Jack Linkletter interviews Jane Wyman.             

Jack Linkletter interviews 22-year-old Peter Fonda.                        

   Joined in progress, Helen O'Connell interviews actor Van Heflin in Berut Lebanon.                   

September 26, 1960 - December 28, 1962

Jack Linkletter interviews Bud Abbott. 

  Here's Hollywood. December 07, 1962. NBC-TV net audio. Jack Linkletter interviews Bud Abbott at his home in Woodland Hills, California. This one on one interview was the only one Bud Abbott is confirmed to have ever given (detailed) on television. Recorded off the air by Phil Gries who is responsible for its existence as a broadcast record. Most all of the over 1000 Here's Hollywood interviews, originally recorded on 2" Quadraplex Video Tape were erased after they were used/telecast for broadcast. 

Abbott discusses his 8 year old $750,000 tax audit and how he finally paid every cent back to the government. He states, "They now owe me money." Also discussed,his 25 year partnership with Lou Costello, how they originally got together when each were working in burlesque with different partners. Abbott reflects on his Dad who worked for Barnum & Bailey, his mother who was a bareback rider in the circus, why he and Lou broke up as a comedy team (Bud states that it was not his idea but Costello's to go their separate ways, and is not bitter about the breakup). He reminds us of how their famous "Who's on First" routine (its play on words) was taken from an old minstrel routine, how they came up with other routines, and the fact that he and Lou were voted into Cooperstown Hall of Fame. Bud Abbot discusses the break up of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, and the fact that he never drove his own automobile. He discusses his new alliance with partner Candy Candido.                  

Helen O'Connell interviews actor George Montgomery, married for 18 years to Singer Dinah Shore. They separated in December 1961, one year ago, and divorced in 1962.                                   

 Helen O'Connell interviews, briefly,  Alan Hale Jr., the show picked up in progress and running only 2 min.                                                 

HY GARDNER CALLING - Sunday Night, half hour broadcasts, weekly, WRCA Ch. 4 New York City - 11:30pm - 12:30am  April 29, 1956-January 13, 1957

HY GARDNER - Mon-Fri, weekdays, WRCA CH. 4 New York City 11:15-11:25pm, 11:20-11:30pm, 11:15-11:30pm September 10, 1956-January 25, 1957

January 28, 1957 - ? Hy Gardner ten minute segments "Face to Face" on TONIGHT! (New format replacing Steve Allen)
revised format series hosted by Jack Lescoulie. 

HY GARDNER SHOW - October 25, 1959-August 14, 1960 WNEW 45 minute and 60 minute broadcasts, Sunday evenings 10-11pm.

HY GARDNER SHOW - September 24, 1960 - September 29, 1962 WOR one hour weekly broadcasts, Saturday evenings 12am-1am.

HY GARDNER SHOW - October 21, 1962 - April 4, 1964 WOR one hour weekly broadcasts Saturdays or Sundays 7:00pm-8:00pm.

HY GARDNER SHOW - September 26, 1964-January 10, 1965 WOR one hour weekly broadcasts Saturday 11:30pm-12:30am or 12:00am-1:00am.


Hy Gardner was a well-known New York Herald-Tribune columnist.  He  appeared regularly on Tonight! and America After Dark, a short-term substitute for Tonight! after Steve Allen abandoned it early in 1957. Gardner specialized in profiling show business celebrities and other news makers, and he hosted a nightly ten-minute TV interview program in New York called Face to Face. His weekly Sunday-night show, Hy Gardner Calling!, also aired only in the New York area and consisted of interviews conducted by telephone, with the subject seemingly at home, but actually seated in one studio, while Gardner sat at his desk in another. The telephone hook-up was real, and there was no physical proximity between host and guest. The show premiered in 1954 ? on New York City’s NBC affiliate station WRCA-TV, Channel 4, and ran until 1965. 

