1970's Game Shows: 1950's Game Shows: |
This early panel
show began on television in 1948 after a long radio run and starred
Hollywood DJ Peter Potter.
Originally
broadcast for TV on Los Angeles local KNXT, the show went national in
1953 on the ABC network, but lasted only a single network season. No
wonder - it was little more than a radio show brought to life, with
wall-to-wall commercial endorsements and movie plugs (that are still
common on radio).
On
'Jukebox Jury', six young, glamorous late-Forties' B-movie stars and
minor recording artists were on-hand to judge the latest record company
releases. Celebrities like Barry Sullivan, Maureen O'Sullivan, Phyllis
Winger, and Jane Powell form a six pack of stars who line up on either
side of the host. Their job: to sit still and look cool while the three-minute
single played and the TV camera probed them - then offer an opinion
of the record.
Occasionally, it
got interesting when the stars ripped
catty remarks off on each other in that oh-so-polite way people
used to have fifty years ago. 'Jukebox Jury' came off like an subdued
version of the Seventies daytime hit Match Game.
Look for a young
Mike ('Mannix') Connors (then known in the business as "Touch" Connors)
in this clip from the KTLA
version of the show, circa 1948. |
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