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16 records found for Ernie Kovacs
#5893AA: ERNIE KOVACS SHOW, THE
Order1954-08-04, WABD, 10 min.
April 19th, 1954-January 14th, 1955 (WABD) In the Spring of 1954, Ernie Kovacs appeared on WABD-TV Channel 5 in New York City, New York's Dumont outlet, where he hosted a late-night one-hour local show for a period of nine months. It aired from 11:15PM to 12:15AM.
#13015: TONIGHT! WITH ERNIE KOVACS
Order1956-00-00, WNBC, 2 min.
The opening of the Tonight! show with Ernie Kovacs as host. In the summer of 1956, host, Steve Allen, of The Tonight Show, (then titled Tonight! from September 27, 1954 - January 25, 1957) reduced his nightly appearances. Ernie Kovacs was brought in to host on Mondays and Tuesdays. Allen hosted his last Tonight! show on January 25, 1957, as the series' first era came to a close.
#10431: ERNIE KOVACS SHOW, THE
Order1957-01-14, NBC, min.
April 19th, 1954-January 14th, 1955 (WABD) In the Spring of 1954, Ernie Kovacs appeared on WABD-TV Channel 5 in New York City, New York's Dumont outlet, where he hosted a late-night one-hour local show for a period of nine months. It aired from 11:15PM to 12:15AM. Guest: The Jazz String Quartet.
#11401: WHAT'S MY LINE?
Order1957-09-01, CBS, 30 min.
February 2nd, 1950-September 3rd, 1967 (CBS) 1968-1975- Syndicated Television's longest-running primetime game show. The panelists would try and guess the occupation of the contestant. Cards would be flipped worth $5.00 each. If the panel could not guess the contestant's line of walk after $50.00 was reached, the contestant would be declared the winner. The final contestant would always be a mystery guest who was known to the public, with the panel wearing blindfolds. Some of the panelists over the years included Bennett Cerf, Arlene Francis, Dorothy Kilgallen, Steve Allen, and Fred Allen. John Daly was the show's host for its entire seventeen-year network run. The show's final episode aired on Sunday, September 3rd, 1967 with host John Daly appearing as the mystery guest. The show returned in syndication with the same format in 1968 with Wally Bruner as the host. He was replaced by Larry Blyden in 1972. Blyden remained the host until 1975 when the show ceased production. Blyden died in 1975 after suffering injuries from a car accident. Panelists: Dorothy Kilgallen, Bennett Cerf, Arlene Francis, Ernie Kovacs. John Daly is moderator. SELECTIONS FROM ORIGINAL GRAY AUDOGRAPH DISC RECORDINGS, RECORDED OFF THE AIR, REPRESENTING SEVEN CONSECUTIVE DAYS OF KNXT LOS, ANGELES BROADCASTING, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 THRU 7, 1957. These LOST CBS broadcasts represent an unprecedented one complete week, sign on to sign off, September 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1957 (130 hours on 130 8 & 1/2" diameter discs with a capacity to record 32 minutes per side (side one and side two had the potential capacity to record 64 minutes). These discs were obtained in Los Angeles by Phil Gries, creator and owner of Archival Television Audio, Inc. in 2011. They were originally found in an establishment, located in Burbank, California, selling old records dispersing its inventory as they went out of business, a few years before. The rarity of this type of media to record television is not known to have occured beyond a few incidents, as stated below, at any other time, which make this collection of TV Audio Airchecks, recorded on Gray Audograph discs, an amazing surviving artifact. The sound quality varies with different broadcasts. After a period of almost three years, processing and digitizing these 130 two sided discs, there is recognition of the rarity of some of these broadcasts providing one of a kind surviving Television Audio Airchecks and are extremely desirable regardless of some of the extraneous sound artifacts heard on some of these tracks which were painstakingly processed and transferred one by one to optimize the sound quality and proper pitch. NOTE: To listen to a seminar Phil Gries presented at an ARSC presentation in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 2014, about these Gray Audograph Discs...their genesis, discovery and contents, go to the ATA website www.atvaudio.com and click on ARSC which can be found within the right column on the ATA Home Page. GRAY AUDIOGRAPH (1946 - 1976) History: The Gray Audograph was a dictation disc recording format introduced in 1946 by the Gray Manufacturing Company in the United States. It recorded sound by pressing grooves into soft vinyl discs, like the competing, but incompatible, SoundScriber and VoiceWriter formats. Audiograph discs were blue thin plastic flexible discs, recorded from the inside to the outside, the opposite of conventional phonograph discs. Another difference compared to phonograph discs (78, 45, 33 & 1/2) was that the audiograph was driven by a surface-mounted wheel, meaning that its recording and playback speed decreased toward the edge of the disc (like the Compact Disc and other digital formats), to keep a more constant linear velocity and to improve playing time. The mandatory speed variation correction requires playback on an Audograph player, which ATA possesses and has modified, allowing line out output connections, direct line, to the input of any other recording format device. Gray Audograph discs were available in three different sizes. The 6-inch diameter disc offered 10 minutes of recording time per side, the 6 & 1/2" disc offered 15 minutes per side. The 8 & 1/2" disc, which is extant in the ATA archive, offered 30 minutes of recording per side. ALONG WITH THE DICTABELT RECORDER, A GRAY AUDOGRAPH RECORDER MACHINE CAPTURED THE ACTUAL LIVE SOUNDS RECORDED OF GUN SHOTS AT THE TIME OF THE JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION. THESE AUDIO SOUNDS WERE USED IN THE REVIEW BY THE UNITED STATES HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON ASSASSINATIONS. THE GRAY COMPANY CEASED MANUFACTURE OF THE GRAY AUDOGRAPH RECORDER IN 1976.
