Mitchell Hadley's Blog: It's About TV!, page 92

This week in TV Guide: July 17, 1954

If you're going to be called the "King of the Cowboys," you'd sure as shootin' better be able to back it up. In the case of Roy Rogers, he's earned that title as sure as he's earned his spurs. For eleven years now, Rogers has been the biggest Western star at the box office; his eponymous television show, in the middle of its third season, is the #10 ranked show in the Nielsens. And so for those, like Dan Jenkins, author of this week's cover story, who consider themselves a little too hip for the world of kiddie Westerns, the question remains: "What does it take to become King of the Cowboys?" It has to be more than simply how you draw your gun, ride your horse, capture the bad guy, and rescue helpless damsels, right? 
The answer, according to a Rogers associate, is that it requires "a relationship, a bond, between the star and his audience which has nothing to do with this week's script." This bond between Rogers and his audience, Jenkins writes, is "a very real thing, and it goes back to the days when Rogers was "an underpaid cowboy star" at Republic, and discovered that he was getting a lot of fan mail. As them mail grew, Roy found it impossible to answer every one. What did he do? He organized a rodeo tour for the express purpose of using the profits to hire a staff to make sure every letter was answered. Rogers doesn't need to resort to tours to fund his staff now, of course, so how does he spend that spare time? By flying around the country, visiting seriously ill children in hospitals and their homes. 
Roy and his wife, Dale Evans (Queen of the West) love children. They have six: Roy's two from his first marriage to the late Arlene Rogers, one from Dale's early marriage, and three adopted. The only child the two had together died just before, Robin Elizabeth, was born with Down syndrome and died of complications with mumps shortly before her second birthday. (Although Jenkins, discreetly, leaves out the details and only mentions her early death.) Following her death, Dale wrote the book Angel Unaware, "which has since become a rod and a staff to literally thousands of parents faced with this most terrible of blows: the loss of a child." It is, Jenkins says with no cynicism whatsoever, the story of "the deep faith of two simple peole who just happened to stumble across buckets full of long green; whose basic philosophy is: to love children is to love God."

There is little to differentiate his movies and TV shows from those of other cowboy stars—nothing to account for the size and devotion of his fans. No, there can only be one explanation, as Jenkins says: "this intangible feeling between parent and parent, and between children and star that has lifted the Rogers-Evans combine to the top and kept it there." And while Roy's basic naivete consists mostly of trusting people and working on a handshake basis, it is "a quality to be misunderstood only at your own peril." His stardom lasts until his death in 1998; his name becomes a virtual synonym for a hero. Through it all, he remains the same, simple man with a simple philosophy. As a close friend says, "Many cowboy stars, once they've made their splash, decide reluctantly that it's good business to play up the kids off stage as well as on. Roy never came to that conclusion. He was born with it. It makes quite a difference."
Roy Rogers was more than a cowboy, more than an actor. He was a real-life hero, who never traded in his boots and spurs for feet of clay. They don't come along very often, do they?
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Eddie Albert is the host of NBC's Saturday Night Review (or Revue, if you prefer), which airs at 9:30 p.m., ET as the summer replacement for Your Show of Shows; it's the last time we'll see Eddie for three weeks, as a series of guest hosts (including Cesar Romero and George Gobel, Hoagy Carmichael and George Jessel) take over while Eddie is off filming Oklahoma, where he plays Ali Hakim. Up against him is Jack Paar (9:30 p.m, CBS), who welcomes Betty Clooney, Johnny Desmond, and Pupi Campo, along with Jack's long-time bandleader Jose Melis. According to the Hollywood Teletype, we can expect Jack to show up with a three-hour Saturday afternoon variety show in the fall; instead, he winds up taking over for Walter Cronkite on The Morning Show.
Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town (Sunday, 8:00 p.m., CBS) is on the road this week, at the Westchester Country Club in Rye, New York, with singer-bandleader Vaughn Monroe, dancer Carol Haney, singer Doretta Morrow, Mexican trumpeteers Rafael Mendez and his twin sons, the Gautier Steeplechasers animal act, and pantomimist Stan Kramer. Ed's competition this week, as is the case for the early part of the 1950s, is the Colgate Comedy Hour, or, in this case, the Summer Comedy Hour (8:00 p.m., NBC), which features Kaye Ballard, Jules Munshin, dancer Jonathon Lucas, singer Betty Madigan and Heather-Jo Taferner. I thnk I'l have to give Ed the edge on this one.
During the summer, Robert Montgomery Presents (Monday, 9:30 p.m., NBC) employs a repertory company (which includes Bob's daughter, Elizabeth), and this week the company is joined by Orson Bean for "It Happened in Paris," a spoof on radio shows in which the sponsors of a popular program for honeymooners discover that their "lovey-dovey" honeymooner hosts aren't married. Oops. 
Is it wrong to think that Tuesday's highlights come at the beginning of the broadcast day? On Today (7:00 a.m., NBC), we get films of that loveable simian and co-host J. Fred Muggs getting his shots in preparation for his upcoming European tour. To all those celebrities who couldn't resist tweeting pictures of getting their virus shots, is this really who you want to imitate? (Just kidding, Muggs!) Meanwhile, on The Morning Show (7:00 a.m., CBS), host Walter Cronkite welcomes "Bing Crosby and Donald O'Connor," harmonizing on "Back in the Old Routine." It's not really Bing and Donald, but Bil and Cora Baird's puppets, regulars on The Mornng Show, and an unbylined article explores how the Bairds apply their trademark satire, from Charlemane the lion (right) spinning the latest records to musical sequences featuring a frog impersonating Mel Torme, a foxhound doing Crosby, and a cocker spaniel playing Johnnie Ray.
The unlikely paring of Alan Ladd and Liberace headline Wednesday's Red Skelton Review (8:00 p.m., CBS). Later, on Kraft Theater (9:00 p.m., NBC), Arthur O'Connell stars as a middle-aged father who can't measure up against the heroes that his daughter reads about in her stories about knights and medieval chivalry; perhaps coincidentally, this week's unbylined review of Mr. Wizard, which airs Saturdays on NBC, makes a similar point about how "Father may know best, but he can use a little help from [Don] Herbert every Sunday afternoon. What is that about a prophet without honor in his own home?   
I like the sounds of Thursday's Four Star Playhouse episode "The Witness" (8:30 p.m., CBS). Dick Powell stars as an attorney defending an accused murderer, "though all the evidence suggests he's guilty." We might have some doubt about the guilt or innocence of the accused, played by Charles Buchinsky, but we'd have fewer doubts if we knew then that Charles Buchinsky would later become famous as Charles Bronson.
On Friday, Walter Cronkite is back, this time as the quizmaster on It's News to Me (10:30 p.m., CBS), in which panelists Anna Lee, Quentin Reynolds, John Henry Faulk and Nina Foch "try to guess famous news events." Having newsmen emcee shows like this is nothing new; Mike Wallace hosted several game shows early in his career, and when It's News to Me began in 1951, it was with John Daly as host. Too bad they couldn't have used America's Most Trusted Man as a host after the Quiz Show Scandals, isn't it? (You can check the show out for yourself here.) 
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As you've probably noticed, I'm wont to drop, from time to time, a mention of Mystery Science Theater 3000, one of my favorite shows,* and if you share that fondness, you'll rejoice at not one, not two, but three appearances of MST3K movies from this week's issue—sightings in the wild, so to speak, perhaps some of the first times these movies appeared on television.
*Having had occasion to watch it on an almost daily basis thanks to Pluto and Shout TV, I've a mind to elevate it into the Top 10 as some of the bingeable of television programs.
Saturday night at 10:00 p.m. on WENS, Tom Neal and Jane Adams star in  The Brute Man : "Disfigured in a college chemistry lab, a killer seeks vengeance." Sunday night (11:35 p.m., WDTV), it's Last of the Wild Horses , a Western starring Mary Beth Hughes and James Ellision, in which "Continual raids on wild horses provoke feud between a wealthy rancher and his neighbors." And on Thursday (11:00 p.m., WJAC), the mountain-climbing classic Lost Continent , with Cesar Romero: "Searching for a missing atom-powered rocket, a plan crew lands in an island jungle and comes upon a lost continent." The listing has Hillary Brooke as his co-star, but she's in only one scene; it would have been better to include a name from among Hugh Beaumont, John Hoyt, Whit Bissell, Sid Melton, and Chick Chandler. I've seen many of these movies pop up in various issues over the years, but never three at once.
Occasionally I'll watch the non-MST3K versions of a movie, though not with any of these three, and it can be remarkable to see how much had to be cut from them in order to fit the timeslots. Even so, many times the movies are so bad, the stories so incomprehensible, even the cut footage wouldn't help. I admit that Lost Continent and The Brute Man are two of my favorites, though; they must have been part of the same film package that Best Brains bought for MST3K, in which case we should be looking for more of these in the future.
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I've undoubtedly mentioned this before, but one of the pleasures of these really old issues is finding the names and events that mean more today than they did at the time. For instance, in "Pittsburgh Parade," Bill Adler notes that local Pittsburgh TV personality Mitzi Steiner, former host of the Kiddie Castle show on KDKA, "is in Hollywood (with her husband, Jack Tolen) looking for TV work under the name of Mitzi McCall." And it is under that name that, along with her second husband, Charlie Brill, she has entertained throughout a career of more than fifty years.
Another local Pittsburgh figure is Ray Scott, who hosts Sports Editor weekdays at 6:55 p.m. on WDTV. Three years later, he'll become the play-by-play voice of the Green Bay Packers, and as the team comes to dominate the NFL in the 1960s, Scott becomes one of the most recognizable, and most popular, announcers in the game. I always loved his "just the facts" style of broadcasting; we could use more of that today.
Columnist Harold V. Cohen notes that "Phil Silvers is being groomed for the Red Buttons time next season. I've always felt Silvers could be a very funny fellow on television with half a chance, and I'm sure he will be." He's one season off in his estimation, but come the fall of 1955, Silvers gets his half-chance as Sergeant Ernie Bilko in You'll Never Get Rich, which you'll probably know better as The Phil Silvers Show. As for Buttons, Cohen hopes the networks haven't given up on him; "That little fellow has a genuine comedy talent that is going to be channeled in the right direction one of these days and there will be no stopping him." Buttons, whose show was rated #11 in 1952, never does make it big again on television, but he channels that talent into an Academy Award in 1957 for his dramatic performance in Sayonara.
And George Burns is one busy man, according to the Hollywood Teletype. Not only is he starring with his wife Gracie in The Burns and Allen Show, his McCadden Productions company has a couple of series in the works. One of them, Life with Father, starring Leon Ames and Lurene Tuttle, premieres in November and runs for a couple of seasons. The other is a new comedy starring Robert Cummings as "a Hollywood commercial photographer," and debuts next January for a four-and-a-half season run. In first run it's called The Robert Cummings Show, but its more familiar syndicated title is Love That Bob, and my friend  Hal Horn  can tell you all about it.
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This week's starlet has a role she can really, well, sink her teeth into. It's Vampira, hostess of KABC's 11:00 Saturday night movie (appropriately called The Vampira Show), and the show—along with its star—has been a sensation ever since. 
Vampira's real name is Maila Nurmi, and despite what you see there, she's actually an attractive, blue-eyed blonde (measurements: 38-17-36) who was discovered several months ago when she attended a costume party in her getup and was seen by ABC producer Hunt Stromberg Jr. The rest, as they say, is history. (Speaking of history, Maila's uncle knows a bit about history himself: he's the great distance runner Paavo Nurmi, winner of nine Olympic gold medals and former world record holder in the mile.)
Nurmi delights in being eccentric off-camera as well as on; when she's wearing her five-inch nails, she has to be waited on hand and foot; her lunch consists exclusively of Bloody Marys ("It's almost bedtime" for vampires, she points out), and rarely ever goes out in public as anything other than her famous character.
Her personal life is every bit as colorful as that of Vampira; she had a child with Orson Welles while he was married to Rita Hayworth, was a close friend of James Dean, and was the model for Maleficent in Disney's Sleeping Beauty. After The Vampira Show is cancelled by KABC, she takes the character to KHA for a similar show, and continues to parlay her role for several years, including a memorable performance in the immortal Plan 9 From Outer Space. Today, she's remembered as television's first horror host, and that's something you can hang your hat on. Or your wig, as the case may be.
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And finally, an answer to one of the questions that has vexed humans for decades, caused men with minds greater than mine to scale mountaintops in search of the wise counsel of lamas, and lies at the heart of everything that we hold dear. It's deeper than the meaning of life, greater than why bad things happen to good people, and has more impact than life, the universe and everything:
Why do TV Guide's listings run from Saturday to Friday?
As we've noticed in the earliest issues of TV Guide, the listings originally ran from Friday to Thursday, and in this week's message from the editor, we're told that the decision to change the format was not made lightly, but only "after careful study of how the magazine could best improve its service to readers." But first, a tutorial on how each week's edition of TV Guide is assembled:

