Penthouse 10

Even Before When Drive-Thru Weddings Became The Norm

On this day, in 1970, singer Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and The Papas married actor Dennis Hopper. They divorced after eight days.

[Courtesy of KVOA.]

Fun Fact

In 1945 The first commercially-made ballpoint pens went on sale -- at Gimbels Department Store in New York City. The pens sold for $12.50 and racked up a tidy profit of $500,000 in the first month!

Tomorrow

In 1973 the legendary and recently deceased great TV legend Tom Snyder's show Tomorrow debuted tonight on NBC right after the Tonight Show, Tomorrow ran until 1982

I Love Lucy!

What a great day in TV history! One of my ALL time favorite shows debuted today on CBS! Can you hear the theme song now! In 1951, the show debuted, and has been in the hearts of fans ever since!

Today in History

In 1960, the first two-way telephone conversation by satellite took place with the help of Echo 1, a balloon satellite.

Echo 1

Today in History

In 1980, CNN made its debut.

Today in History

In 1974, after nine years on TV, the last Dean Martin Show was seen on NBC. Dean’s lovely group, The Golddiggers, returned to bid farewell in the show that had been seen in a variety of formats on Thursday and, later, on Friday evenings.

Today in History

In 1992, Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show for the last time. It was the end of three decades of late nights spent with Carson and his sidekick, Ed McMahon and bandleader, Doc Severinsen.

In 1967, what was to become the PBS’s longest-running children’s program, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, debuted on this day.

In 1955, Jack Benny signed off his last live network radio broadcast after a run of 23 years. Mr. Benny was devoting his time fully to TV. His program brought many of his old cronies to TV as well: announcer Don Wilson; bandleader Phil Harris; Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson; singer Dennis Day; and Benny’s wife, Mary Livingstone.

Today in History

In 1960, a research study reported that TV commercials “in living color” were over three times more effective than black and white commercials.

Today in History

In 1927, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded.

In 1964, Another World premiered on NBC-TV. The soap opera dramatized the story of two families: the Randolphs and the Matthews.

Today in History

In 1971, that National Public Radio, the U.S. national, non-commercial radio network, was born.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting financed National Public Radio so we could, once again, have the thrill of live radio. Listeners turned to NPR for cultural programs, news, information and quality entertainment programming. Award-winning programming such as All Things Considered, NPR’s premier newsmagazine, presented uninterrupted, informative reports on business, economics and the world, in general -- and still does.

NPR’s most popular shows also include: Talk of the Nation, fascinating and thought-provoking discussions on the day’s issues and what’s behind the headlines; NPR’s Performance Today, a daily portrait of what’s happening in the world of classical music; and Car Talk, starring America’s funniest auto mechanics, the M.I.T. educated grease monkeys, Tom and Ray Magliozzi. NPR also produces and distributes some of America’s finest jazz programming.

National Public Radio was formed to educate, entertain and inform in ways that were not available elsewhere. It was and is the audience’s alternative to commercial radio. Today, NPR’s satellite-based radio network of almost 600 member stations broadcasts NPR-produced or acquired programs to 13-million listeners in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam.

Today in History

In 1997, ABC aired the "coming out" episode of the sitcom Ellen, in which the title character, played by Ellen DeGeneres, admitted she is a lesbian.

In 1964, the FCC stated that all TV receivers should be equipped to receive both VHF (channels 2-13) and the new UHF (channels 14-83). As a result, TV dealers scrambled to unload their VHF-only models as fast as possible. Antenna manufacturers were kept busy, as the new UHF receivers required new antennas too.

Today in History

In 1940, W2XBS (now WCBS-TV) in New York City presented the first circus on TV. It was a three-hour special broadcast from Madison Square Garden.

Today in History

In 1896, the Vitascope system for projecting movies onto a screen was demonstrated in New York City.

Today in History

In 1959, Desilu Playhouse on CBS presented a two-part show titled, The Untouchables starting this night. Robert Stack starred in the program and became a major television star when The Untouchables become a weekly network series in the fall of 1959.

Today in History

In 1960, the Mutual Broadcasting System was sold to the 3M Company of Minnesota for $1.25 million. Previously, the network had been owned by MONY (Mutual of New York).

In 1957, comedian Johnny Carson turned briefly to TV acting in a role on the Playhouse 90 production of Three Men on a Horse on CBS-TV. Carson, of Who Do You Trust? fame, was five years from becoming the host of The Tonight Show.

Today in History

In 1964, the CBS television network paid $1.8 million for the rights to the 1964-1965 National Football League (NFL) Championship games.

Today in History

In 1973, former Beatle, Paul McCartney, leading the group, Wings, starred in his first TV special titled, James Paul McCartney. The show featured the new group, including Paul’s wife, Linda (on keyboards and backing vocals).

In 1947, Zoomar arrived. Zoomar is a lens demonstrated by NBC-TV in New York City. The Zoomar lens is a device that can feature close-up and long distance camera shots from a stationary camera. Eventually, the lens would be scaled down for use by regular photographers, not just for television. There are many different kinds of close-up/long distance lenses today, including the zoom lens named after the original Zoomar.

Today in History

In 1967, Jim Brown made his TV acting debut on the NBC show I Spy, starring Bill Cosby and Robert Culp. I Spy aired from 1965 through 1968. The primary characters, Cosby and Culp, were secret agents posing as a top-notch tennis star and his trainer-companion. I Spy was the first television series to co-star a black actor.

Today in History

In 1850, the city of Los Angeles was incorporated.

Today in History

In 1955, Fred Astaire appeared on television for the first time on The Toast of the Town, with host, Ed Sullivan. Already an established dancer in films, Astaire was quick to become a TV sensation as well.

In 1953, TV Guide was published for the first time -- from Radnor, Pennsylvania (near Philadelphia). The publication reached a circulation of 1,500,000 readers in its first year.

Today in History

In 1956, daytime dramas The Edge of Night and As the World Turns premiered on CBS.

In 1978, nighttime soap Dallas premiered on CBS.

Today in History

In 1987, Hulk Hogan took 11 minutes, 43 seconds to pin Andre the Giant before 93,136 Wrestlemania III fans at the Silverdome in Pontiac, MI. The event was the biggest indoor sports/entertainment promotion ever. 2.5 million people watched on Pay-Per-View TV, as well.

In 1967, the first nationwide strike in the 30-year history of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) began this day, lasting for 13 days. Many familiar faces were absent from the TV screen during the strike, including that of Walter Cronkite of CBS News.

Today in History

In 1974, a streaker ran onto the set of The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. The NBC censors decided to blackout the lower half of the TV screen on the videotape to prevent an ‘X’ rating. The streaker was arrested, but released, for “lack of evidence,” said Johnny.