"Trash or Treasure," the DuMont Network, 1952

I've had the photograph, below, for a while.  It is from November of 1952, and is of a weekly program on the DuMont Television Network, Trash or Treasure.

The program, an early-TV precursor to Antiques Roadshow (which began airing on PBS in 1997), featured appraiser Sigmund Rothschild.

Mr. Rothschild's appraisals had previously--in 1948 and 1949--been the focus of another show, on CBS-TV, called What's it Worth. (The show's host, during that time, was Gil Fates. Fates would later produce CBS's What's My Line?, beginning with its debut in 1950; he produced the show until its network run ended in 1967--and then produced, for a number of years, the syndicated versions which followed.)

 

Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, in their Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946--Present (Ballantine Books, multiple editions), note that after What's it Worth, Mr. Rothschild was--from 1950 to 1952--a periodic guest on Kate Smith's daytime television show on NBC; his segments on Ms. Smith's show were called "Trash or Treasure."

Mr. Rothschild then brought his program--now also called Trash or Treasure--to the DuMont Network in October of 1952. 

To the left of the above photograph is the show's announcer/host, broadcast veteran Nelson Case. He had for years been a network radio announcer (for such programs as The Lanny Ross Show, The Lowell Thomas Show, The Carnation Contented Hour, the NBC Symphony Orchestra program, and The Vaughn Monroe Show), and then began working in television. I don't know the identity of the man standing between Mr. Case and Mr. Rothschild in the photograph. Perhaps he was the owner of the item being handled by Mr. Rothschild--an item I am assuming was in some way related to, or possibly a part of, the lock mechanism at the front of the table (a lock, as indicated in the handwritten notes on the back of the photo, manufactured by the Yale & Towne Company).

Nelson Case appeared on Trash or Treasure from its DuMont debut in 1952 until March of 1953. When he left the show, his position was taken over by Bill Wendell. 

The program (the title of which was changed, the month after Mr. Case's departure, to Treasure Hunt) aired until October of that year.

In 1952 and 1953, one also notes, Bill Wendell was the host of another DuMont program, Stage a Number.  As Mr. Brooks and Mr. Marsh write, in their television encyclopedia: "This was one of many low-budget talent shows on TV during the early years.  The acts presented [on the program] were young professionals, or aspiring professionals, who were introduced by a 'sponsor' and then 'staged their number' before a panel of show-business judges (producers, actors, etc.)."  Mr. Brooks and Mr. Marsh write: "The acts tended to be theatrical, such as dramatic acting or ballet, with several appearances by the Nina Youshkevitch Ballet Workshop, among others."

In the mid-1950s, Mr. Wendell was the announcer for (and participated in sketches on) a morning TV show starring Ernie Kovacs, which aired on NBC.  He was also part of another Ernie Kovacs program--the summer replacement, in 1956, for Sid Caesar's NBC show Caesar's Hour.  Mr. Wendell became well-known, through the years, for the various game shows on which he served as announcer.  He was also the announcer for the full run of David Letterman's late-night show on NBC (on which he occasionally also appeared in sketches), and remained with the program, for a couple of years, after the show moved to CBS.

(Above photograph:  Nelson Case, at left; unidentified man, at center; Sigmund Rothschild, at right.) 

(Update, 8/31/23:  The Ernie Kovacs mid-1950s morning television show, referred to above, was not, as I had understood it, a local New York show; it was, in fact, a network program, on NBC. The post has been corrected.)

Raymond Chandler, in "Double Indemnity"

A favorite film has long been 1944's Double Indemnity, directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, and Edward G. Robinson. 

The movie's script was written by Mr. Wilder and the novelist Raymond Chandler, and was based on the novel of the same name by James M. Cain.

I've seen Double Indemnity a number of times, yet never knew, until just recently, that Raymond Chandler appears in the film.

Mr. Chandler is seen in the movie for only a few seconds. He is seated outside the office of Barton Keyes, the insurance investigator played by Mr. Robinson.  Walter Neff (Mr. MacMurray) sells policies for the same insurance agency, and leaves Keyes's office.  Mr. Chandler is in a chair, holding a cigarette and reading a book, or perhaps a magazine.  He looks up as Walter Neff passes by. 

Here is the scene, from YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN9THMXxndw

Announcer André Baruch, and "Your Hit Parade"

The images, in this post, are from the January, 2023 issue of Radiogram magazine, which is published by the California-based Old-Time Radio group SPERDVAC (the Society to Preserve and Encourage  Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy).

This particular feature, in the January issue, contains a page of script from a May 1938 radio broadcast of Your Hit Parade.  The page shows, interestingly, the marks and symbols announcer André Baruch made on the script to guide, or perhaps reinforce, his reading of it during the program.  

The Radiogram feature--which contains an explanatory guide to the markings Mr. Baruch made use of--was, Radiogram notes, adapted from a story in a 1938 issue of Radio Stars magazine.

The attention to detail, as indicated in the markings, is illuminating; the notes make clear how meticulously a network announcer such as Mr. Baruch approached his work, the care given to the words and phrasings.  There are markings regarding particular emphases, pauses, changes in tone. One symbol means: "Long sentence. Take deep breath." Another indicates:  "Drop inflection, as with comma." 

During his lengthy, legendary career Mr. Baruch was the announcer for many network programs, in addition to radio's Hit Parade (including, on radio, The Shadow and The Kate Smith Show, and the television version of the Hit Parade). His announcing was invariably crisp, lively, authoritative; there was a feeling of elegance to it. 

Mr. Baruch was married to singer Bea Wain, one of the best-known stars of the radio Hit Parade (and one of the most popular, and most admired, singers of the big band era).  After World War Two, the couple hosted a music show on New York radio station WMCA; in the 1970s and 1980s they hosted other radio programs together, both music- and talk-oriented.

Mr. Baruch died in 1991, at age 83. Ms. Wain died in 2017, at age 100.

 

 

 

 

(Above images © Radiogram magazine and SPERDVAC, 2023)