Christmas 1954 Part One

CBS-TV "Shower Of Stars" with a Musical "Christmas Carol"..This has been on Public Domain Classic TV Collections in recent years..


Part of The Wednesday Night Lineup on WKBN-27


Christmas Greetings from WXEL-TV 8

Today, lets look at Northeast Ohio Christmas week Television in 1954..

WNBK-TV 3 was doing therir Test Pattern In Color, while color TV was still in its infancy..

WEWS was in its final months as a CBS affiliate..The switch from CBS to ABC (And WXEL from ABC to CBS) took place February 2, 1955

Santa Claus, as played by Max Ellis, appears on WXEL-8 afternoons at 5 or 5:30 PM..

"Dragnet" repeats its Christmas episode, first shown in 1953, about the stolen Jesus statue..Broadcast in color, B&W kinescopes have been available in the public domain for years..This was remade for "Dragnet 1967" with Barry Williams, about to become "Greg" on the Brady Bunch, as an altar boy.. the late Harry Bartell, veteran radio and TV actor, played the Priest in both the 1953 and 1967 versions..

The Amos and Andy "Christmas Story" is aired Christmas Day at 7PM on WFMJ-21

An Intriguing ABC Game Show, "What's Going On?" ended its run Sunday, December 26, 1954.
(9:30 Channel 49, 10:30 Channel 8). Actor Lee Bowman was host..Sponsored by Revlon, The idea was a takeoff on What's My Line, etc. From Goodson-Todman..Hy Gardner, Cliff Norton, Audrey Meadows and Kitty Carlisle, among others, were on the Panel..This show tried to make use of then relatively new remote technology, which only worked well in the New York City area..The expense and glitches, plus the fact that Bowman was out of his element as a host, caused the show to last only 5 weeks..Unusal for that era..The first 4 shows have been shown on Game Show Network in past years (The last show is considered lost)..Including a rather touching Christmas episode December 19, 1954..
This was considered one of Goodson-Todman's few spectacular failures..


TV Guide Listings
Friday December 24, 1954

WNBK-3 NBC
7AM Today
9AM Early Bird Theater-Lamb In The Manger
10AM Ding Dong School
10:30 A Time To Live
10:45 Three Steps To Heaven
11AM Home-Arlene Francis
Noon Betty White Show
12:30 Feather Your Nest
1PM One O Clock Playhouse-Lawson Deming-Beyond Tomorrow (This Film is also Public Domain
2:10 Amy Vanderbilt
2:15 Maggi Byrne-Fashion
2:45 Maggi's Kitchen
3PM The Greatest Gift
3:15 Golden Windows
3:30 One Man's Family
3:45 Miss Marlowe
4PM Hawkins Falls
4:15 First Love
4:30 World Of Mr. Sweeney
4:45 Modern Romances
5PM Pinky Lee
5:30 Howdy Doody
6PM Suppertime Comics
6:30 Sports
6:40 Weather Vein
6:45 Today's News
7PM Badge 714
7:30 Eddie Fisher
7:45 Camel News Caravan-J.C. Swayze
8PM Red Buttons
8:30 Life Of Riley
9PM Big Story
9:30 Dear Phoebe-Peter Lawford
10PM Sports Highlights of 1954
11PM News
11:05 Weather-Joe Finan
11:10 Sports
11:15 Theater
11:30 Vienna Boys Choir
Midnight Christmas Service-St. Patrick's New York City

WEWS-5 CBS
7AM Morning Show-Jack Paar
8:25 On Wings Of Song
8:30 Morning Show
8:55 On Wings Of Song
9AM Christmas Customs
9:30 Film (Paige Palmer pre-empted)
10AM Garry Moore
11AM Dionne Lucas-Cooking
11:30 Strike It Rich-Hull
Noon Valiant Lady
12:15 Love Of Life
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
12:45 Guiding Light
1PM Woman's Window
1:30 Welcome Travelers
2PM Robert Q. Lewis
2:30 Linkletter's House Party
3PM Big Payoff
3:30 Bob Crosby
4PM Mixing Bowl-Rachel Van Cleve
4:30 On Your Account
5PM Uncle Jake-Gene Carroll
5:25 News
5:30 Twenty Fingers-Piano/Organ Music
5:45 Professor Pet
5:50 Dinner Platter-Bob Dale
6:30 Dorothy Fuldheim
6:45 Sports
6:55 Weather
7PM Meet Corliss Archer
7:30 CBS News-Douglas Edwards
7:45 Perry Como
8PM Mama
8:30 Topper
9PM Schlitz Playhouse
9:30 Our Miss Brooks-Repeat of the 1953 Christmas Episode "Magic Christmas Tree" which had been done before on the radio version
10PM The Lineup
10:30 I Led Three Lives
11PM Liberace
11:30 Christmas Service-National Cathedral, Washington, DC
12:30 Christmas Service-Boys' Town, Omaha Nebraska..

