Imagine a time when television was young and LIVE technology was primitive, cumbersome and unreliable.
That time was 1955.
On a crisp October Sunday of that year, NBC's resident video visionary, network honcho Sylvester L. 'Pat" Weaver, created and launched a vibrant adventure in television called WIDE WIDE WORLD.
It was a LIVE television magazine designed to allow armchair explorers to meet interesting people,enjoy engaging experiences and sample the American landscape, without ever leaving their living rooms.
But in Weaver's comprehensive strategy, the 90 minute, B&W show was also the perfect vehicle to promote the wonders of the infant medium to a growing audience, in the face of intense competition from the movies.A master of media commerce, Weaver also knew it would help sell the TV receivers that NBC's parent company, RCA, manufactured and sold.
The understated Dave Garroway,first host of the TODAY program, anchored this show, which picked up almost every major award in television, as it meandered through American culture for three seasons on NBC-TV.
While it is now dated like a yellowed, old copy of the Saturday Evening Post in a curio shop, WIDE WIDE WORLD holds up for me, as sort of a rustic artifact of Eisenhower-era life in America. Like viewing a Norman Rockwell painting on the faded screen of a cathode ray tube.
Here , from the MUSICOM 67 YOU TUBE site,are 7 clips that constitute approx. 60 minutes from the 90 minute,debut episode of WIDE WIDE WORLD,hosted by Dave Garroway and sponsored by General Motors.Enjoy!!!!!
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
PART 4
PART 5
PART 6
PART 7
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