Frank Bunetta
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Frank Bunetta
Frank Bunetta was an American television director and producer. Early years When Bunetta was 10 years old, he performed as "the Boy Without a Body" in the Sells Floto Circus. He later worked with TV developer Allen B. DuMont in an association that led to his career in video. Career Bunetta's TV career began when he was an employee at the DuMont Laboratories who worked at night at WABD-TV. In 1947, Bunetta was technical director of a TV adaptation of ''A Christmas Carol'' on the ''DuMont Television Network''. By April 1949, he had been promoted to production supervisor for Dumont TV. Bunetta directed Jackie Gleason in 1951 when Gleason was host of the variety show ''Cavalcade of Stars''. He went on to direct other programs, including '' Your Show of Shows'' and Ernie Kovacs's program, before he reunited with Gleason in 1962 to direct ''The Jackie Gleason Show''. Frank Philbin, who produced the Gleason show, described Bunetta as "ingenious and creative, a very good comedy director" ...
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Sells Floto Circus
The Sells Floto Circus was a combination of the Floto Dog & Pony Show and the Sells Brothers Circus that toured with sideshow acts in the United States during the early 1900s. History Frederick Gilmer Bonfils and Harry Heye Tammen owned the first outfit as well as the Denver Post, and the "Floto" name came from the Post's one-time sportswriter, Otto Floto. During the 1914–1915 seasons the circus featured Buffalo Bill Cody. The Sells Floto circus absorbed Buffalo Bill's Wild West shows, and the Sells Brothers Circus, it was also a "combined" show. It later became the concessions department of Ringling Brothers Circus, along with Haggenback Wallace, who made the floats and other equipment. The circus had four elephant births, three born to "Alice" and one to "Mama Mary". The sire of all four was "Snyder". None survived longer than five months. By 1929 the Sells Floto Circus was part of the American Circus Corporation which consisted of Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus, the John Robins ...
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Mary Kay And Johnny
''Mary Kay and Johnny'' is an American situation comedy starring real-life married couple Mary Kay and Johnny Stearns. It was the first sitcom broadcast on a network television in the United States. ''Mary Kay and Johnny'' initially aired live on the DuMont Television Network before moving to CBS and then NBC. Format Plots centered around a bank employee and his "zany, but not dumb" wife and the problems that they encountered. Much of the activity occurred in the couple's apartment in Greenwich Village. A review in the March 6, 1948, issue of the trade publication ''Billboard'' began, "This program comes close to being a model tele isionshow. In detailing the adventures, mainly domestic, of a young married couple, Johnny and Mary Kay Stearns have come up with charming and fresh material, which always takes into consideration that there are cameras taking everything in." Later in the review, however, the author wrote, "At times the show got just a bit too cute" with the female st ...
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1978 Deaths
Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 – The Holy Crown of Hungary (also known as Stephen of Hungary Crown) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held since World War II. * January 10 – Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, a critic of the Nicaraguan government, is assassinated; riots erupt against Anastasio Somoza Debayle, Somoza's government. * January 18 – The European Court of Human Rights finds the British government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture. * January 22 – Ethiopia declares the ambassador of West Germany ''persona non grata''. * January 24 ** Soviet Union, Soviet satellite Kosmos 954 burns up in Earth's atmosphere, scattering debris over Canada's Northwest Territories. ** ...
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Year Of Birth Missing
A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hours of daylight, and, consequently, vegetation and soil fertility. In temperate and subpolar regions around the planet, four seasons are generally recognized: spring, summer, autumn and winter. In tropical and subtropical regions, several geographical sectors do not present defined seasons; but in the seasonal tropics, the annual wet and dry seasons are recognized and tracked. A calendar year is an approximation of the number of days of the Earth's orbital period, as counted in a given calendar. The Gregorian calendar, or modern calendar, presents its calendar year to be either a common year of 365 days or a leap year of 366 days, as do the Julian calendars. For the Gregorian calendar, the average length of the calendar year (the mea ...
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Newspapers
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports and art, and often include materials such as opinion columns, weather forecasts, reviews of local services, obituaries, birth notices, crosswords, editorial cartoons, comic strips, and advice columns. Most newspapers are businesses, and they pay their expenses with a mixture of subscription revenue, newsstand sales, and advertising revenue. The journalism organizations that publish newspapers are themselves often metonymically called newspapers. Newspapers have traditionally been published in print (usually on cheap, low-grade paper called newsprint). However, today most newspapers are also published on websites as online newspapers, and some have even abandoned their print versions entirely. Newspapers developed in the 17th ...
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Johnny Jupiter
''Johnny Jupiter'' is the name of two early American television programs featuring a combination of live action and hand puppets. The first version aired on the DuMont Television Network from March to June 1953. The second version aired on ABC from September 1953 to May 1954. DuMont version The original version, broadcast live on the DuMont Television Network Saturday evenings for 30 minutes, from March 21 to June 13, 1953, starred Vaughn Taylor as an elderly janitor, Ernest P. Duckweather, cleaning-up after midnight in a TV studio. Tinkering with a TV set, he somehow made contact with the planet Jupiter, and two of its inhabitants, Johnny Jupiter and his colleague B-12, both of whom were hand puppets voiced by series writer Jerome Coopersmith and Carl Harms. The often sharp humor of the series was based on Duckweather trying to explain and justify earth customs to the natives of Jupiter, who could view them on their own TV sets. As an example, the program covered the US fad for ...
