 that's pretty much what it is now.

[@jamesrobiscoe1174]

@@frdjr2529 My mother and sister and I watched TV at a neighbor's. Only special shows, mind you, like Milton Berle.

[@keldonmcfarland2969]

Amazing! A TV was 4 months of rent! Today a massive 4HD Wi-Fi accessible is only a few hundred dollars

[@martyduncan2636]

Amazing! TV in the late 40s. What a wonderful trip to see tv during its inception.

[@echoskolumne1962]

Very charming! I'm so young I'm only familiar with Ed Wynn and Raymond Massey. In 1948 my mom was one year old.

[@kristalrose29]

Oh my goodness I love these videos! I was a child of the 70's so I see these as documenting history. Please keep this up! Thank you so much.

[@donaldsaxton7911]

This is a bit before my time as I was born in 1950, but I remember getting our first TV in 1953 when we lived in Olympia,Washington. The only channels we had were two out of Seattle, and even then reception was good only if it rained!! The house had just been wired for electricity a year before, so heat was by a sawdust furnace, and the Kitchen stove was wood fired.This video brings back memories---- I had forgot that Jackie Gleason played "Riley" before William Bendix!!

[@annek1226]

I enjoyed the fun of being in the peanut gallery on the Howdy Dody show! And I once rode on the elevator with the guy who played the Lone Ranger! I was born in 1946 and we lived in Jersey City, NJ!

[@fromthesidelines]

Almost all of their early shows were preserved, and are posted on KZbin. 😃

[@prairieflower427]

I like the Jello commercial. Never heard of Jello Rice Pudding, but I googled it, and there is a recipe you can make with Jello Pudding. SO COOL.

[@steelers6titles]

Jello was Jack Benny's long-time sponsor, although he had started out in 1932 on radio with Canada Dry. His first radio broadcast has been preserved, and is widely available on the Internet.

[@robkunkel8833]

Imagine all the products that could be associated with early tv and then think of ... watch bands? Not watches, just the band. Yet, they were aggressively advertising for 20 years or more. Spidel Watch Bands

[@karenryder6317]

We weren't yet in the days when you could afford to throw away the watch if the band broke. Maybe cheap watches like Timex killed Spidel's market.

[@1985OldSkool]

I want to thank you for uploading this priceless and precious collection of television programming that took place before I was even born. Do mind you, I've just had birthday number 60 earlier this month.

[@johngreen3543]

I am very sorry that some of these wonderful shows were not preserved for posterity. But the organizations NBC, ABC, CBS and Dumont could not see ahead that they would have great commercial value in rerun and no one could see that technology would produce the internet and they could be shown over and over again on demand to an adoring audience. I am particularly mad about "I Remember MAMA" I just loved the familial chemistry of that show and virtually none of the episodes survived. Just like the silent era in the movies.

[@steelers6titles]

Dumont, which was a TV-only operation which eventually ran out of money, had the "electronicam", a type of kinescope which combined a television camera and recording film camera in one housing. If I'm correct. Before videotape towards the end of the Fifties (Bing Crosby sank much of his money into it), the main way live television was preserved was through kinescoping; namely, using a film camera trained on a live television monitor screen to record sound and picture. Even at best, the results were pretty poor technically--sort of the equivalent of my generation's recording off the radio with a cassette recorder and microphone. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, of course, were far-sighted enough in the early 1950s with "I Love Lucy" to have episodes of their series filmed, like theatrical comedy shorts, ensuring that a permanent, high-quality film of each episode would be available for reruns. This soon became the industry standard.

[@christopherspiteri7740]

I read somewhere that only around 25 episodes of Mama survive. I am particularly interested in an episode called Dagmar's sorority sister but it is extremely likely that it is one from the majority that did not survive

[@jonathanreed8876]

It was live and the only way to save in the forties was to use a film camera in front of the live monitor, a "Kinescope".

[@brianarbenz7206]

I have heard about some of these pre-Lucy sitcoms, like The Goldbergs and The Aldrich Family, but have never been able to find any video of them. Thanks so much for this treasure trove.

[@visaman]

The Goldbergs was performed live, so very litlle film exists of the early seasons. Kinescope was invented in 1949.