Hy Gardner interviews President Kennedy impersonator, Vaughn Meader. Broadcast One year less one month, one day to the moment when President John F. Kennedy would be assassinated in Dallas Texas. 
From that moment on Vaughn Meader's career would never be the same.                                                                                                              

Hy Gardner interviews Montgomery Clift. Many topics are 
discussed including Clift's early years in the theater, almost near fatal 1956 auto accident, his two favorite films, working with Marlon Brando, admiration of Marilyn Monroe as an actress, his philosophy regarding  acting and anecdotes about his just released film, FREUD.

NOTE: This broadcasts was re-run September 26, 1964.  
Marilyn Gardner, wife of Hy Gardner, posted this interview on you tube in five parts (ten minutes each part). For purists of vintage television broadcasts, only the Phil Gries original audio air check recording at the time of the broadcast contains the opening and closing of this program, and most importantly, contains pristine direct line audio which the you tube uploaded video tape does not possess (numerous audio issues contained during the final 20 minutes of the program, posted).                                                  

Hy Gardner chats with Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre. This was a rare TV interview appearance for both actors.

Wonderful little know anecdotes by both guests. Sarah Karloff, daughter of Boris confirmed to Phil Gries that after listening to her father discusses numerous family remembrances she was hearing them for the first time.

Peter Lorre sets the record straight on numerous incidents that he has been associated with including his relationship with Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels, including his sudden departure from Germany, not completing his Caspar Hauser film...Brecht and Joyce being the greatest writers of their time, and telling Gardner that he doesn't like to look at himself on the screen. 
Peter confesses he would have liked to have played Sir Winston Churchill on the screen but for the fact that he can't speak English very well.   

      September 1, 1952 - September 5, 1969

Television's  longest running daytime variety show. The most memorable feature of the series was the daily interview with four young uninhibited schoolchildren.   

In this rare surviving clip Art Linkletter ask four six and seven year old youngsters from the Pine Crest School in Woodland Hills what they did to get ready for the show today.    

HY GARDNER CALLING - Sunday Night, half hour broadcasts, weekly, WRCA Ch. 4 New York City - 11:30pm - 12:30am  April 29, 1956-January 13, 1957

HY GARDNER - Mon-Fri, weekdays, WRCA CH. 4 New York City 11:15-11:25pm, 11:20-11:30pm, 11:15-11:30pm September 10, 1956-January 25, 1957

January 28, 1957 - ? Hy Gardner ten minute segments "Face to Face" on TONIGHT! (New format replacing Steve Allen)
revised format series hosted by Jack Lescoulie. 

HY GARDNER SHOW - October 25, 1959-August 14, 1960 WNEW 45 minute and 60 minute broadcasts, Sunday evenings 10-11pm.

HY GARDNER SHOW - September 24, 1960 - September 29, 1962 WOR one hour weekly broadcasts, Saturday evenings 12am-1am.

HY GARDNER SHOW - October 21, 1962 - April 4, 1964 WOR one hour weekly broadcasts Saturdays or Sundays 7:00pm-8:00pm.

HY GARDNER SHOW - September 26, 1964-January 10, 1965 WOR one hour weekly broadcasts Saturday 11:30pm-12:30am or 12:00am-1:00am.


Hy Gardner was a well-known New York Herald-Tribune columnist.  He  appeared regularly on Tonight! and America After Dark, a short-term substitute for Tonight! after Steve Allen abandoned it early in 1957. Gardner specialized in profiling show business celebrities and other news makers, and he hosted a nightly ten-minute TV interview program in New York called Face to Face. His weekly Sunday-night show, Hy Gardner Calling!, also aired only in the New York area and consisted of interviews conducted by telephone, with the subject seemingly at home, but actually seated in one studio, while Gardner sat at his desk in another. The telephone hook-up was real, and there was no physical proximity between host and guest. The show premiered in 1954 ? on New York City’s NBC affiliate station WRCA-TV, Channel 4, and ran until 1965. 

Guest: Entertainer Harry Richman is interviewed.                                                                                                  

October 6th, 1964-March 2, 1965 (WPIX)

A ninety-minute pilot program for a future short-lived phone-in discussion program seen on local WPIX-TV Channel 11 in New York City.

Topics discussed are civil rights, (the disappearance of three civil rights workers, the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover,) politics-Barry Goldwater, etc.