Collecting the mass of information that appears in the magazine each week requires staffs of trained personnel in New York and Hollywood, the major origination points for network programs, and local staffs in each of the cities where TV Guide is published. Details on network programs move from both coasts to local offices throughout the country on our own private leased wire Teletype system. In each city, information on locally originated programs is obtained from the stations and correlated with the network information received via Teletype.

All this takes time, of course, and during the 15 months that TV Guide has been in business nationally, meeting deadlines has been a constant struggle. And so: by starting on Saturday rather than Friday, "we now will be able to bring you those extra items of late information."
I'll be frank: the whole explanation was kind of anticlimatic. I was expecting something profound, perhaps even existential: aligning the television week with the restorative powers of the weekend, for example, Instead, it's the publishing equivalent of "I Subscribed to TV Guide and All I Got Was This Lousy Explanation." 
Still, to quote Bing Crosby in White Christmas, while it may not be a good reason, it's a reason. We don't have printed television listings anymore, and if your goal is accurate, up-to-the-minute information, it's a good thing: what used to require days to update can now be done in a matter of moments and instantly delivered to you via the internet or on your television. The romance of publishing, like that of newspapers, is a thing of the past; it's the kind of thing we sacrifice in the name of progress. TV  

Around the dial

The guests gathered after dinner to watch C-SPAN
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T
he Hitchcock Project at bare•bones e-zine is always a good way to start the week, and today Jack looks at the first hour-long contribution by Levinson and Link, " Captive Audience ," with a superlative cast starring James Mason, Angie Dickinson and Ed Nelson. 
There was more to Eve Plumb's career than playing Jan Brady, as David reminds us at Comfort TV, and this week he looks at her work outside of The Brady Bunch, a wide variety ranging from The Smothers Brothers and Family Affair to The Facts of Life.  
Realweegiemidget reviews the 1983 Brit TV movie Those Glory, Glory Days, and I normally wouldn't pay much attention except it's about a woman's teenage obsession with the Tottenham Hotspur soccer team, and as a (former?) Arsenal follower I can't possibly let this go unnoticed. The Spurs star she encounters, by the way, is real-life star  Danny Blanchflower , who went on to serve as a color commentator for CBS's soccer coverage in 1967.
I may well have mentioned this last year, and I suspect I'll write about it again next year, but this week marks two notable birthdays in the classic television oeuvre: first, at Garroway at Large, Jodie honors Dave Garroway's birthday , as well as the fourth anniversary of her blog. (Has it really only been four years? It seems as if we've known you much longer!)
Meanwhile, at Bob Crane: Life & Legacy, it's the 93rd birthday of Bob Crane , which Carol celebrates with a birthday celebration podcast. I just can't imagine him at that age, even though Robert Clary, the last survivor of Hogan's Heroes, is in his 90s as well. It doesn't—TILT—compute.
Do I have to surrender my credentials as a Whovian by admitting I've yet to make it all the way through the Matt Smith episodes of Doctor Who? I've nothing against him; I have all the discs; what I don't have is the time. Fortunately, John is here at Cult TV Blog to save me, at least with the writeup to " The God Complex, " which I have been accused of having a time or two. 
At Classic Film & TV Café, Rick interviews Michael Asimow , co-author (with Paul Bergman) of the book Real to Reel: Truth and Trickery in Courtroom Movies, which sounds like a book I really should own. I wonder if they had anything to say about the sanity trial of Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street?
At A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence has a three-part look back at Saturday Morning Musical Kids' Shows of the 1960s and 1970s, which brings back a lot of memories for me. You can (and should) read parts two and three as indicated. How different Saturday morning TV was back then! TV  

The history of television flashing before your eyes

Nobody, but nobody, could bite the hand that fed them like SCTV could. Some of the greatest, most devastating satire ever produced on television about television came from this show, which began on Canadian television in the mid-1970s before making the move to NBC, and then Cinemax, running for a total of six seasons. (I always thought the smart move on NBC's part would have been to dump Saturday Night Live and put SCTV in the timeslot, but what do I know?)
Increasingly, I find that when I watch highlight clips from television shows of the 1970s and '80s—the reels you see on excellent YouTube channels like FredFlix and RwDT09 —I become convinced that I'm actually watching an SCTV rerun. Of course, those were the programs that SCTV was satirizing in the first place, but their ideas were so absurd at yet at the same time so plausible, it really can be hard to tell the difference.
There's a lot more to SCTV than satire, though. The elaborate, occasionally show-length skits are smart and literate as well as funny, and even when they're ravaging television, they manage to show a warmth and respect for it at the same time. This is particularly evident in 1983's "Sweeps Week," an Emmy-winning episode that takes on the practice of loading up the Sweeps period with the most spectacular, titilating, exploitative programming possible. The centerpiece of the episode (besides the absurd The Dallas Cowgirls Salute Copland) is a nearly 50-minute skit entitled Night of the PrimeTime Stars, a ridiculous parody of celebrity-laden variety shows ("starring" Linda Lavin, Lorne Greene, Jamie Farr, Merlin Olsen and Gavin MacLeod), wrapped up in a Poltergeist-like story.
Amid the satire, though, a couple of moments stand out: John Candy's spot-on impression of Jackie Gleason playing Ralph Kramden, and Andrea Martin's wicked take on What's My Line? star Arlene Francis. These, and other references throught the skit (culminating in a "regurgitation" of the history of television) display a true knowledge of and affection for the those old shows and the pioneers of television behind them, an appreciation that can't be faked. Here, take a break and check it out for yourself. 
Of course, this familiarity with the medium's history is something that runs through the course of SCTV; how many people know, for example, that Joe Flaherty's private detective character Vic Arpeggio is a takeoff on John Cassavetes' "jazz detective" Johnny Staccico? That takes a real appreciation for history.
It is said that NBC, which saw SCTV as a stopgap until something better came along, was surprised by the show's popularity among young viewers, who presumably wouldn't be familiar with these "old" shows. The same thing they say about why they don't release vintage TV on DVD any more, isn't it? I guess it just goes to show how smart those network executives are, doesn't it? TV  

What's on TV? Thursday, July 14, 1966

Xome shows in the lineup today that we don't often get a chance to see, mainly because they weren't on that long. For instance, ABC's The Double Life of Henry Phyfe, starring Red Buttons as a man hired by the government to impersonate a foreign agent, his exact duplicate, who'd been killed. Seventeen episodes. And then there's McKeever and the Colonel, at 6:00 p.m. on KMSP. It's a sitcom from 1963, set at a military academy. Twenty-six episodes. Mickie Finn's was an NBC summer replacement series for Juliet Prowse's cancelled Mona McCluskey; it was a variety show starring Fred Finn and his then-wife Barbara, who went by the name of Mickie Finn, and was based on their San Diego Roaring '20s-style nightclub. Sixteen episodes. So, if you're reading this Minnesota State Edition, you can see that not everything in classic television is classic, at least not in a hall-of-fame sense. 
  -2- KTCA (EDUC.)

