Dinah Shore…Her Early TV Career

Soon after she arrived in New York in 1937, Shore made her first television appearances on experimental broadcasts for NBC. Twelve years later, in 1949, she made her official television show debut on the Ed Wynn Show and in 1950 made a guest appearance on Bob Hope’s first television show. After being on other television shows, she got her own program, The Dinah Shore Show on NBC in 1951.She did two 15-minute shows a week for NBC til 1955.

In 1956, Shore began hosting a monthly series of one-hour full-color spectaculars as part of NBC’s The Chevy Show series. These proved so popular that the show was renamed The Dinah Shore Chevy Show the following season, with Shore becoming the full-time host of the show that aired three out of four weeks in the month. Broadcast live and in NBC’s famous “Living Color,” this variety show was one of the most popular of the 1950s and early 1960s and featured the television debuts of stars of the era, such as Yves Montand and Maureen O’Hara, and featured Dinah in performances alongside Ella Fitzgerald, Mahalia Jackson, Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra and Pearl Bailey. She also appeared as a guest on another Chevrolet-sponsored variety show, The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom on ABC.

The Dinah Shore Chevy Show ran through the 1961-1962 season, after which Chevrolet dropped sponsorship, and Shore hosted a series of monthly broadcasts sponsored by The American Dairy Association and Green Stamps. Simply called “The Dinah Shore Show”, Dinah’s guests included Nat “King” Cole, Bing Crosby, Jack Lemmon, and a young Barbra Streisand. Over twelve seasons, from 1951 to 1963, Shore made 125 hour-long programs and 444 fifteen-minute shows. She always ended her televised programs by throwing an enthusiastic kiss directly to the cameras (and viewers) and exclaiming “MWAH!” to the audience.

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