''The Ken Murray Show'' was an American music and comedy television show 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 Entertainm ...

hosted by Ken Murray that ran from 1950 to 1953.

Show

An established entertainer and vaudeville regular, Murray had hosted comedy and variety series on CBS radio in the past. But his ''Blackouts'' racy stage variety show ran in Hollywood for years in the 1940s and made him quite popular before the TV show debuted in January 1950.

Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV ( AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple gl ...

was the primary sponsor. It began as an every-other-week show broadcast from 8-9pm on Saturday nights, alternating with the ''

54th Street Revue ''54th Street Revue'' is an American variety television program that was broadcast on CBS from May 5, 1949, through March 25, 1950. The program was a "showcase for up-and-coming professionals", originating from a theater on 54th Street in New York ...

''.Robertson, Bruce (9 January 1950)
Bi-Weekly vs. Weekly Placements
''Telecasting'', p. 7 (noting that Anheuser-Busch was joining Ford and Chevrolet as bi-weekly sponsors for the show)(20 February 1950)
Telerama
''Broadcasting'', p. 74.(8 November 1949)

''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', p. 52 (reporting plan for show to be a half-hour show, every other Saturday, based on Murray's very successful ''Blackouts'' stage show) The show became weekly in the fall of 1950, and ran in that format through the end of the 1951–52 season in June 1952. The New York-based show featured popular guest stars and had an elaborate

Hollywood and Vine Hollywood and Vine, the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, a district of Los Angeles, became known in the 1920s for its concentration of radio and movie-related businesses. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is centered ...

set, and a large cast of singers and female dancers. Murray would open the show and do transitions between bits, often with a cigar in hand.

Darla Hood Darla Jean Hood (November 8, 1931 – June 13, 1979) was an American child actress, best known as the leading lady in the ''Our Gang'' series from 1935 to 1941. She was born in Leedey, Oklahoma, the only child of music teacher Elizabeth Da ...

(best known as Darla in ''

Our Gang ''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the ...

'' as a child actor) was a regular in 1950–51.

Laurie Anders Laurie Anders (January 16, 1922 – October 5, 1992) was an American actress and singer, best known for her work with television personality Ken Murray. Birth and early life Anders was born and grew up on a ranch in Casper, Wyoming. Her first em ...

began as one of the "Glamourlovelies" women of the show and emerged as a featured player after performing the song ''I Like the Wide Open Spaces'' and getting instant impact.Kleiner, Richard (23 May 1952)
TV Coast to Coast
''Plattsburgh Press-Republican'' The inclusion of many "glamorous"-looking women on the show was in keeping with Murray's formula for ''Blackouts''. A young

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

photographed the show's mass audition for "beautiful girls - no experience necessary" for ''

Look To look is to use sight to perceive an object. Look or The Look may refer to: Businesses and products * Look (modeling agency), an Israeli modeling agency * ''Look'' (American magazine), a defunct general-interest magazine * ''Look'' (UK ma ...

'' magazine in 1950.Mather, Philippe
Stanley Kubrick at Look Magazine
pp. 9-10 (2013). The show opened with a scene of the sponsor's

Budweiser Clydesdales The Budweiser Clydesdales are a group of Clydesdale horses used for promotions and commercials by the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company. There are several "hitches" or teams of horses, that travel around the United States and other countries that re ...

galloping along and pulling an Anheuser Busch wagon.(23 March 1961)
Ken Murray - A Comedian of Many Projects
''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' Live commercial segments during the show would include Murray and a guest drinking Budweiser.(17 September 1989)
TV at 50, ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch''
/ref> Episodes often had a dramatic scene from a play as one segment. For example, the first episode of the show on January 7, 1950. had a scene from the popular 1949 play ''

Death of a Salesman ''Death of a Salesman'' is a 1949 stage play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. The play premiered on Broadway in February 1949, running for 742 performances. It is a two-act tragedy set in late 1940s Brooklyn told through a montage ...

