HY GARDNER CALLING - Sunday Night, half hour broadcast, 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

TONIGHT: AMERICA AFTER DARK Hy Gardner ten minute segments "Face to Face" (New format replacing Steve Allen's TONIGHT!,
revised format series hosted by Jack Lescoulie.Last broadcast January 28, 1957 - July 26, 1958 (M-F 11:15pm - 1:00am).   

HY GARDNER CALLING - February 12, 1958 - September 3, 1958
WABD (Dumont). 30 minute broadcast Wednesday evenings 8:30-9:00pm.

HY GARDNER CALLING - September 10, 1958 - January 14, 1959 
WNEW. 30 minute broadcast Wednesday evenings 8:30 - 9:00pm

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

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

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

HY GARDNER SHOW - September 26, 1964-January 10, 1965 WOR one hour weekly broadcast 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 Elvis Presley, hours after he appeared on The Sunday Night STEVE ALLEN SHOW, singing "HOUND DOG."
This short interview would be the only one that Presley would agree to do on television. Milton Berle was the catalyst for making this appearance happen.                                                                                                                   

Presented on "SUNDAY SPECTACULAR." A 37 year old advertising executive cannot decide whom to choose between the three women he is dating. Score by Steve Allen and Ervin Drake. Steve Allen wrote what became his trademark theme song for this musical comedy, "This Could Be The Start Of Something Big."             

                 October 18, 1954-May 27, 1957.
 Live ninety minute productions aired every fourth week. The range of material was vast, from dramas to musicals.

Presented on "PRODUCER'S SHOWCASE." Edwin Lester- Los Angeles-San Francisco Light Opera Association operetta about a case of mistaken identity concerning Rosalinda, her husband, their maid and a tenor, all involved in a romantic quadrangle.             

 September 27, 1954 - January 25, 1957

The first host of THE TONIGHT SHOW, which was then titled TONIGHT!, Steve Allen began his broadcast career as a disc jockey. On July 27, 1953 Steve Allen began hosting a local show over WRCA-TV which ran from 11:20 P.M. to Midnight , Mondays through Fridays, sponsored by Knickerbocker Beer, developed by station executive Ted Cott to lure a potential sponsor, Rupert Breweries, away from a late-night show on New York's Channel 7 (TALK OF THE TOWN), hosted by Louis Nye, who would later be featured on Steve Allen's Sunday Night Variety Show.  

After a successful fourteen-month local run, THE STEVE ALLEN SHOW became a network show. Beginning September 27, 1954, the show retitled TONIGHT!, and expanded to 105 minutes from 40 minutes. 
 
NOTE: Sound of this Television Audio Air Check is PRISTINE. A rare return to an early TONIGHT! STARRING STEVE ALLEN broadcast when Late Night Television was so informal and relaxed with open ended time dedicated to a person, topic, music, or just impromptu  comedy.  
The basic format of The Tonight! Show was established during Allen's tenure: an opening monologue, a segment involving the studio audience (through interviews or games such as "Stump the Band"), and a simple set (a desk and chair for the host, a couch for the guests), all trademarks of the Allen era. Allen inaugurated the out-of-town broadcast (the first one was done from Miami), the one guest show (Carl Sandburg was the first solo guest), and the one topic show (entire programs devoted to such subjects as narcotics, civil rights, and black music). Allen also established the practice of paying his guests only "scale," the minimum fee required by union-network contract (this practice led to a highly publicized  feud between Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan and later between Jack Paar and Ed Sullivan, as Sullivan paid top dollar for his guests). Though Allen's Tonight! show closely resembled the shows of his successors, Jack Paar and Johnny Carson, it was more a musical show; Allen himself was an accomplished musician and composer (he wrote his theme, "This Could Be The Start of Something Big"), and he employed a nucleus of musical regulars on his show. In addition to announcer – sidekick Gene Rayburn, the show featured singers Steve Lawrence (who was only seventeen when he began singing on Allen's local show), Eydie Gormé (who subsequently married Steve Lawrence), Andy Williams (who later hosted several series of his own), and Pat Marshall (who was succeeded by Pat Kirby).  Skitch Henderson led the Orchestra.                                                                                                        

               October 18, 1954-May 27, 1957.
 Live ninety minute productions aired every fourth week. The range of material was vast, from dramas to musicals.

