Night Beat (also known as Mike Wallace’s Night Beat and sometimes spelled Nightbeat) was an hour-long interview series on WABD Channel 5 in New York City. Broadcast Tuesday through Friday from 11PM-12AM, each episode of Night Beat typically included two guests. Mike Wallace served as host from October 1956 to May 1957.
Following Wallace’s departure as host, Night Beat continued with four rotating hosts: John Wingate, Al Morgan, Mary Margaret McBride and Art Ford. By November 1957, Wingate was sole interviewer. In order to cut back on his workload, Howard Whitman of WABD’s Probe was brought in occasionally.
On Monday nights, Probe and Night Beat filled the 11PM-12AM time slot, each running for thirty minutes. Night Beat was last seen on Friday, June 6th, 1958.
NOTE: At the moment this status guide only covers Night Beat broadcasts during Mike Wallace’s tenure as host. The Paley Center for Media has in its collection audio recordings of four episodes of Night Beat from February and March 1957. It also has video of half the January 9th, 1957 episode featuring an interview with Hugh Hefner not the other half in which Wallace interviewed Dorothy Field.
As always, just because specific archives/museums don’t have every episode of Night Beat, that doesn’t mean the episodes are lost.
| # | Episode Title | Airdate | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mayor Wagner, Victor Riesel | 10/09/1956 | |
| 2 | ASCAP-B.M.I | 10/10/1956 | |
| 3 | Kitty Carlisle, Moss Hart, Harry Bellafonte | 10/11/1956 | |
| 4 | Unknown | 10/12/1956 | |
| 5 | Maura Lympany | 10/16/1956 | |
| 6 | Unknown | 10/17/1956 | |
| 7 | Jacob K. Javits, Arch Obeler | 10/18/1956 | |
| 8 | Betsy von Furstenberg | 10/19/1956 | |
| 9 | Finlay Currie | 10/23/1956 | |
| 10 | Sloan Simpson and Danton Walker | 10/24/1956 | |
| 11 | Katy Jurado, Carol Heiss | 10/25/1956 | |
| 12 | Fashionorama Preview | 10/26/1956 | |
| 13 | Attorney General Jacob K. Javits | 10/30/1956 | |
| 14 | Drew Pearson | 10/31/1956 | |
| 15 | Joshua Logan | 11/01/1956 | |
| 16 | Sol Hurok | 11/02/1956 | |
| 17 | William Keating, Billie Holiday | 11/07/1956 | |
| 18 | Bennett Cerf, Dr. I.M. Levitt | 11/08/1956 | |
| 19 | William Zeckendorf, Letetia Baldridge | 11/09/1956 | |
| 20 | John Cameron Swayze, Eddie Condon | 11/13/1956 | |
| 21 | Marion Marlowe | 11/14/1956 | |
| 22 | Unknown | 11/15/1956 | |
| 23 | Herman Shumlin | 11/16/1956 | |
| 24 | Eli Wallach, George Axelrod | 11/20/1956 | |
| 25 | Louis Nizer, Bonnie Trudden | 11/21/1956 | |
| 26 | Cornelia Otis Skinner, Dr. Lester Coleman | 11/22/1956 | |
| 27 | Shawnee Smith | 11/23/1956 | |
| 28 | Joe E. Brown | 11/27/1956 | |
| 29 | Orson Bean and George Zaharias | 11/28/1956 | |
| 30 | Toots Shor, Harry Harshfield | 11/29/1956 | |
| 31 | Judge Samuel Leibowitz, Robert Harrison | 11/30/1956 | |
| 32 | Phillippe of the Waldorf | 12/04/1956 | |
| 33 | Chester Bowles, Anna Kross | 12/05/1956 | |
| 34 | Mr. John, Harry Dube | 12/06/1956 | |
| 35 | Salvador Dali | 12/07/1956 | |
| 36 | Don Newcombe, Siobhan McKenna | 12/11/1956 | |
| 37 | H.V. Kaltenborn, Leslie Bain | 12/12/1956 | |
| 38 | James A. Wechsler, Harry Dube | 12/13/1956 | |
| 39 | David Wayne, Judge Hyman Barshay | 12/14/1956 | |
| 40 | Flloyd Patterson, Dr. Franz Polgar | 12/18/1956 | |
| 41 | Edward Ford | 12/19/1956 | |
| 42 | Fielding Eliot | 12/20/1956 | |
| 43 | Elsa Maxwell, Rex Stout | 12/21/1956 | |
