First boy in Boys Town (I've Got a Secret 9/9/59)

[@RTSOB1]

This show aired in 1959. Coincidently, that was the year I graduated,,,from Boys Town.

[@jacobread9650]

this is my new favourite show. so much more interesting than 90% of programing today

[@missvirginia007]

Mr. Kresse was my great grandfather. the land he owned and operated was passed down generation to generation in Brainard. His story is one of humble beginnings.

[@billhottovy9567]

@Just a Girl The lady you replied to is correct. I live just across the road to the west of the farm he was raised on. So before you dismiss credibility look into the shit!!

[@icturner23]

@Just a Girl What a stupid, nasty comment. There’s no reason to doubt the O.P., most people don5 have photos with their great grandfather and there’s no way to share photos here anyway. What’s wrong with you?!

[@VioletJoy]

That's so nice to hear. His life changed that day he went to court. I can't help but wonder if he ran away due to a bad home life. He seems like a "go-getter".

[@amandadenney6482]

Did he have parents when he ran away? If so, did he see them again?

[@kirkreid743]

May I ask why your great grandfather ran away from home?

[@chrism.4600]

My grandmother got me into the movies “Boys-town” and “Men Of Boys-town with Spencer Tracy, and Micky Rooney, Such a great story and what a devoted man Father Flanagan was, Im sure the movies embellished the story a bit, but the overall story is humbling and heartwarming. Thanks for sharing!

[@barbhambly3139]

used to watch this show when I was little. great to see it again.

[@lyricvids2964]

It is really cool to see that being a farmer was a flex back then - really shows you how the job market has changed over the years

[@onemercilessming1342]

Father Flanagan wasn't the only one who tried to save cast-off boys. Look up Milton S. Hershey (yes, the chocolate candy guy).

[@johnloudaros800]

Wow, how times have changed. The host smoking and offering a cigarette to the guest

[@shirtless6934]

Gary Moore died of emphysema and Henry Morgan died of lung cancer.

[@ammaleslie509]

It was part of the sponsorship of the show that Garry Moore had to smoke on every episode.

[@chuckkrafft7168]

@@ammaleslie509 SIGH. Evidence?

[@SueProv]

​@@ammaleslie509Where's the evidence he didn't?

[@SouthernIowaLady]

Thanks for posting - appreciate the share.

[@Farrah300]

I'm not being funny, but when I think of Boys Town, what comes to mind is "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother."

[@SueProv]

This is the story behind those words. A boy named Harold Loomis was abandoned by his mother in 1918. Howard had polio and wore heavy braces. He had difficulty walking especially on the stairs. A few of the older boys carried him up and down the stairs. Reuben Granger was carrying him and Father Flanigan asked if it was difficult to carry Howard. Reuben answered, "He ain't heavy, Father, he's my brother. "

[@aprilporcellini3097]

winning a carton of cigarettes , geez times have really changed

[@magoo9767]

Wow, what a great story.

[@cdman40]

Always wondered what if the contestants didn't smoke even back then what did they do with there Winstons.

[@ammaleslie509]

Give them to someone who did smoke. A carton of cigarettes was a "thoughtful gift" much in the way a box of chocolates would be now.

[@dalej42]

That carton is probably worth more than the 80:dollars today

[@zerotwoisreal]

uhhhh no one smokes anymore

[@zerotwoisreal]

also $80 USD in 1959 is worth $670 today

[@ammaleslie509]

$80 was more than two weeks' pay for a lot of people back then

[@Mark-ce3gp]

Fire up a couple of 'Winston's"..LMAO..

[@onemercilessming1342]

Mark--In the 1950s, smoking was not frowned upon. When the cigarette companies advertised on a show, it was common for that brand to be prominently available for the host, the panelists, and the guests. Restaurants and clubs had either "cigarette girls" or vending machines inside. I can't remember a single shop--pharmacy, soda shop, restaurant, or even the lobby of municipal buildings that didn't have a vending machine for cigarettes in it. No one was decrying the lung disorders and heart diseases that smoking either caused or complicated. There's a movie, "The Day the Earth Stood Still" with Michael Rennie in which the doctors, while discussing Rennie's alien character, are lighting up.