Host: David Susskind. The producer of this PILOT program is Jean Kennedy. 

When Hot line became a regular short lived series (23 broadcasts), televised live, on New York local station WPIX (the show was never picked up for syndication) Joyce Davidson became producer of the show, her main function as she confirmed was screen viewer calls. She and  David Susskind were married in 1966.

Guests:  Dorothy Kilgallen, Gore Vidal, and the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr. 

Pilot program.                                                                                                       

October 6th, 1964-March 2, 1965 (WPIX)

DEBUT of this ninety-minute short-lived ground breaking phone-in discussion program seen on local WPIX-TV Channel 11 in New York City form 11:15pm to 12:45pm.

Topics discussed are pornography and the Warren Commission Report, 

Guests include Jackie Robinson, Gore Vidal, and Dorothy Kilgallen. WINS RADIO disc jockey Murray Kaufman calls the show.

Host: David Susskind. The producer of the program is Joyce Davidson. She married Susskind in 1966.                                                                                                                                                       

October 6th, 1964-March 2, 1965 (WPIX)

A ninety-minute pilot program for a future short-lived phone-in discussion program seen on local WPIX-TV Channel 11 in New York City.

Panel discussion on current topics with guests Jack E. Leonard, Mel Brooks, and Dorothy Kilgallen.

Host: David Susskind.

Host: David Susskind. The producer of the program is Joyce Davidson. She married Susskind in 1966.                                                                                                                             

October 6th, 1964-March 2, 1965 (WPIX)

A ninety-minute pilot program for a future short-lived phone-in discussion program seen on local WPIX-TV Channel 11 in New York City.

Segment  includes three questions addressed by t he panel from those who phone in on  this live broadcast.
They include:
Why is the U.S.in Vietnam? Susskind, Kilgallen and Vidal each are opinionated, Traffic problems in New York City where one can't even get a cab, and appraisal of Gore Vidal's novel The Best Man which he says he wrote as a contribution to the 1960 presidential election describing on two types of characters, one intellectual and one an opportunist. 

Host: David Susskind.

Host: David Susskind. The producer of the program is Joyce Davidson. She married Susskind in 1966.                                                                                                                                                       

TV interview with Paul Muni. This repeat interview, originally broadcast Sept. 10, 1956, was to be the only brief one Paul Muni ever agreed to do on television. 

Topics discussed include Muni's thoughts about retiring after his Broadway stint in INHERIT THE WIND concludes...unless something good comes along. Other topics, Mr. Muni's  billing, his recent eye operation, and his praise of actor Marlon Brando.
Muni also discusses current rumors circulating about him, some true and some not true. 
                        

October 6th, 1964-March 2, 1965 (WPIX)

A ninety-minute pilot program for a future short-lived phone-in discussion program seen on local WPIX-TV Channel 11 in New York City.

Guest Malcolm X answers questions about his new movement vs. Elijah Muhammad. Other guests are Ossie Davis and John Henry Faulk. 

Host: David Susskind.

Numerous phone calls from the viewing public to the studio in this live TV broadcast asking questions of the panel related to current challenges faced by blacks and racism. .

Host: David Susskind. The producer of the program is Joyce Davidson. She married Susskind in 1966.   

       NOTE: Joyce Davidson, with whom David Susskind was in a relationship, began working as a co-producer of Hotline in June 1964. She had a hand in the on-air version of the show and among other duties screened viewer phone calls. She also made the first approach to some of the people who appeared as guests on Hotline, including Malcolm X, whom she invited for Hotline immediately after he gave a speech at The Town Hall. 
Nineteen days after appearing on this live program Malcolm X would be assassinated on February 21, 1965.                                                                                                                                                          

October 6th, 1964-March 2, 1965 (WPIX)

Joining the panel are Salvador Dali, Ossie Davis, and Dorothy Kilgallen.

Host: David Susskind. The producer of the program is Joyce Davidson. She married Susskind in 1966.                                                                                                                                          

October 6th, 1964-March 2, 1965 (WPIX)

Les Crane is the guest on this final broadcast of HOT LINE.
Phone call-ins include discussions on the FCC and TV Broadcasting. David Susskind signs off for the last time reflecting on this series which aired for only half a year. 

Final 9 minutes of this final live 23rd broadcast in the series. 

.The discussion turns to Television Ratings and their representative importance. Crane gives his point of view and relates to his two talk shows of the past. Dorothy Kilgallen and David give their point of views. Also addressing another audience member phone call the subject of why Jack Paar and Johnny Carson are considered stars even though they cannot sing, dance or act. 

David Susskind signs off for the last time reflecting on this series which aired for only half a year. He also recommends to his audience to tune in to his now one hour weekly show, REMARKABLE PEOPLE premiering on the same channel (WPIX) same time Tuesday at 10pm.

NOTE: REMARKABLE PEOPLE a show about unknown extraordinary people and their lives turned out to be not remarkable and the series was cancelled after only one broadcast.  

NOTE: The producer of  HOT LINE was Joyce Davidson. She married Susskind in 1966.  

NOTE: Dorothy Kilgallen's  controversial death at age 52 occurred only eight months after this broadcast aired.                                                                                                                                                                           

October 6th, 1964-March 2, 1965 (WPIX)

Les Crane is the guest on this final broadcast of HOT LINE.
Phone call-ins include discussions on the FCC and TV Broadcasting. David Susskind signs off for the last time reflecting on this series which aired for only half a year. 

This is the final live 23rd broadcast of this live television phone talk show in the series. 

Many topics are discussed by David Susskind, Dorothy Kilgallen and guest Les Crane who just got fired and broadcast his last late night  Les Crane Show  a week before,  has never appeared on a TV talk show where he was the guest and not the host. 

Phone callers ask the questions and topics include:
Shake up at CBS Television with the firing of James Aubrey, Les Crane's firing after only 15 weeks on the air, Dorothy Kilgallen' opinion on Lovelorn columns, Crane stating that he did not want to be a guest on this program and the reasons for such feelings, feuds between Les Crane and David Susskind in the past, reasons Crane changed from his temperamental personality on his phone in show when he went national with his Late Night ABC TV talk show, Crane states he was never censored by ABC related to booking guests...two guests he refused to have on his program was Grand Dragon of the KKK and George Lincoln Rockwell, discussion about the Beatles...Susskind despising them and Crane and Kilgallen loving them, the potential that if Les Crane remained with his local WABC late night live phone in talk show he would still be on the air and for years to come, why telephone shows seem to fail, TV's responsibility to the  public broadcasting shows like Hot Line and The Les Crane Show, the ratings game, and their representative importance. Crane gives his point of view and relates to his two talk shows of the past. Dorothy Kilgallen and David give their point of views. Also addressing another audience member phone call regarding the subject of why Jack Paar and Johnny Carson are considered stars even though they cannot sing, dance or act. 

David Susskind signs off for the last time reflecting on this series which aired for only half a year. He also recommends to his audience to tune in to his now one hour weekly show, REMARKABLE PEOPLE premiering on the same channel (WPIX) same time Tuesday at 10pm.

NOTE: REMARKABLE PEOPLE a show about unknown extraordinary people and their lives turned out to be not remarkable and the series was cancelled after only one broadcast.  

NOTE: On two occasions there is a gap in the audio portion of the broadcast indicating that WPIX censored commentary. These two short gaps are included.

NOTE: The co-producer of  HOTLINE was Joyce Davidson. She married Susskind in 1966. It was the first television show to use the recently invented ten-second broadcast delay when broadcasting live. This gave the control room time to delete material deemed unfit for broadcast, especially from a telephone call-ins. Two examples of deletion usage  are noted in this program.


NOTE: Dorothy Kilgallen's  controversial death at age 52 occurred only eight months after this broadcast aired.                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Howard Cosell interviews political activist George Lincoln Rockwell.                       

Hollywood gossip talk with Liz Smith, Gay Talese, and Rex Reed.            

Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey gives a political campaign speech as Democratic nominee for President of the United States. He plans to discuss the war in Vietnam.                  

Commentary from H.Rap Brown.