Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is on television right now (it was first telecast on Thursday, November 23rd, 1939 on W2XBS, the experimental NBC station in New York City). Here’s a look at network prime time television on Thanksgiving Day 37 years ago (1976) and 58 years ago (1955) plus WNBT’s programming in New York City 68 years ago (1945).
37 Years Ago – Thursday, November 25th, 1976
ABC
8:00PM Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too
8:30PM Football: Colgate vs. RutgersCBS
8:00PM The Waltons, “The Thanksgiving Story” (Repeat)
10:00PM Sills and Burnett at the MetNBC
8:00PM Van Dyke and Company
9:00PM Best Sellers: Captains and the Kings, Part 858 Years Ago – Thursday, November 24th, 1955
ABC
7:30PM The Lone Rangers
8:00PM Life is Worth Living – “Is Capital Always Right or is Labor Always Right?”
8:30PM Stop the Music
9:00PM Star Tonight – “Have Faith in Your Agent”
9:30PM Down You Go
10:00PM No Network Service
10:30PM No Network ServiceCBS
7:30PM Sergeant Preston of the Yukon
8:00PM The Bob Cummings Show
8:30PM Climax – “Portrait in Celluoid”
9:30PM Four Star Playhouse – “Looking Glass House”
10:00PM The Johnny Carson Show
10:30PM WantedNBC
7:30PM The Dinah Shore Show
7:45PM Camel News Caravan
8:00PM You Bet Your Life
8:30PM The People’s Choice
9:00PM Dragnet
10:00PM Lux Video Theatre – “Miss Susie Stagel’s”68 Years Ago – Thursday, November 22nd, 1945
(Schedule for Stations Broadcasting in New York City)WNBT (Channel 1)
1:00PM Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
7:00PM Children’s Program: Teletruth Quiz; Films of Prime Minister Clement Attlee Before Congress; Film–Wrangler’s Roost, Wester.
In the 50s, I really enjoyed Lowell Thomas and Jacque Cousteau specials. I believe that the Nat’l Geographic Society sponsored Mr. Thomas and the King of Monaco sponsored Mr. Cousteau. They were the highlights of our TV watching. I do not recall whether they each had monthly shows or bi monthly but as far as we were concerned, they did not have enough. There was no color TV so we just had to imagine what sorts of costumes that Mr. Thomas was filming.
Those were special times.
We also watched when Edward R. Murrow interviewed Joe McCarthy and dared him to show “his list of communists in Washington DC and in Hollywood”.
“Have you no shame?” Mr Murrow asked when McCarthy refused to show him the “list”.