''Dinner Date'', also known as ''Dinner Date with Vincent Lopez'', is a musical
variety show
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp ...
that was broadcast on the DuMont Television Network on Saturdays from 8 to 8:30 pm ET from January 28, 1950, to July 22, 1950 or July 29, 1950.
The show, "a relaxed program of music and song", hosted by bandleader
Vincent Lopez
Vincent Lopez (December 30, 1895 – September 20, 1975) was an American bandleader, actor, and pianist.
Early life and career
Vincent Lopez was born of Portuguese immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York City, United States, Distinguished Am ...
, was broadcast from the Grill Room at the Hotel Taft in New York City, where Lopez and his orchestra performed from 1942 to 1962. Besides Lopez's longtime vocalists Lee Russell and Ann Warren, the show featured guest stars such as Cab Calloway,
Arthur Tracy
Arthur Tracy (25 June 1899 – 5 October 1997) was an American vocalist and actor, billed as The Street Singer. His performances in theatre, films and radio, along with his recordings, brought him international fame in the 1930s. Late evening r ...
, and
Woody Herman
Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading groups called "The Herd", Herman came to prominence in the late 1930s and was active until his dea ...
.
Episodes often featured content related to letters sent in by viewers or to names of some of the viewers. The shows were unscripted, but Lopez planned "to the second" what he, the orchestra, and other performers would do. Unlike some contemporary variety programs, performers appeared only once in each episode.
Warren Russell and George Putnam were the announcers.
''Dinner Dates competition included ''Saturday Night Revue'', ''TV Teen Club'', and Ken Murray's show.
Critical reception
A review in the trade publication ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' said the program "looks like one of the first successful entertainment programs to be aired from a remote location." It commended Warren and Russell for their singing and director Harry Coyle for his handling of the "usual difficult conditions imposed by working outside a TV studio."
Episode status
None of the episodes are known to survive.
See also
*
List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network
This is a list of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network, which operated in the United States from 1942 to 1956. All regularly scheduled programs which were aired on the DuMont network are listed below, regardless of whether they orig ...
*
List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts
The DuMont Television Network was launched in 1946 and ceased broadcasting in 1956. Allen DuMont, who created the network, preserved most of what it produced in kinescope format. By 1958, however, much of the library had been destroyed to recove ...
*''
The Vincent Lopez Show
''The Vincent Lopez Show'', also known as ''Vincent Lopez Speaking'', is a 1949-1957 American musical television program hosted by Vincent Lopez and broadcast on the DuMont Television Network, and later on CBS Television. The latter title is a t ...
'' (1949–1950, 1957), a TV series also hosted by Lopez
Bibliography
*David Weinstein, ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'' (Philadelphia:
Temple University Press
Temple University Press is a university press founded in 1969 that is part of Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). It is one of thirteen publishers to participate in the Knowledge Unlatched pilot, a global library consortium approach ...
, 2004)
*Alex McNeil, ''Total Television'', Fourth edition (New York:
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Ballantine Books, 1964)