![]() As he had long done on radio, Godfrey frequently kidded his sponsors, but always "sold from the heart," only hawking products he had actually tried and/or regularly used. He blended a Southern folksiness with enough sophistication to sell almost anything. Indeed to industry insiders, Godfrey ranked as television's first great salesman. Tony Marvin, as he was on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, served as both announcer and Godfrey's "second banana." The appeal of the hour long Arthur Godfrey and His Friends rested on the popularity of the assembled company of singers, all clean cut young people, and guest stars. On Wednesday nights Godfrey hosted this traditional variety show, employing a resident cast of singers which over the years included Julius La Rosa, Frank Parker, Lu Ann Simms, Pat Boone, and the Cordettes. His other top ten TV hit was Arthur Godfrey and His Friends, which premiered in January 1949. He turned down both Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly! TV for more than two years, it is Godfrey, because of the great ratings and fame Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, who is heralded as making Patsy Cline a star. In short although Cline had been performing for nearly a decade, and had been recording and appearing on local Washington, D.C. The audience's ovations stopped the meter at its apex, and for a couple of months thereafter Cline appeared regularly on Godfrey's radio program. Though this was heralded as a country song, and recorded in Nashville, Godfrey's staff insisted Cline not wear one of her mother's hand crafted cowgirl outfits but appear in a cocktail dress. Her scout, actually her mother Hilda Hensley, presented Patsy who sang her recent recording Walkin' After Midnight. His "discovery" of Patsy Cline on 21 January 1957 was typical. In his day Godfrey significantly assisted the careers of Pat Boone, Tony Bennett, Eddie Fisher, Connie Francis, Leslie Uggams, Lenny Bruce, Steve Lawrence, Connie Francis, Roy Clark, and Patsy Cline. At the program's conclusion, the studio audience selected the winner by way of an applause meter. Most of these "discoveries" were in fact struggling professionals looking for a break, and so the quality of the talent was quite high. ![]() ![]() "Scouts" brought on their discoveries to a converted New York theater to perform before a live studio audience. The formula for Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts was simple enough. Next season I Love Lucy vaulted into first place, but thereafter through most of the 1950s Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts regularly finished in TV's primetime top ten. Fans embraced this amateur showcase, and during the 1951-52 TV season it reached number one in the ratings. for a half hour and proved Godfrey's best venue on television. On TV Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts ran until July 1958 on Monday nights at 8:30 P.M. In December 1948, after more than a decade on radio, principally for CBS, Arthur Godfrey ventured onto primetime TV by simply permitting the televising of his radio hit Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. These two proved so popular that during the 1950s that they served as a cornerstone of the CBS-TV network's programming strategies. While there were a number of television shows on which Godfrey appeared, his fame, fortune, and pioneering activities centered on two variety shows presented on the CBS-TV network: Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts and Arthur Godfrey and His Friends. Arthur Godfrey's shows helped define the first decade and half of TV history in the United States.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |