S.S. United States, 1952, additional image

This is a photograph of the S.S. United States, at Pier 86, New York City, the day of its July 3, 1952 maiden voyage.

(Photo copyright UPI/Corbis-Bettmann, from a postcard published by Graphique de France, Boston, USA/Paris, France)

S.S. United States, July 3, 1952

On July 3, 1952 (sixty years ago today), the S.S. United States ocean liner began its maiden voyage, from New York to England.

The historic passenger ship, which went out of service in 1969, has been docked on the Philadelphia waterfront since the 1990s.

As I have noted, in previous posts, the S.S. United States plays a part in my book about early television.

On June 28, 1952, five days before the ship's maiden voyage, the last telecast of Your Hit Parade, for the 1951-1952 season, took place on the ship. (It was my mother's last appearance on the program.  She sang the song "I'm Yours" from the ship's wheelhouse.)

The S.S. United States Conservancy is an organization devoted to the ship's preservation. The group took ownership of the ocean liner in 2011, with the assistance of Philadelphia philanthropist H. F. "Gerry" Lenfest.

For more information about the Conservancy (and to learn more about the ship, and its history), please click on the following link:

http://www.ssunitedstatesconservancy.org/

(Black and white photograph, above, of NBC cameraman, and S.S. United States, June, 1952; used by permission of Lost Gold Entertainment, Inc.  Color photograph of S.S. United States, Philadelphia waterfront, January, 2008; copyright Jenny Lynn)

"Maverick: Legend of the West"

Writer, commentator, and radio host Ed Robertson recently came out with a revised edition of his 1994 book about the television series Maverick.

The book, Maverick: Legend of the West, was published in May.

Here is the book’s amazon.com page:

http://www.amazon.com/MAVERICK-Legend-West-Ed-Robertson/dp/1477421920/

Robertson, who is a friend, has also written books about the television programs The Rockford Files and The Fugitive.  He is interviewed often about television-related matters, and is (as noted previously in this space) the host of the weekly radio talk show TV Confidential.

http://www.tvconfidential.net/ 

More about Ed Robertson can be found at this link: http://www.edrobertson.com/.

Recommended Reading: "Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes," by Adam Ried

I’m not hosting my weekly radio show, tonight, on the Internet station “Radio Once More.” The show will return next week.

I’d like to mention, however, a very enjoyable book by an author who recently appeared on the program. (Actually, it was his second visit to the program.  He was a terrific guest on both occasions.)

Adam Ried is the cooking columnist for The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine. His book, Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes, was first brought out in 2009 by the publisher W.W. Norton. The softcover edition of the book came out this month, also published by Norton.

The book includes recipes for familiar milkshakes—vanilla, chocolate, strawberry. Yet much of the book highlights the idea of what Ried calls “milkshake modernization.” The book, for example, presents recipes for “Mexican Chocolate Shake with Chipotle and Almond,” “Chocolate-Tangerine Shake,” “Chocolate-Guinness Shake,” “Peanut-Molasses Shake,” “Peach Shake with Brandy and Nutmeg,” and “Malted Caramel Shake.”

Here is the amazon link for the book:

http://www.amazon.com/Thoroughly-Modern-Milkshakes-Creamy-Shakes/dp/0393342778/

Here, too, is the address for Adam Ried’s website:

http://www.adamried.com/

(Above image: the cover of the softcover edition of Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes)

Merwyn Bogue and Sue Bennett, Cleveland-area TV magazine, November, 1950

From the second season of Kay Kyser’s television show, on NBC: a photo of Ish Kabibble (Merwyn Bogue), and my mother, Sue Bennett, on a November, 1950 cover of TV Today, a television guide from the Cleveland area. The magazine also featured listings for television stations in Toledo, Ohio, and Detroit and Lansing, Michigan.

There was no story, inside the issue, about the Kay Kyser program (other than a brief description of the cover photo).

One brief feature in the issue (as noted on the magazine’s cover) concerned television’s “Worst Show.” Readers were asked to submit nominations; the winner of the contest was Mrs. A. L. McCleary of Detroit. She argued, in a letter to the magazine, that TV’s worst show was the quiz/game program Beat the Clock. (This, despite noting that she liked the show’s host—who, though unnamed in the letter, was Bud Collyer—“very much.” )

Though selecting her as the contest’s winner, the editors disagreed with her view of the program, writing that Beat the Clock was “pretty good entertainment.” (Incidentally, Mrs. McCleary, in her letter, made note of her fondness for other quiz shows—such as What’s My Line, Kay Kyser’s program, “and many others.”) The article is presented here via two scans.

Here are three images from 1950.  The first two are from a January, 1950 issue of TeleVision Guide, a New York-area magazine; the magazine later became TV Guide. Kay Kyser, whose television show had made its debut on NBC the month before, is featured on the cover. Also seen here:  the first page of the article about Kay Kyser, from inside the issue.  The photograph is of Kay Kyser and my mother.

In the third image, also from the time my mother sang on Kay Kyser's TV show, she is seen on the cover of TV Showtime, an Omaha-based television guide.  The issue is from May of 1950.

President Kennedy

President Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917.

It is startling to realize that had JFK lived, he would, this week, have turned ninety-five years old.

(Above:  a postcard of the Kennedy home in Hyannisport, Massachusetts.  I got the postcard in the 1960s, during childhood.)