[@fromthesidelines]

Kinescope film recording was perfected at the end of 1947, and was used at the beginning of 1948 {as previously mentioned, a February 1948 episode of NBC's "EYE WITNESS" is the oldest complete "live" program to survive on kinescope film}.

[@barryputterman2412]

There is a set of over 70 episodes of The Goldbergs available on commercial DVD. DVDs. Ahh, the good old days!

[@fromthesidelines]

The majority of them are the 39 filmed episodes originally syndicated in the 1955-'56 season.

[@barryputterman2412]

@@fromthesidelines Yes, just a few episodes with Philip Loeb as Jake before he was blacklisted and only a couple with Harold J. Stone as his replacement before Robert H. Harris took over the role.

[@steelers6titles]

In the earliest days of TV broadcasting, there was a VHF channel one. It was dropped because it was subject to too much interference.

[@voluntaryismistheanswer]

I did not know this

[@billschindler1381]

Channel One was located in the 6 meter amateur radio band.

[@steelers6titles]

@@billschindler1381 Today, with all-digital broadcasting, the old VHF channel numbers live on as cable and satellite tuner designations for local stations.

[@americanspirit8932]

I first saw TV in 1949 I was 6 years old my father's friend lived in the Empire State Building and they had a nine or a 10 inch television and I watch baseball on TV for the very first time we had our first TV in 1951 and I watch Mama that was still on that was a 15-minute show and some of the other shows Milton Berle Life of Riley I remember them all anyway great memories thank you

[@richardmcleod5967]

Early television was an extension taken from the Golden Era of Radio.

[@jerrymodjeski1273]

R.I.P. Sid Caesar. And who'd have thought a few years later Ed Wynn would turn in some serious acting on TV!

[@litlgrey]

You can thank Rod Serling for that, pretty much exclusively. Only Serling saw that other side of him.

[@robkunkel8833]

Carl Howard Really? Rod Sterling was more involved in tv than Twilight Zone?

[@robkunkel8833]

Check out 7:00. First a woman scientist? Wow. And the motto “to build better with a conscience” ... interesting. Very interesting. (Said like Col. Klink)

[@fromthesidelines]

Rod submitted scripts to *many* live and filmed dramatic anthology series in the early 1950's, before he became an overnight success writing "Patterns" for "KRAFT TELEVISION THEATRE" in January 1955. "Requiem For a Heavyweight", on "PLAYHOUSE 90" in October 1956, gave Jack Palance his big break, and proved that Ed Wynn could handle dramatic roles as well as his son Keenan [who co-starred in that production]. "THE TWLIGHT ZONE" came later.

[@joecantello4022]

About a third of old TV originated on the radio.

[@trevordance5181]

In 1936 in the UK the BBC started the first regular tv service in the world with a proper pre published schedule of programmes in a listings magazine and aimed at people who bought their own tv sets to be viewed in the comfort of their own homes, not in public television viewing rooms as was originally the case with German tv for example.

[@fromthesidelines]

Yes- and because of World War II, the BBC suspended their TV service on September 1, 1939....and did not resume regular programming until September 1, 1946.

[@trevordance5181]

@@fromthesidelines Yes, the official reason given for closing the pioneering BBC tv service in 1939 for the duration of the war was that German planes could use the tv signal broadcast to home in on London and bomb it to destruction. Whilst there may have been some truth in this the major reason to close down television during WW2 was that, apart from TV being an unnecessary luxury in time of war owing to low viewing numbers, it was decided by those in government that the tv engineers would be better employed in developing radar and other electronically based defence systems together with other new electronically related military technical advances.

[@trevordance5181]

@@fromthesidelines I think it was actually in June 1946 that the BBC restarted their tv service.

[@steelers6titles]

It was roughly similar in the U. S. All the TV-broadcasting technology, both for transmission and reception, had been developed and was in place before war broke out, and was put on hold for the duration. During WW2 there was some very-limited broadcasting in America. After the war, TV broadcasting picked up immediately, using the great networks which had been previously established for radio, along with the new TV-only Dumont Network, which did not survive. Mutual, of course, remained radio-only. Early TV was live, and originated from the East Coast, independent from Hollywood and the motion-picture industry, which regarded TV as a potentially-deadly rival at first. (ABC had been spun off from NBC as the NBC Blue network during wartime in 1943.) Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh's directory of every prime-time U. S. TV show in broadcast history lists the shows on the air, back to the beginning.

