September 21, 1952 - September 14, 1962 (ABC TV)
October 1, 1962 - 1993 (WOR TV)
Guest Jerome Courtland plugs his new WABC syndicated series "The Vikings."
NOTE: This live TV show would leave the air for 15 minutes because of technical problems and would resume programming where it left off, signing off the air 15 minutes later at 11:15am instead of its normal sign off time of 11:00am. It would pre-empt the regularly scheduled program "Romance of Life." The astonishing flexibility of the number three network, ABC, in 1960 is observed. Joe Franklin, an important daytime personality, is allowed to accommodate his sponsor Canada Dry and extends the program for their live television testimonials. Franklin also plugs his other sponsors My-T-Fine desert and does a complete commercial for Vermont Maid Syrup.
The Joe Franklin Show
September 21, 1952 - September 14, 1962 (ABC TV)
October 1, 1962 - 1993 (WOR TV)
This show, which ran on television for 40 consecutive years, is in The Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running talk show. There truly will never will be another program quite like it. Its host Joe Franklin was in many ways the pioneer of the modern TV Talk Show format.
Joe Franklin is one of Television and Radio's most durable and beloved personalities ever, and is truly a New York legend. In addition, he is considered one of the world's leading authorities on "Nostalgia". Through the course of The Joe Franklin Show he has interviewed an astonishing 300,000+ guests!
Woody Allen, Dustin Hoffman, Barbara Streisand, Bill Cosby, and Liza Minnelli are among the world's great talents who got their first exposure on The Joe Franklin Show.
There was also a great uniqueness about the program. On any given night you might find a world renown artist sitting next to a balloon folder from New Jersey! Joe Franklin's lovable and funny persona even prompted comedian Billy Crystal to imitate him on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" for four years.
NOTE: During the final four years of his life, Phil Gries, founder and owner of Archival Television Audio, Inc. got to visit numerous times with Joe, and give him TV Audio Air Checks from the ATA collection some of which he played on the air. I would have holiday dinners with him and his archivist Rick Russo, who together produced a special CD in 2013 with Joe's approval containing 40 different broadcasts and interviews Joe conducted on ABC and WOR television (1960-1965) among them, AL KELLY, ART LINKLETTER, THOMAS GOMEZ, ARTHUR KENNEDY, MORTY GUNTY, CHIEF WILLIAM RED FOX, CHILL WILLS, CORNEL WILDE, JEAN WALLACE, DAGMAR, DAN O'HERLIHY, DAVID SUSSKIND, FRANK FOUNTAINE, HERMIONE GINGLOLD, RAMON NAVARRO, JACKIE MASON, JAMES WHITMORE, JEROME COURTLAND, JIM BACKUS, JOAN BENNY, JOE PASTERNAK, JOHNNY MACK BROWN, JANE PICKENS, JOHNNY MARKS, MYRNA LOY, JOHN HOUSEMAN, OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND, OTTO PREMINGER, RICHARD GRIFFITHY, ROBERT RYAN, SAMMY SPEAR, SIR CEDRIC HARDWICKE, SYLVIA SIDNEY, JOI LANDSING, TOM BOSLEY , MINTA DURFEE FATTY ARBUCKLE, MRS. AL ST. JOHN, JUNE PRICE PEARCE, VINCENT PRICE, CHARLES GOREN, JEAN SHEPHERD MARTY INGELS, ART MIX, ELIA KAZAN audio taped off the air by Phil Gries (1960-1965).
In the liner notes of this 11 hour & 36 minute CD Joe Franklin states, "The Golden Age of Television is revived via the magic of Rick Russo and Phil Gries' creativity. The pioneering days of my TV program...indeed, my personal holy grail is hereby frozen in time."