TV Listings – November 9, 1956

The TV pages in the back of the Journal during the 50s and 60s were a memorable part of the newspaper for those of us that read it back then.

Placing the TV programming grid and various entertainment features in the last full spread of the newspaper (right after the comic pages) made for a pleasant and logical conclusion to the reading experience. (If I was the editor of the Morning Journal, I would revive that well-remembered aspect of the paper from its glory years.)

And when holidays rolled around, you could always count on seeing publicity photos promoting seasonal television fare.

With Thanksgiving approaching, the Journal TV page from November 9, 1956 (a portion of which is shown above) was no exception. We have a big photo of Jan Murray, the host of Treasure Hunt, and Pat White, one of the “Pirate Girl” models on the show, dressed like pilgrims. (Sadly, Miss White passed away this year).

I remember Jan Murray from his appearances on other game shows, but didn’t realize he was a host himself, and that he created the original Treasure Hunt. (I do remember watching the later version of the show, which by then didn’t have the pirate theme.)

Anyway, if you look closely at the TV program listings, there’s some interesting things you might remember. The occasional quarter hour listings are something that I’d forgotten; often the news was just a 15-minute show. The following morning’s programs were included in the listings as well, since the Journal was an evening paper back then.

There’s a few things of interest in the program listings. While many local TV children’s show hosts are well-remembered (such as Barnaby and Captain Penny), I see one that is not as well-known: Mr. Lollipops. According to the Cleveland Classic Media blog, the Geppetto-like Mr. Lollipops was played by Cleveland TV veteran Joe Berg. (You can see a photo of him here on the North East Ohio TV Memories blog).

Saturday morning kiddie fare included Howdy Doody, ventriloquist Jimmy Nelson, Captain Kangaroo, and old Mighty Mouse cartoons.

There’s also a children's show I’d never heard of before called The Friendly Giant, which later become a long-running staple of Canadian programming beginning in 1958.

“Badge 714” – the syndicated reruns of Dragnet – was being shown at seven in the evening on Friday night on Channel 8. It’s a good example of how a popular show’s syndicated version was renamed to avoid confusion with new episodes.