[@pgh45rpms]

Jackie Gleason 's first TV role as Chester A. Riley on "The Life of Riley." It only lasted one season; sponsors didn't renew. William Bendix starred on the radio show and was under contract with a film studio that prevented him from accepting the Riley role. Then the show returned in 1953 with Bendix and "Life of Riley" became a hit once more.

[@fromthesidelines]

Pabst Blue Ribbon beer "pushed" Irving Brecher into producing a radio *and* TV edition of "THE LIFE OF RILEY" {which they sponsored} in the fall of 1949. While William Bendix continued on radio, he was unable to appear on TV because of his RKO-Radio movie contract. Brecher initially filmed an unaired pilot featuring Lon Chaney, Jr. (!!) as "Riley", but finally chose Jackie Gleason after seeing him perform on Ed Sullivan's "TOAST OF THE TOWN". Pabst, however, was not happy with Irving's choice, and deliberately sabotaged the TV version by insisting the series be renewed for six more episodes after the first 26 had been filmed. Brecher insisted they honor their original commitment for *thirteen* additional episodes, for a total of 39. They refused, so he ended production of the TV show, continuing to produce [and co-wrote] the radio show through the 1950-'51 season. He later found out they wanted to sponsor CBS' Wednesday night fights {"PABST BLUE RIBBON BOUTS"}- and "six more episodes" would have taken the TV series through May 1950, when they started sponsoring those boxing matches. When Bendix was finally available for television, NBC wanted a new "RILEY" TV show for the 1952-'53 season. Irving Brecher declined, giving NBC a fifteen year "lease" for the rights to produce and distribute the series....which they did from 1953 through '58, and in syndication. In 1967, all rights reverted to Brecher, who wanted to syndicate the 26 Gleason episodes. But Jackie filed an injunction against him, and his episodes were in litigation for over eight years before the courts ruled in favor of Brecher. He offered those 26 episodes to WPIX-TV in New York, which scheduled them from 1977 through 1986.

[@sandraandrews9907]

​@@fromthesidelinesThank you for this factual info on such a great show.

[@fromthesidelines]

You're VERY welcome! All of the Jackie Gleason episodes were adapted from previous radio scripts.

[@usermikes]

Boy, do I remember some of these shows..

[@archer1949]

“Put your confidence in General Electric”. That would NOT fly today.

[@luisreyes1963]

Since the majority of the items they made come from CHINA.🇨🇳

[@radioboys8986]

nothing like watching what had been a rock solid safe stock lose fifty percent of it's value

[@JudgeJulieLit]

Who pays no US taxes.

[@billdang3953]

Especially if they made the engines for the 737 MAX 8.

[@thema1998]

My grandmother was a *teenager* when these shows aired on TV. She didn't see any of them due to living in Puerto Rico at the time. 🤓

[@steelers6titles]

Possibly the biggest star of early TV was Arthur Godfrey, who at one time had two prime-time television shows simultaneously. At the end of his career, if I remember right, Godfrey returned to radio, where he had started.

[@fromthesidelines]

He did, and ended his daily "ARTHUR GODFREY TIME" radio show in April 1972.

[@StevenTorrey]

I remember watching on Saturday Morning "Hopalong Cassidy" and "The Lone Ranger." I also remember watching, "I Remember Mama" sometime in the early evening, but I couldn't tell you what day... That would have been in the early to mid 1950s....

[@sroozrloos4284]

I believe "I Remember Mama" was shown on Friday night at least in the NYC area.

[@StevenTorrey]

@@sroozrloos4284 You are probably right...

[@jamesrobiscoe1174]

@@sroozrloos4284 If you want to hear the theme song to "I Remember Mama," listen to Edvard Grieg's Op. 34, "The Last Spring."

[@dadoctah]

So, the Gay Nineties Revue in the forties. Man, even nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

[@jadaparks8047]

9/10/17: Enjoyed watching this. Thanx for posting.

