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I remember that, I only watched it in syndication, but I do remember the Mickey Mouse Club open, and that was it.
We'll have more from the Mickey Mouse Club, but later on.
All right, joining me now is Carol Gianforte and Jim Messier, and we're gonna talk about the 1950s TV shows.
Before we do that, I just wanna congratulate you two on a really good three-show presentation over at the Golden Rondell, talking about downtown.
It was really good.
And now when did you do two shows?
The public outcry, the demand.
People were picketing outside for
a third
the
We just weren't, we weren't available for four.
We just couldn't.
But Dying, you were with us.
You were with us, each program.
there.
That was really
He did a miracle there.
But I think the highlight of that program at the Rondell was when you grabbed Carol and did the twist on stage.
I didn't grab her.
Oh,
asked
her to
up and do the twist.
What happened there is on the second program, I'm sitting in the chair.
Third
Was it the third program?
It was the third program.
The third program.
Okay.
Okay.
Was I there?
there.
I'm sitting there in the in the chair watching the video of the twist and I look across the stage and there was done and he was looking directly at me and then I saw him kind of smile and I thought oh my gosh.
Yeah someone told me that was besides the visuals that was their favorite part.
So done.
And then did you go to Arthur Murray or something once in your day?
And
Actually,
it
back
a
Well, we were thrilled about it.
Yeah, that was pretty good.
You never know how it's going to go.
Is that still standing?
in theater.
Well, Marcia Conant and Joe Pavkovic came back again, and they brought back memories.
Yeah, it was funny.
They were good.
They were good.
But Don handled two music segments about...
our songs of the era.
So it was great.
Besides
being our comedian, Don was really a big hit up there.
You were, Don.
Yeah.
Your jokes were fantastic.
I'm waiting for the segment of this program, because audience, these two guys, I'm expecting to go nuts over The Honeymooners.
One of our two shows we're going to talk about today.
You know what you are,
OK, let's start off here.
Well, we picked 1955.
Why?
Because, well, we were about eight years old.
giving away our ages, Carol.
So we started really watching TV seriously at that age.
And 1955 was another brand new season, the fall of 55.
A lot of good shows that premiered in 1955.
So we selected shows that began in that year.
And most of these shows became future hits.
And we all enjoy them.
Even to this day, we watch the reruns.
Yeah, they were the hits.
Yes.
And it's so exciting when, you know, we know that, yeah, we watched TV, we were excited, but when you really think about waiting for the new season, what were the shows going to be?
had
new
wasn't
social
season.
It's funny that you should mention that because in about three or four minutes from now, I have a segment.
On the TV Guide.
Did I
it?
I'm sorry.
It shows how important that segment's going to be because it was true.
The TV Guide was part of our lives.
But we were very excited.
No, don't be sorry.
We were so excited, even though Jim, we were looking at a TV that would break down, or that was very small, and in black and white.
That's
right.
What was our situation like?
Well, you know, back then, the TV sets were really a piece of furniture.
Some had phonographs with them and radios, all in one unit, beautiful wood cabinets.
And you'll get into this later, Carol, but we got about seven channels here in Racine.
Many had outside antennas on top of the roof, or we had self-standing towers.
Remember the rabbit ears?
Rabbit ears, yeah.
Yeah, for maybe portable TVs.
With some tin
improve the signal.
Right.
And back in 1955, only about half of Americans had TV sets.
And like you said, Don, they were all in black and white.
And they were manually controlled.
You actually had to get up and turn the channel.
And if you were an older...
brother or a sister.
You delegated that to your younger brother or sister because you don't want to get up off that couch and turn the channel that somebody else do
That's right.
And if a
We always get pliers, right?
We have built in TV into the wall and they get up there and turn the pliers together.
We're talking to Jim Bezier, Carol Gianforte.
We're talking about TV shows from 1955 that
They remember coming on the air.
I don't remember.
I remember
why.
You're a gangster.
Well, the cost of the early TVs and these TVs were really small.
The small screens were about 10 inches to 12 inches.
Imagine watching something on a 12 inch screen.
No wonder we were sitting on the floor with our eyes.
That's right.
that's true.
Everything comes around.
I know.
So yeah, so they do
it.
Well, good point.
Those would run you about two or three hundred dollars.
