Cleveland TV..December 1956

Plain Dealer ad for "Morning Surprise" with Tom Haley and "Mr. Rivitz" on KYW-TV 3


Ad for "Toyland Express" presented by something called the "Toy Guidance Council"



"Brod" Crawford stars in Highway Partol sponsored by Kroger on WKBN-27 Youngstown Tuesdays at 9:30, Preempting Red Skelton..



Ad for "Merry Christmas Mr. Baxter" on the Alcoa Hour Sunday, December 2 at 9:00 on NBC (3-21)





November 16, 1957..The first mention I could find in Halles advertising for Mr. Jingeling(Max Ellis), who may have begun playing the Character on TV in 1957



For our first holiday posting, I thought we'd look at December 1956, partly through the pages of Cleveland TV Guide, December 1-8, 1956..



WEWS was well into the "Holiday Spirit" with shows like Toyland Express(15 minutes) with Jimmy Nelson and his Dummies, shown Saturday at 10:45 and 11:30 and Sunday at 9:45 and 11:45 AM..



Santa Claus Monday, Thursday and Friday at 4:45..



There was also"Toy Preview" weekdays at 12:40 and 6:25 PM..My guess here is that Halles sponsored this, though it's not said so in the listings and no host is mentioned. While Mr. Jingeling was created for Halles in 1956, it appears he only made store appearances and possible other personal appearances.."Mr. Jingeling" as noted above was not mentioned by name in Halles ads till November 1957..

WJW-TV 8 featured Nelson Olmstead's "Ohio Story" weeknights at 6:30 with stories including Medina, Ohio as "Bee Captital" of the world..(To this day, Medina High School Sports Teams are nicknamed "The Bees") Toledo Zoo in Wintertime, and"Darling Nellie Gray" writer Ben Hamby..

Ron Penfound was doing WEWS sign-on news Saturdays at 8:55 and possibly hosting Fun Farm, as Mary Ellen Sussex had left for Florida a month earlier..

Romper Room was carried on WJW-TV 8 weekdays at 9AM with "Miss Pat" (Pat Ryan Dopp)The franchise moved to Channel 5 in 1958 with Barbara Plummer until 1971..

"Mr. Rivitz" was a character played by Jay Miltner in the Saturday morning "Nuts and Bolts" series on KYW-TV 3 and as part of Tom Haley's "Morning Surprise" weekdays at 9AM..A similar character, Mr. Rivets, was played by a different actor at WPTZ/WRCV-3 in Philadelphia from 1954-56..

Saturday, December 1, 1956:

3 KYW-NBC

7:30 This Land Is Ours
8:30 Nuts and Bolts-Mr. Rivitz
9:30 Teachers Meeting-Cleveland Schools
10AM Howdy Doody
10:30 Sheena of the Jungle
11AM Fury
11:30 Buffalo Bill Jr.
Noon Roy Rogers
12:30 Duke Jenkins-Music
1PM Football Preview
1:15 Army/Navy College Football-Lindsey Nelson/Red Grange
4:45 Football Scoreboard
5PM 77th Bengal Lancers
5:30 Ramar of the Jungle
6PM Bowling-Chicago
7PM Racket Squad
7:30 People Are Funny-Art Linkletter
8PM Perry Como-COLOR Carol Channing, Nat King Cole
9PM Caesar's Hour
10PM George Gobel-Guest Angela Lansbury
10:30 Your Hit Parade
11PM News-Tom Field
11:05 Movie-Johnny Come Lately-1943
12:30 News-Tom Field

5 WEWS-ABC

8:55 News-Ron Penfound
9AM Fun Farm
10AM Story of TV
10:30 Friendly Giant
10:45 Toyland Express
11AM Mr. Lollipops-Joe Berg
11:30 Toyland Express
11:45 Learn To Draw-Jon Gnagy
Noon Double Feature Western Movie
2PM Bandstand-Phil McLean Patty Rowe
4PM Movie-Kansas Terrors-1939
5PM Movie-Call of the Mesquiteers-1938
6PM Kit Carson
6:30 Gene Autry
7PM Old Dutch Revue-Johnny Andrews
7:30 Famous Film Festival-Hamlet Part One (Sir Laurence Olivier)
9PM Lawrence Welk
10PM Masquerade Party
10:30 Police Call
11PM I Spy-Anthology about spying and espionage
11:30 Conrad Nagel Theater
Midnight Movie-A Matter of Murder
1AM News-Randy Culver

8 WJW CBS

8:30 Movie-Six-Gun Man
9:30 Captain Kangaroo
10:30 Mighty Mouse
11AM Looney Tunes
11:30 Texas Rangers
Noon Big Top
1PM Lone Ranger
1:30 Humbard Family
2PM Science Sermons-Likely from Moody Bible Institute
2:30 Animal Fair
3PM Teen Press-Maggie Wulff
3:30 Salute-Documentary
4PM Movie-Six-Gun Man (Repeat from 8:30)
5PM Sky King
5:30 Captain Midnight
6PM Hopalong Cassidy
6:30 Annie Oakley
7PM Beat The Clock-Bud Collyer
7:30 Buccaneers
8PM Jackie Gleason
9AM Oh Susanna
9:30 Hey, Jeannie
10PM Gunsmoke
10:30 Frontier
11PM News-Warren Guthrie
11:10 Sports-John Fitzgerald
11:15 Movie-I Am The Law-1938
12:45 Movie-Love From A Stranger-1947

