The year 1954 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events in 1954.
Jo Elizabeth Stafford was an American traditional pop singer, whose career spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Admired for the purity of her voice, she originally underwent classical training to become an opera singer before following a career in popular music, and by 1955 had achieved more worldwide record sales than any other female artist. Her 1952 song "You Belong to Me" topped the charts in the United States and United Kingdom, becoming the second single to top the UK Singles Chart, and the first by a female artist to do so.
The Pied Pipers are an American popular singing group originally formed in the late 1930s. They had several chart hits throughout the 1940s, both under their own name and in association with Tommy Dorsey, with Johnny Mercer and with Frank Sinatra.
Albert Gordon MacRae was an American actor, singer, and television and radio host. He appeared in the film versions of two Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, Oklahoma! (1955) and Carousel (1956), and played the leading man opposite Doris Day in On Moonlight Bay (1951) and sequel By The Light of the Silvery Moon (1953).
Mitchell William Miller was an American choral conductor, record producer, record-industry executive, and professional oboist. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor and artists and repertoire (A&R) man. Miller was one of the most influential people in American popular music during the 1950s and early 1960s, both as the head of A&R at Columbia Records and as a best-selling recording artist with an NBC television series, Sing Along with Mitch. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester in the early 1930s, Miller began his musical career as a player of the oboe and English horn, making numerous highly regarded classical and popular recordings.
Imogene Coca was an American comic actress best known for her role opposite Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows. Starting out in vaudeville as a child acrobat, she studied ballet and pursued a serious career in music and dance, graduating to decades of stage musical revues, cabaret, and summer stock. In her 40s, she began a celebrated career as a comedian on television, starring in six series and guest-starring on successful television programs from the 1940s to the 1990s.
Paul Weston was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and conductor who worked in music and television from the 1930s to the 1970s, pioneering mood music and becoming known as "the Father of Mood Music". His compositions include popular music songs such as "I Should Care", "Day by Day", and "Shrimp Boats". He also wrote classical pieces, including "Crescent City Suite" and religious music, authoring several hymns and masses.
The Chesterfield Supper Club is an NBC Radio musical variety program (1944–1950), which was also telecast by NBC Television (1948–1950).
Merrill Davis Osmond is an American musician. He is best known for being the lead vocalist and bassist of the family music group The Osmonds and The Osmond Brothers, as well as an occasional solo artist.
"September in the Rain" is a popular song about nostalgia by Harry Warren and Al Dubin, published in 1937. The song was introduced by James Melton in the film Melody for Two. It has become a standard, having been recorded by many artists since, and featured in a variety of movies, including the 1937 film of the same name.
The Mellomen were a popular singing quartet active from the late 1940s through the mid-1970s. The group was founded by Thurl Ravenscroft and Max Smith in 1948. They recorded under a variety of names, including Big John and the Buzzards, the Crackerjacks, the Lee Brothers, and the Ravenscroft Quartet. They were sometimes credited as the Mellowmen, the Mello Men, or the Mellow Men. They sang backup to some of the best-known artists of the day, including Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Arlo Guthrie, Frankie Laine, Peggy Lee, Elvis Presley, and Jo Stafford.
Jonathan and Darlene Edwards were a musical comedy double act developed by American conductor and arranger Paul Weston, and his wife, singer Jo Stafford. The routine was conceived in the 1950s, and involved Weston playing songs on the piano in unconventional rhythms, while Stafford sang off-key in a high pitched voice. The couple released five albums and one single as the Edwardses, and their 1960 album, Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris won that year's Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.
The Jo Stafford Show is a 15-minute musical variety program which aired on CBS in prime time in the 1954–1955 television season. Paul Weston wrote a special theme song for the show.
Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris is a 1960 comedy album recorded by American singer Jo Stafford and her husband, pianist and bandleader Paul Weston. In character as Jonathan and Darlene Edwards, the pair put their own interpretation on popular songs including "I Love Paris" and "Paris in the Spring." The album followed a successful comedy act the couple would perform at parties during the 1950s, in which Weston would play an out of tune piano while Stafford would accompany him by singing in an off-key and high pitched voice. A joint winner of the 1961 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album, the album garnered Stafford her only major award for her singing.
Pauline Byrns was an American singer who recorded successfully in the swing era of the late 1930s and 1940s, notably with Artie Shaw and the vocal groups Six Hits and a Miss and The Starlighters. She was often credited as Pauline Byrne or Pauline Byrnes. Singer Mel Tormé said of her: "Oh, what a singer.... I admired her so much".
Six Hits and a Miss was an American swing-era singing group. The group consisted of six male singers and one female. They performed musical numbers in several Hollywood feature films of the 1940s, such as Time Out for Rhythm (1941), The Big Store (1941), Hit Parade of 1941 (1941), and Girl Crazy (1943).
Hairspray Live! is an American television special that aired live on the American television network NBC on December 7, 2016. Produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, and hosted by Darren Criss, it is a performance of a new adaptation of the 2002 Broadway musical Hairspray.
Song of Idaho is a 1948 American Western musical film directed by Ray Nazarro. It was released by Columbia Pictures.
Imogene Lynn was a 20th-century American jazz and pop singer.
