Hour Glass (TV series)

This article is about the 1940s television show. For other uses, see Hourglass (disambiguation).

Hour Glass
Directed by	Ed Sobol
Presented by	Eddie Mayehoff Helen Parrish
Country of origin	USA
Original language(s)	English
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Release
Original network	NBC
Picture format	Black-and-white
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	May 9, 1946 (1946-05-09) – March 1947
External links
[{{#property:P856}} Website]

Hour Glass is the first regularly scheduled variety show shown on American network television. It ran on NBC from May 9, 1946 until March 1947.

Overview

Hour Glass was sponsored by Standard Brands. The program included comedians, musicians, entertaining films (such as a film of dance in South America), and a long, live commercial for the sponsor's products.

Such famous names as Doodles Weaver, Bert Lahr, Dennis Day, Anton Reiter, Jerry Colonna, Peggy Lee and Joe Besser appeared on the program.

On November 14, 1946, Edgar Bergen brought his ventriloquism act to the show. It was one of the first times that a major radio performer had appeared on television.

The show was co-hosted by Eddie Mayehoff and Helen Parrish.

Existing recordings

Audio-only recordings of Hour Glass from 1946-1947, including the inaugural show, are known to exist at the Library of Congress. Photos of the first live Hour Glass broadcast taken from a TV monitor during the live telecast, along with a program review, appear in the May 27, 1946 issue of Life.

See also

• 1946-47 United States network television schedule

External links

• Hour Glass at IMDb