[@JimPigMuseumOfSound]

This is SO much better than today's TV

[@AudiophileTommy]

Watching paint dry is 100 times better than watching tv today 🎉

[@bonniewolf1]

Would love to see the whole shows with commercials

[@johngreen3543]

It is sad fact that most of those early shows were not preserved.

[@marshawoods4983]

Wow I was born in October 1948 I don't remember seeing a television till 1953

[@voluntaryismistheanswer]

Me and microwaves, I didn't have one till the late nineties, but now I haven't used for years

[@queencerseilannister3519]

It's incredible to think how far television technology has come in such a short period of time. If they could see SmartTVs! 🤣

[@community1949]

We didn't get a TV until 1953 or 1954 or so - and I don't remember that any of the rest of my family had TV either. None of the neighbors had it in the 1940's.

[@visaman]

Hardly anyone did actualy. What TVs there were, where in bars. Seattle did not get TV until late 1949, and Vancouver not until 1953.

[@janethartwig774]

We lived in rural east Texas with no indoor plumbing let alone TV’s. In 1951 Grandpa took us into town every Saturday to watch TV through the appliance store window.

[@waratah08]

A few I remember, Lone Ranger and Hoppy but when I remember Life of Riley it was with William Bendix. We got some of these when telly came to Aus in the late 50s.

[@actionsub]

The Gleason version of "Life of Riley" only lasted from 1949-1950 on NBC. The producer wanted it on TV, but William Bendix, who was already doing the radio version, was not available for TV due to a movie contract, so they went with Gleason. Producer Irving Brecher and Pabst Beer could not come to financial terms to even do a full 39-episode season, so the show was canceled. NBC tried another version after Bendix's RKO film contract ended; that's the one we all remember.

[@litlgrey]

Also,@@actionsub, here's a tip. I've seen some of the surviving Gleason Riley's although it was quite a while ago now and I don't remember the circumstances. But the thing to remember is that this was very much pre-prime Gleason. He was not yet at his full glorious fighting weight, and his performance was far more restrained than we came to expect of "The Great One."

[@JeffDeWitt]

Great stuff, and compared to a lot of these "Hopalong Cassidy" and "The Lone Ranger" look downright modern!

[@Thesage50]

Those were the days when “gay” meant something else!

[@AudiophileTommy]

👍 EXACTLY !! And a rainbow was a wonderful sight after a rain 🎉

[@pattibrooks1907]

I was born in the 50s in 1956 but the 40s TV looked cool !

[@fromthesidelines]

The opening excerpt is from the earliest known surviving kinescope from that period: an episode of NBC's "EYE WITNESS" [Ben Grauer, host], from February 1948. "YOUR SHOW TIME" was the first filmed network anthology series, presented in early 1949. While William Boyd's "Hopalong Cassidy" movies of the '30s and '40s were seen on early TV, his filmed half-hour series [featuring Edgar Buchanan as "Red Connors"] was produced and syndicated from 1952 through '54. "THE LONE RANGER" was the first filmed network western series, beginning in the fall of 1949. "THE LIFE OF RILEY" (featuring Jackie Gleason) was the first filmed network situation comedy series, in the fall of '49.

[@starey1]

+Barry I. Grauman is it true that the reason William Bendix didn't do THE LIFE OF RILEY on TV at first was because he and the rest of the cast of the radio show had a clause in their contracts saying they couldn't do TV?

[@fromthesidelines]

In 1949, Bendix was forbidden to appear on a weekly TV series, due to his RKO-Radio movie contract {Hollywood insisted their "contract players" work for THEM only.....with occasional exceptions, like certain "guest star" appearances.....AND NO MORE}. Most of the radio cast weren't considered for the TV version, anyway. Irving Brecher, who produced the radio series, and directed the 1949 movie, envisioned Bendix, Rosemary DeCamp and Lanny Rees filling most of the roles on television, including John "Digger O'Dell" Brown of the radio series. However, after RKO refused to allow Bendix access to a weekly TV contract [he continued on the radio show], Brecher had to look for a "new" Riley for TV......and found him in Jackie Gleason. Gloria Winters was cast as "Babs", and Sid Tomack filled the role of "Gillis" {James Gleason, who appeared as "Gillis" in the movie, was also under contract, and couldn't appear on TV}.

[@jamesrobiscoe1174]

@@fromthesidelines - I remember only Tom D'Andrea as Gillis.