| 44 | Dr. Smiley Blanton | 12/25/1956 | |
| 45 | Congressman Adam Clayton Powell | 12/26/1956 | |
| 46 | Donald J. McNamara, Ed Williams | 12/27/1956 | |
| 47 | Fanny Hurst, Walter Slezak | 12/28/1956 | |
| 48 | Chief Magistrate John M. Murtagh, Walt Kelly | 01/01/1957 | |
| 49 | Menasha Skulnik, Elaine Malbin | 01/02/1957 | |
| 50 | Don Budge, Al Morgan | 01/03/1957 | |
| 51 | General Pat Hurley, Lisa Ferraday | 01/04/1957 | |
| 52 | Mordecai Kidron, Peter Freuchen | 01/08/1957 | |
| 53 | Dorothy Fields, Hugh Hefner (Hugh Hefner Excerpt) | 01/09/1957 | Paley |
| 54 | Fayez Sayegh, William S. White | 01/10/1957 | |
| 55 | Lowell Thomas Jr., Nils Thor Grandlund | 01/11/1957 | |
| 56 | Andrew Eglevsky, Rev. James H. Robinson | 01/15/1957 | |
| 57 | William Bradford Huie, Marty Snyder | 01/15/1957 | |
| 58 | Ilka Chase, Rabbi Elmer Berger | 01/17/1957 | |
| 59 | Julius Helfand, Lillian Roth | 01/18/1957 | |
| 60 | Joseph Schildkraut, Melvin Belli | 01/22/1957 | |
| 61 | Huntington Hartford, Gerard B. Lambert | 01/23/1957 | |
| 62 | Dr. Sigmund Spaeth, Joey Adams | 01/24/1957 | |
| 63 | Norman Thomas, Sam Levenson | 01/25/1957 | |
| 64 | T.T. Wiley, Actress Elaine Stritch | 01/29/1957 | |
| 65 | Marjorie Winter, Sidney Poitier | 01/30/1957 | |
| 66 | Clarence Kaskel, Prof. Pitirim Sorokin | 01/31/1957 | |
| 67 | Mahalia Jackson, Willie Pep | 02/01/1957 | |
| 68 | Jimmy Cannon, Rabbi Irving Miller | 02/05/1957 | |
| 69 | Emile Zola Berman, Richard Maney | 02/06/1957 | |
| 70 | Nina Foch, Meyer Levin | 02/07/1957 | |
| 71 | Ernest Christie, Anna May Wong | 02/08/1957 | |
| 72 | Dick Adler, Dr. Daniel Poling | 02/12/1957 | |
| 73 | Senator William Benton, Gretchen Wyler | 02/13/1957 | |
| 74 | Seymour Berkson, Michael J. Quill** | 02/14/1957 | Paley |
| 75 | Steve Allen, Dame Sybil Thorndike | 02/15/1957 | |
| 76 | Ben Gazzara, Robert Foreman** | 02/19/1957 | Paley |
| 77 | Dr. Samuel Z. Freedman, Dr. Joseph Janse | 02/20/1957 | |
| 78 | Pete Taranova | 02/21/1957 | |
| 79 | Don Ameche, Prof. Kenneth Galbraith | 02/26/1957 | |
| 80 | Earl Browder, Admiral William F. Halsey | 02/26/1957 | |
| 81 | Morton Gould | 02/27/1957 | |
| 82 | Cyril Ritchard, Elaine Carrington | 02/28/1957 | |
| 83 | John Lardner | 03/01/1957 | |
| 84 | Norman Mailer, Judge Hubert T. Delany | 03/05/1957 | |
| 85 | Dr. Donald R. Wilson, “Tiger” Joe Marsh | 03/06/1957 | |
| 86 | Gerald M. Loeb, Hilda Chester | 03/07/1957 | |
| 87 | Dr. Corliss Lamont, Unidentified Ex-Convict | 03/08/1957 | |
| 88 | Dean Margaret Kiley, William Buckley | 03/12/1957 | |
| 89 | Garry David, Non-Fiction Winner of National Book Awards | 03/13/1957 | |
| 90 | Dr. Andrew C. Ivy, Bill Talbert | 03/14/1957 | |
| 91 | Judge Walter Hart, Walter Sullivan | 03/15/1957 | |
| 92 | Ge. Patrick Ryan, Rosie Dolly** | 03/19/1957 | Paley |
| 93 | Tony Galento, Don Rogers | 03/20/1957 | |
| 94 | Butterfly McQueen, William Buckley, Jr.** | 03/21/1957 | Paley |
| 95 | Clevaland Amory, Dr. T.F. Tsiang | 03/22/1957 | |
| 96 | O. John Rogge, Carolyn Jones | 03/26/1957 | |
| 97 | Sylvia Porter, Dan Dale Alexander | 03/27/1957 | |
| 98 | Stan Getz | 03/28/1957 | |
| 99 | Sir Pierson Dixon, India Edwards | 04/02/1957 | |
| 100 | John W. Aldridge, Charlotte Adams | 04/03/1957 | |
| 101 | Will Rogers Jr., John R. Beale | 04/04/1957 | |
| 102 | Bosley Crowther, Robert Weede | 04/05/1957 | |
| 103 | Erskine Caldwell, Gerard Phillipe | 04/09/1957 | |