Presented on "PRODUCER'S SHOWCASE." Patrick Malloy's short story about a small traveling circus stranded in a Kansas town in 1905, experiencing a drought.             

Starring humorist Henry Morgan.              

Starring humorist Henry Morgan.                           

Starring humorist Henry Morgan.                                        

Starring humorist Henry Morgan.                                                     

NEWS ANCHOR 

-WCBS TV local News- November 1, 1954- May 27,1960,
replacing Robert Trout, and replaced by Prescott Robinson.

ABC TV World News - June 4, 1962-January 29, 1965, replaced by Peter Jennings.   

A report on the Adlai Stevenson presidential campaign. Also, the United Nations debate on the Suez Canal crisis. 
 

Ron Cochran, a former television and radio newsman worked with
CBS and ABC as a television anchor news journalist.
In the early 1960's, Cochran was an early evening news anchor for the ABC network, most remembered for covering the ABC TV network news related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, November 22, 1963.

Previously, he was the host of ten minute evening news programs, Monday thru Saturday on WCBS-TV in New York from 1954 to 1960.

NOTE: Almost all of Ron Cochran's newscasts are NON extant in any broadcast form. 

                                                                                                                                                                                  

The guest is Yankee outfielder Enos (Country) Slaughter who is participating in the current 1956 World Series vs. the Brooklyn Dodgers.                                     

Mel Allen does the play-By-Play of game 4 of the 1956 World Series between the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees from Yankee Stadium in New York City. Mickey Mantle's seventh-inning home run and the Dodgers at-bat in the top of the ninth inning are heard. This game took place just one day before Don Larsen's perfect game.                                                   

Jack's guests are George Burns and Gracie Allen. Regulars are Eddie "Rochester" Anderson and announcer Don Wilson.                                      

The guest is Yankee outfielder Enos (Country) Slaughter who is participating in the current 1956 World Series vs. the Brooklyn Dodgers.                        

Former Yankee shortstop Phil Rizzuto joins Bennett Cerf, Dorothy Kilgallen, and Arlene Francis, on the panel. John Daly is the host.                                       

April 8th, 1956-September 14th, 1958

The $64,000 Challenge was the first game show to be spun off from another TV game show, the $64,000 Question. Sonny Fox served as the first host of the show but was replaced in September 1956 by Ralph Story. The show was taken off the air in September 1958 due to the TV game show scandals that were taking place. 


Guests are Vincent Price and Edward G. Robinson. The contestant is Italian prize-winner Gino Prato. Ralph Story is the host.                                                              

A report on the Suez Canal crisis, the New York City Pulaski Day Parade with many notables, and game 4 of the World Series won by the Yankees over the Brooklyn Dodgers 6-2 to even the Series at two games apiece. The pitchers for game 5 of the Series Sal Maglie and Don Larsen are mentioned. John K.M. McCaffery anchors.                                                         

February 14th, 1949-October 26th, 1956

A fifteen-minute nightly newscast hosted by John Cameron Swayze. It was replaced on October 29th, 1956 by the Huntley-Brinkley Report. 

Sportscaster reporter Phil Rizzuto reports on game 5 of the 1956 World Series in which the Yankees Don Larsen pitched a perfect game. 

