''Eddy Arnold Time'' is an American musical

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

syndicated to local

stations Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

from 1955 through 1957. The show consisted of 26 half-hour filmed episodes starring

Eddy Arnold Richard Edward Arnold (May 15, 1918 – May 8, 2008) was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a Nashville sound (country/popular music) innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the ''Billboard'' cou ...

in different roles within a musical narrative. Arnold portrayed, among others, a lumberjack, a traveling salesman, a cowboy, a pet shop owner, himself, and even

Stephen Foster Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826January 13, 1864), known also as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour music, parlour and Minstrel show, minstrel music during the Romantic music, Romantic ...

Production and cast

Produced, directed and written by

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

veteran Ben Park, the series featured

Betty Johnson Betty Johnson (March 16, 1929 – November 6, 2022) was an American traditional pop and cabaret singer who reached her career peak in the 1950s. Biography Johnson was born in Guilford County, North Carolina on March 16, 1929. Johnson's professio ...

, who usually played Arnold's romantic interest; and in supporting roles, the

Jordanaires The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, ...

, using the name Gordonaires. A promotional booklet for the program explained that the group used the name Jordanaires "only for their recordings." The more complete explanation is that it legally protected the producers in case the group, which owned the name Jordanaires, left the program prematurely. For this show, the group was composed of Hoyt Hawkins, Hugh Jarett,

Neal Matthews, Jr. Neal Matthews Jr. (October 26, 1929 – April 21, 2000) was an American vocalist who achieved fame as part of The Jordanaires, one of country music's premier backup groups; most notably with Elvis Presley. Matthews played guitar, double bass, and ...

and Gordon Stoker. Guitarist

Hank Garland Walter Louis Garland (11 November 1930 – 27 December 2004), professionally Hank Garland, was an American guitarist and songwriter. He started as a country musician, played rock and roll as it became popular in the 1950s, and released a jazz al ...

and

Roy Wiggins Roy Wiggins (June 27, 1926 – August 3, 1999), known professionally as Little Roy Wiggins, was an American steel guitarist who is best known for his work with Eddy Arnold. Wiggins began playing professionally at a young age. As Eddy Arnold's f ...

(steel guitar) also made occasional appearances. A young

Ed Asner Eddie Asner (; November 15, 1929 – August 29, 2021) was an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild. He is best remembered for portraying Lou Grant during the 1970s and early 1980s, on both ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' an ...

appeared in one episode. The producers termed the program, filmed at Kling Studios in Chicago, Illinois, a ''TV filmusical''. Production began in October 1954; it was among the earliest syndicated American TV programs. Although popular in some small

markets Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: * Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand * Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, a ...

, it suffered from uninspired performances and storylines, a poor

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

and inadequate marketing.Streissguth, Michael (1997). ''Eddy Arnold: Pioneer of the Nashville Sound''. New York: Schirmer Books. . p. 139 In 1959, episodes were edited together with segments from ''

The Old American Barn Dance ''The Old American Barn Dance'' is an American country music television series carried by the DuMont Television Network from July 5 to September 13, 1953. Production The summer replacement program, hosted by Bill Bailey, aired on Sunday nights ...

'' and

Jimmy Dean Jimmy Ray Dean (August 10, 1928 – June 13, 2010) was an American country music singer, television host, actor and businessman. He was the creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand as well as the spokesman for its TV commercials. He became ...

's ''Town and Country Time'' (a local Washington, D.C. program) and syndicated by producer Bernard L. Schubert under the title, ''Your Musical Jamboree''.

Episodes (22 of 26)

Notes

References

External links

Public domain episode on Internet Archive
{{Eddy Arnold 1955 American television series debuts 1957 American television series endings 1950s American music television series Black-and-white American television shows English-language television shows First-run syndicated television programs in the United States