| 104 | George Hamid, Micheline Presie | 04/10/1957 | |
| 105 | Rev. Gardner C. Taylor, Gussie Moran | 04/11/1957 | |
| 106 | Bertram D. Wolfe, Eileen Ford | 04/12/1957 | |
| 107 | Thurdoog Marshall, Jean Dalrymple | 04/16/1957 | |
| 108 | Mrs. Joe Louis, Dr. Israel Goldstein | 04/17/1957 | |
| 109 | Maureen Stapleton, Joey Adams | 04/18/1957 | |
| 110 | David Schoenbrun, Barney Ross | 04/19/1957 | |
| 111 | Sammy Davis Jr., Felix Adler | 04/23/1957 | |
| 112 | Carl Rowan, Ray Salyer | 04/24/1957 | |
| 113 | Hermione Gingold and Eugene Castle | 04/25/1957 | |
| 114 | Rev. John La Farge, S.J., Gilbert Seldes | 04/26/1957 | |
| 115 | Judge John M. Murtagh, Edouard L. Cournard | 04/30/1957 | |
| 116 | Felix Adler, Dr. ernest Dichter | 05/01/1957 | |
| 117 | Sherry Britton, Calvin Hoffman | 05/02/1957 | |
| 118 | Ethel Colby, Dr. Billy Hargis | 05/03/1957 | |
| 119 | Elmo Roper, P.J. Kelly | 05/07/1957 | |
| 120 | Richard Willis, Herbert L. Matthews | 05/08/1957 | |
| 121 | Joseph Ragen, Langston Hughes | 05/09/1957 | |
| 122 | Art Ford, Walter Lord | 05/10/1957 | |
| 123 | Lawrence Dennis, Preston Sturges | 05/14/1957 | |
| 124 | Jim Bishop, Rose Russell | 05/15/1957 | |
| 125 | Alexander Kahn, Alice Ghostly | 05/16/1957 | |
| 126 | Eddie Bracken, Otto Preminger | 05/17/1957 | |
| 127 | Minnie Guggenheimer, Charles R. Sligh | 05/21/1957 | |
| 128 | Alexander Cohen, Joseph Lewis | 05/22/1957 | |
| 129 | Dr. Irving C. Fischer, Sylvia Sims | 05/23/1957 | |
| 130 | Sir Ronald Howe, Laura Z. Hobson | 05/24/1957 | |
| 131 | Patrick Murphy Malin, Sherry Britton | 05/28/1957 | |
| 132 | John Masters, John Fitch | 05/29/1957 | |
| 133 | Charles Recht, Maya Deren | 05/30/1957 | |
| 134 | William Worthy, Judd L. Teller | 05/31/1957 |
*The Paley Center for Media only has half of this episode, the portion featuring Hugh Hefner.
**The Paley Center for Media has audio recordings of these episodes.
References:
Adams, Val. “John Crosby Off Wallace TV Show.” New York Times. 19 Nov. 1957: 67
Adams, Val. “Leader of Soviet to Face U.S. on TV.” New York Times. 22 May 1957: 49
Shepard, Richard F. “C.B.S. Upheld in Lighting Rift.” New York Times. 30 Nov. 1957: 24
Night Beat was also the name of a radio show that ran on radio from 1950-1952 and starred Frank Lovejoy about a reporter working overnight at a newspaper, maybe that’s why the TV show was called Mike Wallace’s Night Beat
A complete November 7, 1957 edition, anchored by John Wingate, is currently available for viewing on “tvdays”‘s channel on YouTube.
And after Mike Wallace left, the program’s title became “WABD’s Night Beat.” Alas, its demise preceded by three months the station’s call letter change to WNEW-TV, thus there were no “WNEW-TV’s Night Beat” editions. Its replacement was a movie showcase, “Five Star Movie,” which ran at varying time slots into the 1980’s.
is there any where to view the episode of Mike Wallace’s Nightbeat with Sherry Britton. May 57
The March 28, 1957 telecast had two guests, I think. The first guest was Tennessee Williams. My understanding is that it was never rebroadcast or made available due to TW being “under the weather” that day.
Can anyone confirm?
The kinescope negative is on ebay right now for this episode.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/16mm-NIGHT-BEAT-11-7-57-RARE-DUMONT-TV-NEWS-PROGRAM-WITH-COMMERCIALS/293160416016?hash=item4441b8f310:g:QjUAAOSwjrZdNREf