1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: A femeral is the protection of my Heart Radio. There 2 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 1: are currently thousands of television networks, most of which you've 3 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:20,760 Speaker 1: never heard of. This is Creating to America TV, Cozy TV, 4 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 1: Juice Tvork the country now the Justice Network, Smile, Little 5 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:33,560 Speaker 1: Child Children's Television Network l But once upon a time 6 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:39,520 Speaker 1: there were four NBC CBS. This is the Colombia Broadcasting 7 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:47,640 Speaker 1: System ABC and Dumont. That says they Dumont Television Network. 8 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:51,640 Speaker 1: During the Golden Age of television, Dumont produced over twenty 9 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 1: thousand episodes of original programming by the network had fallen 10 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:00,720 Speaker 1: apart and Dumont went off the air for good. More 11 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:04,520 Speaker 1: than a decade's worth of content is now almost entirely extinct. 12 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 1: Of those twenty thousand broadcasts, some have been lost to time, 13 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: and estimated three fifty complete titles survive, held mostly by archives, 14 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:20,120 Speaker 1: collectors and historians. It is largely forgotten today, but it 15 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:24,880 Speaker 1: doesn't deserve today. Historian David Weinstein is the gatekeeper of 16 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: the Dumont legacy. I'm David Weinstein, author of The Forgotten Network, 17 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:33,280 Speaker 1: Dumont and the Birth of American Television. Dumont is not 18 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: the only network whose catalog stands woefully incomplete. The majority 19 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: of television programs from the era have not survived. For starters, 20 00:01:42,319 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: reruns were not a thing. There wasn't a lot of 21 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:49,000 Speaker 1: money in staving programs. In the forties and fifties. One 22 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:51,440 Speaker 1: of the big selling points of television is it's live. 23 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:55,640 Speaker 1: In early TV, if you're watching something as it's happening. 24 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: Over time, there were more programs shot on film and 25 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:01,000 Speaker 1: that became less some important that there was a real 26 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:04,920 Speaker 1: magic and early television and watching something live, and the 27 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:08,639 Speaker 1: broadcasters tried to do that as much as possible. Plus 28 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:12,520 Speaker 1: it was cheaper and more efficient. Mechanical television had no 29 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 1: mechanism by which to record. Videotape comes along in the 30 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: mid nineteen fifties, but before that the main way that 31 00:02:21,120 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: programs could be saved was on kinescope. Kinescope recording well 32 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: reproductive bars the IB if you had an affiliate that 33 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 1: wasn't connected to the coaxial cable and unable to receive 34 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 1: live transmissions, kinescopes for the network solution, they would literally 35 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: set up a movie camera in front of a television 36 00:02:42,919 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: screen and record it, and then they would make prints 37 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 1: from that film and shuttle it around the country. That's 38 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:53,880 Speaker 1: why so many of the kinescopes that have survived today 39 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 1: look almost like these sort of beams or messages from 40 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: outer space or something there, flickery, grainy. But it was 41 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:06,120 Speaker 1: a fairly primitive technology, but it worked, and even those 42 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:09,120 Speaker 1: were ephemerald. We're lucky that as many were saved as 43 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 1: we're saved, because once the station would show a kinescope, 44 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 1: it's it would not keep it thinking, oh good, we 45 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: can show it six months later during summer rerun season 46 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 1: or something like that. That was not the way they 47 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 1: were thinking. For television historians, kinescopes are about as good 48 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:29,640 Speaker 1: as it gets. Any live television that we're watching today 49 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: on YouTuber anywhere else is from a kinescope through the 50 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: mid nineteen fifties. It's easy to forget now, but for 51 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 1: basically the first forty years of television, networks word king. 52 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 1: For the most part, what you watched on television was 53 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: created by one of the three major networks, and the 54 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:54,119 Speaker 1: vast majority of the shows that we think of as 55 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 1: defining television and defining what Americans watched when network programs. 56 00:03:59,320 --> 00:04:04,760 Speaker 1: So the net works ABC, CBS, NBC, exerted a tremendous 57 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:09,520 Speaker 1: amount of influence over American culture until cable equalized the 58 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:12,000 Speaker 1: playing field. If you're flipping around on a box, doesn't 59 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 1: really matter where the station is coming from. It could 60 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:17,479 Speaker 1: be coming from TBS in Atlantic, could be coming from 61 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:20,560 Speaker 1: your backyard. It's just a number on a box. But 62 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:24,600 Speaker 1: before that, television was a lot more local. It depended 63 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: on being able to pick up the signal that was 64 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:32,159 Speaker 1: broadcast locally on a transmitter. NBC and CBS had both 65 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:35,719 Speaker 1: come up as radio networks. ABC was formed when NBC 66 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:38,120 Speaker 1: sold part of its radio business to the owner of 67 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:43,960 Speaker 1: the Lifesavers candy company. I want a Lifesaver. Never hear 68 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:47,200 Speaker 1: anyone they know to a Lifesaver. Since radio became a 69 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 1: model in many ways for television, a lot of the 70 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:54,800 Speaker 1: radio performers moved over to television, and the sponsors, the 71 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:58,039 Speaker 1: ones who paid the bills to the industry, moved from 72 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:03,520 Speaker 1: radio to television. And that gave CBS and NBC huge advantages. 73 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:07,760 Speaker 1: Because they were the major radio networks. They had contacts 74 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:12,680 Speaker 1: with affiliates across the country. They had contacts with advertisers. 75 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:16,680 Speaker 1: They had contacts with the Federal Communications Commission, which became 76 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 1: the main regulator for television and of course regulated radio. 77 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:26,039 Speaker 1: And they had a lot of experience producing and operating programs, 78 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:30,200 Speaker 1: and they had stars under contract, so they had huge advantages. 79 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: But unlike the Big Three, Dumont had no ties to radio. 80 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:38,039 Speaker 1: He began as a manufacturing company helmed by the brand's namesake, 81 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 1: Allen B. Dumont. Alan Dumont was an engineer, and he 82 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:47,360 Speaker 1: was a really good engineer. He's best known for helping 83 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:51,440 Speaker 1: to innovate and introduce cathode ray tubes, which are the 84 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:55,919 Speaker 1: foundation for television sets, and he loved electronics engineering. He 85 00:05:56,040 --> 00:05:58,839 Speaker 1: was born in Brooklyn, grew up in the nineteen teens 86 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:04,320 Speaker 1: and twenties link with electronics, he gets into manufacturing, and 87 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:06,839 Speaker 1: then in nineteen thirty one, with a thousand dollars in 88 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:09,919 Speaker 1: the basement of his home, he decides to start a 89 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: company to manufacture cathode ray tubes. In the late nineteen thirties, 90 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:19,359 Speaker 1: as television is sort of ending its experimental phase and 91 00:06:19,400 --> 00:06:22,240 Speaker 1: starting to get commercial, meaning it's starting to be available 92 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:26,599 Speaker 1: to consumers, he decides to manufacturer television sets. Dumont makes 93 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 1: the kind of big means not just bigger pictures, but 94 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:33,839 Speaker 1: also brighter shopper. He's one of the earliest television manufacturers, 95 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:37,040 Speaker 1: and from there, starting in nineteen thirty nine and then 96 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:40,680 Speaker 1: through World War Two, he starts to operate television stations. 