  Evening       6:00

ADVENTURE OF SPACE

      6:30

GIRLS IN CONFLICT—Konnpka

      7:00

MUSEUM OPEN HOUSE

      7:30

CHESS

      8:00

CONVERSATIONAL GERMAN

      8:30

PLAYS OF SHAKESPEARE

      9:00

IT’S A DOG’S LIFE

      9:30

TOWN AND COUNTRY—Wolf

    10:00

MANAGERS IN ACTION

    10:30

CONVERSATIONAL SPANISH

 

 

  -3- KDAL (DULUTH) (CBS)

  Morning

      7:50

FARM AND HOME

      8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO—Children

      9:00

I LOVE LUCY

      9:30

McCOYS—Comedy

    10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy

    10:30

BINGO—Game

    11:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    11:25

NEWS

    11:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

    11:45

GUIDING LIGHT—Serial

  Afternoon     12:00

TOWN AND COUNTRY

    12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

      1:00

PASSWORD

Celebrities: Brian Keith, Tippi Hedren. Host: Allen Ludden

      1:30

HOUSE PARTY   COLOR  Guest: Edith Head. Host: Art Linkletter

      2:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH—Panel

      2:25

NEWS—Edwards

      2:30

EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial

      3:00

SECRET STORM—Serial

      3:30

THE SAINT—Mystery

      4:30

CARTOONS—Children

      5:00

YOGI BEAR—Cartoons 

  COLOR        5:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite 

  COLOR    Evening       6:00

NEWS

      6:30

MUNSTERS

      7:00

GILLIGAN’S ISLAND—Comedy 

  COLOR        7:30

MY THREE SONS—Comedy 

  COLOR        8:00

MOVIE—Fantasy   COLOR  Thursday Night Movie: “Mysterious Island” (English; 1961)

    10:15

MOVIE—Drama

“Hell on Devil’s Island” (1957)

 

 

   3  KGLO (MASON CITY) (CBS)

  Morning       7:30

NEWS—Mike Wallace

      7:55

NEWS

      8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO—Children

      9:00

I LOVE LUCY

      9:30

McCOYS—Comedy

    10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy

    10:30

DICK VAN DYKE

    11:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    11:25

NEWS

    11:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

    11:45

GUIDING LIGHT—Serial

  Afternoon     12:00

NEWS

    12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

      1:00

PASSWORD

Celebrities: Brian Keith, Tippi Hedren. Host: Allen Ludden

      1:30

HOUSE PARTY   COLOR  Guest: Edith Head. Host: Art Linkletter

      2:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH—Panel

      2:25

NEWS—Edwards

      2:30

EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial

      3:00

SECRET STORM—Serial

      3:30

COMPASS—Travel 

  COLOR        4:00

BART’S CLUBHOUSE

      4:30

ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS

      4:45

BART’S CLUBHOUSE

      5:00

SUPERMAN—Adventure

      5:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite 

  COLOR    Evening       6:00

NEWS

      6:30

MUNSTERS

      7:00

GILLIGAN’S ISLAND—Comedy 

  COLOR        7:30

MY THREE SONS—Comedy 

  COLOR        8:00

MOVIE—Fantasy   COLOR  Thursday Night Movie: “Mysterious Island” (English; 1961)

    10:00

NEWS

    10:40

CHANNEL 3 EXTRA

 

 

  -4- WCCO (CBS)

  Morning       6:00

SUMMER SEMESTER

      6:30

SIEGFRIED—Children

      7:00

TREE HOUSE-Children

      8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO—Children

      9:00

DR. REUBEN K. YOUNGDAHL

      9:05

NEWS—Dean Montgomery

      9:10

MIKE DOUGLAS—Variety

Guest host: Sheila MacRae. Guests: Bobbi Martin, Sidney Omarr, Dr. Willis Potts

    10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy

    10:30

DICK VAN DYKE

    11:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    11:25

NEWS

    11:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

    11:45

GUIDING LIGHT—Serial

  Afternoon     12:00

NEWS

    12:15

SOMETHING SPECIAL

    12:20

WEATHER—Bud Kraehling

    12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

      1:00

PASSWORD

Celebrities: Brian Keith, Tippi Hedren. Host: Allen Ludden

      1:30

HOUSE PARTY   COLOR  Guest: Edith Head. Host: Art Linkletter

      2:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH—Panel

      2:25

NEWS—Edwards

      2:30

EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial

      3:00

SECRET STORM—Serial

      3:30

I LOVE LUCY—Comedy

      4:00

MOVIE—Drama

“The Naked Dawn” (1955)

      5:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite 

  COLOR    Evening       6:00

NEWS

      6:30

OUTDOOR SPORTS—Johnson

      7:00

GILLIGAN’S ISLAND—Comedy 

  COLOR        7:30

MY THREE SONS—Comedy 

  COLOR        8:00

MOVIE—Fantasy   COLOR  Thursday Night Movie: “Mysterious Island” (English; 1961)

    10:00

NEWS

    10:30

MOVIE—Drama   COLOR  “All That Heaven Allows” (1955)

    12:25

MOVIE—Drama

“Payroll” (1962)

 

 

  -5- KSTP (NBC)

  Morning       6:30

CITY AND COUNTRY 

  COLOR        7:00

TODAY   COLOR  Guests: Clark Kessinger, Don Mankiewicz

      9:00

EYE GUESS—Game 

  COLOR        9:25

NEWS 

  COLOR        9:30

CONCENTRATION—Game

    10:00

CHAIN LETTER—Game   COLOR  Guests: Cesar Romero, Pat Carroll. Host: Jan Murray

    10:30

SHOWDOWN—Game 

  COLOR      11:00

JEOPARDY—Game 

  COLOR      11:30

SWINGIN’ COUNTRY—Music   COLOR  Guests: Vic Dana, Molly Bee. Host: Rusty Draper

    11:55

NEWS

  Afternoon     12:00

NEWS AND WEATHER 

  COLOR      12:15

DIALING FOR DOLLARS—Game 

  COLOR      12:30

LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game 

  COLOR      12:55

NEWS 

  COLOR        1:00

DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial 

  COLOR        1:30

DOCTORS

      2:00

ANOTHER WORLD—Serial 

  COLOR        2:30

YOU DON’T SAY!—Game   COLOR  Celebrities: Patricia Crowley, Mickey Manners

      3:00

MATCH GAME   COLOR  Celebrities: Bert Parks, Deborah Bryant

      3:25

NEWS 

  COLOR        3:30

DIALING FOR DOLLARS—Game 

  COLOR        4:30

SUGARFOOT—Western

      5:00

DOCTOR’S HOUSE CALL—James Rogers Fox 

  COLOR        5:30

NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley 

  COLOR    Evening       6:00

NEWS 

  COLOR        6:30

DANIEL BOONE—Adventure 

  COLOR        7:30

LAREDO 

  COLOR        8:30

MICKIE FINN’S—Music   COLOR  Guest: Frank Fontaine

Postponed from last week

      9:00

ROWAN AND MARTIN—Variety   COLOR  Guests: Joyce Jameson, Pat Henry

    10:00

NEWS 

  COLOR      10:30

TONIGHT—Variety   COLOR  Guest host: Joey Bishop

    12:15

M SQUAD—Police

 

 

  -6- WDSM (DULUTH) (NBC)

  Morning       7:00

TODAY   COLOR  Guests: Clark Kessinger, Don Mankiewicz

      9:00

EYE GUESS—Game 

  COLOR        9:25

NEWS 

  COLOR        9:30

CONCENTRATION—Game

    10:00

CHAIN LETTER—Game   COLOR  Guests: Cesar Romero, Pat Carroll. Host: Jan Murray

    10:30

SHOWDOWN—Game 

  COLOR      11:00

JEOPARDY—Game 

  COLOR      11:30

SWINGIN’ COUNTRY—Music   COLOR  Guests: Vic Dana, Molly Bee. Host: Rusty Draper

    11:55

NEWS

  Afternoon     12:00

GIRL TALK

    12:30

LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game 

  COLOR      12:55

NEWS 

  COLOR        1:00

DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial 

  COLOR        1:30

DOCTORS

      2:00

ANOTHER WORLD—Serial 

  COLOR        2:30

YOU DON’T SAY!—Game   COLOR  Celebrities: Patricia Crowley, Mickey Manners

      3:00

MATCH GAME   COLOR  Celebrities: Bert Parks, Deborah Bryant

      3:25

NEWS 

  COLOR        3:30

JACK LA LANNE 

  COLOR        4:00

BOZO AND HIS PALS 

  COLOR        5:30

NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley 

  COLOR    Evening       6:00

NEWS, ROCKY TELLER 

  COLOR        6:30

DANIEL BOONE—Adventure 

  COLOR        7:30

LAREDO 

  COLOR        8:30

MICKIE FINN’S—Music   COLOR  Guest: Frank Fontaine

Postponed from last week

      9:00

ROWAN AND MARTIN—Variety   COLOR  Guests: Joyce Jameson, Pat Henry

    10:00

NEWS 

  COLOR      10:20

TONIGHT—Variety   COLOR  Guest host: Joey Bishop

 

 

   6  KMMT (AUSTIN) (ABC)

  Morning     10:00

SUPERMARKET SWEEP—Game

    10:30

DATING GAME

    11:00

DONNA REED—Comedy

    11:30

FATHER KNOWS BEST

  Afternoon     12:00

BEN CASEY—Drama

      1:00

NEWLYWED GAME

      1:30

A TIME FOR US—Serial

      1:55

NEWS—Marlene Sanders

      2:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL

      2:30

NURSES—Serial

      3:00

DARK SHADOWS—Serial

      3:30

WHERE THE ACTION IS—Variety

Guests: Petula Clark, Marianne Faithfull, Paul Revere and the Raiders

      4:00

CAPTAIN ATOM—Children

      5:30

RIFLEMAN—Western

  Evening       6:00

NEWS—Peter Jennings

      6:15

NEWS, WEATHER, SPORTS

      6:30

BATMAN—Adventure   COLOR  Guest Villain: Cesar Romero (The Joker)

      7:00

GIDGET—Comedy 

  COLOR        7:30

DOUBLE LIFE—Comedy 

  COLOR        8:00

BEWITCHED—Drama

      8:30

PEYTON PLACE

      9:00

THE BARON—Adventure   COLOR  Last show of the series. “The Avengers” moves into this time spot next week

    10:00

NEWS

    10:30

UNTOUCHABLES—Drama

    11:30

NEWS

 

 

  -7- KCMT (ALEX) (NBC, ABC)

  Morning       7:00

TODAY   COLOR  Guests: Clark Kessinger, Don Mankiewicz

      9:00

EYE GUESS—Game 

  COLOR        9:25

NEWS 

  COLOR        9:30

CONCENTRATION—Game

    10:00

CHAIN LETTER—Game   COLOR  Guests: Cesar Romero, Pat Carroll. Host: Jan Murray

    10:30

SHOWDOWN—Game 

  COLOR      11:00

JEOPARDY—Game 

  COLOR      11:30

SWINGIN’ COUNTRY—Music   COLOR  Guests: Vic Dana, Molly Bee. Host: Rusty Draper

    11:55

NEWS

  Afternoon     12:00

NEWS

    12:15

TRADING POST—Jon Haaven

    12:30

LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game 

  COLOR      12:55

NEWS 

  COLOR        1:00

DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial 

  COLOR        1:30

DOCTORS

      2:00

ANOTHER WORLD—Serial 

  COLOR        2:30

YOU DON’T SAY!—Game   COLOR  Celebrities: Patricia Crowley, Mickey Manners

      3:00

MATCH GAME   COLOR  Celebrities: Bert Parks, Deborah Bryant

      3:25

NEWS 

  COLOR        3:30

GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial

      4:00

FATHER KNOWS BEST—Comedy

      4:30

WELCOME INN—Variety

      5:00

HUCKLEBERRY HOUND

      5:30

NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley 

  COLOR    Evening       6:00

NEWS

      6:30

DANIEL BOONE—Adventure 

  COLOR        7:30

LAREDO 

  COLOR        8:30

MICKIE FINN’S—Music   COLOR  Guest: Frank Fontaine

Postponed from last week

      9:00

ROWAN AND MARTIN—Variety   COLOR  Guests: Joyce Jameson, Pat Henry

    10:00

NEWS

    10:30

TONIGHT—Variety   COLOR  Guest host: Joey Bishop

 

 

  -8- WDSE (DULUTH) (EDUC.)

