December 6, 1948…CBS Studio 50’s Television Debut
December 6, 1948…CBS Studio 50’s Television Debut
On this day in 1948, what had been the CBS Radio Theater #3 since 1936, became CBS Television Studio 50. At 8:30 that Monday night, “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts” became the first program to be televised from the studio we now call The Ed Sullivan Theater, at 1697 Broadway.
This was the second CBS radio theater to be converted to television. In order to get the new “Toast of the Town” show with Ed Sullivan on the air on June 20, 1948, The Maxine Elliott Theater was the first transformation. Sullivan’s show, still titled “Toast of the Town,” moved from Studio 51 to Studio 50 in January of 1953. Sullivan got to move in when “This Is Show Business” moved to another night.
The first TV show to come from Studio 50 was actually a holdover from the radio days. When LIFE profiled Arthur Godfrey in 1948, his voice was ubiquitous on the American airwaves, reaching 40 million listeners each week on three different CBS Godfrey shows.
The “Talent Scouts” radio show started in 1946 and was a sort of amateur hour for young professionals. It ran for 25 minutes on Monday nights with the sponsorship of Lipton tea. During the show, the “scouts”—who could be anyone from a manager to a parent—brought out their “talent” to perform in front of a live audience. Winners were decided by an old-fashioned applause meter, with a new star declared each night. Here is a rare surviving clip of the show, with the applause meter at the end.
“He will probably be on television very shortly,” LIFE predicted, and the prophecy came true on December 6, 1948. After two years on the radio, “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts” became a regular show on CBS-TV. It was simulcast on radio from the studio it had been in those two years…CBS Radio Theater #3 which, when converted to television became Studio 50. This was the first television show to originate from Studio 50.
Ironically, the first radio show from CBS Radio Theater #3 in 1936 was the “Major Bowes’ Amateur Hour”, which the Godfrey show’s format was based on. Below, in comments, is a photo of the new TV control room. -Bobby Ellerbee
My mom used to skate on Arthur Godfrey’s winter shows. Here are some pictures of her with Arthur.
Godfrey was known as “the old red-head” but as far as I can remember, none of his shows ever aired in color.
Watched the show all the time
A mean individual. Not folksy at all e.g. Julius LaRosa.
The coffee shop at the left next to the marquee has been many things since 1948. During the time David letterman’s Late Show was in the Ed Sullivan Theater, there was a ‘Ranch 1’ fast food restaurant that served chicken sandwiches.
Today, the space contains the only New York location of ‘Steak & Shake’. The hamburgers there are the best in town, in my opinion.
However, I see in that image a streetcar on the B-Broadway route of the Third Avenue Raliways System in the background, and according to some sources, streetcars were replaced by buses in Manhattan and the Bronx by the end of 1948. Perhaps, that photo was taken about at least one week before the end of streetcar service on that section of Broadway (replaced by the #M104 bus route).
Any chance they give tours of the ed Sullivan theater nowadays?
This is a rare look at the TV control room at Studio 50. From the stage, this and the cleared area for the orchastra, took up the whole left seating section. Out of sight, but further to the left was the audio control booth, left over from the radio days.