97 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:44,360 Speaker 1: Through it all, he's a lot more both interested and 98 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:48,279 Speaker 1: adept in the engineering part and running the manufacturing part 99 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 1: than he is in television broadcasting. Even though television broadcasting 100 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:56,320 Speaker 1: is more visible and probably his company's greatest contribution to 101 00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:01,840 Speaker 1: American culture, Dumont was not your typical CEO. As television 102 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:05,760 Speaker 1: takes off, Dumant is at the forefront of the television industry. 103 00:07:05,839 --> 00:07:11,920 Speaker 1: As a network, However, Alambie Dumont remains shy, remains introverted, 104 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:15,840 Speaker 1: even though he could be very visible as the head 105 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:18,520 Speaker 1: and namesake of the Dumont Television network. He spends a 106 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: lot of time in suburban New Jersey in his electronics laboratory, 107 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: fiddling with the electronics. He very rarely comes to New 108 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 1: York to check on the network operations. When he did 109 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:34,360 Speaker 1: venture down to the New York production facilities, he'd be 110 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:36,720 Speaker 1: more likely to comment on the vertical hold of the 111 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:41,480 Speaker 1: set than the content of a program. Once, when called 112 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:44,480 Speaker 1: to the White House to discuss broadcast standards. I'm define 113 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:49,040 Speaker 1: explaining a simple fact. Mary didn't direct view electronic castle 114 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:51,120 Speaker 1: day too. But did you find in our Dumont set 115 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:55,559 Speaker 1: its possible to increase dimension without the image disintegration or losses? 116 00:07:55,640 --> 00:08:00,240 Speaker 1: Just step nition. Dumont's technobabble frustrated President Eisenhower. Some watched 117 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:02,760 Speaker 1: that after just a few minutes he was ushered out 118 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:05,080 Speaker 1: of the Oval office. Well, it may be a fact, 119 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:09,120 Speaker 1: but it ain't simple. Dumont was an avid voter. Aboard 120 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:12,960 Speaker 1: his craft, the Hurricane three, he'd planned deep sea excursions 121 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:16,520 Speaker 1: like Long Island to the Florida Keys. With no land 122 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 1: in sight, he'd warm up the TV set he kept 123 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:20,680 Speaker 1: on board and scanned the airwaves to see what he 124 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:27,200 Speaker 1: could pick up. In the interview with Edward ar Murrow, 125 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:31,000 Speaker 1: Dumont reflected on his hobby. I find that when you 126 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:34,439 Speaker 1: get out in the ocean, the problems level off. In 127 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:38,400 Speaker 1: other words, any problems you have in business when you're 128 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:41,000 Speaker 1: on the ocean, wondering if you're going to get back 129 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:45,440 Speaker 1: or not, why they don't seem so important. He didn't 130 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:48,760 Speaker 1: want to be bothered by a lot of the complex 131 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:52,600 Speaker 1: and sometimes nasty business that the head of a large 132 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:57,200 Speaker 1: company with multiple interests in manufacturing and in broadcasting. How 133 00:08:57,240 --> 00:08:59,560 Speaker 1: to deal with his attitude was frequently sort of let 134 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:03,920 Speaker 1: me alone. Priority one for a fledgling television network, get 135 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 1: affiliate stations to carry your programming. If you didn't have affiliates, 136 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:11,240 Speaker 1: you didn't really have a network, and you could not 137 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:16,000 Speaker 1: charge advertisers enough money. Because you didn't have the carriage, 138 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:18,520 Speaker 1: you weren't being seen across the country. So it became 139 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:21,640 Speaker 1: a huge deal to get those affiliates. The trouble was, 140 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:25,080 Speaker 1: besides New York, d C and a few other big markets, 141 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 1: most cities operated less than four television stations, often just 142 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:33,720 Speaker 1: one or two. The scarcity and affiliates was due largely 143 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 1: to FCC regulations. They effectively created a system whereby only 144 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:41,480 Speaker 1: three networks would be able to flourish because they weren't 145 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:45,719 Speaker 1: enough stations and affiliates across the country to support more so, 146 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:50,040 Speaker 1: after CBS and NBC, there was intense competition between ABC 147 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:52,760 Speaker 1: and Dumont to see which network would survive as the 148 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 1: third network. The hub for Dumont's production was New York's 149 00:09:56,679 --> 00:09:59,160 Speaker 1: W A B D New York What no on the world? 150 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 1: They're not lavish facilities, but they're okay for what Dumont 151 00:10:04,160 --> 00:10:06,120 Speaker 1: is doing for its production. But one of the cool 152 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: things is it's right in downtown New York during the 153 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:14,040 Speaker 1: forties and nineteen fifties, so they have access to all 154 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:20,240 Speaker 1: of these great performers, jazz performers. Charlie Parker appeared on Dumont. 155 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:22,480 Speaker 1: But even more than that, you have a lot of 156 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:26,079 Speaker 1: very young people, many of them had just served in 157 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:28,760 Speaker 1: the war, got some engineering training, and they decided they 158 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:32,439 Speaker 1: want to go into television. They work hard, and then 159 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:36,320 Speaker 1: they go out drinking, checking out the music, checking out 160 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:40,240 Speaker 1: the scene there. The people who worked there said the 161 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:46,200 Speaker 1: executives never even bothered coming downtown. So the whole production 162 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:49,840 Speaker 1: aspect had a sort of kids in a candy store field. 163 00:10:50,679 --> 00:10:53,880 Speaker 1: They were younger people, they were smart, they were creative, 164 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:57,800 Speaker 1: and there was a sense that there weren't a lot 165 00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:02,680 Speaker 1: of middle managers and very upper management sort of watching 166 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:06,560 Speaker 1: them as they created live programming. Because Dumont was both 167 00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:12,760 Speaker 1: underfunded and understaffed, it left a lot of room for creativity. 168 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:15,600 Speaker 1: You see that this a little bit of the other 169 00:11:15,679 --> 00:11:18,720 Speaker 1: networks as you watch the programs, but NBC and CBS 170 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:21,720 Speaker 1: especially were a lot more established. You had a lot 171 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:25,160 Speaker 1: more people coming in from radio. There was a hierarchy, 172 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:28,840 Speaker 1: there were significant controls on content, there was a community 173 00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:33,160 Speaker 1: acceptance department. There was a whole infrastructure at the other 174 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:36,760 Speaker 1: network that just wasn't there at Dumont. What Dumont lacked 175 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:39,240 Speaker 1: an infrastructure they would have to make up for with 176 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:50,400 Speaker 1: creativity and innovation. Television is so ubiquitous today seven everywhere 177 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:54,440 Speaker 1: that it's hard to imagine a time when it wasn't 178 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:56,640 Speaker 1: on all the time. I mean, they're sort of famous 179 00:11:56,720 --> 00:12:00,880 Speaker 1: test patterns. In the forties. Even in to the fifties, 180 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:04,360 Speaker 1: television stations would go off the air, not just at night, 181 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:06,840 Speaker 1: but sometimes in the middle of the day. There might 182 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:08,880 Speaker 1: be a noontime news and then it would just be 183 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:12,120 Speaker 1: dark for three or four hours or five hours. The 184 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:15,280 Speaker 1: other networks had daytime radio shows you can't love someone 185 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:17,760 