This Week in Television History: November 2017 PART III

As always, the further we go back in Hollywood history,
the more that fact and legend become intertwined.
It's hard to say where the truth really lies.

November 20, 1942

Stewart Robert "Bob" Einstein is born. 

Actor and comedy writer who portrayed the fictional stuntman Super Dave Osborne.

Einstein got his start as a writer on several TV variety shows, including The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Einstein is also known for his roles as Marty Funkhouser in Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Larry Middleman on Arrested Development.

He won two Emmy Awards as a writer and was nominated four other times. He also won a CableACE Award for acting as Super Dave, along with five other nominations. His parents were the comic Harry Einstein, best known for playing the character Parkyakarkus on radio and in the movies, and the actress-singer Thelma Leeds. His younger brother is comedian and writer Albert Brooks (born Albert Lawrence Einstein), and his older brother, Cliff Einstein, is a retired advertising executive in Los Angeles.

November 21, 1937

Margaret Julia ”Marlo“ Thomas is born. 

Actress, producer, and social activist known for her starring role on the TV series That Girl (1966–1971) and her award-winning feminist children’s franchise, Free to Be… You and Me. 

For her work in television, she has received four Emmys, a Golden Globe, the George Foster Peabody Award and has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame. 

She also received a Grammy award for her children’s album Thanks & Giving All Year Long.

November 21, 1972

Maude's Dilemma Part two. 

Maude Findlay (Beatrice Arthur) discovers she is pregnant and opts for an abortion. To comfort Maude, her grown daughter said "When you were young, abortion was a dirty word. It's not anymore."

Two CBS affiliates canceled the episodes and 32 CBS affiliates were pressured not to rerun the segments in the summer of 1973 by anti-abortion factions.
The second airing of the program gave the show a 41 percent share with 65 million people tuning in. The first time the show aired CBS received 7,000 letters; the second time around 17,000 letters of protest poured in.

This program appeared at a time when the Supreme Court had not yet protected legalized abortion (The Roe vs. Wade decision was still one year away). Reportedly, Pro-Life groups mailed Norman Lear photographs of aborted fetuses in protest. 

November 22, 1932

Robert Francis Vaughn is born. 

Actor noted for his stage, film and television work. His best-known TV roles include the suave spy Napoleon Solo in the 1960s series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and the wealthy detective Harry Rule in the 1970s series The Protectors. In film, he portrayed one of the title characters in The Magnificent Seven and Major Paul Krueger in The Bridge at Remagen, and provided the voice of Proteus IV, the computer villain of Demon Seed.

November 23, 2012

Larry Hagman, star of "Dallas" and "I Dream of Jeannie," dies.

Larry Hagman dies at age 81 of complications from cancer at a hospital in Dallas. Hagman was best known for his role as the villainous Texas oil baron J.R. Ewing on “Dallas,” which aired from 1978 to 1991 and was revived in 2012.

November 25, 1947

John Bernard Larroquette III is born. 

His roles include Dan Fielding on the 1984–1992 sitcom Night Court (winning a then-unprecedented four consecutive Emmy Awards for his role), Mike McBride in the Hallmark Channel series McBride, John Hemingway on The John Larroquette Show, Lionel Tribbey on The West Wing and Carl Sack in Boston Legal.

November 26, 1922

Cartoonist Charles M. Schulz is born in St. Paul, Minnesota. 

The son of a barber, Schulz showed an early interest in art and took a correspondence course in cartooning. After serving in the army in World War II, Schulz returned to St. Paul and took a job lettering comics for a small magazine. In 1947, Schulz began drawing a comic strip for the St. Paul Pioneer Press called "L'il Folks," featuring Charlie Brown and his gang of friends. In 1950, after several rejections, Schulz sold syndication rights to United Features, which renamed the strip "Peanuts." Schulz drew the comic himself, without assistants, until his retirement in 1999. Peanuts ran in some 2,600 papers, in 75 countries and 21 languages, earning Schulz some $30 million a year. Schulz died in 2000.

To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa