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    Archive for October 2009


    Historical TV Schedules

    W2XBS Schedule, Week of August 13th, 1939

    Here's the schedule for NBC's experimental station W2XBS in New York City for the week starting Sunday, August 13th, 1939, straight from television listings printed in The New York Times. There was a rare broadcast on Sunday (tennis finals from Rye, New York) and the usual assortment of variety and films. On Wednesday, August 16th part of the variety hour was a discussion on "How to Exercise the Baby," something I would very much like to see. There were also two pick-ups from the Worlds Fair, although the Saturday, August 19th broadcast was tentative in the weekly listings and vague in the daily listing. I don't know what the film titled "Grand Illusion" (broadcast on Friday, August 18th from 8:30-9:30PM) was; the famous Jean Renoir film of the same name (or, more specifically, La grande illusion) was released in 1937 but it ran longer than an hour.

    Sunday, August 13th, 1939
    2:30-5:30PM - Finals of Eastern grass court tennis championships, at Rye, N.Y.

    Tuesday, August 15th, 1939
    12-1:00PM - Earl Wild, pianist; films; Alice Cornett, singer, and news.
    4-5:00PM - Parade and pageant of Volunteer Fire Departments, at World's Fair.
    8:30-9:30PM - Film, "Death Goes North."

    Wednesday, August 16th, 1939
    12-1:00PM - Discussion on "How to Exercise the Baby;" films; George Ross, Broadway columnist; shoe styles; and news.

    Thursday, August 17th, 1939
    12-1:00PM - Fashion show; films; "Facts and Fancies," Alice Maslin, and news.
    8:30-9:30PM - Film, "Three of a Kind," with Evelyn Knapp.

    Friday, August 18th, 1939
    12-1:00PM - "Designing of Stage Sets," Victor D'Amico of Museum of Modern Art; films: "Total Eclipse," a Negro comedian, and news.
    4-5:00PM - Water Ballet, at Manhattan Beach.
    8:30-9:30PM - Film, "Grand Illusion."

    Saturday, August 19th, 1939
    4-5:00PM - Pick up from World's Fair (tentative).

    Site Related

    No Article Today; Updated Exhibit

    I'm afraid there won't be a new article today. I do hope to be able to finish two articles next month and in December but after that I may have to cut back to just one article a month. I have added four CBS advertisements to my ABC Promotional Artwork, 1971-1975 as a bonus, because I don't have enough of these to create an exhibit just for CBS.

    Bookshelf

    Bookshelf: Man from Atlantis #2

    Man from Atlantis #2
    First Published March 1978
    Published by Marvel Comics Group

    Unlike the giant-size premiere issue (read my review here), the second issue of Marvel's comic book adaptation of NBC's Man from Atlantis contained just one story. Titled "Into the Bermuda Triangle," the story opened with Dr. Elizabeth Merrill asking Dr. Miller Simon to call Mark Harris from the exercise-pool, declaring "We may have a mission!" And they do indeed have a mission.

    While conducting training exercises in the vicinity of the Bermuda Triangle, a strange white mist enveloped a large group of Navy ships. Some 1,000 men disappeared when the ships emerged from the mist. The Navy wants Mark to investigate. He agrees (over Dr. Merrill's objections) and before long the two are aboard the Cetacean preparing for Mark to dive. Once in the water he sheds the diving gear he was wearing (to protect the secret of his biology) and swims off. He is soon overtaken by the same strange mist.

    Man from Atlantis #2 Front
    Man from Atlantis #2 Front - Copyright 1978 Marvel Comics Group

    Mark is shocked to materialize in front of Mr. Schubert who should, given the events in the first pilot telefilm of the series, be dead. But Schubert is far from dead and he has plenty of men and women under his control, using the same hypnotic bracelets from the first pilot. That doesn't work but for some reason Mark stupidly agrees to tour Schubert's underwater complex. He spots Drs. Merrill and Miller, their minds under Schubert's control, and is then suddenly attacked.

