The Gabby Hayes Show
| The Gabby Hayes Show | |
|---|---|
 Clifford Sales, Gabby Hayes, Lee Graham on Sunday history series | |
| Also known as | The Quaker Oats Show |
| Genre | |
| Written by | |
| Directed by | Vincent J. Donehue |
| Starring | Gabby Hayes |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | 15 and 30 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | October 15, 1950 – January 1, 1956 |
The Gabby Hayes Show was the name given to two early children's television series. Both series were broadcast on NBC, and both were sponsored by the Quaker Oats Company.[1][2]
Gabby Hayes was the host of a series that featured history stories. He also introduced another program that showed scenes from old western films.[3]
In 1953, The Gabby Hayes Show was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category of outstanding children's program, but lost to Time for Beany.[4]
Sunday history series[edit]
The series, originally titled The Quaker Oats Show, debuted on October 15, 1950.[5] The series' title was changed in 1951.[2] The live half-hour show was about historical events, and host Gabby Hayes would be seen in a general store in "Quaker Canyon."[5] He would tell humorous stories for the benefit of Clifford Sales and Lee Graham, two "pleasingly natural children."[3]
The history-based stories were written by Horton Foote and Jerome Coopersmith[5] and were filmed in NBC's Studio 3A at Rockefeller Center. Each episode had a budget of $5,500, and costs were kept low by using stock sets. In 1950 the series was seen in 39 cities.[3]
Some of the earliest episodes were on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the Battle of the Alamo, Buffalo Bill as a youngster, John Paul Jones, and Thanksgiving.[3] In January 1952 Ross Martin played Wyatt Earp, and the following week Betty Garde played Belle Starr.[6] A January 27, 1952 newspaper column stated that the Sunday Gabby Hayes series had been cancelled.[7]
Weekday western film series[edit]
On December 11, 1951[8] a fifteen-minute weekday series entitled The Gabby Hayes Show began on NBC, starting at 5:15 p.m. This series originally aired on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays,[1] but was later shown five days a week, from Mondays through Fridays.[9]
In the series Hayes told tales about his eccentric relatives, and then scenes from an old B western film was shown. Since it was a fifteen-minute show each film had to be spread out over several days. Hayes would tell another tall tale at the end of the episode.[10]
This weekday series ran until January 1, 1954.[8]
A young Fred Rogers worked as a floor manager on this show prior to returning to Pittsburgh to work for the first public television station WQED.[11]
Re-edited western film series[edit]
After NBC's weekday series ended multiple episodes were edited into 25-minute versions[2] which presented scenes from an entire western film.[12] There were 52 of the longer episodes created.[13]
ABC television showed the half-hour version of the series on Saturdays from 5:30 to 6:00 p.m.[14] starting on May 12, 1956, and ending July 14, 1956.[8] The series was then syndicated, and aired on individual stations until at least 1959.[15][16]
Media Availability[edit]
On April 25, 2006, Alpha Video released Region 0 (world-wide) DVDs of the half-hour western film version of The Gabby Hayes Show.[17]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Gabby Hayes to Star in Weekday Series, The Cincinnati Enquirer (Cincinnati, OH) December 9, 1950, page 38
- ^ a b c Boyd Magers, Western Clippings
- ^ a b c d "The Gabby Hayes Show" — Americana With a Sugar Coating, Ross Reports on Television Programing, November 26 - December 2, 1950, pages 8 - 9
- ^ 1953 Emmy awards
- ^ a b c Wilborn Hampton, Horton Foote: America’s Storyteller, page 106 - 107, Free Press, 2009
- ^ Gabby Hayes Show to Tell Stories of Fabled Adventures, Sioux City Journal, January 20, 1952, page 25
- ^ Letter Box, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 27, 1952, page 87
- ^ a b c Vincent Terrace, Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010, 2nd edition, page 375, McFarland, 2014
- ^ NBC Trade News, November 18, 1952, page 1
- ^ Alvin H. Marill, Television Westerns: Six Decades of Sagebrush Sheriffs, Scalawags, and Sidewinders, page 10, Scarecrow Press, 2011
- ^ Paul Hendrickson, In the Land of Make Believe, The Real Mister Rogers, The Washington Post, November 18, 1982
- ^ Looking & Listening, The Daily Reporter (Dover, Ohio), May 12, 1956, page 16
- ^ Gabby Hayes Finds 'Shore-Fire' Formula, The Pittsburgh Press, June 24, 1956, page 141
- ^ This Week — Network Debuts & Highlights, Ross Reports on Television, May 7–13, 1956, page 39
- ^ Television Guide, The Item (Sumter, SC), September 17, 1958, page 2
- ^ TV and Radio Log for Friday, July 13, The Troy Record (Troy, NY), July 13, 1959, page 60
- ^ DVD information