And that was a lot of money back then.
The larger screens, 16 inch to 19 inch.
Can you imagine a 19 inch?
That was a
a whopping big screen back then, 300 to 500 bucks.
Now some of the brands that were out there that most of us don't remember anymore, Zenith, of course, RCA, Admiral, who remembers an Admiral TV, Don, okay, Packard Bell, Magnavox, of course, Filco, GE, and there was another brand that advertised on a Chicago station, Months TV, a
Months
TV.
And where do we get them?
We got them in Racine here at Elfish.
furniture store downtown, lathe rip hardware sold them, christiansen brothers on main street, cook and gear on 6th street, globe tv, keystone and white tv, even allen's merchandisings sold them.
Where did your family buy it?
Allen's?
Yeah,
that big warehouse
down where Horlicks
My
guy with the tubes used to
Oh,
telling him what's working
not yeah, yeah
Yeah
You're the first kid on your block
to have one of
those.
No one thought about it though.
Yeah.
It
was very progressive except it was two
rooms.
And if you wanted service on your TV, like Don was talking about here, you had to go to Delitz TV service on State Street or Bill's TV service on 16th Central TV or Universal TV services or service.
And if you needed a antenna, you would go to Square Deal.
for your tower installation.
Yeah,
interesting.
Yes.
Well, the channels, you mentioned briefly channels, but we had, well, we had the three Milwaukee channels, which we all know, four, six, and 12.
And Chicago, two, five, and seven, plus nine, WGN being the independent.
Now, to get Chicago, we had a TV tower, so we had to count on that rotor thing to turn, you know?
And did rabbit ears actually work if you were trying to get Chicago?
Yeah, especially with the tinfoil on the top.
But it
took forever to get it just right.
Yeah,
that's right.
Now, who did that in your house, Jim?
We didn't have the rabbit ears.
Somebody had to hold the wire in one hand, raise it into the ceiling.
All right,
Was it affected by the weather?
I'm throwing these questions out unexpectedly.
I
think so.
When it snowed out, it would affect the quality of the TV.
You have to jump up and move the rabbit ears again.
That
was always a big job to do that, to get it in
just right.
Well, here's one of the main sections of art.
time together today.
Picking 1955, and what were the main shows that premiered that made it, that did become hits.
Because later on, we might today or next month, turn to what we call the flops.
And I quizzed you on those, Jim, and you had not heard of those.
one.
There are some that did, the word is flopped.
Well, I
give you one.
Alright.
I'll give you one.
Narby.
another.
There's another one.
The soldiers.
Want one more?
Out of this list?
It's always Jan.
they were flops.
Yeah.
My information is
Oh, yeah.
remember they lasted one or two episodes.
Just the name Narby.
Yeah, right.
That doesn't work.
Oh, okay.
So these great shows, Jim, what is one that we know?
Oh, Gunsmoke, of course.
That was on Saturday night.
on CBS, I think it started with maybe half hour, then they advanced it to an hour, if I remember right.
Now I will tell
because that's what I love
He was one of them, Conrad, William Conrad was the marshal.
That
He was
Oh, really?
Yeah, they
Well, and I didn't watch Gunsmoke, but I can't get over
day.
It's like
you watch
Annie
Oakley or something.
I didn't say that.
I didn't say it.
I get the last of 23 or 26 seasons.
with
on
it is.
You were telling me, Jim, that there was an aging out problem there with that.
main character because he started out so young and girl and able to do everything but he had to age like the rest of
us.
James R. Ness,
the horror movie.
That's right.
Well, another one on September 17th that year, a week later,
Perry Como, Saturday night, seven o'clock, NBC, that.
Yes, Mr. Relaxation, sweaters.
he awake?
I'm a star.
relaxation.
Oh, funny, funny.
Well, another week later, on September 25th, 1955, Ed Sullivan, with his format that lasted so many years, he began.
Now, next month, we're going to pay tribute to Ed Sullivan.
Oh, yeah.
And
A big shoe.
A really big shoe.
And
of
course...
But all those groups.
Yeah.
We had the Honeymooners, of course, that premiered on October 1st on the old Dumont TV network.
Which
I had never heard of.
Do my network.
Have you heard of that?
Sure.
Yeah, that's right.
What else do we have, Carol?