Speaker 1: one day and then the next day dog loving him, 186 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:22,840 Speaker 1: and they didn't want to cut into that business. When November, 187 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:26,560 Speaker 1: Dumont began full day programming, and it was huge news 188 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:28,959 Speaker 1: in the industry, So they were on the air from 189 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:33,199 Speaker 1: seven am to eleven pm. This was the longest broadcast 190 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:37,280 Speaker 1: day among all the networks and really anywhere. So much 191 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:39,800 Speaker 1: of their thinking, and so much of their programming set 192 00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:44,360 Speaker 1: the stage for later daytime programming. They had a Man 193 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:47,040 Speaker 1: on the Street show, a precursor to the Today Show. 194 00:12:47,559 --> 00:12:50,240 Speaker 1: There was television shopping five months from today. It was 195 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:55,559 Speaker 1: Christmas Day QVC. They had a show called Your Television Babysitter, 196 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:57,840 Speaker 1: Mean you could pop the kid down and watch counting 197 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:03,959 Speaker 1: and reading and stuff like that. Sesame Street Anyone. My 198 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:07,080 Speaker 1: favorite was a show called Okay Mother, a show for moms, 199 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:11,439 Speaker 1: hosted by Dennis James. Any Mother, it's your time of day, 200 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 1: any mother, Time to have you say the problem, my hub, 201 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:20,120 Speaker 1: to wear your views, to get consultant with all the latest, 202 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:26,480 Speaker 1: joining the fund, everyone with last problems that Bonnie games. 203 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:34,480 Speaker 1: Okay Mother, Okay Mother, We're presiding Dennis James. Imagine your 204 00:13:34,520 --> 00:13:38,559 Speaker 1: typical daytime talk show, set up, high energy, host the 205 00:13:38,679 --> 00:13:42,199 Speaker 1: cooling lemonade, a live studio audience of most of the women. 206 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:47,880 Speaker 1: We'll never prayed. They play games, giveaway prizes. It's all 207 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:52,600 Speaker 1: very commonplace now, but it wasn't then. It was one 208 00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:56,360 Speaker 1: of the first shows to sort of focus on mom. 209 00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 1: No dishes to do, no lunch to prepare, just sit back. 210 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:06,200 Speaker 1: Our entertainers here will entertain you, okay. Mother James had 211 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:08,760 Speaker 1: a long career as a sportscaster and game show host. 212 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:19,200 Speaker 1: Dennis James at the time, according to rumors, was involved 213 00:14:19,280 --> 00:14:22,200 Speaker 1: with the co host, a model named Julia Meade, who 214 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:25,000 Speaker 1: would assist him, and you can see them sort of 215 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:27,640 Speaker 1: hamming it up, lots of innuendo, lots of sort of 216 00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:30,200 Speaker 1: inside jokes. If I could do that, beautiful, I can 217 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:32,640 Speaker 1: make a million dollars in provision. You know that, speak 218 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:36,360 Speaker 1: to it, you go ahead. There's a sort of loopy energy. 219 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:39,320 Speaker 1: He gets angry at one person during a rhyming game 220 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:42,040 Speaker 1: when she gives him a word that he can't rhyme. Honey, 221 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:44,520 Speaker 1: every day we've had it. Then let's just once let 222 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:46,080 Speaker 1: me say one thing here. And we haven't had to 223 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:47,920 Speaker 1: lect you like this a long time. The object of 224 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:50,000 Speaker 1: line and rhyme is to have some fun. I don't 225 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:52,720 Speaker 1: care what your sticky with. We asked every day before 226 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:54,800 Speaker 1: the show to not use the words that we used 227 00:14:54,880 --> 00:14:57,120 Speaker 1: yesterday so that we can have some fun. You will 228 00:14:57,160 --> 00:14:59,240 Speaker 1: get the gifts. We have some laughs. But every time 229 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 1: I get what the same word every day, it stomps me. 230 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:03,480 Speaker 1: It stops me dead. You don't want to stop me, 231 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:06,280 Speaker 1: do you you don't want it not? Everything is as 232 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:09,040 Speaker 1: polished as it later became on television, and part of 233 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:12,000 Speaker 1: the reason is everything is going out live. They can't 234 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:15,120 Speaker 1: just decide, okay, you can't be angry. Dennis. Let's retake 235 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: that tremendously popular in its time. A single kinescope survives today. 236 00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:24,480 Speaker 1: There's a scene where he suddenly gets in the middle 237 00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:28,680 Speaker 1: of an audience filled with mothers. These two guys are 238 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:30,640 Speaker 1: in a suit, a right hand from God. He's standing 239 00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:32,080 Speaker 1: on the corner. Come on out here, pops so we 240 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:34,880 Speaker 1: can see it. Man as a good looking fella girl 241 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:39,520 Speaker 1: and they start plugging bread. Bread man from Wondering, a 242 00:15:39,600 --> 00:15:43,440 Speaker 1: man from Bond. Well, both of these kids are in 243 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:46,280 Speaker 1: the door, their bread salesman, and they're paying Dennis James 244 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:48,920 Speaker 1: off on the side to quietly do that. I could 245 00:15:48,960 --> 00:15:51,360 Speaker 1: imagine the conversation where he's saying, you know, don't worry, 246 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:54,080 Speaker 1: come over to the show. Give me fifty bucks in 247 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:56,800 Speaker 1: a year's worth of bread, and I'll let you talk 248 00:15:56,840 --> 00:15:59,560 Speaker 1: about Bond bread and Wonder Bread on the show. They 249 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:01,760 Speaker 1: give him line and he makes the rhyme. The first 250 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:04,800 Speaker 1: line is what is the best bread made? And he says, 251 00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:06,920 Speaker 1: I guess I would have a bread if I were 252 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:12,960 Speaker 1: being paid. Okay, let's say there's a sketch about discipline, 253 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:15,520 Speaker 1: which is a little bit odd with Julia Meade playing 254 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:19,400 Speaker 1: the mom and disciplining Dennis James forgetting his trousers wet 255 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:23,120 Speaker 1: and put on your other trousers. Why would go take 256 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:25,040 Speaker 1: these off and put on your other trousers instead of 257 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:27,360 Speaker 1: all these mothers. You want to take these troub you 258 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:28,960 Speaker 1: know I'll have to do it. I'm the guy who 259 00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:35,440 Speaker 1: can do that. So it has this sort of weird, 260 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:39,960 Speaker 1: almost flirtatious or sexual thing going on between them while 261 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:42,520 Speaker 1: it's also trying to talk about discipline. And then he 262 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:44,800 Speaker 1: asked some moms and they talk about different approaches to 263 00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:46,760 Speaker 1: a kid who keeps doing the same thing and makes 264 00:16:46,800 --> 00:16:48,960 Speaker 1: you nuts. The cost of that suld we spake and 265 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:51,640 Speaker 1: punish that triald for going in front of the Sprinklet 266 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:53,360 Speaker 1: will you take a first mother and name please? And 267 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:55,720 Speaker 1: where you're from. You can see him trying to sort 268 00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:58,200 Speaker 1: of give something to that audience when there was not 269 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:03,120 Speaker 1: a lot of programming aimed at mothers five seconds, four seconds. 270 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:05,560 Speaker 1: A lot of the performers from this time would do 271 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:07,440 Speaker 1: a lot of different things to just try to keep 272 00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:12,440 Speaker 1: the show moving. Stunts, gags, a mile a minute, crazy costumes. 273 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:15,600 Speaker 1: The idea was just sort of keep things going, keep 274 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:18,600 Speaker 1: things moving, and then get onto the next show, and 275 00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:22,880 Speaker 1: you get a lot of weirdness as a result, necessarily, 276 00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:39,840 Speaker 1: like Captain Video was an especially weird show in a 277 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:43,400 Speaker 1: sea of weirdness on early television. It was a kids show, 278 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:45,719 Speaker 1: and in some ways it was an amazing production. They 279 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:50,639 Speaker 1: did it live every day for nearly six years, and 280 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:55,879 Speaker 1: it was hugely popular, especially among tween and elementary school 281 00:17:55,960 --> 00:18:04,119 Speaker 1: aged boys. I'll say own ships to be ahead for it. Homota. Now, 282 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:06,280 Speaker 1: this is a show that's what's known today as a 283 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:10,000 Speaker 1: space opera. It takes place in the future Captain Video. 