Oh, Boy!

And now, ladies and gentlemen, let's go back to those thrilling days of yesteryear. Those of you in Great Britain (or who lived there during the late 1950s) who are old enough to remember, may remember a show entitled Oh, Boy! that aired on ITV, a commercial television network during 1958 and 1959. Kinescopes of eight episodes aired here in the US on ABC during the summer of 1959. Here is the episode from April 4. 1959.

Segment One:

Compered by Tony Hall (a Jazz critic)

1. It's Late (Dean Webb)
He's My Own (2 Vernons Girls)
Good Rockin' Tonight (The Cutters & Entire Cast.)

2. Long Gone (Lord Rockingham's XI)

3. Charlie Brown (Neville Taylor & The Cutters)

4. Oh Wait For It Baby (Cherry Wainer)

Segment Two:

Compered by Tony Hall

1. I Like Love (Tony Sheridan and his Wreckers)

2. Don't Look Now (The Vernons Girls)

3. Red Planet Rock (Don Lang - with Red Price on sax solo)

4. Slippin' n' Slidin' (Dickie Pride)

5. This is Our First Anniversary (Lorie Mann)

Segment Three:

Compered by Tony Hall

1. Move It! (Chris Andrews)

2. Dirty Old Town (Mike Preston)

Tony Hall introduces Brenda Lee's first UK TV appearance;

3. Humming The Blues Over You (Brenda Lee)

4. Wont You Come Home Bill Bailey (Brenda Lee & Lord Rockingham's XI)

This series was produced by Jack Good, who formerly produced 6:5 Special for the BBC, and who also produced Shindig! here in the States on ABC from 1964 to 1966. 38 episodes of this show were produced, but only two of them are reported to be still in existance.

It's Music Time, Again, Boys and Girls!

Here is a 1950 recording by Mel Cox and his Flying X Ranchboys on the King Records label, which was based at the time in Cincinnati. It's a good jumpin' instrumental titled "Guitar Jump."

Mel and the boys were in rare top form in this one.

Other Country and Western artists who recorded for King Records at the time included Cowboy Copas, Moon Mullican, Grandpa Jones, and the York Brothers.

Enjoy!

Time For A Tune

Here is a video I took today. This is an Imperial Records 78RPM disk of Billy Briggs singing his own composition, "Chew Tobacco Rag." The record was made around 1950. I bought it at a flea market in 1977. Enjoy.


Even though Billy's record did not make the country charts, there were cover versions recorded by artists such as Pee Wee King, Spade Cooley, and Lucky Millinder.

ALOHA!

Here are Lawrence Welk and his Champagne Music Makers as seen on the October 10, 1959 telecast of The Lawrence Welk Show. This program originated from the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu. The number features lead violinist Dick Kesner performing "Hawaiian Paradise" on his magic Stradivarius violin. Roughly 46 seconds into the video, while Dick performs, you would see in the background, a 1960 Dodge station wagon. Dodge was still the sponsor of the Welk show. In fact, this episode marked the world premiere showing of the 1960 Dodge and 1960 Dodge Dart.

And Now, A Word From Our Alternate Sponsor

The year is 1957, and here is a commercial for Tootsie Roll, as seen on a telecast of the Howdy Doody Show.




In June, 1956, Howdy and the gang were exiled from weekday afternoons to Saturday mornings because they were getting clobbered ratingswise at the hands of ABC's Mickey Mouse Club. At the time of this broadcast excerpt, the show was still televised live, but by late 1957 or early 1958, they began taping ten shows (in one week) per month. In case you're wondering, that's budding jazz musician Lew Anderson in the role of Clarabell.

And Now, A Word From Our Sponsor

The year is 1950, and here is an advertisement for 3 Musketeers as seen during a live telecast of the Howdy Doody Show.






Buffalo Bob Smith sure knew how to sell a product. And yes, that was TV's future Captain Kangaroo himself, Bobby Keeshan, as Clarabell the Clown.

FBN On Dish Network

The Fox Business Network (which went on the air on October 15, 2007) was finally added to the Dish Network lineup last Tuesday (February 3) on Channel 206. It is also available in HD.