#10216: PLAYHOUSE 90: "TOPAZ"
Order1957-09-26, CBS, 78 min.
October 4, 1956 - May 18, 1960 Most television historians and critics of the medium would agree that PLAYHOUSE 90 was the most ambitious of TV's dramatic anthology series which was a genre that thrived and predominated in the 1950's. PLAYHOUSE 90 presented a ninety-minute dream each Thursday evening, mostly LIVE during its first two year run. It was broadcast as a series of specials during the 1959-1960 season, and reruns were aired in 1961. More than 100 plays were presented during the series four seasons on television. A mild-mannered schoolteacher gradually abandons all his principles and finds the success which has always hitherto eluded him.
#13225: POLLY BERGEN SHOW, THE
Order1957-10-05, NBC, 6 min.
September 21, 1957 - May 31, 1958 Polly Bergen hosted her own variety series for one season. The half-hour show alternated biweekly wit CLUB OASIS and featured the orchestra of Luther Henderson, Jr. The show's theme song, "The Party's Over," was composed by Jule Styne. Guest is Ernie Kovacs who jokingly comments about the Russian satellite, "Sputnik." Kovacs performs a comedy routine as Percy Dovetonsills. This was the third show of the series.
#7117: THE FORD SHOW
Order1958-10-16, NBC, 00 min.
Variety- NBC - 30 minutes, October 4th, 1956-June 29th, 1961. Tennessee Ernie Ford was host, singer and comedian of this variety show. The musical portion of the program consisted mostly of Country and Western and Gospel music. This was a live show from Detroit, Michigan.
1961-09-10, WNEW, 62 min.
The premiere of OPEN END WITH DAVID SUSSKIND on WNEW TV, now reduced to a two hour weekly Sunday night broadcast time slot from the original open ended time concept as presented since 1958 on WNTA TV. On this Premiere show the discussion revolves around the RAT PACK, originally devised by Humphrey Bogart and now comprised of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford. On the panel discussing this topic with great candor are Jackie Gleason, Ernie Kovacs, Toots Shore, Joe E. Lewis, Marya Mannes, Dick Gehman and Lenore Lemmon, former girlfriend of George Reeves (Superman on TV) at the time of his death in 1959. NOTE: This Archival TV Audio Air Check began recording when this program was in progress. It contains the entire first 62 minutes of the broadcast with the exception of the original introduction of guests by moderator David Susskind. HISTORY OF THE SERIES: Originally scheduled to premiere on October 7, but delayed one week. October 14, 1958 - August 13, 1961 OPEN END with David Susskind: (WNTA Channel 13 Television) September 10, 1961-May 5, 1963 OPEN END with David Susskind (WNEW Channel 5 Television) June 9, 1963 last show of the season broadcast on WPIX TV. October 13, 1963-September 18, 1966 OPEN END with David Susskind (WPIX Channel 11 Television) October 2, 1966-September, 1986 DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW (SYNDICATED, PBS, and COMMERCIAL STATIONS, including WNEW, New York). After an association of nearly three decades with Channel 5 in New York, the former WNEW-TV, later changed to WNYW-TV, David Susskind stopped producing the program in September 1986 because of its late-night time slot, from 1:30 to 3:30 A.M. Sunday nights. His audience like his iconic talk show dwindled not only in its following but in the ratings. Susskind knew when to quit. His last David Susskind Show aired only five months from the time of his death. Open End with David Susskind was a break through talk show which literally had no time limit. The premiere broadcast reviewed in Variety stated: "In the blueprint stage, OPEN END was initiated on WNTA-TV on Tuesday October 14th the same night 'The World of Suzie Wong' premiered on Broadway. When the show is going slowly, then Susskind has the right to end it as soon as he likes; when it's going well , he can stretch it the night through since "OPEN END" is the last scheduled WNTA program of the night." The show ended when host, moderator David Susskind, felt all conversation points were discussed. Some of these marathon telecasts lasted over four hours! Jean Kennedy was the producer during the 28 year run of the series. The series premiered and aired on WNTA Channel 13 in New York for three years, an independent broadcast station, before it would become a Public Broadcast Station in 1962. A myriad of talk show guests, famous, infamous and unknown, found a forum on OPEN END. Subjects varied focusing on usually one topic...show business, politics, the economy, sex, education, crime, etc. Typically, many guests would