''Look Upon a Star'' was an American

live television Live television is a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. In a secondary meaning, it may refer to streaming television over the Internet when content or programming is played continuously (not on demand) ...

series, hosted by

Bess Myerson Bess Myerson (July 16, 1924 – December 14, 2014) was an American politician, model and television actress who in 1945 became the first Miss America who was also Jewish. Her achievement, in the aftermath of the Holocaust, was seen as an af ...

and produced by Joseph Cates. The series aired on two

DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being ...

stations,

WABD WABD (97.5 FM) is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Mobile, Alabama. The station, established in 1973 as WABB-FM, is owned and operated by Cumulus Media. Its studios are on Dauphin Street in Midtown Mobile, and its ...

and

WTTG WTTG (channel 5) is a television station in Washington, D.C., airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet WDCA (channel 20). WTTG and WDCA share ...

, during 1947. The show also aired on WRGB-TV, the

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

TV station in

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. The show featured high school students, was one of television's earliest talent series, and was a 30-minute series broadcast on Tuesdays at 7:30pm ET. The Comet Candy Company was the sponsor. ''Look Upon a Star'' replaced ''

Highway to the Stars ''Highway to the Stars'' was an early American live television soap opera, which was broadcast on New York City station WABD, flagship station of the DuMont Television Network, from August to October 1947, at which point it was replaced with '' L ...

'' (August to October 1947), and was itself replaced by ''

Camera Headlines ''Camera Headlines'' was an early American television series that aired from January 1948 to 1949 on the DuMont Television Network. Broadcast history DuMont's previous national news program, ''The Walter Compton News'', had premiered on DuMont sta ...

'' in January 1948.

Controversy

According to the November 1, 1947, edition of newspaper ''

The Afro American The ''Baltimore Afro-American'', commonly known as ''The Afro'' or ''Afro News'', is a weekly African-American newspaper published in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the flagship newspaper of the ''AFRO-American'' chain and the longest-running Africa ...

'', an episode in which an African-American male and a white female, both members of the

Katherine Dunham Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 – May 21, 2006) was an American dancer, choreographer, anthropologist, and social activist. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers of the 20th century, and directed her own dance company for ma ...

dance troupe, appeared on ''Look Upon a Star''. The couple performed a dance together on the show, which created a controversy, with more than 100 objecting letters being sent in. In response, Joseph Cates, one of the producers of the series, was quoted as saying "as producers we exercise the democratic privilege of producing our own shows as we see fit. The prejudiced television viewer can exercise his democratic privilege of switching his dial off or to a different station".''The Afro American'' (November 1, 1947)
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Episode status

As with most DuMont series, no episodes are known to survive.

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 t ...

, 2004) *Alex McNeil, ''Total Television'', Fourth edition (New York:

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, 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 Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains ...

, 1964)

References

{{reflist

External links

''Look Upon a Star'' at IMDB
1947 American television series debuts 1948 American television series endings Lost television shows English-language television shows Black-and-white American television shows DuMont Television Network original programming Talent shows

Controversy

Episode status

See also

Bibliography

References

External links