October 2nd, 1953- June 25th, 1954- (NBC)
Friday-night half- hour variety series hosted by Dave Garroway.
Regulars included Jack Haskell, Cliff Norton, Jill Corey, Shirley Harmer, and dancers Ken Spaulding and Diane Sinclair, and Skitch Henderson, musical director.
Haskell and Norton worked with Garroway on his first series, "Garroway At Large."
Songs include, "For Me And My Gal," "Gee But I Hate to Go Home Alone," "His Last Fight," "Man With the Banjo," "Were or When."
With the exception of two broadcasts (June 18 and 25 (final show) all of the Dave Garroway show air checks in the Archival Television Audio, Inc. archive are not complete shows. They contain just the songs the performers (Regulars) and guest stars performed. These edited down airchecks run approximately 15 minutes and are mostly comprised of SONGS. There are exceptions such as when Art Carney visited hearing interchanges with him and Dave Garroway.
Those interested in acquiring information as to the tile of the songs (when known) for a specific show and when not detailed, and who sang these songs would have to be monitored again, available upon request.
NOTE:
The Dave Garroway show auditioned for female singers and there was a premium on time and studio space. There was no piano and Skitch Henderson, the music director, had to accompany the young hopefuls on a celeste, an instrument which despite its similarity to a piano is very difficult to sing with. Jill was very nervous during the hustle and bustle of all this, but Garroway reassured her and she won the audition. She later became the top female singer on the "Dave Garroway Show."
MOST of the listed Dave Garroway Shows archived in the collection of ATA do not exist in any other known museum, private collection or at NBC.
There does exist 10 Dave Garroway Show kinescopes that are archived at two museums, Paley Center for Media, and at UCLA Film & TV Museum. It must be noted that kinescope optical sound tracks are "noisy" and much inferior to these mastered 1/4" reel to reel audio tapes which were recorded off the air direct line at 15IPS.
Paley Center for Media archives AND Archival Television Audio, Inc. archives:
1-April 4, 1954 - Guest- Herb Shriner
2-April 16, 1954 -Guest - Marguerite Piazza.
3-April 28, 1954 -Guest - Eddie Howard
4-May 7, 1954 -Guest- Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney
5-June 11, 1954 - Guest - Janet Blair
UCLA archives AND Archival Television Audio, Inc. archives:
1-March 5, 1954 - Guest - Lisa Kirk & Skitch Henderson orchestra
2-March 12, 1954 - Guest - Morton Downey
3-March 19, 1954 - Guest - Ames Brothers
4-March 26, 1954 - Guest - Patrice Munsel
5- (At one time listed by UCLA but not currently) June 25, 1954 -Ensemble cast again introduced with personal thoughts by Dave Garroway. Each sing their favorite song performed during this series run (Oct. 2, 1953-June 25, 1954.
NOTE: The master 1`/4" audio tapes containing "The Dave Garroway Show" have skimpy liner notes related to contents. In some cases Phil Gries has collated some of these air checks for additional information. Also, note, that these recordings were made in studio (15ips), by Mahlon Fox Audio Engineer of this series creating a personal audio copy for himself (later acquired by Phil Gries). These broadcasts aired over 70 years ago and the tapes are very fragile. However, they play back well and the sound when originally recorded and recently monitored by Gries is supreme representing these shows.