Term paper on Golden Age of Television

Golden Age of Television

term paper RESOURCE GUIDE

Although television was invented in the 1920s, it became a staple item in American life and culture only during the 1950s. By the end of that decade, 90 percent of all households owned at least one television set. In many instances, television had radically altered Americans’ lifestyles. The quality of programming varied widely, ranging from broad comedy to sporting events and serious drama, and from congressional investigations to quiz shows, one of which, Twenty One , proved to be rigged. For all its benefits television seemed to one chairman (Newton Minow) of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ‘‘a vast wasteland.”
Suggestions for Term Papers

1. Was television a golden age or a ‘‘vast wasteland” during the 1950s?

2. Discuss the effects of televised congressional hearings during the 1950s.

3. Analyze the effects of television on political life.

4. Compare the federal regulation of television in the 1950s and today.

5. Discuss the effects of television on American education.

REFERENCE SOURCES

Encyclopedia of Television . Horace Newcomb, ed. Chicago : Fitzroy Dearborn, 1998. 3 vols. Comprehensive and serious treatment of television and the television industry; provides biographical sketches, topical essays, and bibliographic references. Won two awards as an outstanding publication.

History of the Mass Media in the United States : An Encyclopedia . Margaret A. Blanchard, ed. Chicago : Fitzroy Dearborn, 1998. Comprehensive

coverage of all media (television, radio, newspapers, film, books, magazines, etc.) from the seventeenth century to 1995. Over 475 alphabetically arranged entries, ranging from 500 to 5,000 words.

Total Television: A Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present . 3d ed. Alex McNeil. New York : Penguin Books, 1991. An alphabetical listing of series with credits, chronological listing of selected special programs and broadcasts, copies of the prime-time schedules for the major networks from 1948 on, lists of Peabody and Emmy Award winners, and listings of top-rated series for each season.

Warner Bros. Television: Every Show of the Fifties and Sixties Episode-by-Episode . Lynn Woolley et al. Jefferson , NC : McFarland, 1985. Based on material drawn from TV Guide and press releases, provides descriptions of both obscure and well-known series, along with biographies of performers and illustrations.

GENERAL SOURCES

Goldstein, Fred P. and Stan Goldstein. Prime-time Television: A Pictorial History from Milton Berle to Falcon Crest . New York : Crown, 1983. Interesting and informative historical survey of television broadcasting from the ‘‘golden age” to the 1980s.

Kisseloff, Jeff. The Box: An Oral History of Television from 1920 to 1961 . New York : Viking, 1995. Well-written and thorough; based on interviews with 400 television personalities and workers, provides insight into considerations related to economic, technical, and sociopolitical aspects of television.

Minow, Newton , and Craig L. LaMay. Abandoned in the Wasteland Children, Television, and the First Amendment . New York : Hill&Wang, 1995. Provides a message similar to that intoned in Minow’s 1961 ‘‘vast wasteland” speech; sees the ascendancy of commercial greed over public interest as beginning in the 1950s.

SPECIALIZED SOURCES

Marling, Karal A. As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s . Cambridge , MA : Harvard University Press, 1994. Interesting account of pop culture as represented by television of the 1950s; treats such topics as Elvis, Mrs. Eisenhower’s fashions, Disneyland , painting by numbers, kitchen appliances, and TV dinners.

Shulman, Arthur, and Roger Youman. How Sweet It Was: Television, a Pictorial Commentary . New York : Shorecrest, 1966. Compilation of twenty years of television personalities and trivia with brief commentary and 1,435 photographs.

Sturcken, Frank. Live Television: The Golden Age of 1946–1958 in New York . Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1990. Anecdotal account of the experiment with live television, with an examination of the primary programs and the creative minds behind them.

Wilk, Max. The Golden Age of Television: Notes from the Survivors . New York: Delacorte, 1976. Entertaining and interesting work that covers much the same territory as Sturcken’s effort above. Treats the early sitcoms, quiz shows, variety shows, and dramatic presentations.

BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES

Berle, Milton. B. S. I Love You: Sixty Funny Years with the Famous and the Infamous . New York: McGraw-Hill, 1988. Autobiography filled with entertaining anecdotes by one of the leading television comedians of the 1950s.

Krampner, Jon. The Man in the Shadows: Fred Coe and Golden Age of Television . New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1997. Interesting biographical account of the exciting life of the director of Philco Television Playhouse ; provides historical awareness of the rise and decline of live television theater.

Sanders, Coyne S., and Tom Gilbert. Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz . New York: Morrow, 1993. Detailed biography of the husband-wife comedy team of the 1950s.

Whelan, Kenneth. How the Golden Age of Television Turned My Hair to Silver . Walker, 1973. Interesting collection of behind-the-scenes stories regarding television production in the 1950s and the author’s progressing career, ending up as the director of the Morning Show .

AUDIOVISUAL SOURCES

Golden TV: Memories of the ’50s . Orland Park, IL: MPI Home Video, 1952. 3 videocassettes. Vintage television vignettes are presented with each 60-minute volume—Jack Benny, Loretta Young, Groucho Marx, Howdy Doody, Cisco Kid, and others.

WORLD WIDE WEB

Rich, Candace. ‘‘Variety: The Golden Age of Television.” Fifties Website. 1996; updated November 1997. http://www.fiftiesweb.com/variety.htm An interesting look at the past with brief treatment given to the shows starring Milton Berle, Ted Mack, Arthur Godfrey, Sid Caesar, and others. Illustrated with small photographs.