''Longines Chronoscope'', also titled ''Chronoscope'', is an American TV series, sponsored by

Longines Compagnie des Montres Longines, Francillon S.A., or simply Longines (), is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Saint-Imier, Switzerland. Founded by Auguste Agassiz in 1832, the company has been a subsidiary of the Swiss Swatch Group and its predec ...

watches, that ran on

CBS Television CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

from 1951–1955. The series aired Monday nights at 11 p.m. ET to 11:15 p.m., and expanded to Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 11 p.m. ET after the first season. More than 600 episodes were aired, but only 482 survive, and these surviving kinescopes were donated by Longines to the National Archives.''Longines Chronoscope'' IMDB entry
/ref> The series featured 15-minute episodes with interviews with notable people of the time, including

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

Hubert H. Humphrey Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American pharmacist and politician who served as the 38th vice president of the United States from 1965 to 1969. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing Mi ...

, Henry Wallace,

Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid 20th century. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded ...

Richard E. Byrd Richard Evelyn Byrd Jr. (October 25, 1888 – March 11, 1957) was an American naval officer and explorer. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the highest honor for valor given by the United States, and was a pioneering American aviator, p ...

Joseph McCarthy Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visi ...

Earl Warren Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. The Warren Court presided over a major shift in American constitution ...

Arthur Bliss Lane Arthur Bliss Lane (16 June 1894 – 12 August 1956) was a United States diplomat who served in Latin America and Europe. During his diplomatic career he dealt with the rise of a dictatorship in Nicaragua in the 1930s, World War II and its afterma ...

, John V. Beamer, Tadeusz "Bór" Komorowski and

Clare Boothe Luce Clare Boothe Luce ( Ann Clare Boothe; March 10, 1903 – October 9, 1987) was an American writer, politician, U.S. ambassador, and public conservative figure. A versatile author, she is best known for her 1936 hit play '' The Women'', which h ...

. The show was hosted by

William Bradford Huie William Bradford Huie (November 13, 1910 – November 20, 1986) was an American writer, investigative reporter, editor, national lecturer, and television host. His credits include twenty-one books that sold over 30 million copies worldwide. In ad ...

Larry LeSueur Laurence Edward LeSueur (June 10, 1909 – February 5, 2003) was an American journalist and a war correspondent during World War II. He worked closely with Edward R. Murrow and was one of the original Murrow Boys. Early life LeSueur was born on J ...

, and

Henry Hazlitt Henry Stuart Hazlitt (; November 28, 1894 – July 9, 1993) was an American journalist who wrote about business and economics for such publications as ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The Nation'', ''The American Mercury'', ''Newsweek'', and '' ...

. Journalist Frank W. Taylor and business affairs consultant Henry Hazlitt were regular members of the three-person panel. The third panelist for each episode was a guest selected for having particular knowledge related to the guest for that show. Frank Knight was the moderator. In February 1954, Clark Getts, former producer of ''Longines Chronoscope'', sued CBS for $150,000, alleging that the network had caused Longines to break its contract with him. The program's demise resulted from a disagreement between CBS and the sponsor regarding control. Network officials felt that CBS should have control, because the program involved discussions of controversial public affairs; Longines executives felt that the company should retain control. In 1956, ''Chronoscope'' was included in a Congressional subcommittee's investigation of network operations. Getts, CBS executives, and a Longines-Wittnauer official were among the witnesses who appeared before the subcommittee headed by Representative Emanuel Cellar.

References

External links

“Television Interviews, 1951-1955: A Catalog of Longines Chronoscope Interviews in the National Archives”
Compiled by Sarah L. Shamley. ''

National Archives and Records Administration The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...

'', 1990. * Yazbeck, Alessandro Balteo & Media Farzin
“Screen Play: Chronoscope, 1951, 11PM”''mitpressjournal.org''
(pp. 132–147)
''Longines Chronoscope'' at IMDB

Chronoscope interview with Henry Wallace
broadcast 12/28/51, Retrieved September 10, 2013
Chronoscope interview with Earl Warren
broadcast 4/11/52, Retrieved September 12, 2013
Chronoscope interview with John F. Kennedy
broadcast 8/22/52, Retrieved September 12, 2013
Chronoscope interview with Kenneth Younger
broadcast 10/19/53, Retrieved February 12, 2020
Chronoscope interview with Humbert H. Humphrey
broadcast 12/2/53, Retrieved September 12, 2013
Chronoscope interview with John V. Beamer
broadcast 3/10/1952, Retrieved February 18, 2015 * * {{Internet Archive film clip, id=gov.archives.arc.95716, description="Longines Chronoscope with Arthur Garfield Hays (December 7, 1951)" American television talk shows 1951 American television series debuts 1955 American television series endings CBS original programming

See also

References

External links