September 28, 1901
Ed Sullivan is born in New York City.
During the peak of its popularity in the 1950s and
1960s, Sullivan’s program showcased a wide range of entertainers,
including Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Rudolf Nureyev, Jerry Lewis and Bob Hope.Sullivan worked as a newspaper reporter and columnist in New York during the
1920s and 1930s and also hosted and produced vaudeville shows and benefits. In
1948, he became the master of ceremonies of a weekly TV variety show dubbed Toast
of the Town. In 1955, the program, which aired Sunday nights on CBS, was
renamed The Ed Sullivan Show. Although Sullivan was often awkward and
self-conscious on camera, he was a hit with audiences and his program had broad
appeal. In addition to big-name entertainers, the show featured animal acts,
athletes, comedians, dancers and opera singers, along with such regulars as
Topo Gigio, a mouse puppet with an Italian accent, and a ventriloquist named
Senor Wences.
Notable moments in the history of The Ed Sullivan Show include its
broadcast on January 6, 1957, when Elvis Presley appeared on the program and
the cameras shot him from the waist up because his gyrating hips were
considered too scandalous for family television. On February 9, 1964,
more than 70 million viewers tuned in to the show for the American TV debut of
the Liverpool-based rock quartet The Beatles.
Sullivan was also notable for featuring African-American performers on his
program. According to the Museum of Broadcast Communications: “At a time when
virtually all sponsors balked at permitting black performers to take the stage,
Sullivan embraced Pearl Bailey over the objections of his sponsors. He also
showcased black entertainers as diverse as Nat “King” Cole, Leontine Price,
Louis Armstrong, George Kirby, Richard Pryor, Duke Ellington, Richie Havens and
the Supremes.”
The Ed Sullivan Show was cancelled in 1971. Sullivan died of cancer
at the age of 73 on October 13, 1974. In 1967, CBS renamed the Billy Rose
Theater, from which Sullivan broadcast his show, the Ed Sullivan Theater. Since
1993, David Letterman has hosted his late-night talk show from the Ed Sullivan
Theater, which is located at Broadway and 53rd Street in Manhattan.
September 28, 1961
Dr. Kildare premiered on NBC-TV.
Dr. Kildare is an NBC medical
drama television series which originally ran from September 28, 1961
until August 30, 1966, for a total of 191 episodes over five
seasons. Produced by MGM
Television, it was based on fictional
doctor characters originally created by author Max Brand in
the 1930s and previously used by MGM in a
popular film series and radio
drama. The TV series quickly achieved success and made a star of Richard Chamberlain, who played the title
role. Dr. Kildare (along with an ABC medical drama, Ben Casey,
which premiered at the same time) inspired or influenced many later TV shows
dealing with the medical field.
September 28, 1961Hazel premiered on NBC-TV.
Hazel is an American sitcom about a
fictional live-in maid named
Hazel Burke (Shirley Booth) and her employers, the Baxters. The
five-season, 154-episode series aired in prime time from September 28, 1961, to
April 11, 1966, and was produced by Screen
Gems. The show aired on NBC for its first four seasons. Season 1 was broadcast
in black-and-white for all but one episode and
seasons 2–4 were aired in color. The fifth and final season was broadcast in
color on CBS.
The show was based on the
popular single-panel comic strip by cartoonist Ted Key, which
appeared in the Saturday Evening Post.
September 29, 1986
The first episode of Designing Women aired on CBS.
Designing
Women is an
American sitcom created by Linda
Bloodworth-Thomason that
aired on CBS from September 29, 1986, until May 24, 1993, producing seven
seasons and 163 episodes. The comedy seriesDesigning Women was a
joint production of Bloodworth/Thomason Mozark Productions in association withColumbia
Pictures Television for
CBS.
The series
centers on the lives of four women and one man working together at an interior
designing firm inAtlanta,
Georgia called
Sugarbakers & Associates. It originally starred Dixie Carter as president of the design firm Julia
Sugarbaker, Delta Burke as her ex-beauty queen sister Suzanne
Sugarbaker, Annie Potts as head designer Mary Jo Shively,
and Jean Smart as office manager Charlene Frazier.
Later in its run, the series received recognition for its well-publicized
behind-the-scene conflicts and cast changes. Julia Duffy and Jan Hooksreplaced Burke and Smart for season six, but
Duffy was not brought for the seventh and final season, and she was replaced
by Judith Ivey.