21 WFMJ-Youngstown NBC

10AM Howdy Doody
10:30 I Married Joan
11AM Fury
11:30 Cowboy Theater-Monty Hall
1PM To Be Announced
1:15 Army-Navy Football
5PM Funhouse Gang
6:15 Jungle Jim
6:45 Hollywood Backstage
7PM Rumpus Room
7:30 People Are Funny-Art Linkletter
8PM Perry Como-COLOR Carol Channing, Nat King Cole
9PM Caesar;s Hour
10PM George Gobel-Guest Angela Lansbury
10:30 Your Hit Parade
11PM News
11:15 Movie-The Secret People-1952

27 WKBN-Youngstown CBS/ABC

9:30 Captain Kangaroo
10:15 Toyland Express
10:30 Cartoon Classics
11AM Western Movie
Noon Big Top
1PM Movie-The Old Barn Dance
2PM Movie-Fighting Pioneers
3PM Movie-The Quitter-1934
4PM Western Movie
5PM Bowling Champs
6PM Uncovered
6:30 News
7PM Ozzie And Harriet-ABC
7:30 Buccaneers
8PM Jackie Gleason
9AM Lawrence Welk-ABC
10PM Gunsmoke
10:30 Ford Theater
11PM Polka Party
Midnight Wrestling Time

49 WAKR-Akron ABC

12:30 Movie-Cowboy Holiday-1934
1:30 Humbard Family
2PM Mr. and Mrs. North
2:30 Akron University
3PM Movie-I Met My Love Again-1938
4PM Movie-Gentleman From Texas-1946
6PM Movie-Musical
7PM Grand Ole Opry
7:30 Famous Film Festival-Hamlet Part One (Sir Laurence Olivier)
9PM Lawrence Welk
10PM Movie-More Than A Secretary-1936
11:30 Movie-Fall Guy-1947



Thursday, December 6, 1956

3 KYW NBC

7AM Today
9AM Morning Surprise-Tom Haley
10AM Ding Dong School
10:30 Price Is Right-Bill Cullen
11AM Home-Arlene Francis
11:25 Window-Women
11:30 Home-Continues
Noon Tic Tac Dough
12:30 It Could Be You
1PM Movie-The Flying Irishman-1939
2:30 Tennessee Ernie
3PM Matinee Theater-COLOR "The Refugee"
4PM Queen For A Day
4:45 Modern Romances
5PM I Married Joan
5:30 Mr. District Attorney
6PM Six O'Clock-Adventure-My Hero (Robert Cummings)
6:30 Six O'Clock Adventure-Colonel March (Boris Karloff)
6:55 News-Tom Field
7PM Soldiers Of Fortune
7:30 Dinah Shore
7:45 Huntley/Brinkley Report
8PM You Bet Your Life-Groucho Marx
8:30 Dragnet
9PM People's Choice-Jackie Cooper, Pat Breslin
9:30 Ford Show-Tennessee Ernie Ford-Guest Ken Murray
10PM Project 20-"The Jazz Age" with host Fred Allen (Lux Video Theatre is off tonight)
11PM News-Tom Field
11:10 Weather-Joe Finan
11:15 Sports-Joe Mulvihill
11:20 Big Wilson-Music
11:30 Steve Allen Tonight Show
12:30 My Little Margie
1AM News-Tom Field

5 WEWS ABC

8:55 News-Bill Prentice
9AM Fun Farm
9:45 Paige Palmer
10AM Western Reserve University Telecourse
10:30 Movie-Blonde Ice-1948
11:55 News-Ron Penfound-Probably a voiceover with a slide, as Penfound was likely already in his "Captain Penny" train outfit for his show at Noon

Noon Captain Penny
12:40 Toy Preview
12:45 Beulah-The Play
1:15 Stu Erwin-Yvette
1:45 Susie-Too Much Spring
2:15 Liberace
2:45 Music Masters-Songs
3PM Afternoon Film Festival-It Started In Paradise (English:1953)
4:30 Little Rascals
4:45 Toyland Santa
5PM Mickey Mouse Club
6PM Three Musketeers-The Marshal and Milady
6:25 Toy Preview
6:30 Dorothy Fuldheim
6:45 Weather-Bill Prentice
6:50 News-Paul Wilcox, Ron Penfound
7PM Stories Of The Century-Kate Bender
7:30 Lone Ranger-Decision For Chris McKeever
8PM Circus Time-Paul Winchell
9PM Wire Service-The Avengers
10PM Ozark Jubilee-Red Foley
10:30 Public Defender-The Hitchhiker
11PM Weather-Paul Wilcox
11:05 Movie-The Groom Wore Spurs-1951 (IMDB)
12:30 News-Court Stanton

