"Places, Please," CBS-TV, 1948-1949

At the close of the summer of 1948, my mother graduated from Syracuse University, and in the fall of that year became a cast member in a Broadway musical revue, Small Wonder (which starred Tom Ewell). Toward the end of the year, while performing in the play, she made a singing appearance on a CBS-TV variety and talent program, Places, Please. It was the first television program on which she appeared. Soon afterwards, she sang on the show again.  

Places, Please, a Monday/Wednesday/Friday evening fifteen-minute program, aired in 1948 and 1949.  

As New York Times critic Jack Gould noted, in 1948, Places, Please was "devoted to giving youngsters in the entertainment world a chance to be heard and seen." The show's host was Barry Wood, who had had great success as a singer, both on records, and on radio; from 1939 until 1943, he had starred on the radio show Your Hit Parade. He was succeeded on the program by Frank Sinatra. 

Until recently, I had never seen a kinescope (or, as would most often be the case, a video made from a kinescope) of Places, Please. In late December I came upon a segment of one of the telecasts, on YouTube, though I do not know its date. The segment features dancer and singer Don Liberto. Liberto, seen in the YouTube image above, had, by this time, appeared in a number of Broadway plays.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6des2qYJvIU 

I like the simplicity of the segment; it has an appealingly spare quality. Liberto dances and sings in front of a curtain, accompanied only by a pianist. One sees only part of the piano, to one side of the stage (the pianist is not visible). There is not a full audience; rather, there are a handful of people, seated at the other side of the stage, watching Liberto perform. The group (seen in the image above) includes Barry Wood, and three young women wearing sweaters adorned with the letters "CBS."  

Here is the Wikipedia page about Barry Wood, who died in 1970:  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Wood_(singer) 

Performer Don Liberto died in 2010. Here is an obituary, from the show business publication Variety: 

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118027059/?refCatId=25 

Science on Radio and Television

In 2011, on my "Radio Once More" program, I interviewed historian (and Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution Archives) Marcel Chotkowski LaFollette, Ph.D.

We spoke about her 2008 book, Science on the Air: Popularizers and Personalities on Radio and Early Television (University of Chicago Press).

http://www.amazon.com/Science-Air-Popularizers-Personalities-Television/dp/0226467597/

I enjoyed the book very much, and would like to make note of Dr. LaFollette's latest book, which will be published by the University of Chicago Press on December 21st.  The book is titled Science on American Television: A History. 

http://www.amazon.com/Science-American-Television-Chotkowski-LaFollette/dp/0226921999/

Another "Evening of Old-Time Radio," with Johnny and Helen Holmes

In October, in this space, I wrote about my friends Johnny and Helen Holmes; they were hosting a Halloween-themed "Evening of Old-Time Radio," at The Daily Grind coffeehouse, in Mount Holly, New Jersey.

On Friday, from 6-9 p.m., they will be appearing again at The Daily Grind.

This week's event is titled "Home for the Holidays," and will feature Christmas-oriented radio programs:  "Miracle on 34th Street," from the Lux Radio Theater; a Jack Benny Christmas program; and "A Christmas Carol," from The Campbell Playhouse.

The Daily Grind is located at 48 High Street, in Mount Holly. The phone number is: (609) 267-8330.

"Hit Parade Dancers," 1952

Here is another television-screen image, of Your Hit Parade, from the spring of 1952 (photographer unknown).  The picture is of the "Hit Parade Dancers"; I am fairly sure they are dancing to the song "Blue Tango."

Snooky Lanson, "Your Hit Parade," 1952

In October, I posted an image from 1952, of the TV show Your Hit Parade. 

The photograph was of a television screen, taken as the program aired. (As mentioned previously, the picture was part of a group of photos I found this year, at my father's apartment, but I do not know who took them.)

Here is another TV-screen photo, from the same group of pictures.  It is of Snooky Lanson, one of the stars of the Hit Parade, singing on a telecast in the spring of 1952.

Interview with Maria Mazziotti Gillan

A week ago, on my “Radio Once More” program, I interviewed the poet Maria Mazziotti Gillan.

We spoke about her latest book of poetry, The Place I Call Home, published in September by New York Quarterly Books.

Ms. Gillan, who has written fifteen books of poetry, is the Director of the Creative Writing Program at Binghamton University-State University of New York, and is the Founder and Executive Director of The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College in Paterson, New Jersey. Gillan, who grew up in Paterson, is also the editor of the Paterson Literary Review.

Her web address is:  http://www.mariagillan.com/

Here, as well, is the amazon link for The Place I Call Home:

http://www.amazon.com/Place-I-Call-Home/dp/1935520679/

One of the subjects we discussed, during the interview, was the radio programs which were a part of her childhood. As part of the interview, she read a radio-related poem, “I Grew Up with Tom Mix"; the poem is from her new book.

The interview, which can be heard at the following link, is approximately forty-five minutes long.

http://www.luckystrikepapers.com/images/Maria_Gillan_interview_November_15_2012.mp3

(Audio of interview, copyright “Radio Once More,” www.radiooncemore.com)

Interview with writer Janis Johnson, about Hometowns, and "The Artist's Eye"

I’ve posted previously about California-based writer, and communications consultant, Janis Johnson.

During her career as a journalist, she was on the staff of The Washington Post, was a correspondent for USA Today, and wrote for other major U.S. newspapers, including The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Johnson has appeared on my weekly radio program, on the Internet station “Radio Once More,” on a few occasions. Her 2010 book, which features the artwork of her late father, Vernon P. Johnson, is titled The Artist’s Eye: Vernon P. Johnson’s Watercolors of 1950s Small Town America.

Here is one of the interviews with Johnson. The conversation (which is approximately thirty-five minutes long) took place in May of this year, and we talked about the subject of hometowns—including, of course, her hometown of Mount Vernon, Ohio. Most of her father’s watercolors, in The Artist’s Eye, are of Mount Vernon.

http://029b257.netsolhost.com/images/Janis_Johnson_May_2012.mp3

For additional information about The Artist’s Eye, please click on this link:

http://theartistseye.wordpress.com/ 

Here, too, is the book’s amazon.com page:

http://www.amazon.com/Artists-Eye-Janis-Johnson/dp/B006U1LWNC/

Lastly, here is the link for the book’s publisher, the Knox County Historical Society, in Ohio:

http://www.knoxhistory.org/index.html

(Audio of interview, copyright "Radio Once More," www.radiooncemore.com)