Television in the 1950's ... Remember ? Quiz

Answer: The Amos 'n Andy Show

Based on the success of the very popular long running radio program of the same name, the characters of "Amos 'n Andy" were brought to the television screen on June 28, 1951.
The television program was re-casted from the radio program, as the creators and principal stars of "Amos 'n Andy", Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll were two White actors voicing the roles of Black characters. An extensive search was launched to find African American actors to fill the roles.
The plots of the episodes centered around George "Kingfish" Stevens (Tim Moore), a fast talking, conniving character in the Harlem section of New York City, who was always looking for a way to make a fast buck, usually at the expense of his friends and his brothers of the "Mystic Nights of the Sea Lodge". Kingfish found himself not only at odds with his lodge brothers, but with his wife, Sapphire (Ernestine Wade) and his mother-in-law, Ramona Smith, (Amanda Randolph) whom he referred to as "Mama". Kingfish often targeted his friend, a portly, gullible, simple minded lodge brother, Andrew Hogg "Andy" Brown (Spencer Williams Jr.). Kingfish continually tried series of schemes to swindle Andy out of his money, and often referred to Andy as the "big dummy".

A relatively minor character in the plots was Amos Jones (Alvin Childress), a mild mannered, common sense speaking, philosophical cab driver, who who owned and operated the "Sunshine Cab Company" and narrated the episodes.
Other characters featured were the slick talking attorney, Algonquin J. Calhoun (Johnny Lee), Andy's girlfriend, Madame Queen (Lillian Randolph), and the janitor of the lodge hall, Lightnin' (Horace Stewart), who was a slow moving, slow talking character.

While the series enjoyed wide popularity among viewers, it also drew negative criticisms from civil right groups, such as the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), because they felt that the program promoted a negative racial stereotype of characters.
Many argued that numerous episodes showed many of the characters in the all-African American cast as working professionals such as businessmen, civil servant employees, and attorneys, and facing the same situations as characters in other series, something that had never been done on television..
Amos 'n Andy ran for two seasons, and was nominated for an Emmy Award" for best Comedy Series in 1953.

Answer: U.S. Navy

Lt. Hennesey was a Naval medical officer, assigned to a U.S. Navy base in San Diego, California.

Hennesey answered to the base commander, Captain Walter Shafer (Roscoe Karnes), and had a romantic interest, Martha Hale (Abby Dalton), whom he married in an episode during the third season. The activities of the base medical department were spiced up by Harvey Spencer Blair III, a dentist who always seem to have gimmick or scam in progress.

"Hennesey", a popular comedy drama, aired for three seasons and produced 96 episodes between 1959 and 1962.
The series received four Emmy Awards nominations during its run. Jackie Cooper was nominated for "Outstanding Lead Performance in a Series" in 1961 and 1962.
Abby Daltom was nominated for "Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actress" in 1961.

Answer: DuMont Television Network

The DuMont Television Network began operations on August 15, 1946, and became the world's first commercial TV network.

The network broadcast the first situation comedy series, "Mary Kay and Johnny" (1947), the first soap opera, "Faraway Hill" (1946), and the first game show, "Cash and Carry" (1946).
The network also broadcast "Cavalcade if Stars" (1949), a variety show hosted by Jackie Gleason. That series also gave birth to another Jackie Gleason show, "The Honeymooners".
Other early programming on the DuMont Network included, "Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour" (1948), the variety series, "The Morey Amsterdam Show" (1948), for the kids, "Captain Video and his Video Rangers" (1949) , and the crime drama series "Rock King, Inside Detective" (1950) and "The Plainclothesman" (1949).

Financial restrictions during the early made it difficult for the network to compete with the larger ABC, CBS, and NBC Networks, but even with limited resources, the network won an Emmy Award in 1952. The series, "Life Is Worth Living" (1952) earned the series host, Bishop Fulton J, Sheen, the Emmy Award for "Most Outstanding Personality", a category in which Sheen competed with Arthur Godfrey, Edward R. Murrow, and Lucille Ball. Sheen also received Emmy nominations for "Public Service" Emmy Awards in 1952, 1953, and 1954.

The network ceased operations on August 6, 1956, largely due to the inability to secure sufficient funding.

Answer: I Love Lucy

"I Love Lucy" premiered on October 15, 1951, and starred Lucille Ball (Lucy Ricardo), Desi Arnaz (Ricky Ricardo), Vivian Vance (Ethel Mertz), and William Frawley (Fred Mertz).

"My Little Margie" premiered on June 16, 1952, and starred Gale Storm (Margie Albright) and Charles Ferrell (Vernon Albright).

"I Married Joan" premiered on October 15, 1952, and starred Joan Davis (Joan Stevens) and Jim Backus (Judge Bradley J. Stevens).

