I remember, in the 1960s, watching television programs whose sponsors figured prominently in the broadcasts--Kraft programs, for example, with Ed Herlihy as the announcer and product spokesman, and Hallmark-sponsored shows.
On various shows, during the 1960s--and perhaps into the 1970s as well--you often heard that a certain program was "Brought to you by..." A sponsor--or multiple sponsors--would be mentioned.
When watching television today, one rarely, if ever, knows what commercials will be seen during a given program.
For many late 1940s and early 1950s TV shows, viewers knew, beforehand, which brands would be promoted during the shows--in that any number of early TV programs were sponsored by particular companies and products--shows such as the Kraft Television Theatre, the Philco Television Playhouse, the Texaco Star Theatre, the Colgate Comedy Hour, Inside U.S.A with Chevrolet, and others. There was also NBC's musical show Your Hit Parade (which I have written about frequently, here); it was known, more informally (for years, on radio, and then on television) as the Lucky Strike Hit Parade.
I recently came upon the following video, made from a kinescope, of the March 24, 1951 telecast of the Hit Parade.
The video is from the YouTube channel "Free the Kinescopes!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX0gZYAsXrc
The telecast took place the month after my mother, Sue Bennett, joined the program. She was, at the time, featured in the show's live production numbers for Lucky Strike, commercials which appeared near the middle of the program; they were referred to, behind-the-scenes, as the show's "extravaganza" commercials. The commercials aired only during the show's first season.
The commercials, each week, featured singers and dancers, and were, in essence, brief playlets.
The settings of the commercials changed each week--featuring, for example, seasonal subjects, holiday subjects, and the like. The lyrics to a Lucky Strike song which was the focus of the commercials changed for each telecast.
The commercial in the March 24, 1951 video referred--though, really, only minimally--to Easter. Easter Sunday occurred the next day.
The commercial begins at approximately 10 minutes and 50 seconds from the video's start; it lasts about 2 and 1/2 minutes.
There were several performers in the March 24th commercial.
Singer Snooky Lanson introduced the commercial, speaking for about a minute about Lucky Strikes.
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| Snooky Lanson, March 1951 Lucky Strike commercial |
He concluded with: "And now neighbor, put on your Easter bonnet, and let's have a happy-go-lucky fling down Fifth Avenue, to the Fifth Avenue Parade."
Hit Parade dancer Bobby Trelease was dressed as the Easter bunny. Dancer Lenny Claret appeared in top hat and tails.
My mother and singer Russell Arms were featured each week in the "extravaganza" commercials--and they were both also featured, at the time, in commercials on the weekly NBC Radio version of the show.
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| Liza Palmer, 1951 commercial |
A third performer was typically added to the TV show's extravaganza presentations. I have a copy of a 1951 broadcast in which singer Betty Clooney was the third featured vocalist, and have seen at least a couple of broadcasts in which the third singer--as in this telecast--was Liza Palmer.
My mother and Liza Palmer had performed together previously. In December of 1949, when bandleader Kay Kyser's television show began airing on NBC, the program's featured male vocalist was Michael (Mike) Douglas, and its two featured female vocalists were Liza Palmer and my mother (Ms. Palmer, though, would leave the show in March of 1950).
Ms. Palmer and Russell Arms had married in 1949. The two were featured on a weekly ABC-TV quiz program, Chance of a Lifetime, which aired from 1950 to 1951. The show's host was John Reed King; authors Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, in their well-known television encyclopedia, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present, note that singers Palmer and Arms provided musical clues to the show's contestants.
Ms. Palmer appeared as the first featured singer in the March 24th commercial. Mr. Arms appeared as the second singer, portraying a press photographer. My mother was the commercial's third singer.
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| Russell Arms, "photographing" Liza Palmer, 1951 commercial |
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| Sue Bennett, 1951 commercial |
The extravaganza production numbers were not, to be sure, the only Lucky Strike commercials on the Hit Parade.
The program's popular "Be Happy, Go Lucky" jingle (written by the show's orchestra leader Raymond Scott) was sung by a group of unseen vocalists, during the program's (pre-recorded, I am sure) introduction; the jingle was then played instrumentally, by the show's orchestra, as the introduction continued.
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| Dorothy Collins in the Lucky Strike bull's-eye, March 1951 |
This was followed by a live Lucky Strike commercial featuring singer Dorothy Collins, who stood within the program's Lucky Strike "bull's-eye"; the bull's-eye was an enlarged likeness of the center of the Lucky Strike cigarette pack. Ms. Collins appeared again within the bull's-eye near the end of each telecast, speaking about Lucky Strike (and singing briefly, with off-camera vocalists, the conclusion to the "Be Happy, Go Lucky" jingle).
The "Be Happy, Go Lucky" jingle was also heard during the mid-show extravaganza numbers, sung by off-camera vocalists.
Later in the 1950-1951 season, in addition to performing in the Lucky Strike commercials, my mother began singing in some of the show's regular musical production numbers.
With the start of the 1951-1952 season, the extravaganza presentations were replaced by standard filmed commercials. Dorothy Collins, Snooky Lanson, and Eileen Wilson remained the show's primary singing stars. With the new season, my mother became, officially, a featured singer on the program; Russell Arms, likewise, sang regularly that season in the show's musical numbers. Eileen Wilson, and my mother, left the program at the close of the 1951-1952 season.
During the 1952-1953 season, Mr. Arms would become one of the Hit Parade's primary stars, along with Ms. Collins, Mr. Lanson, and newly-added singer June Valli. Ms. Valli was replaced, the following season, by singer Gisele MacKenzie.
Ms. MacKenzie, Mr. Lanson, Ms. Collins, and Mr. Arms starred together, on the show, from 1953 until 1957. This foursome became, certainly, the best-remembered cast in the TV show's history.
(Images from 1951 Your Hit Parade commercial, © Lost Gold Entertainment, Inc.)