[@fromthesidelines]

Featured in the later Bendix TV version, produced by NBC.

[@christopherspiteri7740]

I believe I saw some programme snippets from 47 so were those filmed in a different way rather than kinescoped? As an aside is there a combined list somewhere of all surviving kinescopes?

[@steelers6titles]

Many of these came from radio. Some early TV series based on radio programs aired while the radio series was still in production. "Gunsmoke" is a good example.

[@ApartmentKing66]

Dragnet's another. For two years (I think), Dragnet was on both NBC Radio and TV. The radio version went on the air in 1949, the TV show 1952. The radio show went off the air in 1954, I think.

[@steelers6titles]

@@ApartmentKing66 XM airs episodes of the radio "Gunsmoke", "Dragnet", and others.

[@steelers6titles]

William Conrad, the radio Matt Dillon, was tough. I was listening to an episode not long ago where Matt and a posse shot first, without giving a bunch of rustlers a chance to surrender. They had murdered an entire family, however.

[@steelers6titles]

@@ApartmentKing66 Every single one of Joe Friday's busts held up in court.

[@hallieharker4384]

I Love Lucy is another example, only the radio program was called My Favorite Husband.

[@moonbeam7702]

Where did you find these gems?! They’re in remarkably good shape, considering how old they are 😊

[@marshawoods4983]

Simple and corny but we love them all

[@karenryder6317]

We were not accustomed to anti-heroes and dysfunctional people yet.

[@billschindler1381]

Shame there is no scraps left over from the very first comedy series on NBC.....called Mary Kay & Johnny. 1947- 1950.

[@stephengroce7674]

i want a magic mirror television!

[@karenryder6317]

I caught that too. What is it?

[@kingbee1500]

Such time as there was on the air...the first two Louisville stations, WAVE (TV) and WHAS-TV, operated 7 days a week-but only from 3pm-11pm daily! The total day's news-all of 30 minutes-was from 6:00-6:15 pm and 10:00-10:15 pm. (We were on CT until 1961.)

[@HospitalForSouls.X]

I'm only 25 but I love watching things like this...I just got done with a bunch of vintage makeup tutorials and "how to be popular" videos. It makes me feel like I'm sharing a memory with my pop pop and parents.

[@Cervidae]

I'm writing a novel that takes place from the 40s; I'm just imagining my protagonist sitting with his father, watching television in the warmth of their home from the cold of December.

[@fromthesidelines]

"You're blocking the screen. Move over!" 😉

[@elizabethsherman8237]

My mom and some of her sisters were in Brooklyn at that time.my mom worked at the Brooklyn navy yard then.i was born in Brooklyn 1955.

[@adamantman3200]

The clip here of Olsen & Johnson in 'Fireball Free For All' is a watered-down version of their wild stage show HELLZAPOPPIN', which was never performed the same way twice - that would have been impossible. Anyway, around 1945 they did do a film version, which - to say the least- is frantic. If you love wild slapstick comedy and the insanity of Olsen & Johnson, you'll love the movie.

[@fromthesidelines]

They learned to adapt themselves to television when they appeared regularly on "ALL STAR REVUE" in the 1951-'52 season.

[@RIXRADvidz]

What's all the celebration??! We Just Got A Seat On The Subway! some things never change.

[@peterkierst2744]

Remarkable. Thanks so much for posting this.

[@jivaprabhu]

They seemed so earnest. This was before President Eisenhower's warning. There is an unabashed reverence for some things we tend to try to hide today. You know ...like … General Electric … kind of need to be on the down low and the up high with plausible deniability. I was 4 in '48! Sunday morning "Children's Hour." The Castro Convertible Sofa, Was it "Less Work for Mother" or "Let's Work …?" I appreciate the video though! Another reason to subscribe to KZbin.

[@christinagiagni3578]

my brother went to castro convertible to replace the rag top on his rambler convertible. he came home with a sofa. true story.

[@1950Grendel]

My dad bought a TV in 1951 so he could watch the Boston Celtics and Willie Mays. Since Prime Time was after my Bed Time I don't remember seeing a lot of these, but I remember the theme music, which I could hear from my bedroom. When I got up in the morning I had to wait for the test patterns and the National Anthem before I could watch cartoons.