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What's Your Bid?
''What's Your Bid?'' was an ABC and DuMont Television Network game show hosted by Leonard Rosen (as "Liberal Bill") (ABC) and Robert Alda (DuMont), with announcement and live commercials delivered by John Reed King (ABC) and Dick Shepard (DuMont). The show aired Saturdays from February 14, 1953, to late April on ABC, and Sundays from May 3, 1953, to June 28, 1953, on DuMont. The show was an auction where audience members bid on items, with all revenues from the auction directed to a specific charity that week, and often matching funds provided to that charity or another organization on behalf of the show's sponsor, Charles Antell Cosmetics. Winners would receive other prizes along with their auction items, ranging from consumer products to household appliances to cars, and Charles Antell products were frequent consolation prizes. In the middle segment, three pre-selected viewers would be telephoned, and given an opportunity to bid on an item, with the show's announcers manning the ph ...
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Battle Of The Ages
''Battle of the Ages'' was an American television program originally broadcast on the DuMont Television Network and later CBS. DuMont version It was a prime time game show/talent contest which pitted children against adult celebrities. Whichever team won would have their winnings donated to either the Professional Children's School (the kids) or the Actors' Fund of America (the adults). The DuMont version ran from January 1 to July 17, 1952, and was hosted by John Reed King.McNeil, Alex (1980). ''Total Television'' (4th ed.). New York: Penguin Books. Competitors included The Charioteers and Henny Youngman. CBS version The series was then aired by CBS on Saturdays at 10:30pm ET beginning on September 6, 1952. The age division for team members was 35, and it was hosted by Morey Amsterdam. Members of the two teams participated in "song, dance, comedy and instrumental competition", with the winning team determined by applause of the audience. It ended on November 29, 1952. This ...
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The Adventures Of Oky Doky
''The Adventures of Oky Doky'' is an American children's television program that aired on the DuMont Television Network on Thursdays at 7pm ET from November 4, 1948, through May 26, 1949. Sometime in early 1949, the time slot for the show went from 30 minutes to 15 minutes. In March, the show was cut back to Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:45pm ET. The show had many similarities with ''Howdy Doody'', including a frontier/western theme and a cowboy puppet as the title character. Background The puppet Oky Doky (created by puppeteer Raye Copeland) was first seen on New York City television station WABD in a children's fashion show program called ''Tots, Tweens and Teens''.Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (2007). ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present'' (9th ed.). New York: Ballantine Books. . Although there are conflicting stories of when Oky Doky first appeared on local television, it seems likely that his move to network prime time was inspired by ...
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It's A Business
''It's a Business'' was a television sitcom that aired on the DuMont Television Network for 10 episodes. Broadcast history ''It's a Business'' aired on DuMont from March 19 to May 21, 1952, replacing ''Famous Jury Trials'', and was a half-hour program that aired on Wednesdays at 9 pm. The series starred Bob Haymes and Leo De Lyon as Broadway song publishers in the 1900s, during the vaudeville era, and Dorothy Loudon as their secretary. Production The program was directed by Frank Bunetta and written by Bob Weiskopf. Paul Rosen was the producer. Mort Lindsey directed the music It was broadcast live from the Adelphi Theatre in New York City. Episode status As with most DuMont series, no episodes are known to survive. See also * List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network * List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts References Bibliography *David Weinstein, ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'' (Philadelphia: Te ...
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DuMont Laboratories
Allen B. DuMont Laboratories, Inc. (printed on products as Allen B. Du Mont Laboratories, Inc., commonly referred to as DuMont Laboratories, shortened to DuMont Labs; referred to on company documents as DuMont) was an American television equipment manufacturer and broadcasting company. At one point it owned TV stations WABD (now WNYW; FOX O&O), KCTY (defunct; DuMont affiliate), W2XVT (experimental; defunct; DuMont affiliate), KE2XDR (experimental; defunct; DuMont affiliate), & WDTV (now KDKA-TV; CBS O&O), as well as WTTG (FOX O&O), all former affiliates of its defunct DuMont Television Network. The company was founded in 1931, in Upper Montclair, by inventor Allen B. DuMont, with its headquarters in nearby Clifton. Among the company's developments were durable cathode ray tubes (CRTs) that would be used for TV and its magic eye tube. History In 1938, DuMont Labs began manufacturing televisions at a factory in nearby Passaic, New Jersey. To sell TVs, it began the DuMont Televis ...
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The Garry Moore Show
''The Garry Moore Show'' is the name for several separate American variety series on the CBS television network in the 1950s and 1960s. Hosted by experienced radio performer Garry Moore, the series helped launch the careers of many comedic talents, such as Dorothy Loudon, Don Adams, George Gobel, Carol Burnett, Don Knotts, Lee Goodman, James Kirkwood, Jr., Lily Tomlin, and Jonathan Winters. ''The Garry Moore Show'' garnered a number of Emmy nominations and wins. Origins The show originally started as a radio program; CBS eventually awarded Moore his own early-evening television show in its place. His radio partner since 1940, Durward Kirby, made the move to TV with him, and appeared throughout all three versions of the TV show. Original version (1950–1958) The first incarnation of the show began in June 1950 as a Monday-through-Friday, 30-minute evening series. It was also simulcast on radio. The show changed to a once-weekly, one-hour format by August. Another prime time edit ...
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