Network TV was like that in the era of what came to be known as "middlebrow" culture. Back then and for long afterward, you could switch on your set and see a new play by Horton Foote or a lecture by Leonard Bernstein about Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in between sitcoms, just as you could read all about the wide world of art each week in Time and Life. In those days it was taken for granted that the upward mobility of middle-class Americans extended to cultural matters, and that anyone, educated or not, could appreciate highbrow art so long as it was presented in an accessible and engaging way.
By the way, I remember seeing that reading of the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego on the the Sullivan show. Of course, we all know - thanks to Newton Minow - that TV was just a vast wasteland in those days. Not like today.
Frank, I also wallowed in the wastelands while enjoying Leonard Bernstein's concerts, Bishop Sheen's messages, Beverly Sills on the Ed Sullivan show, early television dramas (i.e., MARTY and REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT), and the Bell Telephone Christmas specials (marionettes in the Nativity Story and Twas the Night Before Christmas). Oh, how I wasted my youth!
ReplyDeleteIt's Minow.
ReplyDeleteSo it is. And now it's fixed. Thanks, Ivanhoe.
ReplyDeleteMy brief, quickly written response may have sounded snarky. Apologies, if so. Did not mean it to.
ReplyDeleteI recall that much, perhaps most of the good work appeared on Sundays all day long, including Ed Sullivan.
ReplyDeleteThe dramas, Playhouse 90, Kraft Theater, Armstrong Circle Theate, etc. were regular weekday programs. TUnfortunately they were supplanted by 'mini-series' and never recovered.
Not at all, Ivanhoe. Thanks, again.
ReplyDelete