Snooky Lanson, and the "Five Star Jubilee"

This is a photograph from a 1961 NBC television show, Five Star Jubilee.  

The photo features singer Snooky Lanson--about whom I've written, here, many times. (From 1950 until 1957, Mr. Lanson was one of the stars of NBC-TV's Your Hit Parade.)

Five Star Jubilee, a country music-oriented variety program, was telecast live from Springfield, Missouri, and had five rotating stars:  Mr. Lanson, Tex Ritter, Rex Allen, Carl Smith, and Jimmy Wakely.

The program was a half-hour long, and aired Friday nights, from March to September of 1961.  Originally, the show was seen from 8:00 to 8:30 p.m.  Beginning in May, its start-time was moved to 8:30 p.m.

A press release accompanying the photograph concerned the May scheduling change--as well as the changing look of the program (at least for some viewers).  It noted that the series, "now broadcast in black and white, joins NBC-TV's color lineup starting May 12."

(Photo © NBCUniversal Media, LLC)

June 19, 1865/June 19, 2023

I've begun reading On Juneteenth, a book of essays by the prominent historian Annette Gordon-Reed. The book was published in May of 2021, the month before Juneteenth was designated a federal holiday.

https://www.amazon.com/Juneteenth-Annette-Gordon-Reed/dp/1631498835/

Ms. Gordon-Reed is perhaps best known for her 2008 book, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family. The book received the 2008 National Book Award for Nonfiction, and, in 2009, the Pulitzer Prize for History.

https://www.amazon.com/Hemingses-Monticello-American-Family-ebook/dp/B001FA0ONM/

Dave Garroway biography, by Jodie Peeler

I have written previously, in this space, about Mitchell Hadley's website "It's About TV" (https://www.itsabouttv.com/). It is through the website that I became aware of the author, and academic, Jodie Peeler.

Over time, Mitchell kept his readers updated about Dr. Peeler's biography-in-progress about the singular, much-admired television host Dave Garroway.  Dr. Peeler, a Professor of Communications at Newberry College in South Carolina, has also written occasional guest essays for "It's About TV." 

Her book about Mr. Garroway is now out; it was released May 1st.

Mr. Garroway was without question one of the most interesting, engaging personalities in American television history. 

He was, of course, the original host of NBC's Today show (he was host from 1952 to 1961)--and also starred on the NBC variety programs Garroway at Large (1949-1951), and The Dave Garroway Show (1953-1954). From 1955 until 1958, he was host of the documentary series Wide Wide World, which aired Sunday afternoons on NBC. He was also known for his work in radio--such as, serving as one of the "Communicators" on the noted NBC radio show Monitor; he appeared on the program from the mid-1950s, when the show began airing, until 1961.  

Mr. Garroway died in 1982 at age 69, from suicide.

Dr. Peeler's book (the first full-length biography of Mr. Garroway) is titled Peace: The Wide, Wide World of Dave Garroway, Television’s Original Master Communicator.  It was written with Dave Garroway, Jr. (one of Mr. Garroway's three children), and Brandon Hollingsworth, and is published by Tyger River Books.  I'm looking forward to reading it.

Here is a link to purchase the book:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/peace-the-wide-wide-world-of-dave-garroway-television-s-original-master-communicator-jodie-peeler/20094006

Here, too, is a 2017 Mitchell Hadley interview with Jodie Peeler, about Mr. Garroway.

https://www.itsabouttv.com/2017/08/the-its-about-tv-interview-jodie-peeler.html

Lastly, this is the link to the Wikipedia page about Mr. Garroway:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Garroway

Anniversaries

Today is the seventy-ninth anniversary of D-Day--June 6, 1944.

And, Robert F. Kennedy died fifty-five years ago today--on June 6, 1968.  He was forty-two.

Mr. Kennedy was shot not long after midnight, on June 5th, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles; he had just won the California Democratic presidential primary.  He died twenty-five hours later.