284 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:14,320 Speaker 1: It's basically a superhero trying to make the galaxy say 285 00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:17,960 Speaker 1: any times of sabotage. He promotes a lot of the 286 00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:22,000 Speaker 1: values that were important at the time, fair play. Honestly, 287 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:24,640 Speaker 1: some of the shows have a sort of anti communists, 288 00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:30,200 Speaker 1: anti totalitarian subtext to them, and some talk about science 289 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:34,680 Speaker 1: and space travel, also whiteing hor Lwine. Order Happened Video 290 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:39,399 Speaker 1: operates from a mountainy Greek at all points of the 291 00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:45,000 Speaker 1: globe which I think scientific secret, cientific weapon happened Video 292 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:50,800 Speaker 1: and sak water and get done through the shoestring budget 293 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:53,640 Speaker 1: for the daily production translated into a bare bones aesthetic 294 00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:56,680 Speaker 1: for better or for worse. And then in the middle 295 00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:59,640 Speaker 1: of everything, when they would sort of slow down a little, 296 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:01,560 Speaker 1: the cap to Video would decided to check on his 297 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:05,600 Speaker 1: agents on Earth. As communications rockets flashed with the speed 298 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:09,080 Speaker 1: of light between Metasparo's alert. The remote carrier being was 299 00:19:09,119 --> 00:19:12,680 Speaker 1: bumping in squickly too as it brought Captain Video special 300 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:16,280 Speaker 1: agent into sharp focus, and his agents on Earth were 301 00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:19,040 Speaker 1: frequently in the Old West because they would show literally 302 00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:22,159 Speaker 1: portions of old Western cereals. In the middle of this 303 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:25,399 Speaker 1: futurist six space show, the Galahan girl brought worked at 304 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:29,480 Speaker 1: our fellow named the Whistler Murder Jerry Blake, And that's 305 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:31,080 Speaker 1: how they would kill a little bit of time, and 306 00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:34,520 Speaker 1: then Captain Video would stop checking on his agents on Earth. 307 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:36,600 Speaker 1: In another few minutes of the show would go on 308 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:39,159 Speaker 1: as he would try to fight the bad guys in 309 00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:42,760 Speaker 1: outer space. Now let's get right into today's story. The 310 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:46,360 Speaker 1: first couple of years, the star of Captain Video as 311 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:49,320 Speaker 1: an actor named Richard Coogan, and he played it a 312 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:52,400 Speaker 1: little bit tugging cheek. He would flood lines, he would 313 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:56,200 Speaker 1: smile at some of the more ridiculous lines, and the 314 00:19:56,280 --> 00:20:00,080 Speaker 1: whole show was especially campy. Hold out the way a 315 00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:02,520 Speaker 1: personal differences to both. When you get down a business 316 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:05,200 Speaker 1: a couple of years in men named Al Hodge takes 317 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:09,040 Speaker 1: over and he takes a little up more seriously. Al 318 00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:12,080 Speaker 1: Hodge had a radio background as the original Green Hornet. 319 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:15,840 Speaker 1: He was a Sunday school teacher and logged countless hours 320 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:19,320 Speaker 1: doing in person appearances as Captain video on and off 321 00:20:19,359 --> 00:20:22,240 Speaker 1: the air. He saw himself as a role model. Empires 322 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:26,359 Speaker 1: evacuation followed because a letter didn't arrive on touch and 323 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:29,080 Speaker 1: that's why the Ranger and I have fought bought in 324 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:32,080 Speaker 1: battle to try and improve and under planetary mail service 325 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:36,800 Speaker 1: is practical and can be youth. Around the same time, 326 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:41,200 Speaker 1: a new producer named Olga Druce entered the picture, very sharp, 327 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:44,920 Speaker 1: very smart. She had also done radio dramas and she 328 00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:47,399 Speaker 1: inherited the show and she said, it's an abomination and 329 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:49,720 Speaker 1: I'm going to fix it. I'm really going to try 330 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:52,720 Speaker 1: to make it a show about ethics, about morality, about 331 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:57,320 Speaker 1: fighting totalitarianism, about doing the right thing. She was interested 332 00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:02,560 Speaker 1: in child psychology, and suddenly the shows the pots started 333 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:06,679 Speaker 1: to make sense. A number of Golden Age of science writers, 334 00:21:06,840 --> 00:21:12,520 Speaker 1: people like Jack Van Isaac Asimo, Walter M Miller, a 335 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:15,040 Speaker 1: number of very good writers got involved and they would 336 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:18,880 Speaker 1: write like a two to three week series of Captain Videos, 337 00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:21,680 Speaker 1: but still had very low budget and there was still 338 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:24,320 Speaker 1: some sort of cheesy elements that that they got rid 339 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:28,439 Speaker 1: of the films for example, and stage their moral message 340 00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:30,719 Speaker 1: front and center. But in the world today, there are 341 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:34,160 Speaker 1: those who would destroy our American heritage, who would tear 342 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:37,640 Speaker 1: down our ideals, trample, under put the flag, the game 343 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:41,720 Speaker 1: into being under the skillful fingers of Betty Rock. So 344 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:45,399 Speaker 1: let's be alert and realized as Americans that freedom is 345 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:49,080 Speaker 1: everybody's job at the All Rangers. Captain Video is one 346 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:51,920 Speaker 1: of the first TV shows. Again, this is sort of 347 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:55,359 Speaker 1: the pre Rock and Roll era to really make a 348 00:21:55,480 --> 00:21:59,000 Speaker 1: clear distinction. When kids love it, parents just don't get it. 349 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:01,360 Speaker 1: So how don't you just haven't gotten your ring yet? 350 00:22:01,680 --> 00:22:04,320 Speaker 1: I get one right away, and we're at all times 351 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:06,200 Speaker 1: to show that you're on the side of Captain Video 352 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:10,200 Speaker 1: fighting a defense law and or It remained enormously popular 353 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,240 Speaker 1: for about five years, and then UH like a lot 354 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:19,000 Speaker 1: in Dumont ninety five to save money. Shows slowly UH 355 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:21,840 Speaker 1: wound down and went off the air. This was a 356 00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:25,800 Speaker 1: rough transition for star l Hodge. He had trouble finding 357 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:30,000 Speaker 1: work because he was typecast and eventually reportedly at least 358 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:34,200 Speaker 1: had alcohol problems, doing odd jobs in real estate. Was 359 00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:37,840 Speaker 1: a bank guard, and people would yell, hey, captain video 360 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:41,200 Speaker 1: and they would quote from the show how's the guardian 361 00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:45,040 Speaker 1: of you know, the free world doing? Or are you 362 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:48,199 Speaker 1: at your secret mountain headquarters? They would almost taunt him 363 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:52,040 Speaker 1: a little bit. I feel badly for him after It 364 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:54,920 Speaker 1: was a lot of pressure being a children's television star 365 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:58,119 Speaker 1: at that time and carrying that kind of burden. I 366 00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:00,959 Speaker 1: guess they're just saying nothing else we can do. Well, 367 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:04,520 Speaker 1: there might be, but sacrificing the rangers life doesn't want to. 368 00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:07,840 Speaker 1: The networks were always looking for someone who had the 369 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 1: chops for live TV. Not just the month, but all 370 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:13,639 Speaker 1: the networks were looking for entertainers. They wanted to find 371 00:23:14,440 --> 00:23:19,720 Speaker 1: performers who were comfortable performing live and they looked at theater, 372 00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:22,280 Speaker 1: partially Cassaro in New York, but partially because they the 373 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:25,399 Speaker 1: theatrical performers could do that as opposed to film and 374 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:29,520 Speaker 1: even some radio performers, and they look back to Vaudeville. 375 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:33,639 Speaker 1: It had been supplanted to an extent by different types 376 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:38,200 Speaker 1: of theater and by radio, but Vaudeville makes a comeback 377 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:41,639 Speaker 1: because you have performers who can do a variety of 378 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:46,240 Speaker 1: different acts. They're comfortable performing live, and there's also a 379 00:23:46,359 --> 00:23:51,240 Speaker 1: nostalgia that kicks in late forties early fifties for nineties 380 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:57,159 Speaker 1: culture and for this older style of performance. Television shows 381 00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:01,960 Speaker 1: were known as audio shows because it was video and vaudeville. 382 00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:07,840 Speaker 1: There were comedians, there were novelty people writing unicye owls, 383 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:11,200 Speaker 1: lots of dance routines, some a lot better than otherre's, 384 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:15,800 Speaker 1: lots of singing, lots of music, lots of theatrical type 385 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:18,520 Speaker 1: perform and some of which was pretty amateur, some of 386 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:21,960 Speaker 1: which was pretty amazing. The Milton Boroughs Show is probably 387 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:24,760 Speaker 1: the most popular moment version of it, but I don't know, 388 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:28,680 Speaker 1: would you know that Sullivan's show also is presenting what 389 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:32,040 Speaker 1: would be known as audio and Dumont is doing it 390 00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:37,480 Speaker 1: partially through a popular show with Marie Amsterdam, Maria Adam 391 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:43,880 Speaker 1: ulvability you want, however, you're not work. Mori Amsterdam, best 392 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:46,120 Speaker 1: known later for his role as Buddy on The Dick 393 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:48,080 Speaker 1: van Dyke Show. I don't know what's wrong with that fellow, 394 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:51,080 Speaker 1: but don't just suit fit night. Marie Amsterdam was a 395 00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:56,159 Speaker 1: nightclub comic. He comes to television. He's quick, he's funny, 396 00:24:56,240 --> 00:25:00,199 Speaker 1: he's openly Jewish. Times he'll talk really fast and then 397 00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:03,960 Speaker 1: he looked confused and say, imagine the audience not quite 398 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:07,360 Speaker 1: getting him. So he's doing his stick. They're the guy 399 00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:12,040 Speaker 1: laved on our block. I think he doped noodle. He 400 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:14,920 Speaker 1: put his dog on the end of a thick and 401 00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:20,000 Speaker 1: wiped up the floor with its total Mari sidekick was 402 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:23,680 Speaker 1: Art Carny. W would later play the idiosyncratic Ed Norton 403 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:27,560 Speaker 1: on The Honeymooners. He's especially surreal. He seems to just 404 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:30,639 Speaker 1: sort of say whatever pops into his head. There's a 405 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:33,680 Speaker 1: scene on that reel from the Morey Amsterdam Show where 406 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:37,240 Speaker 1: he inherits money property and he periodically just starts throwing 407 00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:41,359 Speaker 1: money and saying haircuts for everybody, for everybody. I mean, 408 00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:45,320 Speaker 1: you just you never know what to expect. Human with 409 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:50,280 Speaker 1: the line didn't television probably prevent her Brook Console. The 410 00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:55,200 Speaker 1: Dumont company actually sponsored the program, and the goal in 411 00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:57,639 Speaker 1: this show, as a lot of other shows, was to 412 00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:02,280 Speaker 1: sell TV receivers and to sell Dumont's image with nineteen 413 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:05,160 Speaker 1: inch correct new Life bulb and picture tube or five 414 00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:08,720 Speaker 1: Cathy All Longer Life and two her performance both am 415 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:13,159 Speaker 1: AM Radio and Reach being the automatic record player America. 416 00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:17,879 Speaker 1: The thing which tell us that one literally uses artwork 417 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:20,440 Speaker 1: from Norman Rockwell that rock Cla did for Dumont and 418 00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:23,560 Speaker 1: has the all American family sort of come to life 419 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:33,600 Speaker 1: watching a Dumont television set moment they're trying to figure 420 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:36,280 Speaker 1: out how to sell things. On the one hand, Amsterdam 421 00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:40,520 Speaker 1: attracts viewers. On the other hand, he's not necessarily presenting 422 00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:44,359 Speaker 1: this sort of all American Norman Rockwell almost an upper 423 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:46,879 Speaker 1: scale view of America that Dumont is going for. The 424 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:51,320 Speaker 1: sets are very expensive, even among TV set manufacturers, Dumont 425 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:56,040 Speaker 1: was more expensive. They frequently would have like well dressed 426 00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:59,800 Speaker 1: models standing next to the TV sets, showcasing them and 427 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:05,640 Speaker 1: then more Amsterdam comes back on point is the only 428 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:07,600 Speaker 1: pan that writes on the chicken fool. They want to 429 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:09,840 Speaker 1: get the viewers, but they also want a certain image 430 00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:12,840 Speaker 1: and it doesn't totally work with more Amsterdam. And I 431 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:15,440 Speaker 1: think even Alan Dumont himself and memos that I found, 432 00:27:15,520 --> 00:27:18,280 Speaker 1: was a little bit confused by Amsterdam and the sales 433 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:22,359 Speaker 1: staff never really knew what to do with him. The 434 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:25,440 Speaker 1: variety show was big business in early TV, and the 435 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:29,199 Speaker 1: networks were always trying their hands at new iterations. One 436 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:31,000 Speaker 1: of the things about Dumont, they were very good at 437 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:35,280 Speaker 1: spotting talent on the way up until they eventually got 438 00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:38,040 Speaker 1: to the top and left Dumont. And that's certainly the 439 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:51,600 Speaker 1: case with Cavalcades Stars. I don't know alright. At the time, 440 00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:54,359 Speaker 1: Gleaston is not very well known. He's failed in his 441 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:59,520 Speaker 1: only previous television show, The Life of Riley, and he's 442 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:03,960 Speaker 1: working in Hollywood or a club called SLAPSI Maxis, which 443 00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:07,160 Speaker 1: is essentially show business exile. New York is really where 444 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:10,360 Speaker 1: the comedy is going on. It's really the center of entertainment. 445 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:15,120 Speaker 1: Gleason decides to take the train across country and essentially 446 00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:17,159 Speaker 1: try out for Dumont for a few weeks as a 447 00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:19,800 Speaker 1: host of Cavalcades Stars because he doesn't really have any 448 00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:22,440 Speaker 1: other options that he wants to get back in the 449 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:25,480 Speaker 1: television game. So he's willing to go to Dumont, which 450 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:28,119 Speaker 1: still does not have the reputation of a CBS or 451 00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:29,920 Speaker 1: an NBC, and he's willing to go for just a 452 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:46,640 Speaker 1: few weeks, and he succeeds. He becomes a popular host. 453 00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:48,920 Speaker 1: And he does it not by telling jokes the way 454 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:53,760 Speaker 1: More Amsterdam does, but through creating a series of sketches 455 00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:57,440 Speaker 1: and comic characters, some of which became very well known. 456 00:28:57,680 --> 00:29:01,160 Speaker 1: Reginald Van Gleason A top hat where millionaire playboy take 457 00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:03,200 Speaker 1: my whole effect of the brewery. I don't think I'll 458 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:07,600 Speaker 1: play polo today. The loud mouth really self explanatory. There's 459 00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:09,960 Speaker 1: one thing I know how to do, Clemens Hamil women. 