May 9, 1946…”Hour Glass”…Television’s First Variety Show Debuts

Not only was this network TV’s first variety show, it was TV’s first hour long program as well, with the exception of two week night boxing matches WNBT carried live. All but the second photo, which shows us “Hour Glass” rehearsing with the NBC made cameras in Studio 8G, were taken on the debut night by photographing a monitor screen.

The show aired every Thursday night at 8 PM on the NBC network, which at the time was made up of just three markets including NYC, Schenectady and Philadelphia. “Hour Glass” was sponsored by Standard Brands and the production was created weekly by their ad agency, J. Walter Thompson. Just like in radio, in those early days of TV, the broadcasters were just the messengers renting their facilities to the sponsors and their agencies.

Standard Brands canceled the show in February 1947, with a larger goal in mind. With J. Walter Thomson now more experienced in the ways of television, it wasn’t long before JWT’s “Hour Glass” veterans were back in the studio. On May 7, 1947, “The Kraft Television Theater” debuted on NBC, and ran till 1958, and is still remembered as on of the golden age’s top anthology series.

NBC also learned a lot, and those lessons lead the network to basically bring this show back in 1948 in a tighter and more structured form as, “The Texaco Star Theater” with Milton Berle, with NBC in charge of production.

In 1946, NBC only had 10 shows on the network, but that was twice as many as the only other network offering television, and that was Dumont. On Thursday nights, “Hour Glass” was preceded on the network by the 10 minute ‘Esso News Reel’ at 7:50 and followed by local programs. ‘Hour Glass’ pioneered sketch/variety TV, and was the most ambitious and expensive production yet with big production numbers, chorus girls, a band, famous guest stars, and more, with the show’s sponsor pouring in over $200,000 for the show’s nine month run.

That sponsor was Standard Brands and the products they advertised on the show were for their Chase and Sanborn, and Tenderleaf Tea lines.

“Hour Glass” featured different performers every week, including Peggy Lee and, in one of the first examples of a top radio star appearing on network television…Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy in November 1946. The show also showcased filmed segments produced by JWT’s motion picture department; these ranged from short travelogues to advertisements. Every episode also included a ten minute drama, which proved one of the more popular portions of the show.

Although JWT, and Standard Brands representatives occasionally disagreed over the quality of individual episodes, their association was placid compared to the constant sniping that was the hallmark of the agency’s relationship with NBC. It started with unhappiness over studio space, which Thompson regarded as “woefully inadequate”.

This leaves me wondering if perhaps this show actually began in NBC Studio 3H, which was small, and equipped with RCA Iconoscope cameras, but this was the only TV studio at the time. Either that, or, they did the early shows on the Studio 8G radio stage with the new NBC built 8G cameras, before the studio was stripped down, and the stage removed.

The tension escalated when the network insisted that an NBC director manage the show, from live rehearsals through actual broadcast. The network was similarly displeased that Thompson refused to clear their commercials with NBC before air time.

These types of problems persisted until Pat Weaver came to NBC in 1949 and began to change the way things worked. Under Weaver, NBC took charge of production, and introduced “magazine” style advertising which split the cost of a show between several sponsors, and not just one. More on the photos. Enjoy! -Bobby Ellerbee

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