"The Gale Storm Show" premiered on September 29, 1956, and starred Gale Storm (Susanna Pomeroy), Zasu Pitts (Esmeralda Nugent), Roy Roberts (Captain Huxley) and Jimmy Fairfax (Cedric).

Answer: Hawaiian Eye

"Hawaiian Eye" (1959) aired on the ABC Television Network for four seasons and included 134 episodes.
The stories followed the activities of two men, Tracey Steele (Anthony Eisley) and Tom Lopaka (Robert Conrad), the owners of Hawaiian Eye, a combination detective agency and private security firm in picturesque Honolulu, Hawaii. The pair investigated mysteries, solved crimes, and protected guest on the grounds of their primary employer, The Hawaiian Village Hotel, a luxury vacation complex on the island. Steele and Lopaka were often assisted by Chryseis "Cricket" Blake (Connie Stevens), a pretty, blonde photographer and lounge singer in the hotel's bar, and by Kazuo Kim (Poncie Ponce), a ukulele playing native Hawaiian cab driver, who seem to always have a relative somewhere on the island who could always assist with information.
The series backdrop, the beautiful Hawaiian Islands, provides truly magnificent lush scenery. Each week, viewers were able to escape (via television) to the tropical Hawaiian paradise, but the truth was that the series was primarily filmed at the Warner Brothers lot in Los Angeles, California.

"Hawaiian Eye" was only one in a series of detective drama series filmed by Warner Brothers Studios, supposedly based in different locations, that were filmed at the time in Los Angeles. The other series included "77 Sunset Strip" (1958), a detective series starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr. (Stuart Bailey), Roger Smith (Jeff Spencer), and Edd Byrnes (Gerald Lloyd Kookson III "Kookie"), based in Hollywood, California, "Surfside Six" (1960), starring Van Williams (Ken Madison), Lee Patterson (Dave Thorn), troy Donahue (Sandy Winfield II), and Margarita Sierra (Cha Cha O'Brien), a series based in Miami, Florida, and "Bourbon Street Beat" (1959), starring Andrew Duggan (Cal Calhoun), Richard Long (Rex Randolph), Van Williams (Kenny Madison) and Arlene Howell (Melody Lee Mercer), based in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Because the series were being filmed at the same location, it wasn't unusual for characters from one series to make guest appearances on another show. After all, they were all in the same business.

Answer: The $64,000 Question

The era of the big money game shows was ushered in with the premier of "The $64,000 Question" on June 7, 1955.
This very popular audience game show aired from 1955 through 1958, on the CBS Television Network. The show became an immediate success, and in its first season, shot to the top of the ratings, ending the 1955 television season as the number one rated program in the Nielsen Television Ratings.

The show was hosted by Hal March, who was assisted by beautiful Lynn Dollar. Dr. Bergen Evans served as the question authority for the show.
Each week, contestants, plain ordinary people, were given the opportunity to answer extremely complex questions on a subject that they claimed to have expert knowledge on the way to the top prize of $64,000. Contestants answered one question a week, each question increasing to a higher monetary level. Each week, the contestants were given either the opportunity to quit the game with their accumulative winnings, or to return the following week to answer another question. After reaching the $8,000 level, should the contestant miss a consequent question, they would leave the show with a consolation prize, a new Cadillac automobile. After successfully answering the $8,000 question, contestants would answer the remaining questions while seated in an on-stage soundproof booth. This was done to allow the contestant a quiet environment to contemplate their answers, and to prevent them from hearing answers shouted out by audience members.

By the end of the first season, the show had awarded cash prizes totaling $750,000, and given away 10 Cadillacs.

The series won the Primetime Emmy Award in 1956 for "Best Audience Participation Show".

Answer: Desi Arnaz

The series received a total of 20 Emmy Award Nominations during its six season run, But Desi Arnaz never received a nomination for his role as Ricky Ricardo.

The other three cast lead members received a total of 12 nominations, resulting in three wins.

Lucille ball was nominated for "Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series" in 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, and 1956. She won the EMMY Award in 1956.

Vivian Vance was nominated for "Bert Series Supporting Actress" in 1954, 1955, 1957, and 1958. Vance won the Emmy Award in 1954.

William Frawley was nominated for "Best Actor in a Supporting Role" in 1955, 1956, and 1957. Frawley won the Emmy Award in 1956.

Answer: Wanted: Dead or Alive

"Wanted: Dead or Alive" premiered in 1958, and aired for three seasons.
Steve McQueen starred as bounty hunter Josh Randall, a man who roamed the West in search of fugitives, and was armed with a sawed off rifle in his holster.

"The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" (1955) starred Hugh O'Brian as the famed lawman, and aired for six seasons, producing 226 half hour episodes. In the series, Earp was known for the weapon he carried, a pistol with a 12-inch barrel known as a "Buntline Special".

