''Star Time'' is an American variety series which 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 ...
from September 5, 1950,
to February 27, 1951, and starred singer-actress
Frances Langford
Julia Frances Newbern-Langford (April 4, 1913 – July 11, 2005) was an American singer and actress who was popular during the Golden Age of Radio and made film and television appearances for over two decades.
She was known as the "GI Nightinga ...
. It was broadcast from 10 to 11 p.m. on Tuesdays.
Broadcast history
The hour-long comedy-variety show spotlighted several regulars and guest performers. One feature of each telecast was a lengthy skit, written and directed by
Philip Rapp, with Langford and Lew Parker performing as
The Bickersons, a quarrelsome married couple that migrated from radio as a distinctively-unhappy sitcom man and wife.
With Langford as a first-class singer, music was an integral component of the series. The premier telecast spotlighted
The Harmonicats, a trio of versatile harmonica players who had achieved great prominence in the 1940s. But the program soon settled on a regular slot called Club Goodman in which the
Benny Goodman Sextet—with Goodman,
Teddy Wilson, and
Terry Gibbs, among others—played jazz arrangements of popular songs.
With Wilson's weekly appearances, ''Star Time'' became one of the first sponsored national TV series to offer an
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
performer as a cast regular.
''Star Time'' was an adaptation of the earlier radio series ''
Drene Time'', which had aired from 1946 to 1947.
''Star Time'' originated from WABD,
with Food Stores Corporation as its sponsor.
Episode status
The
UCLA Film and Television Archive
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Also a nonprofit exhibition venue, the a ...
has four complete episodes, along with excerpts from a fifth episode.
The J. Fred and Leslie W. MacDonald Collection of the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...
contains five half-hour segments of ''Star Time'', including the first half-hour of the premiere telecast which featured
The Harmonicats; plus an opening half-hour of another show; and three closing half-hour segments highlighting the Benny Goodman Sextet as well as The Bickersons skits.
See also
*
List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network
This is a list of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network, which operated in the United States from 1942 to 1956. All regularly scheduled programs which were aired on the DuMont network are listed below, regardless of whether they origi ...
*
List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts
*
1950–51 United States network television schedule
The following is the 1950–51 network television schedule for the four major English language commercial broadcast networks in the United States. The schedule covers primetime hours from September 1950 through March 1951. The schedule is followe ...
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
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 p ...]
, 1964)
References
External links
* {{IMDb title, 0042147, title=Star Time
DuMont historical website
1950 American television series debuts
1951 American television series endings
1950s American variety television series
Black-and-white American television shows
DuMont Television Network original programming
English-language television shows