'', with the Broadway actors

Gene Lockhart Edwin Eugene Lockhart (July 18, 1891 – March 31, 1957)"Gene Lockhart"
''The ...

and

Alan Hewitt Alan Hewitt (January 21, 1915 – November 7, 1986) was an American film, television, and stage actor. His most prominent TV roles were Detective Brennan in ''My Favorite Martian'' and the district attorney in ''How to Murder Your Wife''. Earl ...

from the ongoing show playing their roles.Lanigan, Bob (19 January 1951)
Bob Lanigan's TV Review
''Brooklyn Eagle'', p. 17 (opining that Murray's show was much different from Milton Berle and Ed Sullivan)(26 November 1951)
Ken Murray TV Show Bigger
''The Baytown Sun''(12 March 1950)
The Ken Murray Show Holds Bi-Weekly Spot
''Lansing State Journal'' Crosby, John (18 January 1950)
Ken Murray Show Entertaining Corn
''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' (review of first show by leading TV critic of the day John Crosby, includes amusing claim by Murray that blames Crosby for moving ''Blackouts'' to Broadway, where it did poorly) A tentative plan to move the show to Tuesday nights in late December 1952 was rejected, thinking it would be unfair to Murray to have to move from his established Saturday slot to compete with

Milton Berle Milton Berle (born Mendel Berlinger; ; July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002) was an American actor and comedian. His career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and tel ...

and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen.(12 December 1952)
Ken Murray Show Will Not Resume
''

'' Instead, the show returned in February 1953 in a 30-minute format on alternate Sunday nights at 9:30pm, switching weeks with ''

The Alan Young Show ''The Alan Young Show'' is an American radio and television series presented in diverse formats over a nine-year period and starring English born comedian Alan Young. Radio The series began on NBC Radio as a summer replacement situation comedy i ...

'' under the joint title of ''Time to Smile''.Brooks, Tim and Earle Marsh
The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present
p. 733 (2007 ed.)(14 April 1953)

''

'' ('' The Arthur Murray Party'' was the summer replacement for the shows after June 1953) This last season, which ran from February to June 1953, was broadcast from Hollywood.(10 February 1953)
Return of Ken Murray Evokes Mixed Emotion
''Philadelphia Inquirer''Lanigan, Bob (1 May 1953)
'Time to Smile' Offers Viewer Little Incentive
''Brooklyn Eagle'', p. 26Lanigan, Bob (11 February 1953)
Bankhead Show Proves to be Lacking in Laughs
''Brooklyn Eagle'', p. 30 (unfavorable review of 1953 season debut, "I found very little to smile about during the 30 minutes the show was on")Foster, Bob (9 February 1953)
TV Radio
''San Mateo Times'' (more positive review of 1953 season debut) The ''Time to Smile'' format and content got mixed reviews at best, and the show was dropped by its sponsor after the season, in favor of a new show, ''

The Man Behind the Badge ''The Man Behind the Badge '' is a half-hour American television police drama series which aired on CBS from October 11, 1953, to October 3, 1954. originally hosted by Norman Rose. In its second syndicated season, the host became character ac ...

''.(18 July 1953)
Note
''Danville Bee'' Anheuser-Busch also bought the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

in early 1953, so cutting the show's sponsorship fee may also have been related to that purchase.Ruby, Earl (22 February 1953)
Ruby's Report
''Louisville Courier-Journal'' ("This wasn't confirmed, but it seems apparent a very large part of the purchase price was met by cancellation of the Ken Murray TV program.") Marilyn Monroe's first ever appearance on television occurred on the show in March 1953, a segment filmed at the premiere of ''

Call Me Madam ''Call Me Madam'' is a musical written by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin. The musical is a satire on politics and foreign policy that spoofs postwar America's penchant for lending billions of dollars to ...

''.(10 March 1953)
Hollywood
''Santa Cruz Sentinel-News'', p. 11. The

Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

(the service's TV ratings debuted in 1950) rated the show as the 28th most watched show for the 1950–51 season (fall 1950-spring 1951).

Awards

The show was nominated for the Emmy for Best Variety Show, losing at the 3d Emmy Awards in January 1951 to ''

''. The show was the first to win a Freedom Foundation Award.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ken Murray Show, The 1950 American television series debuts 1953 American television series endings 1950s American variety television series American live television series Black-and-white American television shows CBS original programming English-language television shows