Sharon and I host a midweek, small group session for our church, and I was astonished to find that one of our signups was the son of the man who wrote the screenplay for Disney’s 1960 film, Swiss Family Robinson—Lowell Hawley. And then I learned Hawley did teleplays for old black-and-white TV programs, including The Loretta Young Show (wherein, from 1953 to 1961, she would begin each episode by entering the room in an elegant outfit and spin around as she turned to shut the door behind her before coming front and center to introduce the story); and Zorro (for which Hawley supplied 24 teleplays, 1957-1959). And later, I saw that he did some writing for The Millionaire. (In each episode, Michael Anthony gave a million dollars to an unsuspecting person, thanks to the philanthropy of the “fabulously wealthy John Beresford Tipton.”) 

In this photo, you see the book he wrote with/about a psychiatrist, a photo with “Don Diego de la Vega” (Zorro) and “Don Alejandro de la Vega” (with Hawley standing at the far right), and also two Loretta Young scripts, with annotations. This was, indeed, “the Golden Age of Television,” wherein we got well acquainted with such Western heroes as Roy Rogers, Sheriff Matt Dillon, and Hopalong Cassidy (I even belonged to the Hopalong Cassidy Savings Club at the bank); comedians such Milton Berle, Imogene Coca, Jack Benny and Sid Caesar; the quiz shows, The Price is Right, Treasure Hunt, and What’s My Line?; sitcoms such as Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver, I Love Lucy, The Danny Thomas Show, and a fun collection of other items, including Superman, Queen for a Day, Sea Hunt, and, again with the Westerns, a hero for every weapon (Lash LaRue, Yancy Derringer, and The Rifleman). As for news, I remember particularly John Cameron Swayze, who did those Timex commercials (for watches which “take a licking and keep on ticking”). And Dave Garroway hosted NBC’s Today Show. Oh, then there was the kids’ show, Winky Dink and You, where you spread a plastic cover on your TV screen and marked it up with a grease pencil when prompted, assembling clues to the solution of some mystery in each episode. 

I’ve got to stop. The names keep coming (including ad stars like Farfel the Dog who, with human assistance, did one for Nestle products). Those were, indeed, remarkable TV days.

From our home in Arkadelphia, Arkansas (where my dad taught at Ouachita Baptist College [now University]), we pulled in three black and white stations (Little Rock and Pine Bluff) with our rooftop antenna. When the set went fritz, we’d take its vacuum tubes downtown for testing and replacement. Color, digital, HD, flat screen, cable, and satellite TV weren’t even on our horizon as we were enchanted by Mouseketeers and momentarily intrigued by end-of-broadcast-day test patterns.

Fortunately, you can find samplings of some of these shows on the cable buffet or YouTube. If rock ‘n’ roll was the “soundtrack of my youth,” then these shows were the “sight-track of my childhood,” for which I’m most grateful.