TV Guide 365: 1964-1965 explores the 1964-1965 television season through listings published in TV Guide. Each day I’ll post listings for the corresponding day from the 1964-1965 season, with complete cast and guest cast details for obscure, short-lived shows.
Friday, October 30th, 1964
7:30 INTERNATIONAL SHOWTIME–Circus (NBC)
Skater Desmond Scott splits an apple on his wife’s head in the “Berlin Ice Revue.” Other acts include Swedish figure-skating champions Steve and Topsy; the clowning Three Fredericos; and Neville Murray on a skating bicycle. Don Ameche is the host. (60 min.)
JONNY QUEST–Cartoon (ABC)
[COLOR] “Calcutta Adventure.” In India, Johnny and Dr. Quest aid sheepherders who have contracted a mysterious illness.
Postponed from an earlier date.
RAWHIDE (CBS)
Dean Martin in “Canliss.” See the Close-up below. (60 min.)
8:00 FARMER’S DAUGHTER (ABC)
“The Name of the Game.” Katy questions Glen’s scruples when he tries to avoid an issue during his re-election campaign.
8:30 BOB HOPE (NBC)
[COLOR] Art Carney in “The Timothy Heist.” For further details, see the Close-up below. (60 min.)
ADDAMS FAMILY–Comedy (ABC)
Bank robbers who’ve pulled a Halloween heist are invited to share a “fun evening” with the Addams family, who think the masked pair are just adult trick-or-treaters.
ENTERTAINERS (CBS)
Guest comedienne Imogene Coca and Dom DeLuise parody “The Doctors and the Nurses,” Art Buchwald comments on the current political scene, and John Davidson sings “Surrey with the Fringe on Top.” Production numbers include “Rag Mop,” with Caterina Valente, Don Crichton and the Ernie Flatt dancers; and “I Want to Be Happy,” with the entire cast. Tessie O’Shea, Bill McCutcheon, Lee Hale singers, Harry Zimmerman orchestra. (55 min.)
Postponed from last week.
9:00 VALENTINE’S DAY (ABC)
“The Baritone Canary.” Val wants to publish the spicy memoirs of an amorous baritone posthumously, but all the divas the singer romanced aren’t at all anxious to see their names in print. Val: Tony Franciosa. Rocky: Jack Soo. Libby: Janet Waldo. Dunstall: Jerry Hausner.
Guest Cast
Muriel Farrow …………………. Helen Traubel
Selina …………………. Francesca Bellini
Karen …………………. Grace Lee Whitney
Enid …………………. Templeton Fox
Alicia …………………. Maida Severn
Nora …………………. Marjorie Bennett
Myra …………………. Madge Kennedy
9:25 POLITICAL TALK–Democratic (CBS)
9:30 JACK BENNY–Comedy (NBC)
Jack’s guest is Connie Francis, who sings “I Was Born Too Late” and a medley of songs associated with Al Jolson (“Swanee,” “Mammy,” “April Showers”). In a sketch, Jack does a musical TV show about Ozark hillbillies. Don Wilson, Mahlon Merrick orchestra.
12 O’CLOCK HIGH–Drama (ABC)
“Pressure Point.” Sen. Clayton Johnson of the Appropriations Committee visits England to re-evaluate the whole Air Force program, and the senator is no friend of the Air Force or of General Savage. Script by John T. Dugan. (60 min.)
Postponed from an earlier date.
GOMER PYLE, USMC–Comedy (CBS)
“Pay Day.” Gomer’s conscience disrupts the operations of the Marine Corps’ finance department–he won’t accept part of his pay because Sergeant Carter says he’s not earning his keep.
10:00 JACK PAAR (NBC)
[COLOR] Jack’s guests are musical-comedy performer Florence Henderson, satirist Stan Freberg, ventriloquist Senor Wences and cast members of Julius Monk’s revue “Bits and Pieces,” who present sketches from the show. Jose Melis orchestra. (60 min.)
REPORTER–Drama (CBS)
Source:
TV Guide, October 24, 1964 (Volume 12, Number 43, Issue #604) [Philadelphia Edition]
I would suspect the shows “Postponed from an earlier date” had been pre-empted by paid political programs from either President Lyndon Johnson or Senator Barry Goldwater (the election was less than a week away). In fact, Goldwater shows pre-empted NBC’s “That Was The Week That Was” several times during the Fall of 1964, which was the likely reason that show got cancelled in the spring of 1965.
Back then, Presidential candidates would often buy half-hour blocks to run paid political programs.
The last Presidential Candidate I know of who purchased half-hour blocks on broadcast-network TV in large quantities for paid political programs was Ross Perot in 1992.
Today, candidates instead buy spots on local stations in “battleground” states.
When you get to Tuesday, November 3rd, 1964, there will be little to run down in prime-time (read: after 7 or 7:30 P.M. Eastern time) other than network election-night coverage.
However, if the issue you have includes local listings from New York or Los Angeles (cities that had multiple “independent”, or non-network, stations in 1964), you could note what alternatives viewers in those cities had.
Otherwise, you might want to include selected daytime programming on the networks for that day.
Not for a civilian like me to tell you how to do this, but –
When you put up “See the Close-up below” …
… and then don’t put in the Close-up itself …
… doesn’t really work well, does it?
As it happens, my Chicago edition didn’t give Rawhide or Bob Hope Close-ups this week.
Just for the record, here’s the Rawhide listing, as you would have put it up, following your format:
Dean Martin makes his TV dramatic debut in “Canliss”, by Stirling Silliphant. Against his wife’s wishes, gunman Gurd Canliss hires out for one last killing.
Also, from Bob Hope (same conditions as above):
Art Carney in “The Timothy Heist”. Della Francesca’s “Pieta de Maria”, the second most valuable painting in the world, is on loan to the Cosmopolitan Museum. Art-loving billionaire Plato Atutie makes a small request of the museum’s curator – steal the painting.
It was sheer laziness on my part not to transcribe any of the Close-up summaries. I’ve already finished a bunch of these posts but I’ll start doing so in the near future.