  Evening       6:30

WHAT’S NEW—Children

      7:00

U.S.A.—Art

      7:30

FILM FEATURE

      8:30

PLAYS OF SHAKESPEARE

      9:00

FILM FEATURE

      9:30

CONVERSATIONAL SPANISH

    10:00

AT ISSUE—Discussion 

  SPECIAL 

 

 

   8  WKBT (LA CROSSE) (CBS)

  Morning       7:30

NEWS—Mike Wallace

      7:55

NEWS

      8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO—Children

      9:00

I LOVE LUCY

      9:30

McCOYS—Comedy

    10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy

    10:30

DICK VAN DYKE

    11:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    11:25

NEWS

    11:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

    11:45

GUIDING LIGHT—Serial

  Afternoon     12:00

NEWS

    12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

      1:00

PASSWORD

Celebrities: Brian Keith, Tippi Hedren. Host: Allen Ludden

      1:30

HOUSE PARTY   COLOR  Guest: Edith Head. Host: Art Linkletter

      2:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH—Panel

      2:25

NEWS—Edwards

      2:30

EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial

      3:00

SECRET STORM—Serial

      3:30

DARK SHADOWS—Serial

      4:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial

      4:30

MICKEY MOUSE CLUB—Children

      5:00

DOBIE GILLIS—Comedy

      5:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite 

  COLOR    Evening       6:00

NEWS

      7:00

GILLIGAN’S ISLAND—Comedy 

  COLOR        7:30

MY THREE SONS—Comedy 

  COLOR        8:00

MOVIE—Fantasy   COLOR  Thursday Night Movie: “Mysterious Island” (English; 1961)

    10:00

NEWS

    10:25

FILM SHORT

    10:30

SECRET AGENT—Adventure

    11:30

TRAILS WEST—Drama

 

 

  -9- KMSP (ABC)

  Morning       8:00

HENNESEY—Comedy

      8:40

KIT CARSON—Western

      9:00

ROMPER ROOM—Miss Betty

    10:00

SUPERMARKET SWEEP—Game

    10:30

DATING GAME

    11:00

DONNA REED—Comedy

    11:30

FATHER KNOWS BEST

  Afternoon     12:00

BEN CASEY—Drama

      1:00

NEWLYWED GAME

      1:30

A TIME FOR US—Serial

      1:55

NEWS—Marlene Sanders

      2:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL

      2:30

NURSES—Serial

      3:00

DARK SHADOWS—Serial

      3:30

WHERE THE ACTION IS—Variety

Guests: Petula Clark, Marianne Faithfull, Paul Revere and the Raiders

      4:00

DETECTIVES—Police

      4:30

SOUPY SALES—Comedy

      5:00

NEWS—Peter Jennings

      5:15

NEWS AND WEATHER

      5:30

DENNIS THE MENACE—Comedy

  Evening       6:00

McKEEVER—Comedy

      6:30

BATMAN—Adventure   COLOR  Guest Villain: Cesar Romero (The Joker)

      7:00

GIDGET—Comedy 

  COLOR        7:30

DOUBLE LIFE—Comedy 

  COLOR        8:00

BEWITCHED—Drama

      8:30

PEYTON PLACE

      9:00

THE BARON—Adventure   COLOR  Last show of the series. “The Avengers” moves into this time spot next week

    10:00

NEWS

    10:30

MOVIE—Drama

“Pretty Baby” (1950)

 

 

  10 WDIO (DULUTH) (ABC)

  Morning     10:00

SUPERMARKET SWEEP—Game

    10:30

DATING GAME

    11:00

DONNA REED—Comedy

    11:30

FATHER KNOWS BEST

  Afternoon     12:00

BEN CASEY—Drama

      1:00

NEWLYWED GAME

      1:30

A TIME FOR US—Serial

      1:55

NEWS—Marlene Sanders

      2:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL

      2:30

NURSES—Serial

      3:00

DARK SHADOWS—Serial

      3:30

WHERE THE ACTION IS—Variety

Guests: Petula Clark, Marianne Faithfull, Paul Revere and the Raiders

      4:00

MOVIE—Melodrama

“Brain from Planet Arous” (1958)

      5:30

NEWS, SPORTS, WEATHER

      5:45

NEWS—Peter Jennings

  Evening       6:00

REBEL—Western

      6:30

BATMAN—Adventure   COLOR  Guest Villain: Cesar Romero (The Joker)

      7:00

GIDGET—Comedy 

  COLOR        7:30

DOUBLE LIFE—Comedy 

  COLOR        8:00

BEWITCHED—Drama

      8:30

PEYTON PLACE

      9:00

THE BARON—Adventure   COLOR  Last show of the series. “The Avengers” moves into this time spot next week

    10:00

NEWS

    10:15

MOVIE—Drama

“Time Bomb” (French; 1959)

 

 

  10 KROC (ROCHESTER) (NBC)

  Morning       7:00

TODAY   COLOR  Guests: Clark Kessinger, Don Mankiewicz

      9:00

EYE GUESS—Game 

  COLOR        9:25

NEWS 

  COLOR        9:30

CONCENTRATION—Game

    10:00

CHAIN LETTER—Game   COLOR  Guests: Cesar Romero, Pat Carroll. Host: Jan Murray

    10:30

SHOWDOWN—Game 

  COLOR      11:00

JEOPARDY—Game 

  COLOR      11:30

SWINGIN’ COUNTRY—Music   COLOR  Guests: Vic Dana, Molly Bee. Host: Rusty Draper

    11:55

NEWS

  Afternoon     12:00

NEWS

    12:15

FILM SHORT

    12:30

LET’S MAKE A DEAL—Game 

  COLOR      12:55

NEWS 

  COLOR        1:00

DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial 

  COLOR        1:30

DOCTORS

      2:00

ANOTHER WORLD—Serial 

  COLOR        2:30

YOU DON’T SAY!—Game   COLOR  Celebrities: Patricia Crowley, Mickey Manners

      3:00

MATCH GAME   COLOR  Celebrities: Bert Parks, Deborah Bryant

      3:25

NEWS 

  COLOR        3:30

BACHELOR FATHER—Comedy

      4:00

LONE RANGER—Western

      4:30

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER—Comedy

      5:00

WOODY WOODPECKER

      5:30

NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley 

  COLOR    Evening

      6:00

NEWS

      6:30

DANIEL BOONE—Adventure 

  COLOR        7:30

LAREDO 

  COLOR        8:30

MICKIE FINN’S—Music   COLOR  Guest: Frank Fontaine

Postponed from last week

      9:00

ROWAN AND MARTIN—Variety   COLOR  Guests: Joyce Jameson, Pat Henry

    10:00

NEWS

    10:30

TONIGHT—Variety   COLOR  Guest host: Joey Bishop

 

 

  11 WTCN (IND.)

  Morning     10:15

NEWS—Gil Amundson

    10:30

MOVIE—Drama

“His Woman” (1931)

    11:55

NEWS—Gil Amundson

  Afternoon     12:00

LUNCH WITH CASEY—Children

      1:00

MOVIE—Adventure

“Tarzan and the Lost Safari” (English; 1956)

      2:45

MEL’S NOTEBOOK—Interview

      3:00

GIRL TALK—Panel

Guests: Elsa Lanchester, Ann Pinchot, Anais Nin. Moderator: Virginia Graham

      3:30

AMOS ‘N’ ANDY—Comedy

      4:00

POPEYE AND PETE—Children

      4:30

CASEY AND ROUNDHOUSE

      5:30

LONE RANGER—Western

  Evening       6:00

SEA HUNT—Adventure

      6:30

BOLD JOURNEY—Travel

      7:00

TRUE ADVENTURE 

  COLOR        7:30

BAT MASTERSON—Western

      8:00

MOVIE—War Drama

“The Story of GI Joe” (1945)

      9:30

NEWS, WEATHER, SPORTS

    10:00

MOVIE—Drama

“Lost” (English; 1955)

 

 

  12 KEYC (MANKATO) (CBS)

  Morning       7:30

NEWS—Mike Wallace

      7:55

FILM SHORT

      8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO—Children

      9:00

I LOVE LUCY

      9:30

McCOYS—Comedy

    10:00

ANDY GRIFFITH—Comedy

    10:30

DICK VAN DYKE

    11:00

LOVE OF LIFE

    11:25

NEWS

    11:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW—Serial

    11:45

GUIDING LIGHT—Serial

  Afternoon     12:00

NEWS

    12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

      1:00

PASSWORD

Celebrities: Brian Keith, Tippi Hedren. Host: Allen Ludden

      1:30

HOUSE PARTY   COLOR  Guest: Edith Head. Host: Art Linkletter

      2:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH—Panel

      2:25

NEWS—Edwards

      2:30

EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial

      3:00

SECRET STORM—Serial

      3:30

FILM FEATURE

      4:00

BART’S CLUBHOUSE

      4:30

ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS

      4:45

BART’S CLUBHOUSE

      5:00

SUPERMAN—Adventure

      5:30

NEWS—Walter Cronkite 

  COLOR    Evening       6:00

NEWS

      7:00

GILLIGAN’S ISLAND—Comedy 

  COLOR        7:30

MY THREE SONS—Comedy 

  COLOR        8:00

MOVIE—Fantasy   COLOR  Thursday Night Movie: “Mysterious Island” (English; 1961)

    10:00

NEWS

    10:40

MOVIE—Comedy

“The Atomic Kid” (1954)

 

 

