From June of 1972. Enjoy!
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About Me
- NYTVFan
- Basically a regular guy who happens to love the TV he was exposed to as a kid growing up in the NY Metro area during the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's. Just my little way of celebrating and remembering those times with the hope that these movie showcase programs get the respect and attention they deserve.
One important question: Did such theme weeks as WPIX had on their "Film Festival" have some bearing on the theme weeks "The 4:30 Movie" on WABC offered?
ReplyDeleteGood question. Who started the theme weeks first and who "knocked off" who?
ReplyDeleteThe earliest theme weeks I've seen in old TV Guides were connected with WNBC-TV's "Movie 4." That's not necessarily to suggest they were the first, but they were the ones I noticed. For example, in Fall 1960, they had an "Abbondanza Week" to herald their purchase of several post-1950 foreign films. A few times per year in the early 1960's, they had a "Color Week" whereby they would show only color films - in color, of course, as per the push of RCA (then-parent of NBC, which still owns WNBC) for color TV in those years. In September 1968, they had a theme week of MGM musicals ranging from 1950 ("Annie Get Your Gun") to 1962 ("Billy Rose's Jumbo"), around the time they purchased part of a package of post-1948 films from MGM (what titles WNBC didn't get in that package went to WOR-TV; there was something similar in L.A., where the "MGM 7" package of 145 films were split between KABC-TV and KHJ-TV).
ReplyDeleteBut whereas such theme weeks in those days were pioneering, "Movie 4's" theme weeks of the early 1970's did, in retrospect, appear to be knockoffs (and in some cases, very poor ones at that) of what "The 4:30 Movie" regularly had on WABC. (Their attempt at a "Monster Week" in July 1972 was the most obvious.) The only advantage WNBC had, it seemed, was in connection with Rock Hudson; they had two "Rock Hudson Weeks," first in February 1972 and again in February 1973, while he was starring in "McMillan and Wife." (WABC didn't even have so much as one Rock Hudson Week.) Channel 4 also got lucky in late October 1972 when they had an "Elvis Week" of films the station was showing the first time ("Fun in Acapulco," "Girls! Girls! Girls!," "Roustabout," "G.I. Blues" and "Blue Hawaii"). It wasn't until the next year that WABC began an annual ritual of "Elvis Weeks" on "The 4:30 Movie" (a month after WNBC's "Elvis Week," WABC had an Elvis/Beatles week where on Tuesday "A Hard Day's Night" was shown, "Help!" aired on Thursday - and the other three days were the King; this was the last time those two Beatles flicks were ever run on "The 4:30 Movie").
During the 1960's, WOR-TV had an afternoon film series called "Mad, Mad Movie" where they had a whole week of films with one kind of plot or theme, strung together.
Superb information as usual. May I ask how you were able to research this? Was it through old TV Guides and/or newspapers?
ReplyDeleteAll of the above. Plus vintage "Broadcasting" magazines.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
ReplyDelete