October 3, 1951
CBS-TV aired the first coast-to-coast telecast of a
prizefight.
Dave Sands defeated Carl Olson at Soldier Field in Chicago.
October 3, 1961
The Dick Van Dyke Show preimeired on CBS.
The
Dick Van Dyke Show is an American television
sitcom
that initially aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System from October 3, 1961,
until June 1, 1966. The show was created by Carl
Reiner
and starred Dick Van Dyke and Mary
Tyler Moore. It was produced by Reiner with Bill Persky and Sam Denoff. The music for
the show's theme song was written by Earle
Hagen. A
three-camera/studio audience format was used during
production.The series won 15 Emmy
Awards.
In 2002, it was ranked #13 on TV Guide's 50
Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
The two main settings
show the work and home life of Rob Petrie (Dick Van
Dyke),
the head writer of a comedy variety show filmed in Manhattan. Viewers are given
an "inside look" at how a television show (the fictitious The Alan Brady Show) was
written and produced. Many of the show's plots were inspired by
Reiner's experiences as a writer for Your Show of Shows, but though he based the
character of Rob Petrie on himself, Rob's egocentric boss Alan Brady is less Sid
Caesar
(host of Your Show of Shows) than a combination of the more abrasive Milton
Berle
and Jackie Gleason, according to Reiner himself.[3] Many scenes deal with
Rob and his coworkers, writers Buddy Sorrell (Morey
Amsterdam) and Sally Rogers (Rose Marie). Mel Cooley (Richard Deacon), a balding straight man and
recipient of numerous insulting one-liners from Buddy, was the show's producer
and the brother-in-law of the show's star, Alan Brady (Carl
Reiner).
As Rob, Buddy, and Sally write for a comedy show, the premise provides a
built-in forum for them to be making jokes constantly. Other scenes focus on
the home life of Rob, his wife Laura (Mary
Tyler Moore), and son Richie (Larry
Mathews),
who live at 148 Bonnie Meadow Road in suburban New Rochelle, New York. Also often seen are
their next-door neighbors and best friends, Jerry Helper (Jerry
Paris),
a dentist, and his wife Millie (Ann Morgan Guilbert).
Carl Reiner originally
planned to produce and star in the series, which was going to be titled Head
of the Family. The pilot episode was written by Reiner in 1960, but it was
unsuccessful.
October 3, 1976
Quincy, M.E. (also called Quincy) first aired.
The television series from Universal Studios aired on NBC. It starsJack Klugman in the title role, a Los Angeles County medical examiner.Inspired
by the book Where Death Delights by Marshall Houts, a
former FBI agent, the show also resembled the earlier
Canadian television series Wojeck, broadcast by CBC Television. John Vernon, who played the Wojeck title
role, later guest starred in the third-season episode “Requiem For The Living”.
Quincy’s character is loosely modelled on Los Angeles’ “Coroner to the
Stars” Thomas Noguchi. October 4, 1956 -
"Playhouse 90" debuted on CBS-TV.
October 4, 1976
Barbara Walters joined
Harry Reasoner at the anchor desk of the "ABC Evening News" for the
first time.
Harry
Reasoner,
formerly of CBS
News and 60 Minutes, joined ABC News in 1970 to
co-anchor the relaunchedABC Evening News with Smith, beginning that
December, replacing Reynolds. In 1975, Howard K. Smith was moved to a
commentator role, and Reasoner briefly assumed sole-anchor responsibilities
until he was paired with Barbara Walters, who became the first
female network anchor when she joined the program in 1976.Ratings for the nightly news
broadcast declined shortly thereafter, possibly due in part to the lack of
chemistry between Reasoner and Walters. Reasoner would eventually return to CBS
and 60 Minutes, while Walters became a regular on the
newsmagazine 20/20.
October 4, 1981
October 4, 1986Two men mugged Dan Rather
in New York City, NY.
While
walking along Park
Avenue to
his apartment in Manhattan, Rather was attacked and
punched from behind by a man who demanded to know "Kenneth, what is the
frequency?" while a second assailant chased and beat him. As the assailant
pummeled and kicked Rather, he kept repeating the question. In describing the
incident, Rather said, "I got mugged. Who understands these things? I
didn't and I don't now. I didn't make a lot of it at the time and I don't now.