  13 WEAU (EAU CLAIRE) (NBC)

  Morning       7:00

TODAY   COLOR  Guests: Clark Kessinger, Don Mankiewicz

      9:00

EYE GUESS—Game 

  COLOR        9:25

NEWS 

  COLOR        9:30

CONCENTRATION—Game

    10:00

CHAIN LETTER—Game   COLOR  Guests: Cesar Romero, Pat Carroll. Host: Jan Murray

    10:30

SHOWDOWN—Game 

  COLOR      11:00

JEOPARDY—Game 

  COLOR      11:30

SWINGIN’ COUNTRY—Music   COLOR  Guests: Vic Dana, Molly Bee. Host: Rusty Draper

    11:55

NEWS

  Afternoon

    12:00

FARM AND HOME

      1:00

DAYS OF OUR LIVES—Serial 

  COLOR        1:30

DOCTORS

      2:00

ANOTHER WORLD—Serial 

  COLOR        2:30

YOU DON’T SAY!—Game   COLOR  Celebrities: Patricia Crowley, Mickey Manners

      3:00

MATCH GAME   COLOR  Celebrities: Bert Parks, Deborah Bryant

      3:25

NEWS 

  COLOR        3:30

FATHER KNOWS BEST—Comedy

      4:00

HOPPITY HOOPER—Cartoons

      4:30

SHERIFF BOB—Children

      5:00

WOODY WOODPECKER

      5:30

NEWS—Chet Huntley, David Brinkley 

  COLOR    Evening

      6:00

NEWS

      6:30

DANIEL BOONE—Adventure 

  COLOR        7:30

LAREDO 

  COLOR        8:30

MICKIE FINN’S—Music   COLOR  Guest: Frank Fontaine

Postponed from last week

      9:00

ROWAN AND MARTIN—Variety   COLOR  Guests: Joyce Jameson, Pat Henry

    10:00

NEWS

    10:30

TONIGHT—Variety   COLOR  Guest host: Joey Bishop

    12:00

MOVIE—Drama

“On Dangerous Ground” (1952)

TV  

This week in TV Guide: July 9, 1966

As you've probably noticed, the entertainment industry has a far different definition of the word "disaster" than you or I have. Whereas we might think of, say, a natural disaster, a fatal disease, a broken marriage, financial ruin—something not only disastrous but heart-rending—those in the industry has a far narrower definition. And for Sammy Davis Jr., a man whose life has so far included racial discrimination and abuse, a near-fatal auto accident that cost him an eye, and problems with drugs and alcohol, his "disaster" is the cancellation of his television program. 
The disastrous headline spread across this week's cover is inspired by part one of a two-part article by Alan Ebert, an NBC employee who served as publicity director for The Sammy Davis Jr. Show, based on the diary he kept while working on the show. And, within the confines of the industry's definition, it would be hard to imagine a more disastrous experience than The Sammy Davis Jr. Show, one so fully comprehensive that to fully understand and appreciate it, we need to start long before the beginning of this week's article. For the story of the genesis of The Sammy Davis Jr. Show is probably as odd as it gets, and matches the series itself for drama and pathos.
We begin in the fall of 1965 with Sammy and His Friends, a special which Davis had made for ABC (a follow-up to his earlier special for the network, Sammy Davis, Jr. and the Wonderful World of Children, which the network aired in November). With friends like Frank Sinatra, Edie Adams, Joey Heatherton, and Count Basie and his orchestra, it looked like a success for the network. But, as we're fond of saying—or at least I am—the devil is in the details; in this case, a clause in the ABC contract that prohibited Davis from appearing on any other network show for a period of 21 days before and eight days following the broadcast. 
We now move to another network, NBC, which comes up with an offer of its own for Davis: not a series of specials, but a weekly series of his own, a midseason replacement for its soon-to-be-cancelled war drama Convoy, which was being battered in the ratings by CBS's two military comedies, Hogan’s Heroes and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. The show seems to have a good setup: Joe Hamilton, husband of Carol Burnett, was tapped to produce. George Rhodes, Sammy’s longtime musical director, would head up the show’s orchestra. With Davis on-board, NBC announces a premiere date of January 7, 1966.
At this point, ABC makes an announcement of its own, that Sammy and His Friends will air on February 1. They also say they'll invoking the terms of the non-appearance clause in Davis' contract, meaning Sammy will be prevented from appearing on his own show for almost a month following the premiere. To say the least, it’s hard to imagine a more awkward way to start a television series. 
   The name is Connery—Sean Connery.In the article, Ebert alludes to a "crazy contract hassle with ABC," which appears to be an understatement. First Davis tries to get ABC to air the special in December rather than Feburary. When that fails, he offers to buy the rights to the special from them; that's also a non-starter. NBC is equally committed to the January premiere date; in the rigid scheduling world of the time, the fall season always starts in early September, and the so-called “Second Season” begins right after New Year’s. The practical meaning of this is that Davis will host the show's premiere, and then guest hosts will fill in for the next three shows: Johnny Carson, Sean Connery and Jerry Lewis. (The network fills another week with a repeat of 1960's Peter Pan.)
However, in addition to the conflict with ABC, there are other problems. Chief among them, as Ebert points out, is Davis’ own approach to the show. He's frequently difficult to reach, almost impossible to schedule for promotional interviews, and perpetually surrounded by hangers-on and camp followers. (It was, interestingly enough, similar to the approach Davis’ mentor, Frank Sinatra, took toward his own variety show in the late 1950s. That show, too, was doomed to failure.) He's either making a movie, performing on Broadway in "Golden Boy," or doing a concert. Oh, and he also "ordered $30,000 worth of suits in various hues from Sy Devore, intending never to wear the same suit twice." Before long, Davis has built up the reputation around NBC as “difficult, a prima donna.” 
Gradually, however, Davis begins to win people over, including Ebert. They find that the "on" Sammy Davis Jr. is for real. "I enjoy being Sammy Davis. I love my life. I dig being the Sammy Davis cab drivers yell 'hi' to. . . Many people wear their success like a chain around their necks. Not me. I love mine." And then—
The initial episode of The Sammy Davis Jr. Show was taped on December 19, featuring Richard Burton and Liz Taylor, Nancy Wilson, Corbett Monica, Augie and Margo, and The Will Mastin Trio. It was, by all accounts (including Ebert's), a disaster. Taylor was, in Ebert’s words, “so nervous she’s practically hysterical.” Sammy spends more time trying to keep her calm than he does on his own performance. In fact, the only person who seemed happy with the result was Davis himself. The show garners terrific ratings, but the reviews are dismal, every bit as bad as Ebert has feared. He lays it on the line to Davis: without major changes, the show is doomed. "He decides then and there, without consultantion, that he'll revert to the old Sammy Davis and be 'on' constantly."
As part one of this diary ends, Davis has turned it on; the taping of his show with Trini Lopez is, Ebert says, "truly one of the best variety shows I've ever seen." But will the viewers buy it?
Short answer: no. Although the reviews are increasingly positive, even laudatory, the show never recovers from its initial start, and NBC announces its cancellation with three episodes still to be shown. (A premature cancellation, more than one reviewer will note, as the show gets better each week.) Davis would later tell a newspaper reporter that he "knew one week after the first show that he wouldn’t be picked up for more than 13.” He complained that he was being prevented from being himself—he “couldn’t undo his necktie or smoke. . . this is like putting a muffler on a drag race or refusing to let Jack Benny fold his arms." He pleaded with the network to “take me as I am,” to no avail. "If I don’t know anything else, I know how to entertain people, but I’ve got to be me” he told the reporter. “I ain’t a good somebody else—hey, listen, I ain’t but a fair me.”
t t t
During the 60s, the Ed Sullivan Show and The Hollywood Palace were the premiere variety shows on television. Whenever they appear in TV Guide together, we'll match them up and see who has the best lineup..
Sullivan: Ed's guests this week are Ethel Merman; the rockin' Rolling Stones; singer Wayne Newton; actor Hal Holbrook; comics Sandy Baron and Eddie Schaeffer; and the Rumanian Folk Ballet.

Palace: We're playing a little fast and loose with the listings this week; the Coaches All-America football game, which I discussed a couple of issues ago, preempts Palace this week, which means we're dependent on KCMT's delayed broadcast of last week's show. In that one, host Ray Bolger presents singer Kay Starr; jazz vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, accompanied by 7-year-old drummer Jim Bradley; impressionist Rich Little; comedian Norm Crosby; escape artist Michael De La Vega; and the Five Amandis, teeterboard act.

James Bradley Jr., Lionel Hampton's accompanist, was already known to television viewers, having appeared on Jack Benny's program when he was five, and he'd later appear in a small role in Paul Newman's Cool Hand Luke. Combined with Hampton, the wonderful song-and-dance man Ray Bolger, and the very funny Norm Crosby, the Palace would normally have this week hands-down. But then Ed comes back with the Merm, the Stones, and Hal Holbrook. There can be only one verdict for this high-quality week: push.

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Saturday is the final round of the British Open (10:00 a.m. CT, ABC), live via satellite* from Muirfield, Scotland. It's the first Saturday finish for the Open; in previous years 36 holes had been played on Friday, with Saturday reserved in case of a playoff. Jack Nicklaus wins the first of his three Opens, edging Doug Sanders and Dave Thomas by a stroke. Nicklaus loved Muirfield so much that when he built his own course in Dublin, Ohio, he named in Muirfield Village.

*Interesting that in years to come, the Open would revert to same-day coverage on Wide World of Sports before attaining the massive television coverage it enjoys to this day.

A prescient special on Sunday (5:30 p.m., NBC), "Who Shall Live?" takes a look at the crisis facing medicine. As producer Lucy Jarvis puts it, "One hundred thousand people die of [uremic poisoning] every year, and only 150 are being saved. Why is that—in a country as rich as ours?" The answer: a rigorous treatment for those suffering from the disease, which costs $10,000 a year and lasts for the rest of their lives. Applicants for the treatment must go through a battery of tests and then await the judgment of a committee that decides "who shall live." Not for the first time, I wonder if this kind of rationing is the shape of things to come.

Monday night Joey Bishop begins the first night of his three-week stint for the vacationing Johnny Carson (10:30 p.m., NBC). Now, I know Johnny liked his time off, but three weeks? On the other hand, I've got a TV Guide somewhere talking about then-Today host Dave Garroway beginning the first of a five-week vacation. Must be nice; I just got back from a five-day vacation and I was grateful to have it.

Tuesday is Major League Baseball's All Star Game, from the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis (12:30 p.m., NBC). The National League wins an excruciating 2-1 victory in ten innings, played in 105° heat. Imagine if Busch Stadium had artificial turf. By the way, this marks the last time the All-Star Game is scheduled for a afternoon broadcast; the following year's game, played in Anaheim, starts at 4:15 PT in order to capitalize on prime time in the East. (That game will have non-heat related problems of its own, namely the late afternoon sun shining in batters' eyes, contributing to another 2-1 game, this time going 15 innings.) 
On Wednesday, At Issue (7:00 p.m., NET) presents a discussion on Congressional ethics—stop it, I know you're laughing out there—moderated by Robert Novak, long before he became famous on The McLaughlin Group. Interesting footnote: all the Congressmen being interviewed are Democrats; that's how much of a majority they held before that year's midterms. For another kind of controlled violence, Emile Griffith defends his world middleweight boxing championship against Joey Archer, live from Madison Square Garden (9:00 p.m., WTCN). Griffith wins a hard-fought 15-round decision.
I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but prior to Laugh-In, Dan Rowan and Dick Martin hosted a summer-replacement show for Dean Martin on Thursday nights (9:00 p.m., NBC), a much more conventional format than Laugh-In would prove to be. Joyce Jameson and Pat Henry are this week's guests, with regulars Lainie Kazan, Frankie Randall, Judi Rolin, and Les Brown and his Band of Renown. If you're not watching that, you might be tuned to the final episode of ABC's British-import The Baron, starring Steve Forrest, and featuring an appearance by Lois Maxwell, whom we all know and love as the original Moneypenny of the James Bond films. Replacing The Baron next week: The Avengers.
An interesting program on Friday: Pablo Casals conducting his religious oratorio "El Pessebre" (The Manager) taped at the United Nations in 1963 in honor of United Nations Day, with an all-star cast and Robert Shaw conducting the Festival Casals Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. (9:00 p.m., NET)
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Random notes for the week:

A letter to the editor lauds an "excellent" recent article on NBC newsman Frank McGee and reminding readers of his yeoman in the hours and days following the assassination of John Kennedy; "His intelligent, saddened calm was exactly right." It's signed "Leslie Nielsen, Universal City, Cal." I wonder—there can't be that many  Leslie Nielsens , can there?
Then there's a letter praising Jim Backus and "Continental Showcase, "the freshest variety show I have ever seen! As a performer, I not only admire the talent we have thus far enjoyed, but believe we may have much to learn from how the producers manage to escape the usual musical stereotype." It's signed "Joi Lansing, Woodland Hills, Cal." There can't be that many Joi Lansings , can there?

And a humorous note appears in the "On the Record" section that leads off the issue's programming section. Seems as if the magazine has a writer, Richard Warren Lewis, whose assignment was to go undercover, as it were, as a contestant on ABC's The Dating Game, then come back and write an article about his experiences. The article's now a week overdue, but Mr. Lewis presumably has a good excuse: Joan Patrick, the young woman whom Lewis selected during his turn in the bachelor's seat. Miss Patrick, apparently, has quite the recipe for rock cornish game hen stuffed with wild rice and cooked in white wine. Well, as they say, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Next month the two are set to be married, and presumably the article will have to wait a while longer.

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I have to ask: has this been a duller issue than normal? It's true there's not much to choose from during rerun season, and as usual the week's programming is studded with replacement series: we've mentioned Jim Backus and Continental Showcase, taking Jackie Gleason's place on CBS Saturday night, and Rowan and Martin filling in for Dean Martin on NBC Thursday nights; but there's also Vacation Playhouse, one of those collections of failed plots from over the years, replacing The Lucy Show on CBS; John Davidson taking over NBC's Kraft Music Hall for the summer; Hippodrome filling in on CBS for Red Skelton; and Mickie Finn's replacing Mona McCluskey on NBC.  
Even the TV Teletype is pretty ordinary, but there is one thing that caught my eye: a plan to turn literary classics into soap operas. It says here that NBC plans a soap—excuse me, "daytime series"—based on Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights this fall, and that Jane Eyre and Rebecca could follow suit. I don't know that the Heights idea ever took off; NBC only had a handful of soaps in the coming season, and all of them—Days of Our Lives, The Doctors, Another World—were pretty well established by that time. A pity, I suppose; so many of these books were built-in soaps, just waiting for their stories to reach a daytime audience. On the other hand, though, it might have been difficult to figure out how the network could have stretched Heathcliff and Catherine's tortured romance out for thirty years or so. Even if they'd filmed it in real time they couldn't have made it last that long. Could they?  TV  

Around the dial

It's Christmas in July at Joanna's Christmas TV History, and while you ought to check out all of the entries so far, I'll single out Wednesday's entry from 1958's Cimarron City , with star George Montgomery and special guest star Dinah Shore, aka Mrs. George Montgomery. 
At Comfort TV, David has a very thoughtful piece on how television needs to be an oasis , a break from the increasing lunacy of the real world. This is something I really identify with, and in fact David very kindly mentioned me in his article. But this is a well-written example of why classic television is so different from television today—and oftentimes, for the better.
Remember The Delphi Bureau ? Before it became a short-lived series in 1972-73 (as part of the wheel series The Men), it was a 1972 made-for-TV movie, with the terrific Laurence Luckinbill as a spy on the run, and Cameron Mitchell as the baddie out to get him. Rick takes a look at this watchable pilot in this week's Classic Film & TV Café.
I defy anyone—anyone—to resist an episode of any television series with the title " Invasion of the Earthmen ." When it's The Avengers, that makes the episode all the more interesting, and John tells us why it isn't anywhere near as bad as some make it out to be, at Cult TV Blog. 
The Untouchables remains one of my favorite series (especially the episodes with Bruce Gordon as Frank Nitti), and this week Television's New Frontier: the 1960s looks at the state of the series as the final season begins in 1962, as well as giving us a fascinating, in-depth look at the show's history and its relationship to the facts.
I don't think I exaggerate when I suggest that "The Hitch-Hiker" is one of the most memorable and most popular of Twilight Zone episodes; at Shadow & Substance, Paul goes in-depth, much as Jack does at bare•bones e-zine, and shows how Rod Serling skillfully adapted Lucille Fletcher's radio play into one of the series' most unsettling dramas. Hint: it's not what he does, but what he doesn't do.
The Twilight Zone was just one of the many series with the good fortune to have had an episode or two directed by Richard Donner , who died this week, aged 91. Although he had great big screen success with movies like The Omen, Superman, Lethal Weapon and Scrooged, he left his mark on television not only with TZ, but shows like Have Gun—Will Travel, Route 66, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Ironside, and so many more. Terence has an appreciation of his career at A Shroud of Thoughts. 
Finally, I'm a little late with this, but July 1 was " Lost TV Day " at Television Obscurities—find out why Robert chose that date, and follow the links to some fascinating posts on an under-appreciated part of television history. I, of course, approve heartily. TV  

At Home with Earl Wrightson

I'm on vacation this week, a fact which should interest absolutely none of you, but eventually vacations end, and you find yourself back home. And speaking of home (how's that for a segue?), here's a look at the 15-minute weekly music program At Home with Earl Wrightson. From the description:

At Home was a 15 minute program hosted by singer Earl Wrightson that aired under different titles on ABC and CBS from 1948 to 1951.

True, that's about as bare-bones a description as you could ask for, but then, there's not much more to say. Earl Wrightson hosts from a cozy living room-type of set, sings a couple of songs (with a pleasing baritone voice), and introduces a guest who also sings a song or two; then they do a duet, and that's it. Simple, but effective.
Earl Wrightson was a singer and actor from the 1940s through 1980; he was never an A-lister (his only starring role on Broadway was a short-lived bomb), but he was a familiar face on television and in summer stock (frequently performing with his "intimate" friend, Lois Hunt), and recorded dozens of records during his long career. Earl's performance as host on At Home is comfortable and smooth.

The 15-minute television program, usually a soap opera or musical variety show, was a staple of television's first two decades. At Home, like most of the quarter-hour non-soapers*, shared the half-hour with the 15-minute network news. Eventually, networks turned that time over to their local affiliates, signaling the end of these shows; the last regularly scheduled 15-minute network programs were, I think, the soap operas The Guiding Light and Search for Tomorrow, which didn't expand to a half-hour until September of 1968. 
*Eddie Fisher, Dinah Shore, Andy Williams, and Perry Como were among those who hosted such shows through the years.
Today's program is from the show's run on CBS; it originally aired on January 18, 1950, and Earl's guest is the popular singer Marguerite Piazza. The bandleader is Norman Paris, who would later serve the same function on I've Got a Secret.
  TV  

What's on TV? Friday, July 10, 1964

Xhat a great night of television Friday was back in the early 1960s. CBS alone has Route 66, The Twilight Zone, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. NBC has Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater, which usually had a top-flight cast, and The Jack Paar Program. ABC has Burke's Law, and sports fans would have fun with the Friday night fights. For me, that would have been must-see TV, even if you have to switch between channels. I suppose that makes me old, but you know what? I am old. And if you're a classic TV fan and you can't find anything to watch tonight, I can't help you. By the way, tonight's listings are from Minneapolis-St. Paul.
  -2- KTCA (EDUC.)   Evening

      6:00

FRESHMAN ENGLISH—Preview

      6:30

TO BE ANNOUNCED

      7:00

DRAMA FESTIVAL

      8:30

TO BE ANNOUNCED

      9:00

SUMMER SESSION—Kuhn   

      9:30

TO BE ANNOUNCED

    10:00

AMERICANS AT WORK

    10:15

INDUSTRY ON PARADE

    10:30

SOUTHEAST ASIA

 

 

  -4- WCCO (CBS)   Morning

      6:30

SUMMER SEMESTER—Education

      7:00

SIEFRIED, AXEL, CLANCY

      8:00

CAPTAIN KANGAROO—Children

      9:00

NEWS—Dean Montgomery

      9:15

WHAT’S NEW?—Women

      9:25

DR. REUBEN K. YOUNGDAHL

      9:30

I LOVE LUCY—Comedy

    10:00

McCOYS—Comedy

    10:30

PETE AND GLADYS—Comedy

    11:00

LOVE OF LIFE—Serial

    11:25

NEWS—Robert Trout

    11:30

SEARCH FOR TOMORROW

    11:45

GUIDING LIGHT—Serial

  Afternoon

    12:00

NEWS—Dave Moore

    12:15

SOMETHING SPECIAL

    12:25

WEATHER—Bud Kraehling

    12:30

AS THE WORLD TURNS—Serial

      1:00

PASSWORD—Allen Ludden

Guests: Carol Lawrence, Tom Poston

      1:30

HOUSE PARTY—Art Linkletter

Guest: Earl Wilson

      2:00

TO TELL THE TRUTH—Panel

Panelists: Phyllis Newman, Robert Q. Lewis, Chester Morris

      2:25

NEWS—Douglas Edwards

      2:30

EDGE OF NIGHT—Serial

      3:00

SECRET STORM—Serial

      3:30

DANGER MAN—Mystery

      4:00

AROUND THE TOWN—Interview

      4:30

AXEL AND DEPUTY DAWG

      5:00

CLANCY AND COMPANY

      5:30

NEWS—Charles Kuralt

  Evening

      6:00

NEWS—Dean Montgomery

      6:15

SPORTS—Don Dahl

      6:20

SPOTLIGHT—George Rice

      6:25

WEATHER—Don O’Brien

      6:30

GREAT ADVENTURE—Drama

      7:30

ROUTE 66—Drama

      8:30

TWILIGHT ZONE—Drama

      9:00

ALFRED HITCHCOCK—Drama

    10:00

NEWS—Dave Moore

    10:15

WEATHER—Bud Kraehling

    10:20

SPORTS—Hal Scott

    10:30

STEVE ALLEN—Variety

    12:00

SPORTS—Hal Scott

    12:10

MOVIE—Adventure

“East of Kilimanjaro” (1962)

 

 

  -5- KSTP (NBC)   Morning

      6:30

CITY AND COUNTRY

      7:00

TODAY—Hugh Downs

Guest: Godfrey Cambridge

      9:00

MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY

      9:30

WORD FOR WORD 

  COLOR        9:55

NEWS—Edwin Newman

    10:00

CONCENTRATION—Hugh Downs

    10:30

JEOPARDY—Fleming 

  COLOR      11:00

SAY WHEN—Art James 

  COLOR      11:30

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES—Bob Barker 

  COLOR      11:55

NEWS—Ray Scherer

  Afternoon

    12:00

NEWS—MacDougall 

  COLOR      12:15

WEATHER—Morris 

  COLOR      12:25

WOMAN’S WORLD 

  COLOR      12:30

LET’S MAKE A DEAL 

  COLOR      12:55

NEWS—Floyd Kalber

      1:00

LORETTA YOUNG—Drama

      1:30

DOCTORS—Serial

      2:00

ANOTHER WORLD—Serial

      2:30

YOU DON’T SAY!—Tom Kennedy   COLOR  Guests: Agnes Moorehaed, Allen Young

      3:00

MATCH GAME—Gene Rayburn

Guests: Jayne Mansfield, Orson Bean

      3:25

NEWS—Sander Vanocur

      3:30

TREASURE CHEST 

  COLOR        4:00

GOP CONVENTION—Preview 

  SPECIAL        4:30

MOVIE—Western

“The Walking Hills” (1949)

      5:25

DOCTOR’S HOUSE CALL—Fox

      5:30

NEWS—Huntley, Brinkley

  Evening

      6:00

NEWS—Bob Ryan 

  COLOR        6:15

WEATHER—Morris 

  COLOR        6:25

SPORTS—Al Tighe 

  COLOR        6:30

INTERNATIONAL SHOWTIME

      7:30

BOB HOPE—Comedy   COLOR  “The Square Peg”

      8:30

THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS—Satire

      9:00

JACK PAAR—Variety   COLOR  Guests: Robert F. Kennedy, George Gobel, Helen O’Connell

    10:00

NEWS—MacDougall 

  COLOR      10:15

WEATHER—Morris 

  COLOR      10:20

SPORTS—Al Tighe 

  COLOR      10:30

TONIGHT—Woody Allen 

  COLOR      12:00

NEWS AND SPORTS 

  COLOR      12:05

MOVIE—Melodrama

“Behind the Mask” (1932)

 

 

  -9- KMSP (ABC)   Morning

      7:45

BREAKFAST—Grandpa Ken

      8:30

ROMPER ROOM—Miss Betty

      9:30

PRICE IS RIGHT—Bill Cullen

Guest: Allen Sherman

    10:00

GET THE MESSAGE—Buxton

Panel: Hy Gardner, Jack Cassidy, Georgia Brown

    10:30

MISSING LINKS—Dick Clark

Panelists: Sam Levenson, Kaye Ballard, Joel Grey

    11:00

FATHER KNOWS BEST—Comedy

    11:30

ERNIE FORD—Variety

  Afternoon

    12:00

MY LITTLE MARGIE—Comedy

    12:30

PETER GUNN—Mystery

      1:00

LOIS LEPPART—Interview

      1:30

DAY IN COURT—Serial

      1:55

NEWS—Lisa Howard

      2:00

GENERAL HOSPITAL—Serial

      2:30

QUEEN FOR A DAY—Bailey

      3:00

TRAILMASTER—Western

      4:00

MOVIE—Drama

“One Crowded Night” (1940)

      5:00

NEWS—Bob Allard

      5:15

NEWS—Ron Cochran

      5:30

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER—Comedy

  Evening

      6:00

DOBIE GILLIS—Comedy

      6:30

DESTRY—Western

      7:30

BURKE’S LAW—Mystery

      8:30

PRICE IS RIGHT—Bill Cullen

Guest: Lauren Bacall

      9:00

BOXING—New York City

Ernest Terrell vs. Bob Foster

      9:45

GOP CONVENTION—Preview   SPECIAL  “Make That Spare” is pre-empted

    10:00

NEWS, WEATHER, SPORTS

    10:30

MOVIE—Drama

“Devil’s Canyon” (1953)

 

 

  11 WTCN (IND.)   Morning

    10:45

KUKLA AND OLLIE—Children

    11:00

ELEVEN O’CLOCK SCHOLAR

    11:30

DATELINE: MINNESOTA

    11:45

TRICKS FOR TREATS

  Afternoon

    12:00

LUNCH WITH CASEY—Children

    12:45

KING AND ODIE—Cartoon

      1:00

MOVIE—Western

“Wyoming Renegades” (1955)

      3:00

BACHELOR FATHER—Comedy

      3:30

ROBIN HOOD-Adventure

      4:00

DAVE LEE AND PETE—Children

      4:30

MICKEY MOUSE CLUB—Children

      5:00

MAGILLA GORILLA—Cartoons

      5:30

MACK AND MEYER—Children

      5:45

ROCKY AND HIS FRIENDS

  Evening

      6:15

RIFLEMAN—Western

      6:30

BOLD JOURNEY—Travel

      7:00

ADVENTURE THEATER—Travel

      7:30

HARMON KILLEBREW—Baseball

      7:40

BASEBALL WARMUP—Scott

      7:55

BASEBALL—Twins

Minnesota Twins at Kansas City Athletics

    10:45

SCOREBOARD—Frank Buetel

    11:00

NEWS—Dick Ford

    11:15

WEATHER—Stuart A. Lindman

    11:20

SPORTS—Buetel, Horner

    11:30

MOVIE-Drama

“I Accuse” (1958)

      1:45

LATE, LATE MEL CALVERT

TV  

This week in TV Guide: July 4, 1964

James Lileks once said that every lawyer's secret dream was to have the theme to Perry Mason played at his funeral, and I've no reason to think this isn't the case. After all, according to the cover of this week's issue, Perry Mason is "The Indestructible Hero." But part one of Dwight Whitney's two-part profile of Mason deals not with its star, Raymond Burr, but its creator, Erle Stanley Gardner.

In 1964 Gardner is 74 and still going strong, pumping out Mason mysteries on a regular basis. (Whitney reports he dictates "several books a year.") To date, Gardner had written 73 Perry Mason books, having sold over 100 million copies. Perry has served Gardner well; it's gotten him four homes, including a ranch in northern California and a house in Palm Springs. Our image of Mason comes from having seeing Raymond Burr play him for nine seasons; we know what he looks like, how he sounds, how he interacts with Della and Paul; but until the birth of the series in 1957, Gardner didn't even bother to describe what he looked like, other than that he was big and broad-shouldered. "I can't tell y ou what he looks like," he tells Whitney. "I blurred everything as much as possible, wanted the reader to create his own image."

We also can't imagine anyone other than Burr as Mason, but several actors played him in a series of movies which weren't really very good. (In part two of the interview, which runs next week, we read about how disgusted Gardner was with the movie depictions of Mason, so much so that it was quite a struggle before he'd allow weekly television to have a crack at him.) There was a Mason radio series for several years, which made it to television (sans Perry) under the title The Edge of Night and ran for 28 years; you might have heard of it.* There was even a Mason comic strip. In fact, Raymond Burr didn't even try out originally for the role of Mason, but for Mason's nenesis, the hapless D.A. Hamilton Burger. The story goes that Gardner took one look at Burr, who was allowed to audition for Mason as well, and said, "That's Perry Mason." The rest, of course, is history.
*The Mason surrogate in Edge, Mike Karr, was played for several years by John Larkin, who played Mason in the radio series—and appeared several times as various characters in the television series.  
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The Republican National Convention is only a week away, scheduled to start on in San Francisco on July 13, which,  considering the luck the GOP had that year, should have been a Friday but was instead a Monday. It's hard to imagine now, but conventions used to be in the summer back then, not right around Labor Day. It's also hard to imagine, but coming into this convention there was no guarantee as to who was going to win. The favorite (and eventual winner) is Barry Goldwater, but he's facing a challenge from Pennsylvania governor William Scranton, a surrogate of New York's liberal governor Nelson Rockefeller, who had jumped into the race only a couple of weeks earlier.
This will be, in significant ways, a landmark convention for the GOP. It's the first time the liberal and conservative wings of the party have truly duked it out in public (the 1952 battle between Eisenhower and Taft wasn't nearly as visible, or as deep), and it's one of the first times we'll see a real hostility toward the media by the convention delegates. (former President Eisenhower, in his speech to the convention, will make passing mention to not allowing the media to exploit the party's fissures in public; the moment electrifies the delegates, who start booing and shaking their fists upward at the network broadcasting booths.) Goldwater's defeat will leave the Republicans in truly horrific shape; the recovery begins with Nixon's victory in 1968, and finally comes to fruition with Reagan's win in 1980.