460 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:13,080 Speaker 1: Some are sort of these lovable Loosi characters, the Poor Soul, 461 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:17,000 Speaker 1: the Bachelor, these sort of pantomime shows, silent characters that 462 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:22,160 Speaker 1: would show off Gleason's pantomime skills. He becomes enormously popular 463 00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:25,920 Speaker 1: on Dumont, and eventually he creates with the writers Ralph 464 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:29,720 Speaker 1: Crampton of the Honeymooners. But no one knows any better, 465 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:36,080 Speaker 1: not even meeting you, how hope and I am falling 466 00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:42,000 Speaker 1: ahead the Honeymooners, the iconic CBS sitcom began as a 467 00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:47,320 Speaker 1: sketch on Cavalcade Stars. There was a real charisma that 468 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:51,040 Speaker 1: came off the stage and Cavalcades Stars, I'd feel like 469 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:53,640 Speaker 1: killing have you got a little dance music? Dance a 470 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:58,280 Speaker 1: little soft boy just through his persona in the way 471 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:02,480 Speaker 1: he presented himself a sort of big, blustery guy who 472 00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:04,640 Speaker 1: could still do a little bit of a song and dance, 473 00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:08,160 Speaker 1: who could still do more subtle pantomime. I think that 474 00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:14,280 Speaker 1: he was projecting this sort of image as a sensitive 475 00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:17,600 Speaker 1: but tough big guy. He's really using his time at 476 00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:21,600 Speaker 1: Dumont to play with different characters and ultimately create this 477 00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:23,720 Speaker 1: image that he takes with him really for the rest 478 00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:26,680 Speaker 1: of his career. Lady, we were riding high with the 479 00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:31,160 Speaker 1: duman talent dances in a way we go. Dumont gave 480 00:30:31,240 --> 00:30:33,760 Speaker 1: Jackie his big break, and they took a big hit 481 00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:38,080 Speaker 1: when he left for CBS in not only are they 482 00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:44,040 Speaker 1: losing their biggest star, but symbolically, Gleason leaving is telling 483 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:48,040 Speaker 1: the television industry that Dumont is small time. Dumont signed him, 484 00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:51,200 Speaker 1: Dumont nurtured him, Dumont gave him a forum for all 485 00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:55,640 Speaker 1: of his characters. Symbolically it was very important, and financially 486 00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:58,040 Speaker 1: it was also important because Gleason was making a lot 487 00:30:58,080 --> 00:31:01,720 Speaker 1: of money for Dumont, and Dumont was not able to 488 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:05,360 Speaker 1: pay him what he would have deserved at that time 489 00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:08,440 Speaker 1: and what CBS was willing to pay him. Dumont also 490 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:11,560 Speaker 1: didn't treat him like a huge star. CBS knew how 491 00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:15,960 Speaker 1: to handle talent much better for somebody with Gleason's ego. 492 00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:20,560 Speaker 1: He probably needed more attention from the upper executives, including 493 00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:23,840 Speaker 1: Alan Dumont himself, and more of a sense that Dumont 494 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:26,120 Speaker 1: valued him, and he did not get that from Dumont, 495 00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:28,440 Speaker 1: and I think that may have contributed to his decision, 496 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:31,600 Speaker 1: in addition to the money and the greater visibility that 497 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:35,160 Speaker 1: CBS offered. But it was devastating not only to that 498 00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:39,120 Speaker 1: program but to Dumont as a whole. But not everything 499 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:55,120 Speaker 1: at Dumont was singing and dancing. There had better being 500 00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:59,280 Speaker 1: nothing less than the end of the world. Sorry, if 501 00:31:59,320 --> 00:32:05,040 Speaker 1: I woke you up, You're sorry. What's the virus? Okay? 502 00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:11,720 Speaker 1: I got a murder? The Plain clothesm was a wildly 503 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:16,240 Speaker 1: inventive program. It told the story through the perspective of 504 00:32:16,360 --> 00:32:20,320 Speaker 1: a detective, and he was not seen on screen. They're 505 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:26,120 Speaker 1: all without you at the bar, unknown, unsung, but always 506 00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:30,000 Speaker 1: on guard, protecting you again to pry, the camera takes 507 00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:34,600 Speaker 1: the point of view of the title character. Literally colleagues, criminals, 508 00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:37,840 Speaker 1: and witnesses addressed the plain clothes man while looking right 509 00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:42,080 Speaker 1: into the camera. Ken Lynch portrayed the title character. The 510 00:32:42,160 --> 00:32:45,160 Speaker 1: hands on screen were his, but his face was never shown. 511 00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:49,760 Speaker 1: With a microphone rigged around his neck, Lynch would skillfully 512 00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:53,480 Speaker 1: bob and weave to avoid the camera's gaze. The Dumont 513 00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:55,760 Speaker 1: camera people and director were the true to use the 514 00:32:55,800 --> 00:32:57,920 Speaker 1: plain clothes and to show off a little bit, have 515 00:32:58,160 --> 00:33:01,480 Speaker 1: some fun. It was very flashy vision. Really. The crew 516 00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:05,640 Speaker 1: utilized the forerunner of the steadicam, dubbed the Fearless. It 517 00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:08,479 Speaker 1: was a robber, right, I know. I checked out myself. 518 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:11,480 Speaker 1: They might do something like an establishment shot. As the 519 00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:13,760 Speaker 1: plain clothesman is looking around the room. Then he might 520 00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:18,000 Speaker 1: focus on a piece of paper and it would go 521 00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:21,080 Speaker 1: slowly into the paper and focus until you would see 522 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:24,040 Speaker 1: even a letter on a piece of paper. Sometimes they 523 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:27,120 Speaker 1: shot things through a magnifying glass. Look at that. Sometimes 524 00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:29,240 Speaker 1: they would have him check out a crime scene and 525 00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:31,760 Speaker 1: they would go to a tiny bullet hole in a wall. 526 00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:34,960 Speaker 1: Sometimes somebody would flirt with a plain clothesman and she 527 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:37,120 Speaker 1: would get really close and blow smoke in his face, 528 00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:40,880 Speaker 1: and he would see smoke go into the camera. I 529 00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:42,680 Speaker 1: knew what it was the first time he ever walked 530 00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:45,160 Speaker 1: into this plate. Sometimes somebody would hit the plane clothesman 531 00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:48,520 Speaker 1: and the camera would go spinning around. So it was 532 00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:51,080 Speaker 1: a way for them to play around and have fun. 533 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:54,719 Speaker 1: At the same time, they're showing a really gritty world 534 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:57,160 Speaker 1: that's more work into something like some of the noir 535 00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:00,320 Speaker 1: films from that time, or the Naked City that many 536 00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:04,520 Speaker 1: of the other detective programs examined. The body brighting looked 537 00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:06,200 Speaker 1: at me like he was plug behind the ear, and 538 00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:07,800 Speaker 1: then hit the back of his head against the metal 539 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:11,960 Speaker 1: corner of that milkcake. This was all live, and it 540 00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:14,360 Speaker 1: was only one camera showing all of this, so it 541 00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:18,759 Speaker 1: was technically very difficult and technically very creative. There was 542 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:23,520 Speaker 1: nothing else like this on early television. In another innovative measure, 543 00:34:23,840 --> 00:34:27,320 Speaker 1: the Plain Clothesman utilized a basic element of filmmaking that 544 00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:32,120 Speaker 1: was missing for most early TV editing. This must have 545 00:34:32,200 --> 00:34:37,160 Speaker 1: been a very difficult show to do. Thirty minutes every 546 00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:41,360 Speaker 1: week from the perspective of the detective, much of it handheld. 