                  Broadcasting career
Phil Rizzuto had options following his release by the Yankees, on Old Timer's Day, August 25, 1956 including a player contract from the Cardinals and a minor league offer from the Dodgers. But Rizzuto, who had filled in for the New York Giants' wraparound fifteen minute post game show hosted by Frankie Frisch beginning on September 22, 1956 following Frisch's heart attack (August 9th right after NY Giant win over the Philadelphia Phillies), received a favorable response. With his eye on a post-playing career, Rizzuto submitted an audition tape to the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees' sponsor, Ballantine Beer, took notice, and insisted that the team hire Rizzuto as an announcer for the 1957 season. General manager George Weiss was obliged to fire Jim Woods, who had only been with the Yankees for four years, to make room for Rizzuto in the booth.   Yankees shortstop Phil Rizzuto was so popular with the fans that they couldn't let him go after his retirement in 1956. After announcing his retirement, he signed on as the Yankees announcer on December 18th, 1956, a position he held for 40 years.                                           

Sportscaster Bill Hickey reports on the fifth game of the 1956 World Series in which Don Larsen pitched a perfect game and reports on Jackie Robinson receiving an offer to manage the  Montreal Royals Minor League baseball team for $25,000.                                                                

October 8th, 1955-April 2nd, 1957
 
A quiz show with a $100,000 top prize. Jack Barry was the original host. He was replaced in the second season by Mike Wallace. 

NOTE:
Almost all daytime game shows from the 1950's thru the 1970's have been destroyed. A conservative conscientious  effort to save programming by CBS's archives begin in 1972, ABC in 1978, and NBC in 1980. Only a handful of producers (most notably Goodson-Todman) did arrange for the preservation of their shows even during the tape-recycling period.

                                                    

October 9, 1956-January 29, 1957

A game show with Bert Parks as host. (series premiere)                                   

A report on game 6 of the 1956 World Series in which the Dodgers tied the fall classic at three games apiece. Jackie Robinson's final base hit of his Major League career wins the game 1-0, in the 10th inning, for Brooklyn. President Eisenhower attacks presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson for discussion of the hydrogen bomb halt and his plan to end the draft.                                       

HY GARDNER CALLING - Sunday Night, half hour broadcast, 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

TONIGHT: AMERICA AFTER DARK Hy Gardner ten minute segments "Face to Face" (New format replacing Steve Allen's TONIGHT!,
revised format series hosted by Jack Lescoulie.Last broadcast January 28, 1957 - July 26, 1958 (M-F 11:15pm - 1:00am).   

HY GARDNER CALLING - February 12, 1958 - September 3, 1958
WABD (Dumont). 30 minute broadcast Wednesday evenings 8:30-9:00pm.

HY GARDNER CALLING - September 10, 1958 - January 14, 1959 
WNEW. 30 minute broadcast Wednesday evenings 8:30 - 9:00pm

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

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

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

HY GARDNER SHOW - September 26, 1964-January 10, 1965 WOR one hour weekly broadcast 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 comedian Henny Youngman.                                                                                         

Broadcast on WRCA FM RADIO in New York City

Jinx Falkenburg interviews director George Stevens and actor Rock Hudson who discusses working with James Dean on the movie "Giant" which is premiering. Also on hand are Elizabeth Taylor and Mercedes McCambridge who was nominated for the best-supporting actress in the film, and also discusses working with James Dean. Also interviewed are William (Hopalong Cassidy), Boyd and actor Orson Welles.                                                                                     

June 24, 1956-December 27, 1961.
The multi-talented Steve Allen- musician, composer, singer, comedian,author- was the star of this live weekly variety series that bore a strong resemblance to his informal, late-night Tonight! Show. Although the program had elements of music and serious aspects, comedy was far and away its major component. Steve had with him one of the most versatile and talented collections of improvisational comics ever assembled. Among the features that were used at one time or another on a semi-regular basis were: "Letters to the Editor," "The Allen Report to the Nation," "Mad-Libs," "Crazy Shots," "Where Are They Now," "The Question Man," "The Allen Bureau of Standards," and "The Allen All Stars." The most frequently used feature, and by far the most memorable, was the "Man on the Street Interview." It was here that the comics on the show developed their  best-remembered characters: Louis Nye as suave, smug Gordon Hathaway, Tom Poston as the man who can't remember his own name, Skitch Henderson as Sidney Ferguson, Don Knotts as the extremely nervous and fidgety Mr Morrison, Pat Harrington as Italian golf pro Guido Panzini, and Bill Dana as shy Jose Jimenez.    