The convention promises high drama, and the networks are ready, with coverage you wouldn't even expect from C-SPAN nowadays; NBC plans to televise the Platform Committee's hearings all week (4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday), and ABC offers a couple of hours of previews (Thursday, 12:30 a.m., and Friday, 9:45 p.m.). But CBS has what is, for my money, the best show for , one that might even bring a tear to the eye of the political junkies nostalgic for the good old days. It's called Great Conventions (Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.); hosted by Eric Sevareid, it's an hour of famous speeches, platform battles, floor fights, multiple ballots decided in smoke-filled rooms. 
The idea that conventions used to be dramatic, tense, battles for the heart and soul of a political party, with the outcome often in doubt until the last minute—well, for political junkies like me it's kind of sad. Today a political convention is as relevant as, well, someone's appendix. After all, I don't have one, and I get along quite well without it.
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Saturday is Independence Day, which, of course, means baseball: the Minnesota Twins are in New York for a holiday doubleheader against the Yankees, and the Twins television network has game one of the twin bill (Noon CT, WTCN). The Yankees will win the American League this season, their last time for over a decade; the Twins take the crown the following season. Neither wins the World Series, for what it's worth. 
When I think of the Fourth of July, one sport I don't think of is Olympic track and field, but tonight ABC presents coverage of the Olympic trials, taped this afternoon at Dowling Stadium on Randalls Island in New York. (8:30 p.m.) Today's winners will be heading off for Tokyo and the Summer Olympics in October.
Something else I don't normally associate with July 4 is the 24 Hours of LeMans, one of the greatest auto races in the world. The main reason I don't think of it because it's held in June—except, that is, in years like 2021 when it's postponed for a few months because of the virus. But in 1964 we're seeing taped coverage of the June 20-21 race on ABC's Wide World of Sports (4:00 p.m.). How quickly things change: the next year, ABC will be showing the beginning and end of the race live via satellite. Also on Wide World: coverage of the men's finals at Wimbledon, taped last Saturday. That won't be shown live in the United States until 1979.
Otherwise, there's no other holiday programming on the tube—not even Yankee Doodle Dandy—save Lawrence Welk's tribute to American music. (7:30 p.m, ABC). That's not so surprising, perhaps; the Fourth of July has always been a communal, community event. Parades, picnics, fireworks. Better things to do than sit at home on a lovely summer day and watch television.
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There is, however more baseball, and that's one of the highlights from the rest of the week.
C'mon, Darren!On Saturday afternoon, the syndicated rerun of Riverboat features a dilemma for Captain Grey Holden (Darren McGavin), who viewed his romance with Marie Tourette (Suzanne Pleshette) as just a dalliance. But she didn't, and she wants to get married. (Must be a case of Tourette's Syndrome?) Seriously, Darren: you're turning down Suzanne Pleshette? What's wrong with you, man?
It's always fun when shows set in the past have their main characters run into someone famous (or about to become famous), and Bonanza is no exception when, on Sunday, the Cartwrights run into novelist Charles Dickens, who's touring the United States and just happens to stop off in Virginia City. (8:00 p.m., NBC) The proud and supercillious Dickens is played by the proud and supercillious Jonathan Harris—perfect casting! (And before you complain, I'm a big fan of Harris, who was nothing like that in real life).   
On NBC's Monday Night at the Movies (6:30 p.m.), Dan Dailey plays baseball great Dizzy Dean in the movie The Pride of St. Louis. Richard Crenna plays his brother Paul (aka Daffy), and Joanne Dru is Diz's wife. The script is by Herman Mankiewicz, and newsman Chet Huntley (long before the Huntley-Brinkley Report) has a small role as a sportswriter. 
The Pride of St. Louis serves as a warm-up for major league baseball's All-Star Game (Tuesday, 11:30 a.m., NBC), from spanking-new Shea Stadium in New York, right next to the World's Fair. It might be hard to believe nowadays, or maybe I've just gotten cynical over the years (after all, I miss political conventions), but at one time the All-Star Game was actually appointment television, back in the days when most people only saw the Saturday afternoon Game of the Week, unless you lived near a major league team (which might televise 25 or 30 games a year). It was a rare treat to see baseball's biggest names, and for those who did have a local team, it was the only time, other than the World Series, when you got to see stars from the other league. (My friend Steve knows what I'm talking about.) There are 19 players from both rosters who will wind up in the Hall of Fame; the American League blows a 4-3 lead in the ninth inning and loses 7-4.
Johnny Carson is on vacation for the holiday, and so Woody Allen is guest host for the week. Wednesday night (10:30 pm., NBC), Woody's guest is satirist Allan Sherman, which must have been a pip of a show. Other guests for the week include Bill Cosby and Godfrey Cambridge; with a comedian as guest host, it's not surprising that the accent's on comedy for the week. I never would have thought of Allen as guest host material, but he subbed for Johnny several times over the years, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
The show I'd probably have watched on Thursday is The Jimmy Dean Show (8:30 p.m., ABC); I always liked Rowlf, the first Muppet I ever saw; the other guests are Eydie Gormé, Jim Reeves, and Don Adams. A pretty good lineup, I'd say. Later that night, (11:30 p.m., KMSP), a rerun of Thriller features Boris Karloff himself in the starring role; those were some of the best episodes of that series.
Friday, Robert F. Kennedy is Jack Paar's special guest, reminiscing about the late President Kennedy. (9:00 p.m., NBC) It was on Paar's show back in March that RFK made his return to the public eye following JFK's assasination, so we shouldn't be surprised that he'd be a repeat guest tonight. George Gobel and Helen O'Connell are Jack's other guests. It's up against ABC's Fight of the Week, a heavyweight bout between Bob Foster and Ernie Terrell (9:00 p.m.); Foster wins the world light-heavyweight champtionship in 1968, while Terrell fights (and loses toel Barrymore) Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight title in 1967.
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I wrote a few years back about Breaking Point, the ABC psychiatric drama that I like a lot, and this week an unbylined article looks at one of the show's stars, ◄ Eduard Franz (left), an actor of great dignity—with emphasis on the word actor. Franz, the author says, "has a genuine passion for acting, but his secret weapon is that it is not the ruling passion of his life." He paints and draws, has been married to the same woman for 40 years, and has many, many friends. "In short, he is the very model of an essentially civilized man managing to move gracefully in an essentially uncivilized profession."
Because of his noble profile, especially his "large Roman nose," Franz his been cast as "learned doctors of philosophy, Viennese physicians, Supreme Court justices, and Indians." He came in through the ranks with Eugene O'Neill's Provincetown Players, acting with Paul Robeson and Walter Huston; he described O'Neill as "a man nobody knew, a shadowy figure who sat at the back of the house watching and listening." He gained his credentials on the stage because Ethel Barrymore, the grand lady of the theater, insisted on having him appear in three plays with her. She didn't particuarly like him, but there was something about him, a calming influence, to which other actors were drawn. Mario Lanza wouldn't do a movie without him.  
In his current role, as Dr. William Raymer on Breaking Point, he is the elder doctor to Paul Richards' young Dr. McKinley Thompson. He wasn't terribly excited about playing the surrogate father, a la Dr. Zorba and Dr. Gillespie, but he wasn't dissuaded either. He just wanted to make sure he wasn't window dressing. When it appeared that Richards was going to get the lion's share of the attention, he calmly went in to the producer's office, reminded him that the two actors were co-stars, and demanded his release. He didn't throw a tantrum, go to the press, suddenly become "sick" during shooting. As a result, he got his fair share of storylines. Both Richards and Franz are very good in their roles, but I have to admit a fondness for those in which Franz has the lead.
Breaking Point only runs one season—a pity—but, as far as it goes for Eduard Franz, "as long as there's room for civilized men in television, he'll be working.
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Finally, For the Record's Henry Harding says NBC is planning to give the made-for-TV movie another shot. The network started out with Johnny North, starring Lee Marvin, Ronald Reagan and Angie Dickinson, but that wound up being too violent, and it was released in the theaters as The Killers. But now they've started on a new production, tentatively titled The Widow-Makers, with John Forsythe, Senta Berger and Jane Wyatt. The plan is to air it on either Wednesday or Saturday Night at the Movies, sometime in the fall. And guess what? The name changed—to See How They Run—but it did indeed air as the first TV-movie, on October 7, 1964. The story: "Three children are stalked by hired killers after they unknowingly take evidence pointing to the existence of a corrupt international cartel, which has just murdered their father." Yep, sounds a lot less violent than The Killers to me.
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Hey, it's the Glorious Fourth tomorrow, so if you're celebrating, firing off some rockets of your own, or just going somewhere for the long weekend, be sure to be careful out there, and don't forget to take a moment to remember what the day is all about. Enjoy! TV  

Around the dial

Decades has always been one of my favorite retro digital channels, and so it's been nice to have it back on in our area after a long absense. Over at their website, there's an interesting article on Ida Lupino , whom, as you probably know, was not only a terrific actress but also a pioneering female director, and the only person—male or female—to both star in and direct episodes of The Twilight Zone. 
One of the staples over at Decades is The Ed Sullivan Show, and the Broadcasting Archives at the University of Maryland links to this article at the New York Times looking back at some of the greatest moments of the show, 50 years after the airing of its last episode.
John, at Cult TV Blog, is wondering if he's found another show I haven't heard of. John, you've done it again: it's Bognor , an early 1980s British series, based on a series of novels by Tim Heald, and starring David Horovitch as an investigator for the Board of Trade. It's a show that's completely of its time, and while (like John) I've never been a big fan of 1980s TV, based on his description this sounds like it might be worth a look.
In the latest installment of Flipside: The True Story of Bob Crane, which you can listen to at the Bob Crane: Life & Legacy site, Carol and Linda review the recent Starz documentary Autopsy: The Final Hours of Bob Crane. It's well worth your time listening to it; we may do just that while we're on the road this weekend.
Robert has his lastest Internet finds at Television Obscurities; I always enjoy seeing what clips and shows he's come up with, and for June he's got a nice collection, including: an episode of The Original Amateur Hour from 1948, Mike Wallace interviewing Miyoshi Umeki in 1959, and something I might have mentioned a few years ago—a five-minute commercial for Chevrolet's 1965 lineup that ran at the end of a Bonanza episode that otherwise aired without commercial interruption.
The figures from the past continue to pass away, and at A Shroud of Thoughts, Terence remembers Stuart Damon , who died this week aged 84. He's best known for his long run as Alan Quartermaine on General Hospital, not to mention starring as Craig Stirling on the 1968-69 British series The Champions. 
Martin Grams has an interview this week with Jeff Thompson, author of the book The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis. The book covers Curtis's television and film output, including his two best-known shows: Dark Shadows and The Night Stalker, as well as shows you might not at first glance associate with him, such as The Winds of War and War and Remembrance. What an output.
At the website of the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences, my Twitter frined Herbie Pilato has a terrific article on the day commercial television started , which just happens to be July 1, 1941: 80 years ago today. How far we've come—or fallen—since then.
At The Horn Section, Hal's into Get Christie Love!, and the 1975 episode " A Few Excess People ," with a great guest star lineup including Phil Silvers and Rose Marie! I have to admit, though, that it's the title that appeals to me—many's the time when I feel like I'm surrounded by the same. 
Finally, it's part two of the Hitchcock Project study of Levinson and Link at bare•bones e-zine, and this week Jack's focus is on 1962's " Profit-Sharing Plan ," an "an entertaining, lightweight half-hour" that's an improvement on their own original short story. But then, when it comes to TV, I'd expect nothing less from L&L. TV