''Okay, Mother'' is an American

daytime Daytime as observed on Earth is the period of the day during which a given location experiences natural illumination from direct sunlight. Daytime occurs when the Sun appears above the local horizon, that is, anywhere on the globe's hemis ...

variety/ game show which originally aired on

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 ...

in New York City in 1948.

Broadcast history

The series, hosted by

Dennis James Dennis James (born Demie James Sposa, August 24, 1917 – June 3, 1997) was an American television personality, philanthropist, and commercial spokesman. Until 1976, he had appeared on TV more times and for a longer period than any other televi ...

, began on WABD, then aired on the

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 ...

weekdays from 1pm to 1:30pm ET, beginning in January 1949. After receiving good ratings and largely positive reviews the show, originally titled ''Mothers Inc.'', aired nationally from 1 pm to 1:30 pm ET on the DuMont from early 1949 to July 6, 1951.McNeil, Alex (1996). ''Total Television'', p. 615. Penguin Books. . According to the book ''What Women Watched: Daytime Television in the 1950s'' (University of Texas Press, 2005) by Marsha Cassidy, the DuMont daytime schedule beginning in January 1949 was: *10-10:30am ''

Johnny Olson's Rumpus Room ''Johnny Olson's Rumpus Room'' was a 1949-1952 American variety show hosted by Johnny Olson. Broadcast history The show aired at 10 am ET from January 17, 1949, to July 4, 1952, on the DuMont Television Network. The show was one of the first da ...

'' *10:30-11am ''Welcome, Neighbors'' *11am-12noon ''The Stan Shaw Show'' *12noon-12:15pm ''

Amanda Amanda is a Latin feminine gerundive (i.e. verbal adjective) name meaning, literally, “she who must (or is fit to) be loved”. Other translations, with similar meaning, could be "deserving to be loved," "worthy of love," or "loved very much b ...

'' *12:15-12:30pm ''Man in the Street'' *12:30-12:45pm '' Camera Headlines'' *12:45-1pm ''Fashions in Song'' *1-1:30pm ''Okay, Mother'' *2:30-3pm ''

Inside Photoplay ''The Wendy Barrie Show'' (also known as ''Inside Photoplay'', ''Photoplay Time'', ''Through Wendy's Window'', and ''Who's Who With Wendy Barrie'') is an American talk show hosted by Wendy Barrie, which aired from November 10, 1948, to September 2 ...

'' (''The Wendy Barrie Show'') *3-3:15pm ''

The Needle Shop ''The Needle Shop'' was an early American television program which aired on the DuMont Television Network in a 15-minute timeslot at 2:30pm ET weekdays. The program aired on New York City television station WABD from 1948 to 1949. Broadcast hist ...

'' *3:15-3:30pm ''Vincent Lopez Speaking'' (''

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 ...

'')

Premise

The show was a "tribute to

mothers ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gesta ...

" featuring a mix of interviews, game show segments, sketch comedy, and viewer letters. Recurring games included the "Mother-Grams," a series of poems that alluded to a historical or fictional character that the mother had to guess in order to win a small prize, and "Rhyme Games," in which James would canvass the audience, get a mother to start a sentence, and James would have to finish it with a rhyme or else give the mother a prize (in the lone surviving episode, James complains that the same difficult-to-rhyme "trick words" would often come up day after day, which he would often reject if caught). The series was an early example of demographics and dayparting: as daytime television audiences were expected to be mostly stay-at-home mothers, Dumont commissioned the series specifically to target that audience. The series was sponsored by

Bayer Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of busi ...

, who advertised Phillips'

Milk of Magnesia Magnesium hydroxide is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula Mg(OH)2. It occurs in nature as the mineral brucite. It is a white solid with low solubility in water (). Magnesium hydroxide is a common component of antacids, such as milk ...

Toothpaste, Double Danderine dandruff shampoo, and

Bayer Aspirin Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of business include pharmaceutica ...

on the existing 1950 episode. James often addressed the TV audience as "Mother", a practice he had begun when discussing the finer points of wrestling during his sports broadcasts. By addressing the TV audience this way, James avoided insulting male sports fans at home or elsewhere about their knowledge of sports.Dennis James
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Episode status

One DuMont episode, recorded on kinescope and with a slightly damaged audio track, survives: the July 18, 1950 episode (dated based on contemporary mentions in ''The New York Times'') with "honor mother" Judith Doniger Lipsey (1912–2007) mentioning her upcoming New York City recital on October 12. The episode in question likely came from Dennis James's personal collection, which held samples of several of the shows he hosted. Clips of this episode were shown during ''Pioneers of Television: Game Shows'' (2008), the last episode of the PBS miniseries' first season. As no copyright was registered or renewed on the kinescope, it is available on the Internet Archive and numerous other places.

References

Bibliography

* David Weinstein, ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'' (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004) * Alex McNeil, ''Total Television'', Fourth edition (New York: Penguin Books, 1980) * Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows'', Third edition (New York:

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)

External links

* * {{Internet Archive, id=Okay_Mother, description=episode of ''Okay, Mother''
DuMont historical website
DuMont Television Network original programming 1940s American variety television series 1950s American variety television series 1948 American television series debuts 1951 American television series endings 1940s American game shows 1950s American game shows Black-and-white American television shows Lost television shows English-language television shows Motherhood