547 00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:45,040 Speaker 1: So one of the things that they did to provide 548 00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:47,280 Speaker 1: a little variety and probably a little bit of arrest, 549 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:51,440 Speaker 1: is that they would sometimes show a crime in flashback 550 00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:55,040 Speaker 1: using film that they would have already edited, or they'll 551 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:59,160 Speaker 1: show a climactic fight at the end through film. This 552 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:01,600 Speaker 1: allowed them to take a little break from the purely 553 00:35:01,719 --> 00:35:05,279 Speaker 1: live shooting, and it also enabled them to stage it 554 00:35:05,320 --> 00:35:08,279 Speaker 1: in a more realistic way than they could have on 555 00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:10,279 Speaker 1: live TV. A lot of times that they were like 556 00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:13,600 Speaker 1: fights on live television, they would look sort of hokey 557 00:35:13,680 --> 00:35:16,480 Speaker 1: in stage, but they could use film and get a 558 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:21,239 Speaker 1: heightened realism. It was a very effective, very creative technique 559 00:35:21,239 --> 00:35:22,920 Speaker 1: and I think a good example of the kind of 560 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:27,279 Speaker 1: creativity that you would find it Dumont. In February of 561 00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:31,920 Speaker 1: Dumont's Life Is Worth Living came on the air Remont 562 00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:35,200 Speaker 1: Gollab Network and we've done in Light or Worth Living 563 00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:38,600 Speaker 1: where they that coming Gay Bold and Great Being on Gillery, 564 00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:43,239 Speaker 1: Bigtip of New York. The setup was simple. Venerable Archbishop 565 00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:45,760 Speaker 1: Fulton J. Sheen would do a talk on the tenants 566 00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:48,080 Speaker 1: of good living in front of a live studio audience, 567 00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:52,240 Speaker 1: equipped with only a blackboard and speaking directly into the camera. 568 00:35:53,040 --> 00:36:00,200 Speaker 1: Lightness is the shadow they just cast by virtual Kurtis see, 569 00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:03,400 Speaker 1: you're the external sign of the inner love and regard 570 00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:07,400 Speaker 1: that we have for someone else. Politeness is charity, and 571 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:16,400 Speaker 1: charity as love and love is God. Expectations beloved, especially 572 00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:19,640 Speaker 1: because of the time slot it occupied. Dumont just put 573 00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:22,400 Speaker 1: it on the air because they wanted to counter program 574 00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:27,360 Speaker 1: against Milton Borough. Milton Borough was enormously popular on NBC. 575 00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:31,120 Speaker 1: They figured, nobody's gonna watch Dumont anyway, everybody's gonna watch 576 00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:34,080 Speaker 1: Milton Borrowing, might as well put on something just the 577 00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:38,400 Speaker 1: sort of fill time, satisfy public service requirements for religious programming. 578 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:44,440 Speaker 1: But something unexpected happened. Sheen was an amazingly charismatic figure 579 00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:49,160 Speaker 1: on television. He was thin, well dressed. People I spoke 580 00:36:49,239 --> 00:36:52,719 Speaker 1: with who worked at Dumont talked about how handsome he was, 581 00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:55,880 Speaker 1: how that may have even been part of his popularity. 582 00:36:56,560 --> 00:36:59,439 Speaker 1: He would dress him full regalia, down to a purple cake. 583 00:37:00,200 --> 00:37:02,640 Speaker 1: Sheen had been a college lecturer and worked on radio. 584 00:37:03,320 --> 00:37:05,200 Speaker 1: He knew how to fill twenty eight minutes and hit 585 00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:07,760 Speaker 1: his mark. He wrote in the dust of the sims 586 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:12,240 Speaker 1: and to general brees seemed to come up so suddenly 587 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:18,200 Speaker 1: erase the writing. He mixed more overt Catholic teaching with 588 00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:23,239 Speaker 1: more general sort of wisdom for daily life morality, intensely 589 00:37:23,320 --> 00:37:26,600 Speaker 1: anti communists, because the Communist system cannot exist of a 590 00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:29,360 Speaker 1: man thinks for himself. And he was also sort of corny, 591 00:37:29,440 --> 00:37:32,040 Speaker 1: had to dry self effacing sense of humor. Final he 592 00:37:32,120 --> 00:37:36,040 Speaker 1: picked up the bowl, pulled it over his head and says, look, mom, 593 00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:40,120 Speaker 1: Bishop he there was nobody else like him on TV. 594 00:37:40,680 --> 00:37:43,040 Speaker 1: And for the people who didn't want to watch Milton Borough, 595 00:37:43,239 --> 00:37:48,120 Speaker 1: she represented a welcome and surprising alternative. Life is worth living. 596 00:37:48,239 --> 00:37:53,120 Speaker 1: Wasn't only popular with Catholics, the Protestants, Jews, Atheists, everybody. 597 00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:57,200 Speaker 1: Everybody watched Bishop Sheen. He was a huge celebrity and 598 00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:00,640 Speaker 1: an unlikely celebrity. We can be absolutely sure about the 599 00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:03,279 Speaker 1: worst in ourselves, but we can never be sure about 600 00:38:03,320 --> 00:38:04,960 Speaker 1: the worst that is in our neighbor. We can only 601 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:08,040 Speaker 1: suspect that now sententer, we can be sure of how 602 00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:10,440 Speaker 1: rotten we are. We certainly ought to be polite to 603 00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:13,920 Speaker 1: those people. We can't be so sure about some of 604 00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:17,880 Speaker 1: the critics were also proud that a Catholic fishop would 605 00:38:17,920 --> 00:38:20,160 Speaker 1: be sub popular, and they saw it as a symbol 606 00:38:20,360 --> 00:38:25,160 Speaker 1: of tolerance and acceptance of Catholics and the idea that 607 00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:28,600 Speaker 1: after World War Two, we're moving towards a more tolerant, 608 00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:32,440 Speaker 1: multi face society. And the show became a commercial success, 609 00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:36,239 Speaker 1: something essentially no other religious program has done in prime time. 610 00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:40,160 Speaker 1: Is because you will have heard something that was transtantently superior. 611 00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:43,440 Speaker 1: You will have heard something that was beyond all competitions. 612 00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:45,600 Speaker 1: You will have heard something the like of which is 613 00:38:45,640 --> 00:38:48,840 Speaker 1: not given on any other television program. You would have 614 00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:51,640 Speaker 1: hurt something that delights every father in the United States, 615 00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:55,440 Speaker 1: that's rails every mother, the pleas of every child. Namely, 616 00:38:55,920 --> 00:39:01,480 Speaker 1: a commercial about an Admill refrigerator actually attracted a sponsor, 617 00:39:01,640 --> 00:39:06,160 Speaker 1: not Dumont, but another television manufacturer, Admiral Television, sponsored Bishop Sheen, 618 00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:09,840 Speaker 1: which was unusual to have a commercial sponsor for this 619 00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:13,080 Speaker 1: kind of religious program, and again it was unusual for 620 00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:17,040 Speaker 1: religious program to be this popular in prime time. Life 621 00:39:17,160 --> 00:39:19,839 Speaker 1: Is Worth Living is the only Dumont program he might 622 00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:22,879 Speaker 1: see on the air today. Some of his programs still 623 00:39:23,080 --> 00:39:26,560 Speaker 1: turn up on the Eternal World Television network. You can 624 00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:29,200 Speaker 1: see his charisma, even though it is somewhat dated. I 625 00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:32,120 Speaker 1: think that we used to a lot more variety in 626 00:39:32,239 --> 00:39:35,200 Speaker 1: a TV show. But you can understand why people would 627 00:39:35,239 --> 00:39:37,160 Speaker 1: want to hear him. He was a good speaker. He 628 00:39:37,400 --> 00:39:40,840 Speaker 1: was learned, and he knew how to grab an audience. 629 00:39:40,880 --> 00:39:43,120 Speaker 1: And the doctor said, doing, do you feel a pressing 630 00:39:43,160 --> 00:39:47,160 Speaker 1: pain here on the forehead? Yes, said the patient, and 631 00:39:47,239 --> 00:39:50,440 Speaker 1: then rather throbbing pain in the back of the head, yes, 632 00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:54,840 Speaker 1: and then piercing pains here at the side. Yes. The 633 00:39:54,880 --> 00:40:01,160 Speaker 1: doctor said, You're halos aren't too tight. One of the 634 00:40:01,239 --> 00:40:04,840 Speaker 1: last talents to grace the Dumont schedule was comedian Ernie Kovacs. 