Kukla, Fran, and Ollie - The Color Show, August 30, 1953

RCA, the parent company to NBC, needed the perfect show to launch their new NTSC (a branch of the FCC) approved color system. Certainly, hits like Dragnet, Milton Berle's Texaco Star Theater, or Your Show of Shows could provide colorful excitement to the medium, RCA realized Kukla, Fran, and Ollie provided every element needed. It was a simple show, with very few objects and a small set that required very little camera movement. Also, being an afternoon telecast, this color experiment would survive the tough scrutiny that would come with bigger fare. And most importantly, the huge ratings promised the viewers and promotion needed to kick off their fresh campaign to excite viewers and advertisers about color programming.

Thus, Kukla, Fran, and Ollie was chosen for this monumental television moment. It was one of the biggest hits in all of television in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Though a daytime show, its ratings were comparable to top primetime blockbusters like Texaco Star Theater with Milton Berle and Toast of the Town with Ed Sullivan. At its peak, the show received 18,000 letters a week. The show was, indeed, unique for a children's show. Both children and adults were fans of the show; and, among its many fans were Tallulah Bankhead, Orson Welles, Marlon Brando, Thornton Wilder, Lillian Gish and Adlai Stevenson. The large net of fans was due to the show's approach. The characters were given depth and continuity. In fact, much of the humor arose from knowing the history or the characters and episodes. It took a few shows for viewer to get hooked, but then...hooked they were.

RCA and NBC began heavy on-air promotion about the experimental colorcast to peak viewer and advertister interest. Interestingly, almost no one had color sets as the FCC was still a few months from officially declaring the NTSC (National Television System Committee) adopted system of color telecasting. The few that could view the experimental color system had close ties to RCA and NBC, such as advertisers and studio executives. While adults may have understood the concept, many kids did not - and understandably so!

The much publicized episode was a special event for the program. Filmed in a New York theater, and with the musical accompaniment of Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops, the Kukla, Fran, and Ollie cast and crew recreated a grander episode from June, St. George and the Dragon, based on the classic myth and its many incarnations. As children, excited from the long promotion and build-up to the telecast, gathered around the televisions, their wound-up anticipation deflated to disappointment. As documented in Larry Brody's book, Turning Points in Television:

NBC announced that August 30, 1953 was going to be its big day, bringing color to Kuklapolitan fans. Man, was I ready. My mother and sister and I sat down to watch the show, and lo and behold - we saw what we'd always seen: Kukla trying to solve the latest problem....oh yes, they also talked about the fact that they were in color and how exciting it was......for us, everything was black and white and various shades of gray. As it had always been. As it would always be until my family shelled out for a new RCA color TV set...To say I was disappointed is to understate the case. I was devastated. I was so upstet that I refused to watch Kukla, Fran, and Ollie again. At least until the next week.

Undoubtedly, confused kids across the nation were just as dismayed, but for NBC, the experiment worked. The increased interest in color jump started the process (again), and by January, 1954, all the loose ends were thread together and the industry (networks, manufacturers, and the FCC) began the slow, "spectacular" process of color. The first official color broadcast, after the FCC adopted the new system a few months later occurred on December 17, 1953 when NBC broadcast the first colorcast of the NBC "Chimes" logo (at 5:31:17 P.M.)



Notes: A rarity in live television, over 700 kinescope individual episodes are preserved in Chicago. Also of interest, the first color broadcast by a network was also Kukla, Fran, and Ollie - from a fall, 1949 episode that was used as an in-house test by RCA.



Sources:

Saturday Morning TV by Gary H. Grossman

Kukla TV

http://kukla.tv/colorgeorge.html


http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/1998/09/14770


http://www.statemaster.com/encyclopedia/Kukla,-Fran-and-Ollie

Turning Points In Television

http://community-2.webtv.net/stevetek/StevesCT100/

Philco Playhouse's Marty, May 24, 1953

Legendary producer Fred Coe helmed NBC's Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse. He incorporated a pool of talented writers and encouraged the development of original television plays, referred to as teleplays. Early in the series run, writer Paddy Chayefsky delivered a script titled Marty, based on Chayefsky's observations of a singles bar located in the same building as Philco Playhouse.

Marty aired May 24, 1953 and was directed by Delbert Mann. Star Rod Steiger delivered an emotional, tour de force performance and the entire production set off a whirlwind of press attention and critical acclaim. New York Times, for the first time, delivered a full page critique on a television production, something previously only done for movies. Marty indicated a turning point for television production. Live teleplays with strong actors and excellent scripts became a benchmark for TV anthology shows, and presented quality entertainment only before seen on Broadway.

A few years later, the same play, also directed by Mann, was made into an Academy Award winning film, another first for television. Television, after Marty, began to create original works considered high caliber enough for film and stage.

The Baby, December 8, 1952 - January 18, 1953

This I Love Lucy story arc is the pinnacle of the television event for entertainment. As Christmas, 1952 approached, TV's top show was enjoying record-breaking ratings and enormous publicity. American audiences had flipped for Lucy Ricardo's independent spirit and Lucille Ball's comic genius. The second season premiere, the famous "candy factory episode" had placed Ball and the show at the top echelon of comedy, not just for TV, but any comedy ever preserved on film.

In deed, Lucille Ball's brilliant performance created a character so sharp and so complex, audiences had taken her into their hearts and families almost instantly. Most actors are lucky if they are capable of resonating a few distinct character traits, but Ball's Lucy Ricardo came to life through hundreds of nuances. Take a minute to describe Lucy Ricardo. She was zany, independent, determined, conniving, maniupulative, inventive, loving, and fiery. She was loyal, envious, smart, sexy, cheerful, agressive, and feminine. She was humorous, imaginitive, sophisticated, and fearless. This excercize could go on for hours. No other television character in history was as well defined or expertly crafted. And in December, 1952, Lucy Ricardo was about to fold "maternal" into the list of character traits.

America responded as never before and never since. The first "baby" episode is a masterpiece, establishing the intense joy and excitement of a new baby. Through 7 episodes that holiday season, the anticipation grew. When would it happen? What was the baby's sex? The entire story arc was the talk of America.

As word was leaked that January 18, 1953 was the date for the baby's birth, as well as the real date for the birth of Lucille Ball's baby, the two events combined into one, unprecedented explosion of publicity and outpouring of national emotion. The January 18 episode captured almost two-thirds of the audience. 71.7% of Americans with television watched the birth of the Ricardo baby. More people watched the episode than watched Eisenhower's inaugaration the previous day. More people watched the birth of Little Ricky than watched the coronation of Queen Elizabeth earlier in the year. Newspapers in large cities and small towns exclaimed on front pages, "LUCY HAS A BOY!," and above headlines related to Ike's inaugaration or politics. Walter Winchell reported it a "banner week" as "the nation got a President, and Lucy got a boy."

The influence, both in culture and entertainment, was staggering. The use of story arcs became a television staple. I Love Lucy began a merchandising campaign that still resonates today. Little Ricky dolls, cribs, pajamas, and furnishing made the Arnaz's tens of millions of dollars. And television immediately became THE favored medium in America. It is nearly impossible to fully describe the baby show's impact and longevity.

Even as recently as 2006, the Ricardo baby was used to define the excitement surrounding the Cruise-Holmes baby by ABC News. In a lengthy discussion, ABC News acknowledged "The hoopla over the baby girl born Tuesday to Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes recalls another highly anticipated birth 53 years ago arguably, one of the most-covered births of the 20th century."