#dave garroway

[oldshowbiz]

I only like comic strips that reference Dave Garroway

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Dave Garroway, the founding host of NBC’s Today show, was born in Schenectady, New York, on this date in 1913.

A man of inveterate curiosity, a dry, detached sense of humor, and varied cultural tastes, Garroway was exactly the right person to be Today’s first Communicator (Pat Weaver’s preferred term for the anchor). The two-hour program was created to bring to viewers the faces and voices of newsmakers, scientists, intellectual and cultural figures, and everyday people. Dave Garroway was interested in all of it, capable of asking penetrating questions and adding insight to Today’s presentations.

His whimsy leavened the program, keeping it from getting “too stuffy,” as he said in Today’s inaugural telecast. In one such incident, he requested from prop master Bernie Florman a coffee cup that looked realistic but was made of sugar — strictly for the sight gag of having the bottom of the cup melt right off when Garroway poured hot coffee into it.

Garroway was also a master salesman, a crucial talent in the era of live commercials for Today’s sponsors. He covered a camera lens with Saran Wrap to demonstrate its transparency, boiled a carpet swatch to show its durability and, during a 1959 telecast from Paris, segued seamlessly from a shot of Napoleon’s tomb to an advertisement for Rock of Ages Memorials.

“If you can sell tombstones to people at breakfast time, you’ve got to be good,” Today announcer Jack Lescoulie said.

Dave’s easygoing demeanor stood in contrast to a troubled and sometimes stormy personal life. He fought anxiety and depression for much of his adulthood. Dangerous and abundant medications didn’t help the situation. His mood frequently swung between extremes and he lapsed into paranoiac thoughts about shadowy entities plotting against him. His conduct at work became increasingly unpredictable and exasperating to the show’s staff and to NBC. In the spring of 1961, Garroway left Today to find some solace with his children. He never seemed to settle, giving up on radio jobs, yet complaining it was difficult to find work.

Complications from heart surgery dogged Garroway in the late 1970s and early 80s. He was in good spirits on the 30th-anniversary Today telecast in January 1982, but about a month later his health problems flared again. On the morning of July 21, 1982, while his wife Sarah was away at an appointment, he ended his own life. He was sixty-nine years old.

While Dave Garroway’s life is sometimes remembered only for the way it ended (exactly why that should be so fascinating is beyond me), his contributions to broadcasting and American culture are far more significant and worthy of our appreciation, respect and gratitude.

(Photo: Philippe Halsman, Library of Congress)

[wordfromoursponsor]

"To these and other announcers and performers who help us sell our clients' goods and services on television, BBDO sends its appreciative greetings" (1953)

[electronicsquid]

I love television news sets with multiple clocks for major cities. This is the Today Show on its first broadcast

(Peter Stackpole. 1952)

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Dave Garroway hosting the first episode of The Today Show, January 14, 1952.

Photo: NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty Images/The Insider

[justforbooks]

Today (also called The Today Show or informally, NBC News Today) is an American news and talk morning television show that airs on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television and in the world, and after 68 years of broadcasting it is fifth on the list of longest-running United States television series.

Originally a weekday two-hour program from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., it expanded to Sundays in 1987 and Saturdays in 1992. The weekday broadcast expanded to three hours in 2000, and to four hours in 2007 (though over time, the third and fourth hours became distinct entities). Today's dominance was virtually unchallenged by the other networks until the late 1980s, when it was overtaken by ABC's Good Morning America.

Today retook the Nielsen ratings lead the week of December 11, 1995, and held onto that position for 852 consecutive weeks until the week of April 9, 2012, when Good Morning America topped it again. Today maintained its No. 2 status behind GMA from the summer of 2012 until it regained the lead in the aftermath of anchor Matt Lauer's departure in November 2017. In 2002, Today was ranked No. 17 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

The entertainment magazine Variety reported the 2016 advertising revenue during the first two hours of the show was $508.8 million.

The show's first broadcast aired on January 14, 1952 as the brainchild of television executive Sylvester Weaver, who was then vice president of NBC. Weaver was president of the company from 1953 to 1955, during which time Today's late-night companion The Tonight Show premiered. In pre-production, the show's proposed working title was The Rise and Shine Revue. The show was first supervised by Jerome Alan Danzig.

Today was the first program of its genre when it premiered with original host Dave Garroway. The program blended national news headlines, interviews with newsmakers, lifestyle features, other light news and gimmicks (including the presence of the chimpanzee J. Fred Muggs who served as the show's mascot during the early years), and local news updates from the network's stations. It has spawned several other shows of a similar type, including ABC's Good Morning America, and CBS' now-defunct The Early Show. In other countries, the format was copied – most notably in the United Kingdom with the BBC's Breakfast Time and TV-am's Good Morning Britain, and in Canada with Canada AM on CTV Television Network.

When Today debuted, it was seen live only in the Eastern Time Zone and Central Time Zone, broadcasting for three hours each morning but seen for only two hours in each time zone. Since 1958, Today has been broadcast delay for the five other U.S. time zones (Central, Mountain Time Zone, Pacific Time Zone, Alaska Time Zone and Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zone). Partly to accommodate host Dave Garroway's declining health, the program ceased live broadcasts in September 1959, opting instead to broadcast an edition taped the previous afternoon punctuated with live newscasts each half-hour. The experiment, which drew criticism from many sides, ended when John Chancellor succeeded Garroway in July 1961.

