Obscure Classic TV Shows - Post Your Favorites! (2 Viewers)

[Mysto]

Here is a rarity. This was a live broadcast western. Warning the quality is pretty bad.

Marshall of Gunsight Pass - 1950

 

[Mysto]

If you made it this far - congrats. Here is your reward - the answer to the cowboy horse quiz. Less than half - you're a tenderfoot. Ten or more - have a shot of redeye (Bosco).

ANSWERS: Horse Name Quiz
Diablo - Cisco Kid
Loco - Pancho
Silver - Lone Ranger
Scout - Tonto
Trigger - Roy Rogers
Buttermilk - Dale Evans
Buckshot - Wild Bill Hickok
Joker - Jingles
Champion - Gene Autry
Target - Annie Oakley
Topper - Hopalong Cassidy
Rawhide - Range Rider
Lucky - Dickie West
Apache - Kit Carson
Zipper - Pat Gallagher (Cowboy G-Men)

 

[Mysto]

Let's finish the day leaving the old west desert for another desert across the pond.

No not that far across but Buster Crabbe saved the universe on the big screen as Flash Gordon. Now he is a captain in the French Foreign Legion. In this series the legion mascot was Cullen Crabbe, Buster's real life son.
The first season was actually filmed on location in French Morocco.

Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion (Bad AR) - 1955-57



It's time for lunch after all that good TV. Chicken Soup anyone?

 

[Mysto]

When I posted the commercials for the cap guns it got me to thinking how many commercials that were OK then (1950's) would not be now (Fair or Not). Here is a compilation of some of the Not PC today commercials for your consideration.

 

[Bob Graham]

When it comes to shows that would be Politically Incorrect today, nothing beats the Dick Tracy cartoons of the mid-sixties.

 

[Mysto]

Liberace

Most people today remember Liberace for his extravagant Las Vegas shows. But before that there was TV. He became so popular with the his female audience that at one time he was getting over 10,000 letters a week.

Liberace Show 1952-69

 

[Mysto]

Pat Boone had 38 Top 40 hits. His quiet style lent itself to music that parents could relate to as well.
No wonder that he gained his own variety show.

Pat Boone Chevy Show 1957-60

 

[Mysto]

Roy and Dale were known for their exploits in the old west but they also had their own (short lived) variety show.

Roy Rogers Dale Evans Show - 1962

 

[Mysto]

Julie Andrews is a major talent. She was in hit musicals and movies but was another one that couldn't crack the weekly TV market. When her show first started, it was really on too late for the family audience and was against popular Cannon. Then they moved it to an earlier time but against Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart. Her show didn't have a chance.
We watched this one last night. If you enjoy her singing it is worth watching this first show. She performs something from every musical and movie she was in as well as some wonderful green screen work.

Julie Andrews Hour 1972-73

 

[Mysto]

You probably remember Dixie (Julie London) and Dr. Joe Early (Bobby Troup) on the hit TV show Emergency!

Emergency (Opening Only) - 1972-79



But did you know this real life husband and wife team were better known for Jazz? Julie had the hit Cry Me a River and Bobby Troup wrote Route 66. They got Emergency because producer Jack Web cast them in the role. He was Julies Ex Husband - Really.

Here is a jazz special they did for Japan TV.

Julie London Show - 1964

 

[Mysto]

Music Specials. This was a big one. Everybody was watching. Mary Martin as Peter Pan 1960.




While we're talking Peter Pan a new British Group Mischief Theater has had a couple of specials and a weekly show called goes wrong. Premise is a theater group that is incompetent but carries on anyway. Really funny stuff - Here's a clip and if you like it I suggest you search it out. I think it is streaming on Prime currently.
Peter Pan Goes Wrong. A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong. The Goes Wrong Show S1 & S2

 

[Mysto]

From the Radio. Many early TV programs came from successful radio programs. Some were major hits: Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke. And some just didn't make the transition.

Inner Sanctum had a modest run of 39 episodes but ran over 10 years on the radio.

Inner Sanctum - 1953-54

 

[Mysto]

Another radio program that didn't do as well on TV but way before Cheers - "Where the elite meet to eat"

Duffy's Tavern - 1954

 

[Mysto]

We haven't had much action lately how about tales from the cases of real T Men.

Treasury Men in Action 1950-55

 

[Mysto]

Watch Treasury Men in Action and then watch this one. Look familiar? They were shot on the same sets at the same time.

Man Behind the Badge - 1953-55

 

[Mysto]

We try to run commercials occasionally. Here is a compilation of packaging fails. It runs a bit long but there are some real "what were they thinking" here. Good for a laugh or two.

Packaging Fails

 

[Ken H]

What Liberace wants in a woman? A man.

 

[Mysto]

When I was a kid, each week we'd wait to see some celebrity surprised as Ralph Edwards would hijack them and then tell us all about their lives. Visits from relatives, friends, and associates added to the fun. Many of these are priceless as they had people that seldom gave interviews and we never got to see as "real" people.

This first one is a good example. A bit of rare footage of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.

This is Your Life 1952-61 Revival 1971-72



Here's one more with a young Dick Clark. He still had a lot more life to live.

 

[Mysto]

It was my first trip to Las Vegas as an adult. My wife and I wanted to go see Seigfreid and Roy. I had a friend (Sparky - no really) working at a casino and we were asked to wait in the little showroom bar for him to get off shift. When Sparky came in he was surprised to find us having a drink with Flip Wilson. He never got over the fact that we had only been in Vegas for a couple of hours and was having drinks with a star and he'd been working there for three years and his biggest claim to fame was taking a pee next to Tommy Smothers. Anyway, Flip was on the show that night. This was only about a year after his show had been cancelled. Flip was a nice guy but you could see an undertow of some kind of energy. When he appeared that night he paced the stage like a leopard in a cage. I assume the show and fame had taken some kind of toll. He never again gained the fame that he and Geraldine achieved during that time.

What you see is what you get. In it's first two seasons this show was number two in the ratings.

Flip Wilson Show 1970-74

 

[Mysto]

Danny Thomas conceived this series for Joey Bishop and why not, he already had a successful show. As this new show started it stumbled and they made several changes trying to get the ratings but were unable to find an audience.

Joey Bishop Show NBC 1961-64 on ABC 1964-65



Joey came back with his short lived night show...

Joey Bishop Show (Late Night) Clip only 1967-69