Well, Alfred Hitchcock presents.
That began October 2nd.
Very good.
Oh, yes.
Yes.
And that was CBS Sunday night at 8.30.
Yep.
Then we had Captain Kangaroo, which was on CBS on a Monday night that premiered on October 3rd.
up.
No kidding.
in
I'll be
who always
all the years.
That's right, yeah.
And actually two words he
kids.
Bye,
show.
It was the very last
Yeah.
Oh my.
And of course.
And then we had the Mickey Mouse Club, which began.
Mark your calendars.
October 3rd, 1955.
We're
3rd,
That started on July 2nd of 55.
Mm-hmm.
That's that's that ends up to be one of the popular ones of It didn't start that year.
I don't think
Michael Michael Anthony handing out John Bears for Tipton was the millionaires handing out million dollar checks to people All the tax were paid.
They just couldn't tell where they got it from and you get to see their lives destroyed by getting a million dollar check Yeah, that was good show millionaire.
Mm-hmm.
Well, how did we get our channels?
How did we?
know what to watch.
Well you had two ways to do that.
You can be cheap about it and subscribe to the paper and they had a weekly listing every Sunday in the Sunday's paper and every day when you got your paper there would be a TV section in there about what's on TV that evening or like most people you subscribe to the
TV guy.
Right.
So that is a book that we can still picture, that logo, that kind of square with the TV name.
We can see it.
The TV guide began, here's the date, April 3rd, 1953.
And shortly after that, it had jumped to one and a half million subscribers.
Now, it came out weekly and it was 15 cents.
What's interesting is their covers, because that gives us a memory lane of the TV shows.
And I have a listing here, Don, would you believe?
You know the research I do?
you do.
Very detailed, extremely detailed.
Lucille Ball was the first cover, but it said something like...
The 50 million dollar baby, their new baby.
Yeah, the new baby.
A little rookie.
A
little rookie, right.
Actually it wasn't a little rookie, it was Desi and his
Yeah, it was a little desi.
But I looked up, why did they have on the cover the 50 million dollar baby?
And that was the estimate for all the merchandising that was going to happen because of this baby.
And then now I had not seen the
that I never did see the episode of where she goes to the hospital.
They'll have the world must.
I looked that up and guess what?
That episode, I was just talking about the cover of TV Guide, but the episode on TV, 44 and a half million people watch that episode.
That could be as high as 92% of the viewing households.
And the next night, President Eisenhower
gave his inaugural address, but Lucy had more viewers for the baby.
But the next cover, Jack Webb.
And then soon to follow, Ralph Edwards, Eve Arden, Arthur Godfrey, David and Ricky Nelson, a little bit later on, Ed Sullivan, Dinah Shore.
So you can see all the lineup of their covers and it brings back who are
Super TV stars were.
But now we turn to our big year of 1955.
And they had their fall preview of the shows, but during that year, some of the people were Patty Page, Art Linkletter, Groucho, Milton Burrell, Esther Williams, but just...
along with our very own program today, October 1st, the TV Guide cover, Mickey Mouse.
He was going to start two days later, October 3rd.
Mickey Mouse Club, yeah.
Yeah.
Mickey Mouse Club, yep.
Wow.
So now we get to the highlight of our program.
Oh.
But I told Jim and Don, I have to say this, we picked two TV shows to try to cover today, The Honeymooners and Mickey Mouse Club.
Well, anyway.
yet, right?
No,
So
yeah, right now I'm I want to give this background to our listening audience When Jim and I get here in the morning around 6 30 we sit out in an outer lobby and Don goes in and out from his actual studio to the lobby and These two men that I have to put up with almost always
they start joking about the honeymoon.
And women out there, I don't know what my rules should be if I should just walk out of this room or what, but I can attest to the fact that both of them are very loving husbands.
The
The general.
I'm king of the castle.
These
Well, again to the listening audience, I don't know how long these guys are going to go on the honeymooners if we're even going to get to the Mickey Mouse Club because this is the episode that I've lived through now almost three years with their lobby talk.
And this is their chance to shine with each other.
Men,
They know every quote in every episode, so take it away guys.
We'll get to some of those quotes.
Here's your hour of power.