[@jeffmissinne3866]

Great old clips as always...but did you have to edit out the Texaco jingle? ("I touch the clutch, I mop the top, I poke the choke, I sell the pop"...)

[@karlstuber6399]

When Space travel comes about, like it's pricey airline travel, people will go out to see if they can catch any repeats for the first time.

[@KRW628]

I watched the Lone Ranger on TV in the mid 50s. I had NO idea that it had been on since '49. Sanka coffee, Maxwell House; still here. GE., still here. And they still make Speidel watch bracelets. $22.

[@steelers6titles]

Most early television aired live; production was based on the East Coast--New York, in particular. But the Western series here were filmed, like theatrical B features.

[@JeffDeWitt]

Which is also why the surviving episodes of the westerns are in much better shape.

[@steelers6titles]

@@JeffDeWitt Correct; the only alternative to film in the pre-videotape era was kinescope--itself a film of a TV monitor showing a live telecast. The quality was poor; much inferior to film. "I Love Lucy" pioneered filmed situation comedies; the filmed episodes could be rebroadcast over and over again in higher quality.

[@steelers6titles]

The Dumont Electronicam, which combined a motion-picture camera with a TV camera in the same unit, was unsuccessful; Dumont couldn't compete with the other networks.

[@steelers6titles]

And motion-picture film required different lighting from that for TV cameras.

[@AliasUndercover]

It was still vaudeville...amazing. Hey, you can get lemon phosphates in damn near any hipster town nowadays.

[@Sheri451]

I wish I was around during this time. Is that the Bill Hayes from Days Of our Lives? At 5:32?That would be nice to have those variety shows again, where the people sing and have comedy sketches. But without the cigarette ads.Now my grandpa LOVED Hopalong Cassidy. And The Lone Ranger! especially The Lone Ranger. I just about bet you he was the first one to get television in the neighborhood back then. I used to have a cassette tape I bought at a library book sale, It had old soap operas on radio. The Goldbergs were one of the shows. I remember that music, but this was a soap opera. And this television show was live I read somewhere. Plus I read that the poor man that played Mr. Goldberg was falsely accused of being a communist, they fired him from the show and after they proved he was not a communist, they still banned him from television and the poor man killed himself. And Mama was also a live program, they said this show was very good, as was The Goldbergs.

[@RandallHamm]

Yes, that Bill Hayes !

[@Sheri451]

Thank you.

[@wolfshield1226]

Sheri451 w

[@653j521]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/bZSTnXhsYrqgfrs 1949 FIREBALL FUN FOR ALL - Olsen & Johnson - Final show

[@clasystems]

@@RandallHamm Davy Crockett!

[@backbaconnbeer]

No "Toast Of The Town" ( Ed Sullivan) ?

[@williamschlenger1518]

Now I know I'm old.I remember quite a few of these. Sid Ceased,etc.

[@deanethomas6075]

14:16 Yul Brynner 7 years before Ten Commandments or The King and I

[@tracylemme1375]

I remember Beanie and Cecil when they were puppets. I called my dad Cecil so he called me Mr. Peepers. I stopped calling him Cecil.

[@karenryder6317]

and heh, heh, Dishonest John!

[@fromthesidelines]

Because you wore glasses and looked a little like Wally Cox {"MISTER PEEPERS"}. I understand.

[@ScoutSniper3124]

To the day he died, my Grandfather would NOT walk in front of the TV in his underwear for fear "they" could see him. In 2021, that really happens with computer screen monitors frequently... Grandpa was AHEAD OF HIS TIME!

[@MarkusDarkscribe]

Wow, that is pretty cool.

[@jomcnaughton2300]

Totally cool; those in the forties reminiscing about the gay nineties; here are we, reminiscing about the forties; wonderful!

[@JENDALL714]

In another 40 years they will be reminiscing about the Gay 1990's, but they will be talking about actual gay people of the 90's! I don't think I want to be around to see that!

[@tylerdurden4392]

@@JENDALL714 Yeah but most of the gay people of the 90's were straight in the 2000's.

[@jennyknopps1291]

Where's Crusader Rabbit (1947), the first cartoon that was made exclusively for television?