[@terrybardy2848]

@@onemercilessming1342 It wasn't until the late 60s or early 70s that cigarette ads were on billboards and television banned.

[@hormiga7851]

Back in the day when it was normal to smoke indoors and i front of a tv show!

[@realJoshiBOI]

@@terrybardy2848 People smoked on game shows way later than that, but radio and TV advertisements for cigarettes were officially banned on January 2, 1971.

[@RS-tz2zn]

@4:33 When the host jokes that the guest was the very first boy to become a girl, everyone laughs because of how ridiculous the statement was...now....it is a different story...

[@leemclaury6251]

Smoking on tv was cool . Cigarette companies sponsored the shows .

[@terrybardy2848]

Yes, and they died of cancer later.

[@kirkreid743]

No

[@SueProv]

​@@kirkreid743Maybe

[@chairde]

Gary Moore acted as an interpreter but everyone spoke English. LOL

[@Sumschmuck]

Imagine if he was the first boy

[@shirtless6934]

Such a sweet and innocent time when no one realized why a Roman Catholic priest might wish to gather a group of boys to himself in a remote rural location. Subsequent investigations have revealed what went on at Boys Town operations.

[@chuckkrafft7168]

What was that?

[@kathydethman7218]

You have no idea what your saying.

[@johnhardiman1970]

A pathetic and libellous comment. Show me your evidence that Fr. Flanagan was guilty of your accusations.

[@blan514]

Wow the smoking on TV is shocking ;)

[@janeiwasduncan8463]

At the time it wasn't...Most TV shows had both men and women smoking on air. I think Chet Huntley smoked on his news broadcast... Didn't Johnny Carson smoke on air??

[@onemercilessming1342]

@@janeiwasduncan8463--Yes. Chet Huntley smoked on air as did Johnny Carson. There was a TV show. Edward R. Murrow smoked heavily during his show, "Person to Person". There were others.

[@blan514]

Just a Girl compared to 2020 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@SueProv]

​@@justagirl6570You keep writing responses so you seem to be the excitable one.

[@russellm7530]

Wow

[@mrfrains]

It got me, that he is so move, that he cry.

[@threadkiller9143]

cute.. and the shows called " I got a secret "

[@djdon60]

I recall, "I've Got A Secret." For those, looking, for links, please, use, "I've..."

[@boredweegie553]

Boys town sounds dodgy AF..I've seen documentaries on it.

[@maryhinman4229]

Yes... Franklin scandal....

[@GettingItDone]

Cigarettes galore

[@brianparent8901]

Kreesse was in the very 1st photo taken with the other four boys...then their is a second photo of a diff set of five boys.

[@sageparsely2365]

Oh the good ol day's, when smoking was glamorous 😀

[@sageparsely2365]

@Just a Girl wait, but I'm so pissed!

[@houseofinvertebrates2869]

He even in the fifties and sixties they made transgender jokes! LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!

[@zerotwoisreal]

transgender wasn't a thing back then (still isn't really) he made a joke about the ridicoulous possibility of a boy becoming a girl.

[@ammaleslie509]

@@zerotwoisreal it was before the first gender conforming surgeries, but there have always been trans people

[@ER-uy7ct]

The first surgeries were in the 1920s.

[@oliverbrownlow5615]

Christine Jorgensen, the first person to become widely known in the U.S. for having sex reassignment surgery, had a series of operations in Denmark starting in 1952. Her story was front page news in the 1950s.

[@tomy5868]

Morgan is so condescending to Betsy...wanna slap him....

[@maevependragon]

Me too. He needed to shut up and let her ask questions.

[@stremendous73]

If you've watched hundreds of these, you would realize that Henry was joking and did this rarely on occasion... and Betsy often interrupted her co-panelists. In fact, on one of the episodes, Garry reads out advice on cards that the audience members submitted for each panelist. And, at least a couple of them told Betsy to stop interrupting and taking up the time of her co-stars. She is charming and lovely (I love her), but she often takes up the time of the other panelists with suggestions and questions (and often wrong guesses) after she has already had her turn. It can be quite funny.