Well actually the original 39 episodes aired from 1955 to 56 for one year on the old Dumont network.
and it starred Ralph Cramden, of course, as Jackie Gleason, of course, was Ralph, who was a bus driver in New York, and his wife Alice, played by Audrey Meadows, his best friend Ed Norton, Art Carney played him, and Norton's wife Trixie, which was portrayed by Jane Meadows.
Now, Ralph and Ed were always involved in various schemes, usually making poor decisions,
especially when they try to get rich quick.
You know, they're always trying to get rich quick.
The last episode ended on September 22nd of 1956.
And like Don said, there were 39 original episodes that were produced the first year.
And the setting was usually the Cramden kitchen.
Once in a while you see what the...
the bedroom or something, they're going into the bedroom.
Well, they
The Raccoon Lodge.
And the
company.
That's right, yeah.
And Ralph, like Don said, was a bus driver in New York City.
Ralph.
He often wore his uniform, didn't he?
Oh yeah, that's
all he wore.
Yeah, that's all he wore.
Yeah, that's right, yeah, yeah.
And Ralph was always short tempered.
And again, he always tried to get rich quick.
Usually insults Alice and Norton.
But he loved his wife very much.
And his two favorite activities, of course, were bowling and shooting pool.
And Don and I, we always joke about his activity, the lodge he belonged to.
That was the loyal...
order of the
Right.
And they always gave their, what was that sign when they departed or whatever.
The friend of the raccoon?
Yeah, the friend of the raccoon.
He
Audience, can you see how these guys are warming to the topic?
And Alice, of course,
She was always on the receiving ends of Ralph's tantrums.
But she was
Always smarter.
That's right.
him.
And she could see right through his schemes.
And Ralph usually ignored her good advice.
But at the end, she has always proven right.
And of course, my favorite star was Ed Norton.
There was only one Ed Norton.
Who worked in the sewer.
He worked in the sewer.
And he was Ralph's best friend.
And he often got mixed up in Ralph's schemes, of course.
And usually he was thrown out of, he was thrown out of Ralph's apartment when he got Ralph upset.
Ralph would just point a finger to the door and say, get out, get out.
They
have another
didn't work.
and they watched different
things.
Who had the TV?
I suppose Ralph.
Well, they pulled
win,
And both were heads.
Well, no, it
just heads I win, tails you lose.
One either way, yeah.
A lot of famous quotes, of course.
One of these days, one of these days, pow, right in the kisser.
Bang Zoom.
Bang Zoom was another one.
But at the end of the program, Ralph would always hug Alice and say, baby, you're the greatest.
You're the greatest.
You're the greatest.
And with a hug and a kiss.
Oh, that's right, yeah.
Sponsored by Buick, by the way.
And as Don knows, there weren't really that many rehearsals per Gleason.
Oh, there are mistakes in there.
A lot of mistakes.
You can hear the mistakes.
They forget
Yeah.
And they didn't really not usually follow the script.
So they're just like they're supposed to.
But turned out to be one of my favorite shows.
And it still is.
They're on reruns somewhere.
I got them on
all the time.
Yeah.
Go ahead.
The setup is Ralph gets two tickets to a Broadway show.
Alice can't go.
because her mother's coming over, the famous mother-in-law, who, if you, there's no way to like this woman.
And so he takes Ed Norton, so the mother-in-law comes over, sits down, and Ralph says, in three minutes, she's gonna start a fight.
I know, it's, we set an alarm clock on the table.
And the thing is, she says, she says, oh, that show, I didn't think much of it.
a neighbor saw it.
She said, it was the butler that did the murder.
So she spills the beans of this Broadway show.
He's going to go see.
This is the exact moment where a duff time, three minutes ran up and this is what happened.
Okay,
then he's got to make an apology Alice leaves him at that point says I had enough to and she walks out on him and He's got to make an apology so Norton for some reason has a record machine where he can record a record and he's gonna send the record to Alice and It's gonna be his heart.
You know, he's gonna tell the whole story.
You know, I'm so sorry and get her back in there again.
And this is what happens
This is me, Ralph.
Alice, I'm sorry.
I'm miserable without you.
Please come back to me, Alice.
I apologize for everything I said.
I even apologize to your mother.
I know she doesn't mean the things she says, Alice.
It's just a nature.
She doesn't mean to be mean.