I wish I knew who did it and why, but I have no idea." Until the
crime was resolved years later, Rather's description of the bizarre crime led
some to doubt the veracity of his account, although the doorman and
building supervisor who rescued Rather fully confirmed his version of events.The
assault remained unsolved for some time, and was referenced multiple times in
popular culture. The phrase "What's the frequency, Kenneth?" became a
popular-culture reference over the years, such as in a scene in the graphic
novel Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron by cartoonist Daniel Clowes. In 1994, the band R.E.M. released the song
"What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" on their album Monster. Rather later sang with R.E.M. during a sound check prior to a gig at
New York's Madison Square Garden, which was shown the following night on the Late Show with David Letterman before their
performance of "Crush with Eyeliner".
In
1997, a TV critic writing in the New York Daily News solved the mystery, publishing a photo of the
alleged assailant, William Tager, who received a 12 1⁄2 to
25-year prison sentence for killing NBC stagehand Campbell Montgomery
outside The Today Show studio in 1994. Rather confirmed the story: "There's no
doubt in my mind that this is the person." New York District Attorney
Robert M. Morgenthau said, "William Tager's identity as the man who
attacked Mr. Rather was established in the course of an investigation by my
office." Tager claimed he thought television networks were beaming
signals into his brain when he murdered the stagehand, Tager was trying to
force his way into a CBS studio with a weapon, in order to find out the
frequency the networks were using to attack him, so that he could block it. As
to why he said "Kenneth", Tager was Jewish, and may have actually
been using the Yiddish word
"goniff", meaning "thief". Tager was paroled in
October 2010 and is believed to be living in New York City.
September 28, 1901
Ed Sullivan is born in New York City.
During the peak of its popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, Sullivan’s program showcased a wide range of entertainers, including Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Rudolf Nureyev, Jerry Lewis and Bob Hope.Sullivan worked as a newspaper reporter and columnist in New York during the
1920s and 1930s and also hosted and produced vaudeville shows and benefits. In
1948, he became the master of ceremonies of a weekly TV variety show dubbed Toast
of the Town. In 1955, the program, which aired Sunday nights on CBS, was
renamed The Ed Sullivan Show. Although Sullivan was often awkward and
self-conscious on camera, he was a hit with audiences and his program had broad
appeal. In addition to big-name entertainers, the show featured animal acts,
athletes, comedians, dancers and opera singers, along with such regulars as
Topo Gigio, a mouse puppet with an Italian accent, and a ventriloquist named
Senor Wences.
Notable moments in the history of The Ed Sullivan Show include its
broadcast on January 6, 1957, when Elvis Presley appeared on the program and
the cameras shot him from the waist up because his gyrating hips were
considered too scandalous for family television. On February 9, 1964,
more than 70 million viewers tuned in to the show for the American TV debut of
the Liverpool-based rock quartet The Beatles.
Sullivan was also notable for featuring African-American performers on his
program. According to the Museum of Broadcast Communications: “At a time when
virtually all sponsors balked at permitting black performers to take the stage,
Sullivan embraced Pearl Bailey over the objections of his sponsors. He also
showcased black entertainers as diverse as Nat “King” Cole, Leontine Price,
Louis Armstrong, George Kirby, Richard Pryor, Duke Ellington, Richie Havens and
the Supremes.”
The Ed Sullivan Show was cancelled in 1971. Sullivan died of cancer
at the age of 73 on October 13, 1974. In 1967, CBS renamed the Billy Rose
Theater, from which Sullivan broadcast his show, the Ed Sullivan Theater. Since
1993, David Letterman has hosted his late-night talk show from the Ed Sullivan
Theater, which is located at Broadway and 53rd Street in Manhattan.
September 28, 1961
Dr. Kildare premiered on NBC-TV.
Hazel premiered on NBC-TV.
September 29, 1986
The first episode of Designing Women aired on CBS.
The series
centers on the lives of four women and one man working together at an interior
designing firm inAtlanta,
Georgia called
Sugarbakers & Associates. It originally starred Dixie Carter as president of the design firm Julia
Sugarbaker, Delta Burke as her ex-beauty queen sister Suzanne
Sugarbaker, Annie Potts as head designer Mary Jo Shively,
and Jean Smart as office manager Charlene Frazier.