Steve Allen Pays Tribute To James Dean On The First Anniversary Of His Death.                                    

Tex McCrary interviews William Faulkner who discusses Southern prejudice, Frank Lloyd Wright comments on the lack of women architects, General Omar Bradley discusses D-Day decisions, and actor Laurence Olivier talks about nose make-up. Also included is a Coca-Cola commercial.                                       

September 20, 1952-June 22, 1957; October 3, 1958-January 2 1959; February 3 1961-March 24, 1961; September 1962-September 12, 1970

Jackie's guest is comedian Henny Youngman. Also included is a Honeymooners sketch with Art Carney and Audrey Meadows.

After the 1954-1955 season (one hour live broadcasts), Jackie Gleason produced a series of 39 filmed half-hour episodes of "The Honeymooners" which was syndicated (1955-1956). For the following 1956-1957 season, the Jackie Gleason Show returned to a live one-hour variety format with a Honeymooners sketch included in many of its broadcasts. After this season, The Honeymooners sketches would not be revived until the 1966-1967 season of The Jackie Gleason Show.                                                     

   Hungarians revolt against invading  Russian army in fierce fighting. Adlai Stevenson, democratic candidate running for  President of the United States against President Dwight D. Eisenhower, states that Ike is a part-time president who plays golf especially during serious events of the day. 

Eisenhower plans to have his medical checkup today.                                   

News from the New York Times: The health of President Dwight Eisenhower is announced to be OK, the Hungarian premier announces that Russian troops will withdraw immediately from Budapest as fighting continues, secret police disbands, Soviets protest United Nations interference, Isreal announces partial mobilization.                                                   

Campaign songs of the past, narrated by Will Rogers, Jr.                      

Ed Sullivan's guest is Elvis Presley.                          

The Sunday Night Evening News (15 minutes from 11:00 - 11:15pm) provided a weekly anchoring role for Walter Cronkite at WCBS in New York. The Premiere broadcast was the only time   during the run of this weekend Sunday newscast that would be telecast in COLOR.
Premiere- April 17, 1955.

Hungary announces victory over Russian troops as fighting continues, in New York City, Hungarians march before UN Plaza.
Russia denounces Hungarian and US governments, Polish conclave in Warsaw cheers their new premier. Isreal undergoes mobilization, a report on the Olympic trials. 

NOTE: The October 28, 1956 telecast is the earliest Walter Cronkite Sunday Evening News television broadcast known to exist in any broadcast form.
 
Walter Cronkite reads the CBS News (1956-1968)

 If one remembers any of Cronkite’s NEWS broadcasts prior to August 5 1968, one must have an excellent memory. Though he was “the most trusted man in America” for decades, most of his bulletins and live TV CBS NEWS studio broadcasts from the 1950's &1960's no longer survive. Until 1968, only a handful of air checks have been extant. The most known, reporting the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Sadly, thousands of his his reports televised on CBS television were erased or discarded, prior to 1968 and not mindfully archived by CBS until 1974...previously thought not worthy of saving.                                                                                                              

"Born Yesterday" starring Mary Martin and Paul Douglas. A ten-minute excerpt.            

Israel invades Egypt to attack suicide commando bases. Attempt to destroy Egyptian suicide squads. Eisenhower and Dulles confer on the crisis as the world reacts.                                       

A campaign speech by Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson who is introduced by Senator John F. Kennedy. Stevenson attacks President Eisenhower, Vice-President Nixon and the Republican party for misinforming the American people about the world crisis.                         

Israelis advance into Egypt within eighteen miles of the Suez Canal. Tension in Washington as Eisenhower conducts an emergency meeting with top chiefs, press secretary Hagerty says the United States will assist in reconciling Middle East problems, Elvis Presley receives a polio shot, Maria Callas appears in Metropolitan Opera House season opener, Former New Jersey Govenor Walter Edge dies, Hungary says Russia will begin withdrawing troops from Budapest but fighting continues. There is a Piels Beer commercial featuring the voices of Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding.                                                                                                       

May 3,1948-April 13,1962

Douglas Edwards who replaced Newscaster Larry LeSueur as anchor of CBS television weekly news held that post for fourteen years. For most of its broadcast  history the fifteen minute broadcast was officially titled DOUGLAS EDWARDS WITH THE NEWS.

