NOVEMBER 3rd

After a three year run on Broadway, a movie version of Guys and Dolls opened on this day in 1955. Based on New York journalist Damon Runyon’s colorful portrayals of Broadway gamblers, the big screen version of the story starred Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra.

Long before big budget movies made their television debuts and were formatted to fit your home screen, 45 million people tuned in to watch the first television broadcast of The Wizard of Oz on CBS this day in 1956. It was shown on the last airing of Ford Star Jubilee* and was introduced by Judy Garland’s daughter, Liza Minnelli, who was 10 years old at the time, as well as Bert Lahr (the Cowardly Lion), and Oz expert Justin Schiller.

*Ford Star Jubilee (Sept 24, 1955 – Nov 3, 1956) was a live, ninety minute, color spectacular that aired once a month on Saturday nights on CBS from September 1955 to November 1956.

Ford Motor Company sponsored this big-budget Comedy / Drama / Music anthology series, which featured big name performers, color broadcast and a longer than normal 90 minute format.

[The] series routinely featured major stars, such as Judy Garland, Betty Grable, Orson Welles, Julie Andrews (at the time that she was appearing in My Fair Lady on Broadway), Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Lillian Gish, Charles Laughton, Jack Lemmon, Raymond Massey, Lauren Bacall, Claudette Colbert, Noel Coward, Nat ‘King’ Cole, Mary Martin, Eddie Fisher, Ella Fitzgerald, Debbie Reynolds and Red Skelton.

Technorati Tags: Broadway, CBS, Damon Runyon, Entertainment, Frank Sinatra, Guys and Dolls, History, Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Marlon Brando, The Wizard of Oz

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