‘Tonight’…Son Of ‘The Knickerbocker Beer Show’
‘Tonight’…Son Of ‘The Knickerbocker Beer Show’
When ‘Broadway Open House’ left the air in August of ’51, late night television got put on the back burner as NBC’s Pat Weaver was busy putting together ‘The Today Show’, which debuted in January of 1952. After a year or so of intense focus on the early mornings, Pat began to think about late nights again.
Ted Cott, a successful radio executive who had recently moved into television at the NBC affiliate, suggested Steve Allen as host for the venture. and was interested in a west coaster that had recently shown up for some extended club dates and radio work in NYC. This was of course Steve Allen, and Weaver tested the water by giving Allen a half hour of late night air time on NBC’s local station, WNBT near the end of 1953.
At that time, WNBT and its late night movie program was getting clobbered by a better package of films being broadcast every night on the CBS affiliate, WCBS.
Knickerbocker Beer, which was then a major brand, decided it wanted to sponsor something other than late movies on WNBT…say, a variety show. Ted Cott, a successful radio executive who had recently moved into television at the NBC affiliate, suggested Steve Allen as host for the venture.
At the end of August of 1953, a 40 minute weeknight program called ‘The Knickerbocker Beer Show’ debuted. Steve Allen was the host and the legendary Dwight Hemion was directing one of his first shows which originated from Studio A of the WOR 67th Street Studios. At the time, the studio was still owned by WOR and NBC was leasing space, but that changed the next year when the ‘Home’ show with Arline Francis came to the air…NBC took over the whole complex then.
A few weeks after the debut, the show’s name was changed to ‘The Steve Allen Show’ but Knickerbocker was still the sponsor. In the comment section, I’ll show you ticket from the September 16th show.
Done at first without writers and always without much of a budget, Allen’s local show was an immediate success, garnering both critical acclaim and the desired higher ratings. On the show, Allen would play the piano, chat with audience members or guests, bring on Steve Lawrence and/or Eydie Gorme to sing a song (as in this clip) and have fun with the bandleader Bobby Byrne. Allen was basically laying the foundation for all TV talk shows to come. Less than a year later, most of the operation would be moving over to do a network show called ‘Tonight’ which debuted September 27, 1954! Below is a clip from that first night. Enjoy and Share! -Bobby Ellerbee
Roger Price got off at least one memorable phrase in his career: “A TV personality is someone who is well known for being well-known.” Still holds true in this age of reality TV faux “celebrities.”
I remember it…when it was local…and when it became network. Remember the Knickerbocker beer commercial…with old Father Knickerbocker.
Interesting that back in the day Allen could actually drink the beer.
Here’s a piece of real television history.
It was probably one of the first tv shows I ever saw , I was in my crib in Brooklyn.Many years later, I met Steve Allen at Michael’s Pub in NYC. He was doing a show there and was personable and kind to sign autographs. .