Today was a two-hour program for many years, airing from 7:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. in all time zones except for Alaska, Hawaii, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, until NBC expanded the program to three hours (extending the program until 10:00 a.m.) on October 2, 2000. A fourth hour (which extended the program until 11:00 a.m.) was eventually added on September 10, 2007.

In August 2013, Today released a mobile app for smartphones and tablets.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[papermoonloveslucy]

TV DIGEST

August 9, 1952

On August 9, 1952 Lucy and Desi were featured on the cover of TV Digest, a competitor of TV Guide as part of their inside story “Visiting The Stars on Vacation”.  The Digest was eventually absorbed by TV Guide when it went national in March 1953. 

The Atlanta edition of TV Digest used this same cover image two weeks later, on August 23, 1952. The back cover is a full page ad for Atlanta’s Pat Murphey, an appliance business. Coming on the heels of the July presidential conventions, Murphey is pitching renting or buying a DuMont TV in preparation for the November election between GOP incumbent Dwight D. Eisenhower (IKE) and the Democrat challenger Adlai Stevenson. 

The three bathing beauties also gracing the cover are not identified. This is a composite photo and the Arnazs’ and the three women were not photographed together. 

Both magazines feature this Jerry Doyle cartoon “How TV Stars Take Vacations”.  

Lucille Ball is depicted with knitting needles and a stork with a doctors’ bag nearby, anticipating the birth of her baby in January 1953. 

Abe Burrows was a Broadway and radio author who spent the summer furiously writing (hence the sweat) and appearing on the TV panel show “The Name’s The Same”. 

Bob Hope and Sid Caesar, two of radio and TV’s most prolific comic actors, spent the summer of 1952 playing golf. 

Bert Parks is probably best remembered as the emcee of the Miss America Pageant. During 1952, Parks had several TV shows ending in the spring and beginning in the fall. He spent his summer boating. 

Red Skelton later talked about his summer vacation in the mountains and the beach on the September 28 episode of “The Red Skelton Show”. On the October 5 episode he talked about an earthquake that summer. On July 16, 1952, Central California was rocked by a 7.5 earthquake with 12 casualties. Skelton was hospitalized for an undisclosed ailment in the summer of 1952, explaining his depiction carrying a large bottle of prescription medication. 

Sam Levenson was a panelist on the CBS series “This Is Show Business” along with playwright George S. Kaufman and Abe Burrows. On the same date this issue of TV Digest was published (August 9, 1952) Levenson was featured on the cover of their rival TV Forecast. Levenson spent the summer being a new father. 

Perry Como was joining other recording artists of the time by transitioning to television. The summer of 1952 looks to have been spent on outdoor activities like fishing. 

Jimmy Durante was a vaudeville comic and film star who, during 1952, hosted “All Star Revue”. On July 28, 1952, Durante was featured on the cover of TV Forecast, a rival publication of TV Digest. 

Donald O’Connor was a song and dance man who had two films in release during the summer of 1952: Singin’ in the Rain and Francis Goes To West Point. 

Of the above celebrities, only Sam Levenson and Abe Burrows (both basically writers) never appeared on television with Lucille Ball. 

Other articles, ads, and features in this edition of TV Digest: 

Bob Hope Exhibition Golf Tour with Jimmy Demaret ~ Both Hope and Demaret appeared on “I Love Lucy” as themselves. Golf was a favorite pastime of Desi Arnaz. 

Perry Como & Ed Sullivan ~ Lucy and Desi made several appearances on “Toast of the Town” aka “The Ed Sullivan Show” starting in 1954. Como appeared on the show in 1950 and 1956. 

Sid Caesar’s Family ~ Caesar married Florence Levy in 1943 and they had three children together.  Caesar guest-starred on “The Lucy Show” in 1968. 

Arthur Godfrey (below left) ~ Hosted the lead-in program to “I Love Lucy” in 1951. He guest-starred on “The Lucy Show” in 1965. He was also an aviator. 

“Guiding Light” (above right) ~ The soap opera began airing on CBS on June 30, 1952. It was canceled in 2009. In 1977, CBS stopped network reruns of Lucille Ball sitcoms in order to allow “Guiding Light” to expand to a full hour. 

Guy Madison & Andy Devine (below left) ~ played Wild Bill Hickok and Pete ‘Jingles’ Jones in the TV series “The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok” (1951-58) on CBS.

“Racket Squad” (above right) ~ was a CBS crime drama from 1950 to 1953 originally sponsored by Philip Morris, just like “I Love Lucy.” 

Robert Montgomery & Angela Lansbury (below left) ~ were then collaborating on a second installment of his NBC show “Robert Montgomery Presents” (1950-58) which aired in 1953.  They first collaborated in 1950. Lucille Ball later played the role Lansbury made famous on stage in the musical Mame.  

The Dave Garroway Story (above right) ~ Dave Garroway was then the host of the new NBC morning program “Today”. In 1952 he also hosted the first five episodes of “All Star Summer Revue” until it was taken over by Jan Murray on August 2. He interviewed Lucille Ball on his short-lived series “Garroway” in 1970. 

Lucille Ball was also seen on the cover of TV Digest in October 1951 (her first on such a guide), May 1952, October 1952, November 1952, and December 1952. 

The cover photo was part of a larger photo shoot of Lucy and Desi in a motorboat. 

[citizenscreen]

Birthday remembrance - Dave Garroway #botd