    He's able to take care of the attackers but is then shot in the back by Dr. Merrill and collapses. When he awakens, he's strapped to an operating table, weak from being away from the water, and Dr. Merrill is standing over him with a scalpel. She's preparing to dissect him in order to uncover the secrets of his biology. The comic ends on a cliffhanger that teases "The SECRET of the MIST!" (but will Mark live to discover it?).

    Like the first issue, the artwork here is barely passable. Mark has disturbingly large muscles, Dr. Merrill looks more like a creepy doll than a woman and Schubert has the strangest sideburns. And for some reason, in some panels various characters are missing any color in their eyes.

    DVD Tuesday

    DVD Tuesday: The Barbara Stanwyck Show, The Fugitive

    Out today is The Barbara Stanwyck Show, Vol. 1 from E1 Entertainment and The Archive of American Television. The anthology series was only on the air for one season from 1960 to 1961 and produced 36 episodes. Fifteen are included in this volume; whether they're the first fifteen or not remains to be seen. Bonus features include original, unaired pilot episode (titled "The Sponsor's Theatre") and Stanwyck’s acceptance speech for her 1961 Emmy award.

    Also out today, from Paramount Home Video, is The Fugitive: Season Three, Vol. 1, with the first 15 episodes of the 1965-1966 season. Volume 2 comes out 8th. Also from Paramount Home Video is Mannix: The Third Season, with all 25 episodes from the 1969-1970 season. No bonus features for either release that I'm aware of. As I understand it, fans of The Fugitive are anxious to see how much of the original soundtrack is intact for this release.

    Warner Brothers is releasing two new collections today. Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1960s Vol. 2 contains 13 episodes from shows like Quick Draw McGraw, The Road Runner Show and The Jetsons. And Saturday Morning Cartoons: 1970s Vol. 2 includes 12 episodes from shows like Valley of the Dinosaurs, Sea Lab 2020 and New Adventures of Gilligan. Finally, Alpha Video has two new four-episode releases: Judge Roy Bean, Volume 4 and Meet Corliss Archer, Volume 4.

    Q & A

    Q & A: Outdoor Adventure Club, The Veil,

    I get a lot of e-mails from people asking me about television shows, made-for-TV movies or miniseries they remember from years or decades past. I try to answer each question as best I can. Every now and then I like to dig through my inbox and pull out a few choice e-mails to answer here at Television Obscurities for everyone to read. Keep reading for today's questions and answers.

    Back about 1956/1957 there was a LOCAL program on in Connecticut, I believe it was on WNHC, from New Haven, CT. The name of the show was either: Brace Gilson's Outdoor Adventure Club or Brace Gilson's Outdoor Club. Has anyone ever heard of this show?

    Thank you,
    Stu

    I can confirm that a program titled Outdoor Adventure Club aired on WNHC in Connecticut during the mid-1950s and that Brace Gilson worked for the station but otherwise I know nothing about the show. Does anyone out there remember watching it?

    I was reading in a catalog for old radio shows believe or not and they were selling a DVD collection of a show called THE VEIL starring Boris Karloff, can you tell me about the show?

    Cee Jay

    I've seen The Veil referred to as an "unsold series" given that it reportedly never saw the light of day on television (at least not in the United States). Hal Roach Studios announced on August 18th, 1958 that 39 episodes of the series would be produced; National Telefilm Associates would syndicate the series [1]. As the story goes financing fell through and only ten episodes were filmed, not nearly enough to distribute.

    An outfit called Sinister Cinema released eight of the episodes on VHS in February of 1990 (four episodes were tape at $19 a tape) and in September of 2001 all ten episodes came out on DVD courtesy of Image Entertainment.

    Works Cited:

    1 Godbout, Oscar. "Hal Roach Studio Plans 20 Movies." New York Times. 19 Aug. 1958: 23.
    2 "Rare fright flicks now available." Washington Times. 22 Feb. 1990: M23.

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