When people think of Blind Date, the 2001 series emceed by comedian Roger Lodge comes to mind immediately. That series had a pretty healthy run in syndication, and we'll be looking at that another time.
However, more than 50 years earlier, Blind Date had transitioned from radio to television, and landed on three of the then-four broadcast networks after a run on radio. Arlene Francis, better known, of course, as a panelist on What's My Line?, had been the host on radio, and made the transition when ABC acquired the TV rights in 1950. After a couple of years, actor Melvyn Douglas took over, and when the series made its last shift to DuMont, comic Jan Murray was the last MC.
The best way to describe the 50's version would be equal parts improvisational comedy and game show, the improv part being, well, unintentional after all. That might be because the show was, I think, broadcast live, and that leads to some very nervous contestants, such as in this sample entry with Arlene Francis.
Edit, 1/4/21: Had to change the video.
Blind Date moved to NBC sometime in 1951, then moved to DuMont some time later.
Rating: C.
2 comments:
Looks like some spoilsport took down your video sample Hobbyfan!
And I just replaced it. The only other copy available is 1) in 3 parts and 2)has its embedding code disabled. Yep, spoilsport city.
Post a Comment