The absolute best TV Guides to search for are from October through November. You Pick The Year. The new fall season's just kicked into gear and the flow of half and full page ads croon across the pages like Dean Martin. And then there's the ever elusive Fall Preview issue. If you're like me (collect TV Guides regionally), they are the most difficult to obtain. The particular issue I have open in front of me is the week of November 21-27, 1959. A Thanksgiving week for us school kiddies. Wednesday before Thanksgiving pretty much consisted of sitting at your desk and messing around with construction paper and glue and scissors oh my. Clint Walker, known to us kids as Cheyenne, looked mighty big on the cover of this issue. And to show just how crazy tv had become, there's a two page article on Morgus the Magnificent, horror host of WWL-TV, New Orleans. Betty Hutton is cool and comfortable outside her DESILU bungalow, whoa, whoa. Huh--something you won't find in many of today's publications. Here's an article devoted to helping us out with all those poor picture problems (it just might be our antenna!). To tie in with the game show scandal I mentioned in the previous post, we have this: Quote: It's really interesting to note that the current TV quiz show blood-bath is really a "pay the man the two dollars" thing. It might never have come to the attention of the authorities and the investigators if Herb Stempel, who first blew the whistle, had been given the job he wanted with Barry-Enright as a warm-up comedian. End quote. And if all this wasn't enough news, we find out that (on the local scene) Santa Claus will make his annual WISH-TV channel 8 weekly afternoon show for kiddies return in the 5 pm time slot. Not only that, but Sheriff Sid's coming back from California to host Popeye cartoons on channel 3. Sorry, never knew nor never saw Sheriff Sid. Champaign IL was just too far away from the antenna hovering above our house. Sylvania wants to replace the old tv picture tubes in our black and whites with one of their new future, 50 percent brighter, built right up to 1960 standards., just ask for the Silver Screen 85 picture tubes. All of the letter writers in this issue are flat out upset about the quiz show scandal. Those pearls of wisdom truly get on up on the State of Television and Mrs. Ethel Layton of Wiley Ford West Virginia, I really don't know "why can't they take those big, fat blubbers who call themselves wrestlers off the air and take them with the quiz kids to the congressmen?" Well, it does appear at this late date that Mr. Van Doren, et. al. got dissed, but alas, those big fat blubbers have managed to avoid any type of public humiliation. Wait a minute. Maybe I oughta rephrase that. And just think: one has gone on to be a governor so there must be something to it, huh?
As far as days/nights to watch the old black and white, my favorites were Saturday and Friday. You see, in TV Guide World, Saturday comes before Friday. Saturday and Friday had the best programming. Sunday was a big programming night too but since I couldn't stay up past Bonanza because I had to get up and go to school the next morning, I really don't count Sunday as one of my favorites. Same goes for Monday through Thursday. I do remember the Saturday morning line-up of kiddie shows from this period. Captain Kangaroo. First thing in the morning. But Learn To Draw came on channel 6 at 8:45 so my sister always changed channels and on most Saturday mornings, I'd been ready since 8:15. Learn To Draw was hosted by Jon Gnagy. Couldn't go into a toy department at this time without seeing a Jon Gnagy Learn To Draw kit, could you? My sister got one for Christmas. I can still see that mailbox with snow on top. Learn To Draw only lasted 15 minutes. In the beginning of the 1960's, Learn To Draw would be followed by an hour and a half of the 3 Stooges or in Stooge time, 3 shorts. But on this particular morning, Roy and Dale brought justice to the west in The Ride of the Ranchers. Then I had to choose between Heckle & Jeckle or Howdy Doody at 10. I always went with Heckle & Jeckle. Then dammit! They made me choose between Mighty Mouse and Ruff n' Reddy. No kid should EVER have to make a choice like that! It just wasn't fair! Then at 11, they do it to you again. Either Fury or Sky King. Some saturday mornings it was just too much for my brain to register so I went outside and dug a hole in the back yard but it would only be a half hour hole because Soupy Sales came on at 11:30. I ALWAYS passed on Circus Boy. Afternoons were for playing. The railroad tracks. Yes! They were a block and a half from the house. On the other side was a corn field so large you couldn't see the ends. Summer or winter, it stretched as far as the eye could see. But I had to be home by 4 o'clock so I could watch Superman. Superman came on each Saturday on channel 13. Today's episode is The Wedding Of Superman. Eh--maybe I'll stay out and play a little longer today. Roller Derby. Now there's a show that sums up beer drinking television watching in the 1950's. It came on at 6:30. TV Guide lists it as a Sports program, much in the same manner as Wrestling, only here you have women in tight uniforms on roller skates knocking the shit out of the others team mates. Too bad they never made it into an Olympic event. In this particular TV Guide, there's a nice 1/2 page ad for Highway Patrol.
This is 2150, by--until next time.
Saturday, November 21, 1959
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