Television Ratings: 1950s Part 2

A TOP 10 Nielsen ratings that charts changes over two seasons for selected popular shows of the 1950s. Check out my TOP 20 ratings charts (Parts 1-6) for the 1960s and (Parts 1-5) for the 1970s.

1954-56: Some famous shows easily finished out the decade and beyond. I Love Lucy held the top spot, and its lead helped December Bride. Both The Jackie Gleason Show and Dragnet never returned to the Top 10. 

Television Ratings: 1950s Part 1

A TOP 10 Nielsen ratings that charts changes over two seasons for selected popular shows of the 1950s. Check out my TOP 20 ratings charts (Parts 1-6) for the 1960s and (Parts 1-5) for the 1970s.

1952-54: A few shows picked up steam in homes across America. I Love Lucy reigns as number one, and Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts makes a strong showing. While still enjoying radio success, Dragnet remains in top form since its debut in 1951, as has You Bet Your Life. The Colgate Comedy Hour finished its fifth of six seasons in respectable form.

Synopsis: Bewitched by Television

Some film actors found steady work and more exposure with the advent of television. 

Dick York (1928-1992)

For those who remember actor Dick York, he has been pigeon-holed as Darrin Stephens, the mortal, suffering husband of Samantha on the fantasy-comedy series, Bewitched (1964-69). His comedic double-takes, being frequently frustrated, and often angry with the physical transformations thrust upon him by his ungrateful mother-in-law, were classic trademarks of the character. Without his perfect comedic timing, the series would not have been the hit that it was. But there was much more to the versatile actor.

Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and growing up in Chicago, Dick York eventually handled drama and comedy with equal ease. After a stint in radio, his movie roles gained momentum by 1950, and four years later, he was cast as a teenager in the classic science fiction film, Them!. He co-starred in three famous movie productions in the Fifties and Sixties, notably They Came to Cordura (1959) with Gary Cooper, The Last Blitzkrieg that same year with Van Johnson, and a visible role as a teacher for Inherit the Wind a year later.

By far, his television work brought the most notoriety, however. He performed on the most popular series of the era. There were multiple appearances on the Kraft Television Theatre, Studio One, Playhouse 90, The Twilight Zone, and six episodes for Alfred Hitchcock Presents that provided some comedic and dramatic stand-outs. 1959 was a pivotal year for York. While filming the Cooper film above, he completely severed his right lower back muscles during a physical scene. An injury that would plague him the rest of his life, and eventually force him to bow out of Bewitched in 1969.

Note: Before television dominated the airwaves, radio reigned supreme. The above inset is a capture of fifteen-year-old Dick York in the situation comedy, “That Brewster Boy” (1941-45). York was the third Joey Brewster, following in Eddie Firestone Jr. and Arnold Stang's footsteps. To his right is co-star Jane Webb.

Your Rental Needs May Vary

Avis Airlines Rent-A-Car System was founded in 1946 by Warren Avis (1915-2007), an owner of an automobile dealership in Detroit. He had the idea of providing car-rental services at airports, astutely believing air travel would quickly become more popular than rail travel. They were the first car rental business to be located at an airport, opening two locations at Willow Run Airport near Detroit and at Miami Airport in Florida. He established branch operations across the United States over the next few years and became the second-largest car rental company in the country by 1953. 

In 1962, their corporate slogan, "We're only No. 2. We try harder," was a positive campaign to compete with the number one competitor, Hertz. Today, Avis is a provider to the commercial segment, serving business travelers at major airports internationally, and to leisure travelers at off-airport locations. Avis featured General Motors vehicles during the late 1970s, but Ford vehicles were showcased prior, as the above 1958 advertisement proves. Other popular brands comprise their fleet today. Avis has been owned by a number of other companies, along with several periods of being a public company.

Executive Leasing Company and its fleet of seven vehicles were founded eleven years after Avis by Jack Crawford Taylor (1922-2016) in St. Louis, Missouri.   Taylor was a naval aviator during World War II, serving on the USS Enterprise. In 1969, he would rename the company Enterprise Rent-A-Car to honor the aircraft carrier and reflect his personal values and leadership philosophy. The company focused on city-based rentals rather than competing with airport-centric rental firms for persons needing a rental while their own was being repaired. A wise strategy that helped the business grow steadily.

Their iconic "e" highway logo was introduced early on, but went through a few color and design changes before settling on their classic green and black color scheme. In the early 1970s, the "We'll pick you up" tagline was introduced, a unique service that became a trademark of their customer-centric approach. This service, along with partnerships with auto repair shops, helped Enterprise build a strong city-based "neighborhood" network. The leadership has been passed down through generations of the Taylor family. Enterprise eventually embraced Avis's airport innovation in the early years of the twenty-first century after acquiring the Vanguard Car Rental Group, National Car Rental, and Alamo Rent-A-Car brands to its portfolio. 