On November 30, 1956, the first network news show to be videotaped for rebroadcast to the West Coast was achieved. This video tape is not known to exist today as is most of all of Douglas' news broadcasts, in any broadcast form. 

On April 16, 1962 Walter Cronkite succeeded Edwards as CBS's evening newscaster. Douglas Edwards continued to broadcast the local WCBS nightly weekly newscast. He also did a five-minute daytime newscast until April 1, 1988. 


The Israeli capital is bombed as fighting continues. Edward R. Murrow analysis, Hungarians bury their dead in various towns, Adlai Stevenson attacks Eisenhower's foreign policy, Henry Cabot Lodge attacks British and French ultimatums.                                                

September 30, 1951-August 29, 1971

Red Skelton's network television program began at the start of the 1951 fall season on NBC (for sponsor Procter & Gamble). After two seasons on Sunday nights, the program was picked up by CBS in the fall of 1953 and moved to Tuesday night, the time slot with which it would become primarily associated during most of its run. After his first CBS season the program was moved to Wednesday night and expanded to an hour for the summer of 1954 only; it was then reduced back to a half-hour for a time, later expanded again, returning to Tuesday night where it would remain for the next sixteen years (co-sponsored by Johnson's Wax and Pet Milk between 1955 and 1962).

On September 25, 1962, the program was again expanded to a full hour (becoming The Red Skelton Hour) and remained in this longer format for the balance of its CBS run.

CBS ended its association with the program in early 1970. This apparently marked the beginning of one of several attempts by CBS to downplay programming whose primary appeal was to "Middle America", an audience more rural and also somewhat older than that generally desired by network television advertisers. Marketers were moving towards a younger, "hipper", and more urban audience.

At least in part due to Skelton's iconic status, the program was picked up by NBC, premiering on September 14, 1970. Vice President Spiro Agnew introduced Red's 20th season opener, returning back to NBC where he began his first TV season. Guest on Shelton's premiere program was Jerry Lewis. After the taping of the show Lewis told the audience: "My ambition has always been to be a clown...tonight I've had the honor of working with a great clown."

The program that aired was quite different from the one that Skelton's CBS audience was used to seeing. The new set was dark, devoid of the backdrops that viewers had seen on CBS. The show was cut back to its original half-hour length and it was moved from Tuesday to Monday nights.

The new format never really worked. The program ended in March 1971, although selected programs from this final season were rerun on NBC on Sunday nights in prime time during June-August, 1971.                                                                   

January 3rd,1956- March 26th,1957 (CBS) September 30th, 1957-December 27th, 1963 (ABC)

A popular game show originally hosted by Edgar Bergen and seen in primetime on CBS. When the show shifted to ABC, it was seen in the daytime and was hosted by Johnny Carson. In July of 1958, the show was retitled "Who Do You Trust?" Ed McMahon became the announcer and it was the first time Carson and McMahon would team up together. 

In this episode, the host is Edgar Bergen who's joined by his dummies Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd.                                                            

Highlights include an ultimatum to Israel and Egypt to stop fighting, developments in the UN, Russians willing to discuss withdrawal and evacuation of its forces from Budapest. England and France decided to move troops and naval forces into Suez. Premier Nagy discusses political freedom, presidential campaigns continue.  
A waiter working at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City is indited for income tax evasion.                                                               

Guests are journalist James Wechsler who discusses the Middle East crisis and relationship to the coming presidential election, Tex McCrary with Tallulah Bankhead who comments on her dislike for Vice-President Richard Nixon, calls him "tricky Dickey." She also accuses President Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles of appeasement during the current Middle East crisis.                                                

  Jimmy Shearer sings old songs.                        

