Charles Hirsch Barris was an American game show creator, producer, and host. Barris was known for hosting The Gong Show and creating The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game. He was also a songwriter who wrote "Palisades Park", recorded by Freddy Cannon and also recorded by Ramones. Barris wrote an autobiography titled Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, which was made into the film of the same name and directed by George Clooney.
The year 1952 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events during 1952.
American Bandstand, abbreviated AB, is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the program's producer. It featured teenagers dancing to Top 40 music introduced by Clark; at least one popular musical act—over the decades, running the gamut from Jerry Lee Lewis to Run–D.M.C.—usually appeared in person to lip-sync one of their latest singles. Freddy Cannon holds the record for most appearances, at 110.
Richard Wagstaff Clark was an American radio and television personality, television producer and film actor, as well as a cultural icon who remains best known for hosting American Bandstand from 1956 to 1989. He also hosted five incarnations of the Pyramid game show from 1973 to 1988 and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, which transmitted New Year's Eve celebrations in New York City's Times Square.
Soul Train is an American musical variety television show. It aired in syndication from October 2, 1971, to March 25, 2006. Across its 35-year history the show primarily featured performances by R&B, soul, and hip hop artists. The series was created by Don Cornelius, who also served as its first host and executive producer.
The Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years, from 1951 to 1955, then nationally for another 16 years on ABC from 1955 to 1971, followed by 11 years in first-run syndication from 1971 to 1982. Repeat episodes are broadcast in the United States by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) stations. These airings incorporate an original program—usually, a color broadcast from 1965 to 1982—in its entirety. In place of the commercials, newer performance and interview clips from the original stars and/or a family member of the performers are included; these clips are occasionally updated.
Go-go dancers are dancers who are employed to entertain crowds at nightclubs or other venues where music is played. Go-go dancing originated in the early 1960s at the French bar Whisky a Gogo located in Juan-les-Pins. The bar's name was taken from the French title of the Scottish comedy film Whisky Galore!, which was titled Tight Little Island in the United States. The French bar then licensed its name to the very popular West Hollywood rock club Whisky a Go Go, which opened in January 1964 and chose the name to reflect the already popular craze of go-go dancing. Many 1960s-era clubgoers wore miniskirts and knee-high, high-heeled boots, which eventually came to be called go-go boots. Nightclub promoters in the mid‑1960s then conceived the idea of hiring women dressed in these outfits to entertain patrons.
Shindig! is an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles, who also created the show along with his wife Sharon Sheeley, British producer Jack Good, and production executive Art Stolnitz. The original pilot was rejected by ABC and David Sontag, then executive producer of ABC, redeveloped and completely redesigned the show. A new pilot with a new cast of artists was shot starring Sam Cooke. That pilot aired as the premiere episode.
Hullabaloo is an American musical variety series that ran on NBC from January 12, 1965, through April 11, 1966. Similar to ABC's Shindig! and in contrast to American Bandstand, it aired in prime time.
Solid Gold is an American syndicated music television series that debuted on September 13, 1980 and ran until July 23, 1988. The program was a production of Brad Lachman Productions in association with Operation Prime Time and Paramount Domestic Television.
KPIX-TV is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, broadcasting CBS programming to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate KBCW, also licensed to San Francisco. Both stations share studios at Broadway and Battery Street, just north of San Francisco's Financial District, while KPIX's transmitter is located atop Sutro Tower. In addition to KBCW, KPIX shares its building with formerly co-owned radio stations KCBS, KFRC-FM, KITS, KLLC, KRBQ and KZDG, although they use a different address number for Battery Street.
Where the Action Is is a music-based television variety show that aired in the United States from 1965 to 1967. It was carried by the ABC network and aired each weekday afternoon. Created by Dick Clark as a spin-off of American Bandstand, Where the Action Is premiered on January 2, 1965. The show was another step in the then-current trend of entertainment programs that targeted the teenage audience by focusing on pop music, following in the footsteps of Shindig! and Hullabaloo. Dick Clark's voice could be heard doing the artist introductions, and he sometimes did filmed interviews.
The Prospect Studios is a lot containing several television studios located at 4151 Prospect Avenue in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, at the corner of Prospect and Talmadge Street, just east of Hollywood. For more than fifty years, this facility served as the West Coast headquarters of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) before the network moved its main headquarters to the Walt Disney Studios in 1996. From 1949 to 1999, ABC-owned Los Angeles television station KABC-TV was also located there. The station moved to a new state-of-the-art facility located on a portion of Disney's Grand Central Creative Campus (GC3) in nearby Glendale, California, in December 1999. The Walt Disney Company, which acquired ABC, continues to own and operate the facility to this day.
The Steve Allen Show was an American variety show hosted by Steve Allen from June 1956 to June 1960 on NBC, from September 1961 to December 1961 on ABC, and in first-run syndication from 1962 to 1964.
Four Star Television, also called Four Star International, was an American television production company. Founded in 1952 as Four Star Productions by prominent Hollywood actors Dick Powell, David Niven, Charles Boyer, and Joel McCrea, it was inspired by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz founding Desilu Productions a year earlier. McCrea left soon after its founding to continue in films, television and radio, and was replaced by Ida Lupino as the fourth star—although Lupino did not own stock in the company.
The Go!! Show was an Australian popular music television series which aired on ATV-0, Melbourne, from August 1964 to August 1967. It was produced by DYT Productions at the ATV-0 studios in Nunawading, Victoria. Over its run it was hosted, in turn, by Alan Field (1964), Ian Turpie (1964–66) and Johnny Young (1966–67).
TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes is an American television series. Debuting as a weekly series, new episodes have been broadcast as infrequent specials during most of its run. It premiered on NBC in 1984, moved to ABC in 1998, and was revived in syndication in 2012. The NBC run of the series was co-produced by Carson Productions and Dick Clark Productions, and the ABC and syndication runs have been produced solely by Dick Clark Productions.
Lloyd Thaxton was an American writer, television producer, director, and television host widely known for his syndicated pop music television program of the 1960s, The Lloyd Thaxton Show, which began as a local Los Angeles program on KCOP in September 1961.
Hollywood a Go-Go was a Los Angeles-based music variety show that ran in syndication from 1965 to 1966. The show was hosted by Sam Riddle, with music by The Sinners and dancing by The Gazzarri Dancers. It was filmed at the KHJ-TV studios in Los Angeles. Rights to surviving footage of the show are now represented by Research Video.
Swingin' Time was a music variety show, similar to American Bandstand, hosted by WKNR personality Robin Seymour and also, for a time, CKLW radio's Tom Shannon. This show was broadcast on CKLW-TV Channel 9 out of Windsor, Ontario, Canada, from 1965 to 1968, and also seen in a few other markets in syndication. The show featured recording acts, both nationally and locally popular, lip-synching to their latest releases while teenagers showcased the latest dances on the show's dance floor. In its brief run, the show featured well-known acts Motown like The Supremes, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Marvin Gaye, The Marvelettes, Martha & The Vandellas and The Four Tops, and non-Motown acts such as Bob Seger.