No More Money Funny Business

The National Cash Register Company (NCR) traces its origins to 1879, when James Ritty invented the first mechanical cash register. The device was designed to prevent theft by clerks by providing a visible record of transactions and a locked cash drawer. In 1884, John and Frank Patterson, from Dayton, Ohio, purchased the company and its patents and renamed it the National Cash Register Company. The Pattersons transformed the company into one of the first modern American corporations by introducing innovative sales techniques, guaranteed sales territories, and sales quotas. By 1886, sales had more than doubled to 1,000 machines per year. Two years later, the company became multinational. In 1906, NCR introduced the first electric cash register, which remained in production for nearly forty years.

In 1953, it established an Electronics Division and acquired the Computer Research Corporation (CRC), marking its entry into the computer industry. In 1974, NCR commercialized the first bar code scanners, which were used for the first time at a supermarket in Troy, Ohio. They remained a pioneer in open systems architecture with the launch of the NCR Tower supermicrocomputer in 1982. NCR was acquired by AT&T in 1991, marking the end of its independent operation. Five years later, the restructuring of AT&T led to NCR's re-establishment at the beginning of 1997 as a separate company and involved the spin-off of Lucent Technologies from AT&T. As of 2023, NCR Corporation was split into two independent public companies: NCR Voyix legally succeeded NCR Corporation, while the ATM business was spun-off as NCR Atleos.

Note: The above advertisement is from 1957.

See What You Are Buying

Cellophane is a thin, transparent sheet made of regenerated cellulose. Its low permeability to air, oils, greases, bacteria, and liquid water makes it useful for food packaging. Cellophane became a staple (and a generic term for clear, plastic wrap)  in American households and revolutionized the packaging industry by allowing consumers to see the contents of packages while maintaining hygiene and freshness.

Cellophane was invented in 1908 by Jacques E. Brandenberger, a Swiss textile engineer, who first conceived the idea for a clear, protective packaging layer after witnessing a wine spill on a restaurant tablecloth. The first cellophane was manufactured in the United States at a DuPont plant in Buffalo, New York, in 1924. A major limitation of early cellophane was that it was waterproof but not moisture-proof, making it unsuitable for many food packaging applications. This issue was resolved in 1927 when DuPont chemist William Hale Charch developed a process to make cellophane moisture-proof by applying a nitrocellulose lacquer, which led to a significant increase in sales and widespread adoption in food packaging.

During World War II, cellophane was classified as an essential material and used to package soldier rations and make vapor-resistant gas capes and rain capes. Sales have dwindled since the 1960s, due to alternative packaging options. Although newer, more heat-resistant synthetic materials have since emerged, cellophane remains common in packaging and is still produced today. The Dupont advertisement above is from 1956.

Howard Deering Johnson

In the 1950s and 1960s, Howard Johnson’s rose to become the first and largest American restaurant chain in the industry. The company’s familiar orange roofs and white steeples covered much of the U.S. highway system. Colloquially known as "HoJos," it was also a leader in the development of roadside lodging. 

Howard Johnson (1897-1972) began his restaurant venture in 1925 in a single location in Quincy, Massachusetts. Seeking better financial opportunities, he bought a combination drug store, newsstand, and soda fountain. Soon noticing the popularity and profitability of ice cream, he developed his own formula with nearly twice the butterfat content of other ice creams, with a creamier consistency, not like hard, hand-dipped ice creams at the time. Needless to say, folks lined up to buy his ice cream. "HoJos" were eventually known its twenty-eight flavors.

The rise of highway travel also elicited the rise of crudely-made billboards. Howard Johnson elected an upscale approach to make his buildings stand out with memorable signage. On top of a historic New England-style white building was a bright orange roof that was visible in the daytime and floodlit at night. He topped it off with a steeple reminiscent of a New England church or city hall, a weathervane, and added the “Simple Simon and the Pieman” neon sign. Later modernizations dropped the nursery rhyme characters. The beautiful Howard Johnson's at left was located in Queens, New York City, in 1940.

By the 1950s, the company expanded operations by opening hotels, then known as Howard Johnson's Motor Lodges, which were often located next to HoJo restaurants. Johnson also owned and operated “company stores,” using franchising only when money was tight. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, it had become the largest restaurant chain in the U.S. with over one thousand owned and franchised Howard Johnson’s restaurants.

Lacking the vision of the previous business CEO, handing over a business to a second generation can spell doom for a company. Under the leadership of the son, Howard B. Johnson, his father's legacy of first-class dining and lodging fell to the wayside. Howard Johnson's no longer stood alone in the restaurant and lodging universe. By 1980, the once-great company was in dire straits through mismanagement and cost-cutting from a guy who wanted no further future ties to the business. For a $360 million profit, H.B. sold the company to Britain’s Imperial Group. Their six-year ownership saw further decline, which became an embarrassment to the industry. All hotels and company trademarks, including those of the former restaurant chain, have been owned by Wyndham Hotels and Resorts since 2006 as Howard Johnson by Wyndham. In the following fifteen years, the Howard Johnson name dramatically diminished.