Later in its run, the series received recognition for its well-publicized
behind-the-scene conflicts and cast changes. Julia Duffy and Jan Hooksreplaced Burke and Smart for season six, but
Duffy was not brought for the seventh and final season, and she was replaced
by Judith Ivey.
October 3, 1951
CBS-TV aired the first coast-to-coast telecast of a prizefight.
Dave Sands defeated Carl Olson at Soldier Field in Chicago.
October 3, 1961
The Dick Van Dyke Show preimeired on CBS.
The series won 15 Emmy
Awards.
In 2002, it was ranked #13 on TV Guide's 50
Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
The two main settings
show the work and home life of Rob Petrie (Dick Van
Dyke),
the head writer of a comedy variety show filmed in Manhattan. Viewers are given
an "inside look" at how a television show (the fictitious The Alan Brady Show) was
written and produced. Many of the show's plots were inspired by
Reiner's experiences as a writer for Your Show of Shows, but though he based the
character of Rob Petrie on himself, Rob's egocentric boss Alan Brady is less Sid
Caesar
(host of Your Show of Shows) than a combination of the more abrasive Milton
Berle
and Jackie Gleason, according to Reiner himself.[3] Many scenes deal with
Rob and his coworkers, writers Buddy Sorrell (Morey
Amsterdam) and Sally Rogers (Rose Marie). Mel Cooley (Richard Deacon), a balding straight man and
recipient of numerous insulting one-liners from Buddy, was the show's producer
and the brother-in-law of the show's star, Alan Brady (Carl
Reiner).
As Rob, Buddy, and Sally write for a comedy show, the premise provides a
built-in forum for them to be making jokes constantly. Other scenes focus on
the home life of Rob, his wife Laura (Mary
Tyler Moore), and son Richie (Larry
Mathews),
who live at 148 Bonnie Meadow Road in suburban New Rochelle, New York. Also often seen are
their next-door neighbors and best friends, Jerry Helper (Jerry
Paris),
a dentist, and his wife Millie (Ann Morgan Guilbert).
Carl Reiner originally planned to produce and star in the series, which was going to be titled Head of the Family. The pilot episode was written by Reiner in 1960, but it was unsuccessful.
October 3, 1976
Quincy, M.E. (also called Quincy) first aired.
October 4, 1956 - "Playhouse 90" debuted on CBS-TV.
October 4, 1976
Barbara Walters joined
Harry Reasoner at the anchor desk of the "ABC Evening News" for the
first time.
Two men mugged Dan Rather in New York City, NY.
While walking along Park Avenue to his apartment in Manhattan, Rather was attacked and punched from behind by a man who demanded to know "Kenneth, what is the frequency?" while a second assailant chased and beat him. As the assailant pummeled and kicked Rather, he kept repeating the question. In describing the incident, Rather said, "I got mugged. Who understands these things? I didn't and I don't now. I didn't make a lot of it at the time and I don't now. I wish I knew who did it and why, but I have no idea." Until the crime was resolved years later, Rather's description of the bizarre crime led some to doubt the veracity of his account, although the doorman and building supervisor who rescued Rather fully confirmed his version of events.The
assault remained unsolved for some time, and was referenced multiple times in
popular culture. The phrase "What's the frequency, Kenneth?" became a
popular-culture reference over the years, such as in a scene in the graphic
novel Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron by cartoonist Daniel Clowes. In 1994, the band R.E.M. released the song
"What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" on their album Monster. Rather later sang with R.E.M. during a sound check prior to a gig at
New York's Madison Square Garden, which was shown the following night on the Late Show with David Letterman before their
performance of "Crush with Eyeliner".
In 1997, a TV critic writing in the New York Daily News solved the mystery, publishing a photo of the alleged assailant, William Tager, who received a 12 1⁄2 to 25-year prison sentence for killing NBC stagehand Campbell Montgomery outside The Today Show studio in 1994. Rather confirmed the story: "There's no doubt in my mind that this is the person." New York District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau said, "William Tager's identity as the man who attacked Mr. Rather was established in the course of an investigation by my office." Tager claimed he thought television networks were beaming signals into his brain when he murdered the stagehand, Tager was trying to force his way into a CBS studio with a weapon, in order to find out the frequency the networks were using to attack him, so that he could block it. As to why he said "Kenneth", Tager was Jewish, and may have actually been using the Yiddish word "goniff", meaning "thief". Tager was paroled in October 2010 and is believed to be living in New York City.
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