discuss a subject sitting around a large table with David Susskind moderating, leading his guests with baited questions. On occasion a solo guest would highlight the show. For the first three years, of its 28 year existence as a regular series, WNTA TV was home to OPEN END which originally began its broadcasts on Tuesday nights, switching on January 18, 1959 to Sunday nights...a future Sunday evening time slot of the week where it would remain until 1986, for the rest of its run. After broadcasting with a two hour truncated format on WNEW form September 10, 1961 to May 5, 1963 a falling out and rift occurred between Susskind and WNEW management centered on WNEW's reluctance to air discussions regarding race relations in America. WPIX reacted with interest in bringing OPEN END to their flagship New York channel. For the last OPEN END show of the 1962-1963 season WPIX TOOK LAST MINUTE EMERGENCY MEASURES TO CLEAR TWO HOURS ON SUNDAY NIGHT June 9, 1963, featuring solo guest Dr. Martin Luther KIng, pre-empting regular scheduled programming (6:30-8:30 pm). Open End was later cut by WPIX to one hour time slot. David Susskind not satisfied with the shortened format reconnected with WNEW where he returned to a two hour format with a changed program name. THE DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW had its return premiere on WNEW TV October 2, 1966. The David Susskind Show also found syndication across the country and each market would run the program at different times at their own discretion. Most all of the telecasts were recorded on video tape, 2" quadruplex. Most shows were kept for a year or two like THE MOVIE MAKERS broadcast which was re-run on August 6, 1961 almost a year after it was first telecast on October 2, 1960. By this time the show was no longer without a time limit. It ran for a finite three hours long. Thus the re-run of the MOVIE MAKERS had some footage deleted from its original run which aired for over three and half hours, including commercials. The re-run of "THE MOVIE MAKERS" was the next to last broadcast telecast on WNTA channel 13. On September 10, 1961 the show moved to WNEW Channel 5 METROMEDIA in New York. Sadly, most all of OPEN END broadcasts (1958-1966), later re titled THE DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW (1966-1986), were wiped erased, destroyed, discarded...whereabouts unknown, representing most shows produced and telecast during the late 1950's, 1960's and early 1970's. Only a handful of OPEN END / DAVID SUSSKIND shows are known to survive from 1958 thru 1969. Hundreds of programs survive representing the middle 1970's thru 1986. Open End with David Susskind was a unique break through talk with no time limit, rare during any time in television broadcast history, and never to be replicated in the future of television broadcasting after 1960. On occasion only one guest would be profiled. Mostly shows were comprised of many individuals discussing one topic which included race relations, the draft, organized crime, the Hollywood scene, the politics of the times, sex-change operations, divorce, clairvoyants, psychoanalysis, prostitution, etc. Sadly, most all of OPEN END broadcasts, later re titled THE DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW, commencing with the Oct. 2, 1966 broadcast, were wiped (erased), destroyed, discarded...whereabouts unknown, representing most shows produced and telecast during the late 1950's, 1960's and early 1970's. Hundreds of broadcasts circa mid 1970's - 1986 have been archived and are extant. David Susskind interviews Arthur Godfrey on the status of television. Godfrey comments on the present state of television and its future. He believes that at one time he had 40% of the TV audience when he was number one. Importance of selling a sponsor. Susskind believes that the public should be more pro active and demand what content they would prefer to view on TV. Arthur Godfrey states how much he has enjoyed doing the show. It has given him time to think in a studio talk show atmosphere. NOTE: This March 15, 1959 show is the second oldest known program, surviving in any broadcast form, to be extant. The video tape of this original broadcast would be used again for a repeat TV broadcast on Sunday, September 20, 1959. Then it would be erased. The oldest surviving archived remnant is a December 23,1958 kinescope 20 minute segment of a broadcast titled "Method or Madness?" The topic, "method acting" with guests Michael Benthal, Ben Gazarra, Adolph Green, Betty Comden, Lawrence Harvey, Jule Styne , and Patricia Neal
1962-01-23, WABC, 29 min.
This last show taped a few weeks before Ernie Kovac's untimely death was broadcast without commercials. It included a final tribute, originally given by the Reverend Samuel Ellison and voiced by the ABC Network at the conclusion of the telecast.1968-04-09, WABC, 19 min.
Highlights from the late Ernie Kovacs specials of 1961.1968-04-09, WABC, 19 min.
Highlights from the late Ernie Kovacs' specials broadcast in 1961. Dupe Of # 765.
1970-10-28, NBC, 52 min.
If "Uncle Miltie," "Your Show Of Shows," and "Bilko" mean something special to you, then this hour will too. For 60 minutes at least, the golden age of TV comedy comes alive. Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, and Phil Silvers recreate classic routines from television series of the 1950s...Berle keeps getting it smack in the face as"The Movie Stand-In"; Caesar takes center stage (with Berle and Silvers as straightmen) for one of those great silent film spoofs; Silvers major segment is scheduled to involve reminiscences of the wheeling-dealing Bilko. Also: a salute to Ernie Kovacs, with the three stars pantomiming the nutty Nairobi Trio, and an old-time vaudeville routine (with song, dance, and bad jokes).
#8764: MERV GRIFFIN SHOW, THE:
Order1976-06-07, SYN, 90 min.
October 1, 1962-March 29, 1963 (NBC); 1965-1969 (Syndicated); August 18, 1969-February 11, 1972 (CBS); 1972-1986 (Syndicated) A salute to the late Ernie Kovacs.
1977-04-12, PBS, 30 min.
Produced in 1977 for Chicago Public Television, this ten week series concentrates on the comedy genius of Ernie Kovacs, based on his ABC specials. Hosted by Chevy Chase. {Debut}
1977-04-19, PBS, 30 min.
Produced in 1977 for Chicago Public Television, this ten week series concentrates on the comedy genius of Ernie Kovacs, based on his ABC specials. Hosted by Chevy Chase.
1977-04-28, CBS, 118 min.
- Walter Cronkite
- Red Skelton
- Jackie Gleason
- Art Carney
- Harry S. Truman
- Charles Kuralt
- Milton Berle
- Arthur Godfrey
- Mary Martin
- Sid Caesar
- Ed Sullivan
- Burns & Allen
- Ernie Kovacs
- Charlton Heston
- Paul Newman
- James Dean
- Don Larsen
- Edward P. Morgan
- Douglas Edwards
- Dick Van Dyke
- Noel Coward
- Walter Matthau
- Lucille Ball
- Alan Young
- Rex Harrison
- John F. Kennedy
- Fulton J. Sheen
- Al Hodge
- Frank Stanton
- Joe McCarthy
- Douglas Mac Arthur
- Jack Lemon
The history of television is examined. Complete with original commercials. Host: Charles Kuralt The special is a retrospective of the social history of television programming, circa 1948-1960's. Host Charles Kuralt describes live television and illustrates the kinescope process. Excerpts include coverage of the following topics and people: Burns and Allen; news programs with Edward P. Morgan and Douglas Edwards; newsreels and propaganda; Art Carney and Jackie Gleason; children's programs, including "Captain Video"; the growth of television; performers Milton Berle, Ernie Kovacs, Red Skelton, Alan Young, Dick Van Dyke and Lucille Ball; reporter Edward R. Murrow; the Korean War; blacklisting; Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy; Mary Martin and Noel Coward; the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings; Sid Caesar; President Harry S Truman's 1951 dismissal of General MacArthur; Bishop Fulton J. Sheen; a comedy and entertainment montage; quiz show scandals with comments by Frank Stanton of CBS and a look at how shows were rigged; Rex Harrison rehearsing for "My Fair Lady"; anthology drama with Charlton Heston, James Dean, and others; the 1952 Republican Convention; John F. Kennedy's 1956 bid for vice president; the 1960 presidential campaign; and Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series. Includes commercials.