''The Big Record'' is an American television music variety series which aired from September 18, 1957, to 1958 on CBS. Originally it was an hour-long show (approx. 50 minutes excluding ads) but later was a half-hour show (approx. 25 minutes excluding ads). It was hosted by

Patti Page Clara Ann Fowler (November 8, 1927 – January 1, 2013), known professionally as Patti Page, was an American singer and actress. Primarily known for pop and country music, she was the top-charting female vocalist and best-selling female ar ...

, who sang songs and introduced the guest performers. Most of the music was of the pop genre, although other styles of music were also featured, including jazz, rock and roll, and (rarely) country. Professional dancers also sometimes appeared as guests. In one episode (March 12 1958), the guests included

Pearl Bailey Pearl Mae Bailey (March 29, 1918 – August 17, 1990) was an American actress, singer and author. After appearing in vaudeville, she made her Broadway debut in ''St. Louis Woman'' in 1946. She received a Special Tony Award for the title role in ...

, Hilo Hattie, The Four Voices and

Florence Henderson Florence Agnes Henderson (February 14, 1934 – November 24, 2016) was an American actress. With a career spanning six decades, she is best known for her starring role as Carol Brady on the ABC sitcom ''The Brady Bunch''. Henderson also appeare ...

. There were 26 hour-long episodes and 12 half-hour episodes. The series aired live, and

kinescope Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film, directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 194 ...

d for west coast broadcast. It was one of the few CBS programs of the 1950s broadcast in color (during an era when arch-rival

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 ...

was regarded as the leader in color telecasts). In the May 21 1958 episode, guest singer

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 ...

mentioned the series being broadcast from New York City, and made a

topical joke The topical humor and topical jokes is humor framed around a specific topic related to current events or dealing with issues that are important or popular at the current time. The value of this kind of humor often diminishes when the topic is no ...

(regarding the baseball

Giants A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore. Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to: Mythology and religion *Giants (Greek mythology) *Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'gi ...

and

Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Broo ...

relocating to California): ''"look at it this way, you haven't lost a ball team, you've gained a parking lot."'' The

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it pro ...

division of

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

was the main sponsor, and some of the commercials featured Patti Page singing the Oldsmobile jingle. Florence Henderson appeared in some of the filmed ads for the cars. Due to the kinescope technology used to record the shows, a number of episodes with commercials intact still exist. Following the end of the series, Page hosted an additional series for Oldsmobile during the 1958–1959 television season ('' The Patti Page Oldsmobile Show'').

Reception

Reviewing an episode, Billboard felt the series needed a more precise format, but also complimented Page's hosting and singing.

References

External links

* *The series was not registered with the U.S. copyright office. Four and a half episodes appear on the Internet Archive
November 27 1957April 23 1958May 14 1958May 21 1958
and the first half o
February 5 1958
{{DEFAULTSORT:Big Record 1957 American television series debuts 1958 American television series endings 1950s American variety television series CBS original programming Black-and-white American television shows English-language television shows Pop music television series