''The Ford Show'' (also known as ''The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford'' and ''The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show'') is an American
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), ...
program, starring singer and folk humorist
Tennessee Ernie Ford
Ernest Jennings Ford (February 13, 1919 – October 17, 1991), known professionally as Tennessee Ernie Ford, was an American singer and television host who enjoyed success in the country and western, pop, and gospel musical genres. Noted for h ...
, which aired on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
on Thursday evenings from October 4, 1956, to June 29, 1961.
The show was sponsored by the
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
, whose founders
shared a last name with the host but had no known relation.
[ Beginning in September ]1958
Events
January
* January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being.
* January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed.
* January 4
** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...
, the show was telecast in color
Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are assoc ...
, and was broadcast from NBC Studios at 3000 W. Alameda Avenue in Burbank, California. It is also one of the first places that showed Charles M. Schulz
Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz (; November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) was an American cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', featuring what are probably his two best-known characters, Charlie Brown and Snoopy. He is wi ...
's ''Peanuts
''Peanuts'' is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ''Peanuts'' is among the most popular and infl ...
'' characters in animated form, which, like the later specials, was directed by Bill Melendez
José Cuauhtémoc "Bill" Melendez (November 15, 1916 – September 2, 2008) was an American character animator, voice actor, film director and producer. Melendez is known for working on the ''Peanuts'' animated specials. Before ''Peanuts'', he p ...
. It became one of the most popular segments of his show.
Selected guest stars
* Ben Alexander
* Cliff Arquette
Clifford Charles Arquette (December 27, 1905 – September 23, 1974) was an American actor and comedian. Famous for his persona Charley Weaver, played on numerous television shows.
Early life and career
Cliff Arquette was born on Decemb ...
* Lloyd Bridges
Lloyd Vernet Bridges Jr. (January 15, 1913 – March 10, 1998) was an American film, stage and television actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. He was the father of four children, includi ...
* Sally Brophy
Sally Cullen Brophy (December 14, 1928 – September 18, 2007) was a Broadway and television actress and college theatre-arts professor.
Early years
Brophy was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Cullen Brophy. Her father was a rancher; Brophy ...
* Terry Burnham
Elizabeth Teresa "Terry" Burnham (August 8, 1949 – October 7, 2013) was an American actress, best known for her performance in the '' Twilight Zone'' episode, "Nightmare as a Child."
Life and career
Elizabeth Teresa Burnham was born on August ...
* Allen Case
Allen Case (born Alan Case Lavelle Jones, October 8, 1934 – August 25, 1986) was an American television actor most noted for the lead role of Deputy Clay McCord in NBC-TV's '' The Deputy'' (1959–1961) opposite series regular Henry Fonda, wh ...
* Andy Devine
Andrew Vabre Devine (October 7, 1905 – February 18, 1977) was an American character actor known for his distinctive raspy, crackly voice and roles in Western films, including his role as Cookie, the sidekick of Roy Rogers in 10 feature fil ...
* Robert Horton
* Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin (born Lamont Waltman Marvin Jr.; February 19, 1924August 29, 1987) was an American film and television actor. Known for his bass voice and premature white hair, he is best remembered for playing hardboiled "tough guy" characters. Alt ...
* Darren McGavin
* Tom Nolan
* John Payne
* Cesar Romero
Cesar Julio Romero Jr. (February 15, 1907 – January 1, 1994) was an American actor and activist. He was active in film, radio, and television for almost sixty years.
His wide range of screen roles included Latin lovers, historical figures in c ...
* Roger Smith
* Mickey Spillane
Frank Morrison Spillane (; March 9, 1918July 17, 2006), better known as Mickey Spillane, was an American crime novelist, whose stories often feature his signature detective character, Mike Hammer. More than 225 million copies of his books have ...
* Craig Stevens
* Guy Williams
* Charles Laughton
* Jo Stafford
Jo Elizabeth Stafford (November 12, 1917July 16, 2008) was an American traditional pop music singer, whose career spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Admired for the purity of her voice, she originally underwent classi ...
* Shari Lewis
Shari Lewis (born Phyllis Naomi Hurwitz; January 17, 1933 – August 2, 1998) was a Peabody-winning American ventriloquist, puppeteer, children's entertainer, television show host, dancer, singer, actress, author, and symphonic conductor. She wa ...
Production notes
''The Ford Show'' was produced and directed by Bud Yorkin
Alan David "Bud" Yorkin (February 22, 1926 – August 18, 2015) was an American film and television producer, director, screenwriter, and actor.
Biography
Yorkin was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, to Jewish parents. He earned a deg ...
.[Alex McNeil, ''Total Television'', pp. 824–825] Television icon Norman Lear was also a writer on ''The Ford Show,'' though he has claimed that Roland Kibbee
Roland Kibbee (15 February 1914 in Monongahela, Pennsylvania – 5 August 1984 in Encino, California) was an award-winning American screenwriter and producer. He was a frequent collaborator and friend of actor-producer Burt Lancaster.
Career ...
was in fact the show's main writer and that he merely wrote the opening monologues. Lear has also stated that both Yorkin and Kibbee were in charge on the show's production.[Archived a]
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
The program was officially named not for the host, but for the show's sponsor, the Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
.
See also
* For other TV series sponsored by Ford Motor Company, see Ford Television Theatre, Ford Startime
''Startime'' is an anthology television series, anthology show of drama, comedy, and variety, and was one of the first American television shows broadcast in color television, color. The program was aired Tuesday nights in the United States on th ...
, Ford Festival
''Ford Festival'', also known as ''Ford Festival Time'' or ''The James Melton Show'', is an hour-long television show, sponsored by Ford Motor Company, hosted by James Melton, and broadcast on NBC Television beginning on April 5, 1951. The final ...
, and Ford Star Jubilee
''Ford Star Jubilee'' is an American anthology series that originally aired monthly on Saturday nights on CBS at 9:00 P.M., E.S.T. from the fall of 1955 to the fall of 1956 (With a summer hiatus). The series was approximately 90 minutes long, broa ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford Show, The
1956 American television series debuts
1961 American television series endings
1950s American variety television series
1960s American variety television series
Black-and-white American television shows
English-language television shows
NBC original programming
Ford Motor Company