WXEL-8 DuMont/ABC
8:55 Preview Corner
9AM Breakfast Club-ABC-Don Mc Neill
10AM Alice Weston
10:30 Charming Children-Marjorie Harm
11AM Nancy Dixon-Shopping
11:05 Maggie Wulff Show-Movie-Murder at Glen Athol
12:30 Rena and Bob (Ledyard)
1PM Portia Faces Life-CBS
1:15 Road Of Life-CBS
1:30 Movie-TBA-Maybe a short Christmas Film
2PM All About Baby
2:15 This Is The Story
2:30 All For You-Alice Weston
3PM Paul Dixon-DuMont
4PM Brighter Day-CBS
4:15 Secret Storm-CBS
4:30 King Jack's Toybox-Boyd Heath
5PM Santa Claus-Max Ellis
5:15 Desert Deputy-Western Films
6:30 Weather-Dr. Annear
6:40 Sports
6:50 Joe Potaro
7PM Captain Video-DuMont
7:15 News-Bob Lang, Jimmy Dudley
7:30 Rin Tin Tin-ABC
8PM Ozzie And Harriet-ABC
8:30 Ray Bolger-ABC
9PM Dollar A Second-ABC
9:30 The Vise-ABC
10PM Christmas Eve Concert-Symphony Of The Air (formerly NBC Symphony)
10:30 Frankie Laine Show
11PM News-Warren Guthrie
11:10 Sports
11:15 Weather
11:20 Movie-TBA

WFMJ-21 NBC Youngstown


7AM Today
9AM Movie-Shep Comes Home
10AM Ding Dong School
10:30 A Time To Live
10:45 Three Steps To Heaven
11AM Home-Arlene Francis
Noon Betty White Show
12:30 Feather Your Nest
1PM News
1:15 Hal's A Poppin-Hal Fryar
2PM Movie- Sittin Easy:The Gentlemen From California (Part 3)
2:30 Kitchen Corner- Marjorie Mariner
3PM The Greatest Gift
3:15 Golden Windows
3:30 One Man's Family
3:45 Miss Marlowe
4PM Hawkins Falls
4:15 First Love
4:30 World Of Mr. Sweeney
4:45 Modern Romances
5PM Suise Sidesaddle
5:30 Howdy Doody
6PM Film Fill
6:15 Telerama
6:30 News
6:45 Weather
6:50 Sports
7PM Big Picture
7:30 Eddie Fisher
7:45 Camel News Caravan-J.C. Swayze
8PM Red Buttons
8:30 Life Of Riley
9PM Big Story
9:30 Dear Phoebe-Peter Lawford
10PM Sports Highlights of 1954
11PM News
11:10 Sports
11:15 Playhouse 15
11:30 Vienna Boys Choir
Midnight Christmas Service-St. Patrick's New York City

WKBN-27 CBS/ABC/DuMont Youngstown

7AM Morning Show-Jack Paar
9AM Breakfast Club-ABC
10AM Movie-TBA
11AM Garry Moore
11:30 Strike It Rich-Hull
12PM Noon Show
1PM Portia Faces Life
1:15 Home Cooking-Hendricks
1:45 Curious Camera
2PM Robert Q. Lewis
2:30 The Christmas Story
3PM Big Payoff
3:30 Paul Dixon-DuMont
4PM It Pays to Remember
4:15 Grizzly Pete
4:45 Clancy's Clubhouse
5PM Barker Bill-CBS
5:15 Grizzly Pete
6PM Annie Oakley
6:30 News
6:45 Sports
6:55 Weather
7PM Dollar A Second-ABC
7:30 CBS News-Douglas Edwards
7:45 Perry Como
8PM Dangerous Assignment
8:30 Topper
9PM Schlitz Playhouse
9:30 Our Miss Brooks-Repeat of the 1953 Christmas Episode "Magic Christmas Tree" which had been done before on the radio version
10PM The Lineup
10:30 Person To Person
11PM News-Warren Guthrie
11:15 Showcase
12:30 Christmas Service-Boys' Town, Omaha Nebraska

WAKR-49 ABC Akron

4PM Movie-TBA
5PM Letters For Santa
6PM News
6:15 The Humbards
6:30 Sports
6:50 Ohio Story
7PM News-Jack Fitzgibbons
7:10 Sports-Bob Wylie
7:15 ABC News-John Daly
7:30 Chef Lorenzo
8PM Teen WHO Club
8:30 Ray Bolger-ABC
9PM Dollar A Second-ABC
9:30 The Vise-ABC
10PM Movie-March of The Wooden Soldiers (Laurel and Hardy)
10:30 Frankie Laine Show
11PM Christmas Service-Cathedral Of St. John The Divine/New York City..

Next:Part 2-Christmas Day Listings plus will try to find some video from the era..