Highlights include, the Middle East crisis continues, British and French demands rejected by Egypt, Nasser says he will fight to the end and claims Sinai campaign almost over, the question of strained feelings between Anglo-French and USA.                                                 

October 1, 1952-September 10, 1961 (NBC TV).
1970 & 1983 (SYNDICATED).
NBC 30th Anniversary Show televised February 26, 1981, co- hosted by Ralph Edwards and David Frost.

THIS IS YOUR LIFE was hosted by Ralph Edwards. It was a sentimental human interest show which he began on radio in 1948. Each week a special guest was lured to the studio by a ruse and then surprised as Edward's announced, "This is your Life!" Long lost friends and relatives materialized during the ensuing half hour to relive long-forgotten incidents going back to early childhood. The programs were broadcast LIVE and reverted to Video Tape at the start of the 1959-1960 season, at which time most of the telecasts were pre-recorded. 
Bob Warren announcer.
 The surprised guest received a 16mm film of the program and a Bell & Howell projector. 


The principal subject has not yet shown up on the live broadcast. Darlene Miller, a farm girl from Iowa.                                  

Israel plans to shoot down nine Egyptian planes, Great Britain sinks an Egyptian frigate, British and French bomb Egyptian airbases, the UN secretary votes to call the General Assembly into session, Adlai Stevenson declares Eisenhower's foreign policy bears heavy blame for Middle East crises, most Russian forces have left Budapest.                                                                

October 90, 1956-May 31, 1957

Night beat was an hour-long talk/interview program hosted by Mike Wallace and broadcast on WABD-TV channel 5 in New York City. (Dumont). It was broadcast from 11 PM to 12 AM Tuesday through Friday evenings. Wallace served as host from October 1956 to May 1957. 

In this episode, Mike interviews Max Lerner of the NY Post who comments on the Middle East crises and makes a prediction that Adlai Stevenson will be elected the next President of the United States and New York City Mayor Robert Wagner will be a United States Senator from New York. He also predicts that John Foster Dulle's days as Secretary of State are over. Mike Wallace reviews current headlines.                                               

Opening. Billy Gilbert and Dagmar are introduced. Gene Rayburn is the announcer 

 September 27,1954-January 25,1957 

The basic format of The Tonight Show was established during Allen's tenure: an opening monologue, a segment involving the studio audience (through interviews or games such as "Stump the Band"), and a simple set (a desk and chair for the host, a couch for the guests) were all trademarks of the Allen era. Allen inaugurated the out-of-town broadcast (the first one was done from Miami), the one guest show (Carl Sandburg was the first solo guest), and the one topic show (entire programs were devoted to such subjects as narcotics, civil rights, and black music). Allen also established the practice of paying his guests only "scale," the minimum fee required by union-network contract (this practice led to a highly publicized  feud between Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan and later between Jack Paar and Ed Sullivan, as Sullivan paid top dollar for his guests). Though Allen's Tonight! show closely resembled the shows of his successors, Jack Paar and Johnny Carson, it was a more musical show; Allen himself was an accomplished musician and composer (he wrote his theme, "This Could Be The Start of Something Big"), and he employed a nucleus of musical regulars on his show. In addition to announcer – sidekick Gene Rayburn, the show featured singers Steve Lawrence (who was only seventeen when he began singing on Allen's local show), Eydie Gormé (who subsequently married Steve Lawrence), Andy Williams (who later hosted several series of his own), and Pat Marshall (who was succeeded by Pat Kirby).  Skitch Henderson led the Orchestra

  Opening of the program is heard by announcer Gene Rayburn. Steve Allen comments on the Hungarian / Soviet war. There is a commercial Life Magazine endorsement. Billy Gilbert and Dagmar are introduced. Gene Rayburn is the announcer.                                              

President Dwight Eisenhower makes a campaign speech from Convent Hall in Philadelphia, Pennslyvania. He is introduced by Senator James Duff of Pennslyvania. He comments on the current world crisis and hopes the Russians will withdraw from Poland and Hungary. He accuses the Democrats of trying to make political profit from the current crisis.                                      

 An Egyptian delegate accuses Israel, France, and England of aggression on Egypt, urges the United States to stop the invasion of Egypt.
Live coverage at the United Nations.