[@fromthesidelines]

The original "CRUSADER RABBIT", produced by Jay Ward & Alex Anderson [Television Arts Productions], was produced from 1949 through '51 (195 episodes), but didn't appear nationally in syndication until 1950.

[@brianhendley798]

I was 9 in 1948 nd signed our family up for a week's free trial. We got a 10 inch Admiral that didn't work, but it was soon replaced by a 12 inch Zenith. My family had that set for over 20 years.

[@williamperkins9349]

I remember the party line

[@robinjohnson8149]

We had a party line in the 70s.

[@blastofo]

This is so relaxing! What a more innocent time.

[@michaelmajsterski1656]

I must say that I really enjoy your channel. Thank you for the memories!

[@welchshahan714]

How did you find these? AMAZING!

[@onlythewise1]

soon we ignored each other and watched tv all the time

[@hallieharker4384]

Wow! The Fontane Sisters? As in Joan and Olivia?

[@SpinningCracKFisT]

Thanks for this one

[@macsnafu]

I can't confirm it, but these at least look very much like they could have been before 1950, unlike a certain video that promised 1940s commercials.

[@AI4QT]

And this is still better than the crap on nightly television today.

[@hankaustin7091]

you can sure say THAT again! 1000 thumbs up!

[@luisreyes1963]

I don't what's more cloying, The Goldbergs (too Jewish) or Mama (too Aryan). 🤣

[@mikeycondry1493]

Wish I could live back then

[@gcfifthgear]

Fireball Fun-for-All was Buick's first sponsored TV series

[@hallieharker4384]

11:30 Peggy Wood would later go on to star as Naomi in The Story of Ruth and as Mother Superior in The Sound of Music.

[@ferociousgumby]

Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians!

[@williamneumyer7147]

A favorite at the Eisenhower White House.

[@jimthompson7402]

Dad was a devotee of "Suspense" and "Inner Sanctum".

[@karenryder6317]

"Inner Sanctum" had the creaking door, and "Suspense" had the police siren--both were left-overs from radio sound effects. But "Lights Out" had some of the first video special effects where the announcer appeared in the darkened studio with a flashlight under his chin to make him look ghoulish.

[@Bigbadwhitecracker]

Suspense is supa-cool all these decades later. Many episodes of Texaco Star Theater are downright hysterical. Gleason as Reily was an unfortunate mis-fire. The Ed Wynn Show is great and don't know why it only lasted one season. The Goldbergs... amazing. One you missed was the Morey Amsterdam Show which is a bit creaky.

[@fromthesidelines]

What it lacked in "sophistication" made up in talent- especially Art Carney as Morey's "second banana". Viewers *LOVED* that program, no matter how "creaky" and corny it was..

[@fromthesidelines]

Sure, Morey's show was a little "creaky"- and the comedy sketches they did were a bit "hokey". But audiences LOVED it! And there was Art Carney as his "comedy foil" (usually as "Newton the Waiter"), demonstrating just *how* funny he could be, before his association with Jackie Gleason.

[@starey1]

I never knew THE ALDRICH FAMILY was also a TV show!

[@fromthesidelines]

It began in 1949, and lasted through 1953 (at the same the time radio show also ended).

[@williamneumyer7147]

Do you know the Firesign Theatre parody, "Porgy Tirebiter"?

[@fromthesidelines]

YEP. Good ol' George Leroy Tirebiter!

[@steelers6titles]

One of many series which was more successful on radio than on television, later on.

[@cellytron]

Absolutely mind boggling to think about TV having been around so long. Even better to see it with my own eyes. And there are still so many shows still running after all this time! Most of them are news/religion, but still. The late 1940s! My grandparents were only in their mid-20s. My parents wouldn’t be born until 1950. I know both of their families had television sets pretty early; I think my dad’s household had one by the time he was 2 because he told me he recalled watching Superman and The lone Ranger from his earliest memories. He well remembered the Dumont network. Not sure about my mother. They have both passed away, at ages 71 and 72, so I can’t ask them now.

[@aaaht3810]

I was born in 1950 as well. I don't know when we got a TV but I always remember there being one. However, even when I was seven or eight, I remember there were still some kids who did not have one. I never missed The Lone Ranger and Superman, that's for sure.