Broadcast Pioneers

Harry Reasoner (1923-1991) was an American journalist for CBS and ABC News. Known for his artful use of wording as a television commentator, he won three Emmy Awards and a 1967 George Foster Peabody Award.

The Iowa-born Reasoner developed an interest in journalism while attending High School in Minneapolis. He also started developing a dry wit that got him into a bit of trouble for an original class reading. He studied journalism at Stanford University before serving in the Army during World War II. Reasoner resumed his journalism career with The Minneapolis Times and wrote a novel, Tell Me About Women, written partly during his war service, and was first published in 1946. In two years he was working in radio for CBS. In ten years Reasoner was working for CBS News in New York. 

Reasoner teamed up with Mike Wallace to launch 60 Minutes in 1968. Reasoner was hired away from CBS by ABC as an anchor on the network's evening newscast alongside Howard K. Smith until 1975. He eventually took the sole anchor position while Smith moved into a commentary role. It was back to cohost status with the hire of Barbara Walters away from NBC. Her celebrity status did not sit well with the die-hard journalist. Perhaps by request, he was hired back at CBS in 1978 and returned to 60 Minutes in what would turn out to be his most memorable role. Reasoner retired in 1991.

Broadcast Pioneers

Howard K. Smith (1914-2002) was an American journalist, radio reporter, television anchorman, and political commentator. He was one of the legends of early television news broadcasting. His initial "K" stood for Kingsbury.

Smith's career blossomed by 1940, when he was sent to Berlin, joining the CBS network under Edward R. Murrow, making him one of the original members of the team of war correspondents known as one of Murrow Boys. Smith returned to Berlin to recap the German surrender in May of 1945.  went to London for CBS with the title of chief European correspondent. CBS sent him to London in 1947, to make a broadcasting tour of most of the nations of Europe, including behind the Iron Curtain.

Smith was embroiled in a contract dispute with CBS in 1962 for editorializing during a broadcast. He was subsequently fired. With his move to the ABC network, Smith reported on the Robert F. Kennedy assassination, moderated political debates, and assessed President Lyndon Johnson's presidency. Smith became the first national television commentator to call for Nixon's resignation over Watergate. Smith remained a co-anchor at ABC until 1975.

Smith was honored five times with various awards, spanning 1955 to 1963. He made a number of appearances in motion pictures and television as himself over nearly a twenty-year period starting in 1964.

Twentieth Century Talkers

 

John Charles Daly (John Charles Patrick Croghan Daly, 1914-1991) was an American journalist, radio and television personality, ABC News executive, TV anchor, and game show host. 

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, by eleven his home was in Boston, Massachusetts where he attended Tilton School, eventually graduating from Boston College. He became a reporter for NBC Radio and, later, CBS and was the first national correspondent to report the attack on Pearl Harbor and the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

With television on the brink, by 1950 he became the host and moderator on the CBS panel show produced by Goodson–Todman, What's My Line? The show lasted 17 years, with Daly hosting all but four episodes of the weekly series. During this time, Daly became the vice president in charge of news, special events, public affairs, religious programs and sports for ABC and won three Peabody Awards. There was no conflict with What's My Line? because he was employed by Goodson-Todman Productions, not CBS. Daly's closing line on the ABC newscasts was "Good night and a good tomorrow." In 1959, along with the Associated Press writer John Scali, Daly, above far left, reported from Moscow on the infamous "Kitchen Debate" between First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev and Vice President Richard M. Nixon.

He filled in occasionally on NBC's The Today Show, making Daly one of the few people to work simultaneously on all three networks. One memorable broadcast during the show was when Harpo Marx was promoting his book Harpo Speaks. Marx caused such on-camera chaos for Daly, he became completely convulsed in laughter during the live telecast. 

Note: He provided the voice of a CONELRAD for a 1954 broadcast of The Motorola Television Hour on ABC titled Atomic Attack, which showcased a suburban family dealing with the aftermath of a hypothetical H-bomb attack fifty miles away. It was later reflected in the 1962 film, Panic In The Year Zero. CONELRAD (Control of Electromagnetic Radiation) was a method of emergency broadcasting to the US public in the event of an enemy attack during the Cold War.

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

 

A former patient returns home after a nervous breakdown to discover her father has remarried. Her stepmother wants to force her back into a sanitarium. Kimble discovers what is going on.

The Homecoming, 1964
Guest stars: Shirley Knight, Richard Carlson, Gloria Grahame

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

Kimble medical training saves the life of a young boy with a serious medical condition unknown to the kidnappers.

Never Stop Running, 1964
Guest stars: Claude Akins, Joanna Moore, Wright King

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

A terminally ill man tries to help Kimble elude Gerard but his wife's suspicions come into play.

Somebody to Remember, 1964

Guest stars: Gilbert Roland, Madlyn Rhue

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

Kimble reunites with the man who saved his life in the Korean War but his heroism left him physically and psychologically scarred.

Taps for A Dead War, 1964
Guest stars: Tim O'Connor, Lee Grant

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

 

Kimble helps a wounded man (a bank robber) who then takes the doctor hostage. The wounded criminal's sister later recognizes Kimble from a wanted poster. The police descend.

Rat In A Corner, 1964
Guest stars: Warren Oates, Malachi Throne

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

 

Kimble is drawn into a domestic storm between father and daughter in Reno. Aside from his wise counsel, the doctor is able to use his medical skills while posing as a lifeguard. 

   
Where The Action Is, 1964
Guest star Telly Savalas

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

 

For the first time since trial, Kimble returns home to a father with a serious health concern and a younger brother believing he is guilty.

Note: This episode is notable for Jacqueline Scott's first appearance as Kimble's sister. Her phone conversation with her brother "out of the blue" is a series highlight. Scott's acting was genuine and quite believable. Robert Keith was in failing health in real life, dying in 1966.

Home Is The Hunted, 1964
Guest stars: Jacqueline Scott, Andrew Prine, Robert Keith

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

 

Kimble is nearly killed by a car driven by a young stewardess. She was otherwise mentally occupied with the devastating realization that her "sweetheart" is a married man with two children. While recuperating in a hospital, Kimble's delirium audibly recalls the night of his wife's murder.

The Girl From Little Egypt, 1963
Guest stars: Pamela Tiffin, Ed Nelson

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

 

Hired by a construction crew boss, Jack Klugman, Janssen recognizes a falsely accused young man needs defending for the assault on Klugman's wife, Elizabeth Allen. 

Terror at Highpoint, 1963
Guest stars: Jack Klugman, Elizabeth Allen, James Best

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

 

After saving children from a burning school bus, Kimble is nursed back to health by a sheriff and his wife, a nurse. His heroic rescue garners publicity, something always on Lt. Gerard's radar. 

Nightmare at Northoak, 1963
Guest stars: Frank Overton, Nancy Wickwire 

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

Lt. Gerard tops off his gas tank for a cross-state journey after Kimble's fingerprints show up on his office wire. Kimble has been arrested following a minor traffic accident but he and a cellmate, Fatso, break jail before Gerard arrives. The friendly, slightly mentally challenged cellmate may have been falsely accused of a past crime he did not commit. Something that resonates with the pediatrician.

Fatso, 1963

Guest star Jack Weston as Fatso

Besting Professor Quiz

 

On this date in 1936, broadcasting's first ever quiz show, radio's "Professor Quiz." Hosted by Arthur E. Baird, as Dr. Craig Earl, with future CBS broadcast journalist, Robert Trout, as the announcer. Limited to Washington D.C. area at first, it was broadcast weekly on CBS Radio from 1936-1941, then weekly on ABC Radio from 1946-1948. Unlike later quiz shows, the contestants asked the host questions. If the host couldn't give the correct answer, the contestant won $25. Later broadcasts selected six contestants from the studio audience, and the winner of the session received, $25, with $15 given to the runners-up. On these broadcasts, listeners would send in six questions, and if they were used, they also won $25. 

Competition soon followed in 1937 with, Uncle Jim's Question Bee, hosted by Arthur Godfrey.

A Noted Television Theme

 

Stone is an American police drama that aired on ABC Monday nights for nine episodes in 1980, not including a television pilot movie. The series focused on Det. Sgt. Daniel Stone, a police officer who wrote best-selling novels on police work based on his own experiences. The forgotten series was a Stephen J. Cannell Productions and Gerry Productions, Inc. for Universal Television and was created by Cannell, Richard Levinson and William Link. Mike Post and Pete Carpenter were tabbed for the cool guitar-heavy theme that remains more interesting than the series itself. A hard-hitting theme seemingly over-the-top for Weaver's acting style.

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

Apparently, Kimble cannot fully disguise his medical credentials. He is asked by a married couple to help their "son" get to a doctor. Strangely, they are unaware he is a hemophiliac. This is highly suspicious to Kimball and he soon discovers the truth. The couple plan to get a 200 grand ransom by kidnapping a young boy. The doctor notices bruising from being snatched but cannot convince the kidnappers that the child needs a coagulant to promote blood clotting. Now, they are getting a bit suspicious of Kimble. The doctor comes up with a plan to smuggle the child away from the greedy couple and take him to a nearby hospital.

Never Stop Running, 1964 
Claude Akins and Joanna Moore guest star

Edd Brynes Coming In At Number Four

 

On this day in 1959 "Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)" hit #4 on the US pop chart on the Warner Bros. label. The song is written by Irving Taylor and performed by Edward Byrnes and Connie Stevens. Stevens starred in another Warner Bros. series, Hawaiian Eye. It was featured on Byrnes' 1959 album, "Kookie, star of the popular show 77 Sunset Strip." The song is mostly spoken in Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III''s notable hipster phrasing, common during the beatnik era.

Byrnes initially served as the parking attendant for a detective agency at 77 Sunset Boulevard, colloquially known as Sunset Strip. The American television private detective drama series was created by Roy Huggins and ran from 1958 to 1964. Efrem Zimbalist Jr. starred as detective Stuart Bailey, first used by Huggins in his 1948 film, I Love Trouble. Roger Smith was his partner with an extended cast that changed over the series' run. The Kookie character became a cultural phenomenon and the hit song was nearly as big as Byrnes' ego. Not granted his demand for more money, he left the show for sixteen episodes before returning as a full-fledged detective.

Richard Kimble's Brief Encounters

 

Dr. Kimble nearly settles down with Susan Oliver, as Karen Christian, except the series just started. Besides, with the one-armed man said to be in the area, it throws a wrench into their plans in this first two-part episode of the series, Never Wave Goodbye (1963). 

A Noted Television Theme

 

Cashing in on the popularity of Magnum P.I, handsome Lee Horsley played Matlock "Matt" Houston, squeezing out three seasons in the early Eighties before running out of cases to solve or cast members to add. Houston was a likable and wealthy mustachioed Texas oilman working as a private investigator as a hobby more or less. The show possessed enough humor and action to be popular but it was nearing life-support by the time producers brought in Buddy Ebsen as Uncle Roy Houston in the final season. He owned a unique automobile, though Magnum owned none. Pamela Hensley played his data specialist. A number of Houston's friends or business associates were murdered during the show's run as this might often make up an episode's premise. Dominic Frontiere wrote the original Magnum pilot theme and wrote this great action-packed theme as well.