635 00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:10,600 Speaker 1: How he was a late night pioneer. He was on 636 00:40:10,719 --> 00:40:13,800 Speaker 1: the Dumont late night schedule on the local station w 637 00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:17,239 Speaker 1: A b D. He had already done some local television 638 00:40:17,320 --> 00:40:19,960 Speaker 1: before he ended up on Dumont. But he really, let's 639 00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:22,680 Speaker 1: loose it Dumont. He is going to play the minute wall, 640 00:40:23,239 --> 00:40:25,799 Speaker 1: sitting on the tang of Dynamite with a one minute view. 641 00:40:27,480 --> 00:40:30,880 Speaker 1: This was in nineteen fifty four, as the Dumont network 642 00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:33,080 Speaker 1: itself is starting to wind down. We just want to 643 00:40:33,120 --> 00:40:35,120 Speaker 1: talk a little bit about a product with that data. 644 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:39,160 Speaker 1: I think you'll find it be necessary. He would do 645 00:40:39,320 --> 00:40:45,600 Speaker 1: these advertisements for these tiny sponsors, local restaurants, local bars 646 00:40:45,640 --> 00:40:49,560 Speaker 1: in the area. So he's sort of not quite big 647 00:40:49,680 --> 00:40:53,480 Speaker 1: time yet, but he's incredibly creative. And there's one kiniscope 648 00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:56,719 Speaker 1: of Kovacs at Dumont that survives from this late night show. 649 00:40:57,480 --> 00:40:59,560 Speaker 1: It's at the Museum of TV and Radio. It doesn't 650 00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:02,560 Speaker 1: circle it as far as I know among collectors, but 651 00:41:02,719 --> 00:41:05,239 Speaker 1: you could see some of his relaxed style, some of 652 00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:09,759 Speaker 1: his creativity. He was terrific and an important forerunner of 653 00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:12,960 Speaker 1: later late night programs, whether it was running through the audience, 654 00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:15,319 Speaker 1: wait mun't. He was just one second, I've got to say, 655 00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:18,440 Speaker 1: or a sort of casual improvisational field. I just saw 656 00:41:18,560 --> 00:41:22,040 Speaker 1: you over here. How to gentlemen? I'm sure you both 657 00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:25,600 Speaker 1: you know both whom you both know with job both. 658 00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:29,040 Speaker 1: That's sort of a raggedy late night show. And this 659 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:32,680 Speaker 1: was before the Tonight Show went national, and then obviously 660 00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:35,440 Speaker 1: before a lot of the late night shows that were 661 00:41:35,480 --> 00:41:40,080 Speaker 1: more familiar with today. Collbax was known for experimentation, crazy 662 00:41:40,200 --> 00:41:45,160 Speaker 1: camera tricks, oel members, invisible people, invisible girl friend. He 663 00:41:45,200 --> 00:41:48,480 Speaker 1: would go upside down. He would do split screens. He 664 00:41:48,600 --> 00:41:50,879 Speaker 1: would do a trick and then maybe pull the camera 665 00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:53,720 Speaker 1: back so you could see how he did the trick. Actually, 666 00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:55,239 Speaker 1: they don't take pictures with us at all. It's just 667 00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:57,960 Speaker 1: a portable bar. But I think even more than that, 668 00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:03,320 Speaker 1: he liked unpredictability. He like sort of weirdness. This is 669 00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:07,200 Speaker 1: proper mood. Uh. In here they keep the olives and 670 00:42:07,200 --> 00:42:10,600 Speaker 1: the lemon rhind and down here this little bourbon plask 671 00:42:10,680 --> 00:42:13,040 Speaker 1: who has a two running out here. This runs up 672 00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:17,920 Speaker 1: into the executive's office upstairs. He's constantly using the camera 673 00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:21,800 Speaker 1: to surprise viewers and then sometimes literally opening up the 674 00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:24,480 Speaker 1: camera the camera is broken. I heard him what what 675 00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:30,000 Speaker 1: seems to be the trouble vertical deflection. Oh good, or 676 00:42:30,280 --> 00:42:32,520 Speaker 1: constructing a camera and moved back there. Show him how 677 00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:34,879 Speaker 1: you did that, that kind of thing. As he would 678 00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:40,400 Speaker 1: run through the audience. He's really the entire studio almost 679 00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:44,360 Speaker 1: like his playpen. And there's a sort of anarchic spirit 680 00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:45,840 Speaker 1: there that I think you see on a lot of 681 00:42:45,880 --> 00:42:49,920 Speaker 1: Dumont program Cove actually epitomizes it, where you never know 682 00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:52,800 Speaker 1: what he'll do next or what he'll say next, and 683 00:42:52,920 --> 00:42:55,239 Speaker 1: it's live and it's okay because even if he makes 684 00:42:55,280 --> 00:42:59,879 Speaker 1: a mistake, it's over. It's ephemeral. You're gonna see something 685 00:43:00,000 --> 00:43:02,120 Speaker 1: else the next second, and nobody's ever going to see 686 00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:04,719 Speaker 1: it unless Sarah crazy researcher hunting it down at the 687 00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:09,160 Speaker 1: Museum of TV and Radio. All efforts aside, the end 688 00:43:09,480 --> 00:43:13,800 Speaker 1: was imminent. I mean, at this point, Dumont is losing money. 689 00:43:14,440 --> 00:43:17,440 Speaker 1: They don't have the money to compete with the other networks, 690 00:43:18,239 --> 00:43:22,000 Speaker 1: and they start to sell off the company. First, they 691 00:43:22,040 --> 00:43:25,480 Speaker 1: have two television stations left that they own. They sell 692 00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:27,960 Speaker 1: both of those in the summer. In nineteen fifty five, 693 00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:32,799 Speaker 1: they cease network operations, and by nineteen fifty six they've 694 00:43:32,840 --> 00:43:36,440 Speaker 1: broadcast their less programs as the Dumont Network. The other 695 00:43:36,520 --> 00:43:40,360 Speaker 1: half of the company continued manufacturing receivers under the Moniker 696 00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:43,680 Speaker 1: of Dumont Laboratories, but was also sold off a few 697 00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:47,480 Speaker 1: years later. Ellen Dumonts did on as a technical director 698 00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:52,879 Speaker 1: until he passed away. In I think, especially later in life, 699 00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:57,160 Speaker 1: he was probably angry, maybe even a little bit bitter. 700 00:43:58,120 --> 00:44:01,279 Speaker 1: The company that he founded, that carried his name, that 701 00:44:01,400 --> 00:44:03,640 Speaker 1: was well known, had almost become a laughing stock. One 702 00:44:03,680 --> 00:44:06,320 Speaker 1: of the executives that they changed their name from Dumont 703 00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:09,520 Speaker 1: because the Dumont name had been so tarnished and it 704 00:44:09,640 --> 00:44:12,040 Speaker 1: still is now almost a joke. Hey, how old is 705 00:44:12,080 --> 00:44:14,640 Speaker 1: this TV? You can probably get the Dumont network on 706 00:44:14,760 --> 00:44:18,399 Speaker 1: this thing. Cartoon like Family Guy or The Simpsons will 707 00:44:19,040 --> 00:44:23,520 Speaker 1: use Dumont to symbolize something that's antiquated, something that didn't work, 708 00:44:23,640 --> 00:44:26,400 Speaker 1: or failure or some kind and I think Alan Dumont, 709 00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:31,400 Speaker 1: as the namesake, felt that very keenly. I think more broadly, 710 00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:36,200 Speaker 1: he was also very disappointed about television as a medium. 711 00:44:37,239 --> 00:44:40,719 Speaker 1: There was a real optimism, under sort of rhetoric of 712 00:44:40,800 --> 00:44:44,720 Speaker 1: optimism around television as it came up in the thirties 713 00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:49,440 Speaker 1: and through the forties, that it's going to bring people closer, 714 00:44:49,800 --> 00:44:54,000 Speaker 1: it's going to expose political phonies, it's going to educate people, 715 00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:56,319 Speaker 1: it's going to sort of bring the best of arts 716 00:44:56,400 --> 00:45:01,120 Speaker 1: and culture. And that was very much keeping with Alan 717 00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:07,200 Speaker 1: Dumont's vision, and that's not what television became. And I 718 00:45:07,320 --> 00:45:09,879 Speaker 1: think even what Dumont did well out of this sort 719 00:45:09,920 --> 00:45:16,000 Speaker 1: of creative commercial shows, we're not shows that Allen Dumont 720 00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:21,920 Speaker 1: particularly liked or even understood. And as television evolved through 721 00:45:21,960 --> 00:45:26,520 Speaker 1: the fifties and as it became very much an entertainment 722 00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:32,200 Speaker 1: driven commercial medium, with a limited number of these more 723 00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:35,320 Speaker 1: high minded educational programs. I think that he felt like 724 00:45:35,400 --> 00:45:39,360 Speaker 1: he created a monster, that he was responsible for something 725 00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:43,200 Speaker 1: that really has had a negative effect on the country. 726 00:45:45,440 --> 00:45:48,239 Speaker 1: The company that bought the New York facilities inherited a 727 00:45:48,280 --> 00:45:53,880 Speaker 1: warehouse storing vintage Dumont kinescopes in the nineties seventies. To 728 00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:57,200 Speaker 1: make room for newer materials, the old film reels were 729 00:45:57,239 --> 00:46:23,560 Speaker 1: carded off and dumped in the East River. Moment Write 730 00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:38,560 Speaker 1: You when You're Minor and he that My Phone and 731 00:46:38,719 --> 00:46:47,239 Speaker 1: My Ephemeral is written and assembled by and produced by 732 00:46:47,440 --> 00:46:51,960 Speaker 1: Annie Reese, Matt Frederick, and Trista McNeil, with technical assistance 733 00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:56,320 Speaker 1: from Sherry Larson, an additional mixing from Josh than Special. 734 00:46:56,400 --> 00:47:00,719 Speaker 1: Thanks this episode to Casey Pegram. David Wine's most recent 735 00:47:00,800 --> 00:47:03,800 Speaker 1: book is The Eddie Cantor Story, A Jewish Life in 736 00:47:03,920 --> 00:47:08,200 Speaker 1: performance and Politics. Learn more about him at David M. 737 00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:12,120 Speaker 1: Weinstein dot com and more about us at Ephemeral dot 738 00:47:12,239 --> 00:47:46,400 Speaker 1: chet ma comring I I s got a little story 739 00:47:46,440 --> 00:47:54,200 Speaker 1: about next Time on Ephemeral. As a kid, Franz Liz's 740 00:47:54,280 --> 00:47:57,960 Speaker 1: father would tell him scary stories before bed. Only these 741 00:47:58,040 --> 00:48:02,719 Speaker 1: stories were true. My father, there was a scientist, engineer, 742 00:48:03,000 --> 00:48:07,680 Speaker 1: inventor who never really had much use for fairy tales. 743 00:48:08,560 --> 00:48:13,600 Speaker 1: He preferred real life grotesqueries to fiction, and so at 744 00:48:13,719 --> 00:48:18,960 Speaker 1: that time I would listen raptly to his urban horror stories, 745 00:48:19,080 --> 00:48:22,719 Speaker 1: which are tales that filled the dark with camera and 746 00:48:23,000 --> 00:48:28,239 Speaker 1: boogeyman and golems. The most maccabre tale was one of 747 00:48:28,320 --> 00:48:36,840 Speaker 1: the Coler Brothers, the hermit Hoarders of Harlem. Any reason 748 00:48:36,960 --> 00:48:44,400 Speaker 1: like that alliteration this it is in the world wide 749 00:48:44,520 --> 00:48:49,680 Speaker 1: world and interact with us and social media at the 750 00:48:54,080 --> 00:49:03,080 Speaker 1: podcast and media is that the media Apple podcasts are 751 00:49:03,160 --> 00:49:05,840 Speaker 1: will ever using your favorite charms.