Columnist

Walter Winchell Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and co ...

had been a mainstay on the early years of

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

with a simulcast of his 15-minute weekly time

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

show until he left ABC in 1955 in a dispute with executives. ''The Walter Winchell Show'' of 1956 was the result of his agreement to return with a half hour, television-only broadcast. In his five-year absence from ABC, the number of television programs linked directly to radio had dwindled greatly, as the still-newish medium had developed its own actors, and the remaining radio holdovers had learned how to play to the camera. Winchell would have none of this. Still wearing his felt "reporter" hat on the air, and punching out bogus "

Morse Code Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of ...

" with his telegraph key to punctuate his stories, Winchell came across as a relic of another era. Even his trademark opening line, "Good evening Mr. and Mrs. North and South America and all the ships at sea ... let's go to press!" seemed obsolete by 1960.

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 ...

Jack Paar Jack Harold Paar (May 1, 1918 – January 27, 2004) was an American talk show host, author, radio and television comedian, and film actor. He was the second host of ''The Tonight Show'' from 1957 to 1962. ''Time'' magazine's obituary of Paar repo ...

relentlessly mocked Winchell on his own show ''

Tonight Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...

'', a feud that effectively ended Winchell's career. The revived Winchell program was a

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disaster and was cancelled after only six broadcasts. Winchell's only real association with ABC or television after this was his continued narration of ''

The Untouchables Untouchables or The Untouchables may refer to: American history * Untouchables (law enforcement), a 1930s American law enforcement unit led by Eliot Ness * ''The Untouchables'' (book), an autobiography by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley * ''The U ...

'' until that program was cancelled three years later.

References

Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, ''

The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' American Broadcasting Company original programming 1952 American television series debuts 1955 American television series endings 1960 American television series debuts 1960 American television series endings Black-and-white American television shows {{US-nonfiction-tv-prog-stub