She's just born that way.
When she says things about your old boyfriends and about the furniture and apartment, I know that she doesn't mean to get me mad.
She just naturally mean, that's all.
When she spill the beans about the end of the play, I shouldn't have got mad at that.
I should have expected it from her.
I know how she is.
She's never gonna be any different, Alice.
She's gonna be the same all the way, Alice.
She's got that...
record
Of
course, some of them went on to Big Fame and Net Funicello did all the beach movies with Frankie Avalon.
She did well.
Some of the other ones too.
I didn't see her on this thing here, but she went on.
She was on the Dick Van Dyke show.
She was also Wally's girlfriend on Leave It To Beaver for years.
Remember her?
Oh, sure.
Who was that?
Cheryl.
Oh, yeah.
They mentioned Cheryl and I don't hear her on my list.
did.
years.
And
And she fell in love with him.
Yeah.
That was her.
OK.
Wow.
And Bobby Burgess with Laurence Wolk.
Bobby
I
60s
And I read that Cubby, did you say this?
He went on to perform with the Carpenters.
in the
Well, we loved those mouse kateers.
And that roll call was a big part of it.
And we had our favorites.
And, you know, they all had their name on their shirt with their turtleneck and wearing the ears.
This did begin October 3, 1955, a whole hour every day.
And what happened was that hour was split up into four segments, but each day of the week also had its own music for the theme of that day.
And we can't take our time to play every theme, but Monday was fun with music day.
Tuesday, guest star day, Wednesday, anything can happen day, Thursday, circus day, Friday, talent roundup day.
And we'd fall right into it and be all excited about what was going to happen on that day.
But now each day was split up into four segments.
And that first part included that opening in the roll call.
And then the next and part of that would be
themed features and a lot of that was like skits.
Tap dancing, singing.
Spin and
like a cereal.
But in the third segment, I have
Yeah, she jumped in there.
That was the second segment.
I'm sorry, I keep my mouth shut.
Wait, do we?
No, no, no, no.
Spin and Marty.
I'm going to go sit
corner.
Yeah, would you please?
We'll take over
I'll be
the lobby.
I'll be in the lobby.
I'll
be in the
lobby.
We'll call you when we need you.
No, Spin and Marty and the Hardy Boys.
Oh, I love them both.
Now, Jim, I guess you really like Spin and Marty.
Oh,
yeah.
Great show.
And, Don, did you watch those, even though they were later on?
Yeah.
Did you have a favorite?
I
he on that?
Yes, he was in both of them.
for My
yeah.
Yeah,
right.
So, I watched Spin and Marty a few episodes lately on YouTube.
Did you?
And it was the campfire, making their bunk beds, getting ready for a dance, going down to the lake.
And I guess maybe at first I thought, oh, this is kind of dated.
But maybe to a young kid today.
the campfire and saw.
Well, first of all, it's
So
Oh, okay.
Not in black and white.
Yeah, good point.
And then the Hardy boys know that black and white actually, in my viewing, served the suspense because that was two different mysteries.
But they lasted, you know, many episodes, 25, one year, 30 the next year, three years each one was on.
So we also actually had
a lot of commercials that we've probably loved.
For instance, Ipana from Bristol Myers.
A little beaver.
A little
on
Then, Mattel, the cap gun you can tell.
It's Mattel, it's Swell.
Campbell's Soup, mmm, good.
Mars, the three musketeers.
My Stars, it's Mars.
Wheaties, Breakfast of Champions.
And even we were surprised.
Johnson Wax advertised with Glowcoat and Pride.
And then we'd finish up with the closing song, the farewell song.
have it.
Do you?
Yes, I do.
The farewell song?
I didn't know you could find it.
Yes, I do.
Let's end up with it.
Done.
This is a farewell to our audience, too, because we like you.
We're going to miss you because we like you.
But
That's quite the secret.
And he was
Well, next time we're going to continue with 55 on, we're going to do, like I said, Ed Sullivan, more on gun smoke.
Gun smoke.
We're going to talk about the flops like Norby that we can't quite remember.
But do you have the farewell sign?
Yes, I do.
Thank
We love to do your thing.
Jim
you guys are
All right.
Now it's time to say goodbye to all our company.
Am I seeing you real soon?
Why?
Because we like you.