Thursday Thirteen - 50's TV Shows!

I was born in 1947 and grew up watching TV (is that a good thing???). I found a neat list of old TV shows, and here are 13 of them that ran from 1950 - 1959. I wonder how many of you will remember them... ABBOTT AND COSTELLO

Who can forget the classic "Who's on First?" although first peformed on radio...

" The Adventures of Ozzy and Harriet"

Ricky Nelson's singing career took off like a rocket, thanks to the TV show. He died in a plane crash in December 1985. He was the first big "teen idol."

SUPERMAN - GEORGE REEVES

January 5, 1914 - June 16, 1959, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, CA - Suicide

There are many rumors that he was murdered.
At approximately 1:30 AM on June 16, 1959, George Reeves died of a gunshot wound to the head in the upstairs bedroom of his Benedict Canyon home. He was 45 years old.

Amos and Andy

This was banned for TV because of "racism." All I remember was Sapphire and the Kingfish.The main roles in the television series were played by the following African-American actors:
Amos Jones - Alvin Childress
Andrew Hogg Brown (Andy) - Spencer Williams
George "Kingfish" Stevens - Tim Moore
Sapphire Stevens - Ernestine Wade
Ramona Smith (Sapphire's Mama) - Amanda Randolph
Madame Queen - Lillian Randolph
Algonquin J. Calhoun - Johnny Lee
Lightnin' - Horace Stewart (aka, Nick O'Demus)

Click here for a fascinating story: Amos and Andy

THE ANN SOTHERN SHOW
The Ann Sothern Show was a comedy series about the assistant manager (Katy O'Connor) of a chic New York City hotel. Most of the storylines centered around the lives of Katy, her fellow hotel co-workers, and hotel guests. Katy had a potential romantic interest with James Devery that almost, but never quite, happened until the end of the series.

BONANZA
We'll never forget Little Joe (Michael Landon), Hoss (Dan Blocker), Adam (Pernell Roberts), and Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene) - and Hop Sing, the cook. Sunday nights, after church - 8:00 p.m. I can still hear the theme song...

One summer on vacation in Lake Tahoe where the series was filmed, we toured the by then deserted film set. You could still see it in your mind as it was when being filmed...Two of the actors, Hoss and Little Joe, died way too early.

Burns and Allen

Allen simply replied "Goodnight." She never said "Goodnight, Gracie," as legend has it . (This "false memory" may be caused by the Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In ending: "Say goodnight, Dick." "Goodnight, Dick!") Burns was once asked this question and said it would've been a funny line. Asked why he didn't do it, Burns replied, "Incredibly enough, no one ever thought of it."
The show ended only when Gracie finally got her wish and retired after the 1957 season. George tried to continue the show without her, but it lasted only one season.


Captain Kangaroo

This guy always freaked me out. I'll let you look him up on your own...




Cheyenne - Clint Walker

This man rates two photos because he was SO handsome!
Walker,a strapping young man of 1/4 Cherokee descent; he stood 6' 6" and according to a Time magazine article in its 3-30-59 issue, had measurements of 48-32-36. He left school to join the United States Merchant Marine at the tail end of World War II then worked at odd jobs in California and Las Vegas where he worked as a doorman at the Sands Hotel. In Los Angeles, he was hired by Cecil B. DeMille to appear in The Ten Commandments. A friend in the film business helped get him a few bit parts that brought him to the attention of Warner Bros. who were in the process of developing a western style television series. Walker's good looks and physique landed him an audition and he won the lead role. Billed as "Clint" Walker, he was cast as "Cheyenne Bodie," a cowboy hero set in the post American Civil War era.
Although the series regularly capitalized on Walker's rugged frame with frequent bare-chested scenes, it was well written and acted and proved hugely popular for eight seasons on the ABC television network.




" Dennis, the Menace"

I always rooted for Mr. Wilson. The kid was a creepy little brat.

"Father Knows Best"

Oh, those hats!!! The agony of it all!
Jim Anderson ........................................Robert Young

Margaret Anderson.................................... Jane Wyatt

Betty Anderson (Princess).................... Elinor Donahue

James Anderson, Jr. (Bud).......................... Billy Gray

Kathy Anderson (Kitten)......................... Laurin Chapin

77 Sunset Strip
There was never a song I hated more than "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb!"
77 Sunset Strip was one of the most popular of the detective series in early television. Created by Roy Huggins and based on the Warner Brothers 1958 TV-movie Girl on the Run, the show ran on ABC television from 1958 to 1964 and won the 1960 Golden Globe Award for best TV series. The pilot was the first made-for-TV movie, although that credit is often erroneously accorded Fame Is the Name of the Game.
Sunset Strip is the most famous section of Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood between Crescent Heights Boulevard to Doheny Drive.
The show revolved around two Los Angeles detectives, both former government secret agents: Stuart ("Stu") Bailey (Efrem Zimbalist Jr., playing a character that Huggins had created in his 1946 novel The Double Take) and Jeff Spencer (Roger Smith). Spencer was also a former government agent, and a non-practicing attorney. They worked out of swank digs at 77 Sunset Strip, between La Cienega Boulevard and Alta Loma Road on the south side of the Strip next door to Dean Martin's real life pizza joint, Dino's Restaurant, where Suzanne the beautiful French switchboard operator played by Jacqueline Beer, handled the phones.
Hanging around for comic relief were Roscoe the racetrack tout played by Louis Quinn, and the rock and roll-loving, wisecracking, hair-combing, beatnik, P.I. wanna-be, valet parking attendant next door, Gerald Lloyd Kookson III ("Kookie"), played by Edd Byrnes. Comb sales soared. So much for Huggins' hopes for a straight P.I. series. Hardboiled drama was out and occasionally self-deprecating humor was in.