"Cheyenne" (1955) aired for seven season, and starred Clint Walker, as Cheyenne Bodie, a post Civil War former frontier scout, who roamed the West in search of adventure. "Cheyenne aired 108 episodes, and premiered as one of three rotating series under the umbrella title of "Warner Brothers Presents".
The other series were "Kings Row" starring Jack Kelly and Robert Horton, and "Casablanca" starring Charles McGraw.
"Cheyenne" was the first hour long Western series. During the first year of the series, the program actually ran for 45 minutes, with the last 15 minutes devoted to a "behind the scenes" look at Warner Brothers projects and productions.

"Gunsmoke" premiered in 1955, and ran for the next 20 years, producing a total of 635 episodes.
James Arness starred as Marshal Matt Dillon, who represented the long arm of the law on Dodge City, Kansas.
"Gunsmoke" established itself as one of the longest running drama series in the history of television.

Answer: The Jack Benny Show

"The Jack Benny Show" (1950) aired for 15 seasons (1950-1965).
Jack Benny brought his popular radio program to television, playing a frugal, vain mild mannered entertainer who stopped counting his birthdays at the age of 39, kept his life savings and every penny he earned in a vault in his basement, and owned an ancient Maxwell automobile. Benny was also know for his inept attempts to play the violin.
Benny was assisted by series regulars Eddie Anderson, who played Benny's wise cracking valet, Rochester, and his announcer, Don Wilson. Seen less frequently in recurring roles were members of the radio cast of the show, including Dennis Day, Artie Auerbach, Frank Nelson, Mary Livingston (Jack's real life wife) and Mel Blanc. Blanc, known as the man of a thousand voices, appeared as Prof. LeBlanc, Jack's frustrated violin teacher, and was heard as the engine of Benny's Maxwell.

"Make Room For Daddy" (1953) aired for 11 seasons (1953-1965) and 351 episodes. After the 120th episode, the title of the show was changed at the beginning of the fifth season to, "The Danny Thomas Show".
Danny Thomas starred as nightclub entertainer Danny Williams, who was a devoted husband and father, who sometimes displayed his loud personality, but also always demonstrated his warmth and understanding affection for his sometimes bratty children. Stories centered mostly around the home life and situations of the Williams family. Joining Thomas was Marjorie Lord as his wife, Kathy, Rusty Hamer as his son Rusty, and Angela Cartwright as his daughter, Linda. Sid Melton and Pat Carroll were featured as Uncle Charley and Bunny Halper. Character actor Hans Conried appeared as Danny's Uncle Tonoose.

"The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show" aired for eight seasons (1950-1958).
George Burns narrated and performed in the wacky antics involving his lovable scatter-brained wife, Gracie, their neighbors and friends in their Beverly Hills neighborhood home. George was the straight man for his comical spouse.
George was almost always seen wearing his dark rimmed eyeglasses, puffing on one of his ever present trademark cigars.
Joining Gracie with many of her situations was her next door neighbor, Blanche Morton (Bea Benaderet). Also in the cast were Larry Keating as Harry Morton, and Burns' long time associate Harry Von Zell portraying himself.

"The Phil Silvers Show" (1955) aired for four seasons (1955-1959). The series, originally known as "You'll Never Get Rich" produced 143 episodes.
Phil Silvers starred as Master Sergeant Ernie Bilko, who was in charge of the motor pool at the quiet Fort Baxter, in Kansas. Bilko was the fast talking wheeler-dealer on the post, operating a wide assortment of schemes, scams, and slightly illegal card games under the unknowing eyes of the post commander, Colonel John Hall (Paul Ford). Bilko's happy group of troops included Corporal Rocco Barbella (Harvey Lembeck), Private Sam Fender (Herbie Faye) and Private Duane Doberman (Maurice Gosfield.

Answer: I Love Lucy

For the 1953 television season, "I Love Lucy" recorded a 67.3 share, meaning that 67.3 percent of all households viewing television at the time were tuned ti "I Love Lucy".
Television viewing shares in the 1950's were extremely high in some instances, partly because viewers had fewer choices for television programming.
For example, a 30 year review (1973-2003) revealed that the average share ratings of the top rated television shows have averaged 32.0 share.

For viewing audience shares in the 1950's for the #1 rated television shows were;

** 1951 - "Texaco Star Theater" (1948) - 61.6
** 1952 - "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts" (1948) - 53.8
** 1953 - "I Love Lucy" (1951) - 67.3
** 1954 - "I Love Lucy" - 58.8
** 1955 - "I Love Lucy" - 49.3
** 1956 - "The $64,000 Question" (1955) - 47.5
** 1957 - "I Love Lucy" - 43.7
** 1958 - "Gunsmoke" (1955) - 43.1
** 1959 - "Gunsmoke" - 39.6




When memory failed, references used were:

"The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows"
by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh - eight edition - 2003

Internet Movie Data Base
www.imdb.com

Wikipedia