''What's the Story'' is an American
television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
panel show
A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participate. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on '' The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on ' ...
broadcast on the
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network (also the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being first overall in ...
from July 25, 1951, to September 23, 1955, and aired in eleven different timeslots.
[Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (1964). ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows'' (3rd ed.). New York: Ballantine. .]
Originally hosted by Walter Raney, he was replaced in September 1951 by
Walter Kiernan, who hosted until June 20, 1953.
Al Capp
Alfred Gerald Caplin (September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip ''Li'l Abner'', which he created in 1934 and continued writing and (w ...
took over from the following week until sometime in the Fall, when
John McCaffery took the reins through the show’s end in 1955.
The series is most notable for being the last regular series to air on the DuMont network, after the game show ''
Have a Heart'' (ended June 14, 1955) and ''
It's Alec Templeton Time'' (ended August 26, 1955). After the finale of ''What's the Story'' on September 23, DuMont aired only a few sporting events and ceased broadcasting altogether with the final broadcast of ''
Boxing from St. Nicholas Arena
''Boxing from St. Nicholas Arena'' is an American Broadcasting of sports events, sports program originally broadcast on NBC from 1946 to 1948, and later on the DuMont Television Network from 1954 to the network's closure in 1955, and was their f ...
'' on August 6, 1956.
Gameplay
A panel of well-known newspaper
columnist
A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...
s and/or other celebrities were asked to try to identify famous events from clues given by the moderator and his assistants.
[McNeil, Alex. ''Total Television''. Fourth Edition. New York: Penguin Books. .] Among the regular panelists were
Robert Sullivan of the ''
New York Daily News
The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...
'',
Jimmy Cannon of the ''
New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative
daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...
'', and
Harriet Van Horne of the ''
New York World-Telegram
The ''New York World-Telegram'', later known as the ''New York World-Telegram and The Sun'', was a New York City newspaper from 1931 to 1966.
History
Founded by James Gordon Bennett Sr. as ''The Evening Telegram'' in 1867, the newspaper began ...
''. Sullivan later co-hosted the DuMont series ''
Meet the Boss'' (1952–53).
Episode status
Although many DuMont shows survive at the
UCLA Film and Television Archive
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the film preservation, preservation, film studies, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
As a nonpro ...
, the
Paley Center for Media
The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York City with a branch office in Los Angeles. It is de ...
, and Chicago’s
Museum of Broadcast Communications
The Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) is an American museum that showcases historic and contemporary radio and television content. It is headquartered in Chicago.
Museum locations (1987–present)
The Museum of Broadcast Communications wa ...
, there are no copies of ''What’s the Story'' at any of these archives.
[Ingram, C. (2002)]
"The DuMont Television Network Historical Web Site"
Retrieved January 22, 2007.
Only one episode is known to exist, and is held in the J. Fred MacDonald collection at the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
. This episode (from January 14, 1954) features McCaffery, network founder
Allen B. DuMont, and television pioneer
Thomas T. Goldsmith discussing the future of
color television
Color television (American English) or colour television (British English) is a television transmission technology that also includes color information for the picture, so the video image can be displayed in color on the television set. It improv ...
.
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
The DuMont Television Network was launched in 1946 and ceased broadcasting in 1956. Allen DuMont, who created the network, preserved most of what it produced in kinescope format. By 1958, however, much of the library had been destroyed to recov ...
References
Bibliography
* David Weinstein, ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'' (Philadelphia:
Temple University Press
Temple University Press is a university press founded in 1969 that is part of Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). It is one of thirteen publishers to participate in the Knowledge Unlatched pilot, a global library consortium approach ...
, 2004)
* Alex McNeil, ''Total Television'', Fourth edition (New York:
Penguin Books
Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English 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 ...
, 1980)
* Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows'', Third edition (New York:
Ballantine Books
Ballantine Books is a major American book publisher that is a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Ballantine was founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. Ballantine was acquired by Random House in ...
, 1964)
External links
* {{IMDb title, id=0043245, title=What's the Story
DuMont historical website
1951 American television series debuts
1955 American television series endings
1950s American game shows
Black-and-white American television shows
DuMont Television Network original programming
American English-language television shows