Gisele MacKenzie

A posting a few days ago on “Master of My Public Domain” (http://www.masterofmypublicdomain.blogspot.com/), Michael Coston’s very enjoyable nostalgia-oriented blog (referred to previously in this space), concerns the singer Gisele MacKenzie.

Gisele MacKenzie starred on the TV version of Your Hit Parade (along with singers Dorothy Collins, Snooky Lanson, and Russell Arms) from 1953 until 1957.

While interviews with Collins, Lanson, and Arms appear in my book, Ms. MacKenzie is only referred to briefly; the book’s focus on early network television largely concludes in 1952, before MacKenzie joined the show. Yet MacKenzie remains one of the Hit Parade’s best-remembered stars.

Here’s the link to Michael’s posting about her:

http://masterofmypublicdomain.blogspot.com/2009/10/as-graceful-as-gisele.html

"As I Saw It," by Mike Dann

Recently read, and enjoyed, the book As I Saw It--subtitled, The Inside Story of the Golden Years of Television.

The book, by the well-known television executive Mike Dann (as told to writer Paul Berger), is published by Levine Mesa Press. (see http://www.levinemesapress.com/, and http://www.mikedannasisawit.com/)

It concerns the period Dann worked at NBC-TV, in the late 1940s and 1950s--as well as his more prominent tenure (from 1958 until 1970) at CBS-TV, where he ultimately became senior vice president in charge of programming.

I learned of the book because of Dann's recent appearance on the Internet radio show "TV Confidential," hosted by Ed Robertson and Frankie Montiforte. (see: http://www.shokusradio.com/, and http://www.tvconfidential.net/)

The S.S. United States, in The Wall St. Journal

Learned of this story, which appears in today's Wall Street Journal, via the e-mail newsletter of the S.S. United States Conservancy.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125417162355547323.html#

For more information about the Conservancy:

http://www.ssunitedstatesconservancy.org/SSUS/Home.html

As noted previously in this space, the S.S. United States was the site of the last telecast, for the 1951-1952 season, of the TV show "Your Hit Parade"; the telecast took place five days prior to the ship's maiden voyage. The ship, and the telecast, are written about in The Lucky Strike Papers.

Milton DeLugg, Wednesday on Shokus Internet Radio

Stu Shostak is the owner and program director of Shokus Internet Radio; he’s also the host of various Shokus talk shows. (I recently appeared on the Shokus program “TV Confidential,” hosted by Ed Robertson and Frankie Montiforte.)

This Wednesday (9/16), between 7 and 9 p.m. (EST), Stu Shostak’s weeknight program (“Stu’s Show”) will feature an interview with the well-known musician, bandleader, and songwriter Milton DeLugg.

DeLugg has had a fascinating career. (An interview with DeLugg—who starred on many programs during the era of early television—is featured in my book.) He was the co-writer (with Willie Stein) of the song “Orange Colored Sky,” a hit record in 1950 for Nat King Cole. With Frank Loesser, he wrote 1950’s “Hoop-Dee-Doo,” recorded by Perry Como. He was the orchestra leader on early television's first late-night hit show, Broadway Open House, in the 1960s was the musical director, for a time, on The Tonight Show, and later was the bandleader on The Gong Show. He has, through the years, been a prominent music producer and arranger, and he continues to serve as musical director of New York’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

My mother and DeLugg worked together in the fall of 1952, on Breakfast with Music, a local, five-morning-a-week New York TV show, which starred Morey Amsterdam. DeLugg was the show’s musical director.

To listen to Wednesday night’s interview with Milton DeLugg, please go to: http://shokusradio.com/

(Above photo: Milton DeLugg, on Broadway Open House)

"TV Confidential" interview, and William Schallert

On Monday night, I’ll be making a return visit to the Internet talk show “TV Confidential,” now originating at Shokus Internet Radio (http://www.shokusradio.com/). The show’s hosts are Ed Robertson and Frankie Montiforte.

The program will air Monday night, from 10:00 p.m. (EST) until midnight. It will also be rebroadcast the next night (11 p.m., EST), on Share-A-Vision Radio (http://www.ksav.org/). The show formerly originated at KSAV.

I’ll be on for about forty-five minutes during the first hour; one of the subjects we’ll be discussing is the career of bandleader Kay Kyser.

The show’s second hour will feature an interview with William Schallert. Schallert is one of the most recognizable actors in TV history; he has appeared on countless television shows, through the years. Many 1960s television fans will remember his role as Martin Lane, the father of Patty Duke’s character, on The Patty Duke Show.

For additional information about the career of William Schallert, please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0769974/

For more information about “TV Confidential,” please see: http://www.tvconfidential.net/.

(Above photo: William Schallert)

A discount

The cover price of The Lucky Strike Papers is $24.95. For a limited period of time, the book (which is softbound) is being offered, via my web site, for $18.95. Media Mail shipping, with Delivery Confirmation, is included.

To order the book, please go to: http://www.luckystrikepapers.com/

August, 1949

While my book concerns the early years of television—largely covering the period 1949 until 1952—it also concerns family history: my late mother’s relationship to the era.

Though her first appearance on TV took place near the end of 1948—she sang, as a guest, on a show on CBS-TV (at the time, she had a singing role in a Broadway revue)—her career in television really began in 1949.

1949 was also the year my parents met one another. When they married, later that year—sixty years ago today—my mother was twenty-one, and my father was twenty-eight. My father is now 88; my mother passed away in 2001, at age 73.