This is one of only a handful of shows that was eventually carried on every network over its 24 years on TV…Dumont, NBC, CBS and ABC.

Ted Mack was born in Greeley, CO and named Edward McGuiness. When he became a band leader and his name would not fit on a theater marque, the theater manager shortened his name to Ted Mack…and it stuck. He was an accomplished clarinet and saxophone player and musical conductor and had worked with with well known big bands like Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Red Nichols, Jack Teagarden and Ben Pollack.

Ted was the host of ‘The Original Amateur Hour’ on television for 24 years. He joined the radio edition of ‘The Major Bowes Amateur Hour’ in 1935 as a talent scout and was one of Bowes’ first assistants.

When Bowes retired in 1946, Mack took over as host and fronted the show when it debuted in 1948 on the Dumont Television Network. The show lasted until 1970 when Ted and his producers pulled the show off the air. It was estimated that over 1,000,000 aspirants auditioned for the show during its long tenure from the WHN radio days through its run on all four TV networks.

Like his mentor, Major Bowes, Ted Mack also died on the eve of his 72nd birthday…July 14, 1976. Bowes was a real estate speculator who got into the entertainment business by buying a Boston theater and later built the famed Capitol Theater in New York City in 1918 and was its managing director until his radio interests forced him to quit in the late 1930’s.

“The Original Amateur Hour” grew out of his interest in the Capitol Theater. In the early days of radio, as a promotional feature for the theater, Bowes started a Sunday noon hour broadcast over local radio station WHN. By 1934, the idea of the Amateur Hour had evolved and the program was presented nationally. Enjoy and share! -Bobby Ellerbee

By the way, that’s Ted Mack in the big picture.

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