8 WJW CBS

7AM Good Morning-Will Rogers Jr. with Norman Vincent Peale, Mitch Miller
8AM Captain Kangaroo
9AM Romper Room-Miss Pat
9:30 Heart Of The City
10AM Garry Moore
10:30 Arthur Godfrey
11:30 Strike It Rich-Warren Hull
Noon Valiant Lady
12:15 Love Of Life
12:30 Search For Tomorrow
12:45 Guiding Light
1PM Our Miss Brooks-Thanksgiving
1:30 As The World Turns
2PM Alice Weston
2:30 House Party-Linkletter
3PM Blackboard-Maggie Wulff (Pre-empted Big Payoff today only)
3:30 Bob Crosby-Bob sings brother Bing's holiday hit, "White Christmas"
4PM Brighter Day
4:15 Secret Storm
4:30 Edge Of Night
5PM Movie-Blind Alley-1939 (IMDB)
6:15 News-Roger Kennedy
6:30 Ohio Story-segment on Cleveland Police's Bureau of Scientific Investigation-Nelson Olmstead narrates

6:40 News-Roger Kennedy
6:45 CBS News-Douglas Edwards
7PM Dr. Christian
7:30 Sergeant Preston
8PM Bob Cummings (Love That Bob)-Chuck Buys A Hot Rod
8:30 Climax! Savage Portrait
9:30 Playhouse 90-Made In Heaven with Imogene Coca and Robert Preston
11PM News-Warren Guthrie
11:10 Sports-John Fitzgerald
11:15 Weather-Ken Armstrong
11:20 Les Paul/Mary Ford
11:25 Movie-Parole Racket-1937

21 WFMJ NBC Youngstown

7AM Today
9AM Adelaide Snyder
10AM Ding Dong School
10:30 Price Is Right-Bill Cullen
11AM Home-Arlene Francis
Noon Tic Tac Dough
12:30 It Could Be You
1PM Local News
1:15 Kitchen Corner-Mariner
1:45 Hal's A-Poppin-Hal Fryar
2:30 Tennessee Ernie
3PM Matinee Theater-COLOR "The Refugee"
4PM Queen For A Day
4:45 Modern Romances
5PM Funhouse Gang
6PM Popeye
7PM Dr. Christian
7:30 Dinah Shore
7:45 Huntley/Brinkley Report
8PM You Bet Your Life-Groucho Marx
8:30 Dragnet
9PM People's Choice-Jackie Cooper, Pat Breslin
9:30 Ford Show-Tennessee Ernie Ford-Guest Ken Murray
10PM Project 20-"The Jazz Age" with host Fred Allen (Lux Video Theatre is off tonight)
11PM News/Weather/Sports
11:20 Living Word
11:30 Steve Allen Tonight Show

27 WKBN CBS/ABC Youngstown

7AM Good Morning-Will Rogers Jr. with Norman Vincent Peale, Mitch Miller
8AM Captain Kangaroo
9AM To Be Announced-(Nothing listed-On occasion 27 would run Captain Kangaroo Twice-this may be the case here)

10AM Fashions-Esther Sonntag
10:15 Movie-Charlie Chan In Rio-1941
11:30 Strike It Rich-Warren Hull
Noon Cartoon Carnival
12:30 Playhouse
1PM CBS News-Charles Colligwood
1:10 Stand Up-Women
1:30 Movie-Pearl Of Death-1944
2:45 Casteel's Carousel
3PM Big Payoff
3:30 Western Movie
4:45 Clancy's Clubhouse
5PM Mickey Mouse Club-ABC
6PM Annie Oakley
6:30 Sports/News
6:45 CBS News-Douglas Edwards
7PM Crunch and Des
7:30 Sergeant Preston
8PM Bob Cummings (Love That Bob)-Chuck Buys A Hot Rod
8:30 Climax! Savage Portrait
9:30 Playhouse 90-Made In Heaven with Imogene Coca and Robert Preston
11PM News-Warren Guthrie
11:10 Local News
11:15 Movie-Conflict Of Wings-1955

49 WAKR ABC Akron

1PM Movie-Johnny In The Clouds-1945
2:30 Chef Lorenzo
3PM Afternoon Film Festival-It Started In Paradise (English:1953)
4:30 Adventure
5PM Movie-Paradise Canyon-1935
6PM Local News
6:30 Dinner Spinner-Music
7PM News
7:15 ABC News-John Daly
7:30 Chef Lorenzo
8PM Movie-Four Days Leave-1950 (IMDB)
9:30 Movie-Guest Wife-1945
11PM Movie-Shadow On The Range-1946

Some movie dates courtesy IMDB Movie Database



1956 episode of the 15 minute NBC Dinah Shore Show.