Bill Cullen
|
Inside NBC was
a local show seen two days a week on NBC's flagship station in New York
City. It aired for fifteen minutes, just ahead of weather and news
reports, and usually consisted of Bill looking behind the scenes at some
aspect of an NBC TV or radio production. Sometimes, however, the
focus would be entirely different, such as an early home shopping segment
known as Cullen's Corner.
EPISODE GUIDE
Researcher Leah Biel was
kind enough to provide us this episode guide based on listings in the NYC
edition of TV Guide. While we doubt that many episodes of this obscurity
survive today, it's still interesting to see the wide variety of subjects
covered in this brief series.
| Monday,
December 12, 1955 |
[DEBUT] Bill Cullen hosts this 15-minute
program which spotlights NBC’s personnel, history, features, and entertainment.
NBC cameras pick up rehearsals in progress, previewing shows to appear
the same evening or later that week. |
| Friday, December 16, 1955 |
No description given |
| Monday, December 19, 1955 |
Viewers see a Playwrights 56
rehearsal in action. Bill Cullen interviews producer Fred Coe, director
Arthur Penn, and stars Kim Stanley and Louis Jean Heydt. |
| Friday, December 23, 1955 |
Bill Cullen visits David Aiken as
he is made up for his role in Sunday’s Alcoa Hour production of
Amahl and the Night Visitors. The cameras also pick
up a rehearsal of Babes in Toyland to be seen on Max Liebman
Presents. |
| Monday, December 26, 1955 |
Bill Cullen tours the Home
studios. Guest: Dick Linkroum, Home’s exec. producer. |
| Friday, December 30, 1955 |
Bill Cullen’s guest, Mary Martin,
discusses the forthcoming Peter Pan. |
| Monday, January 2, 1956 |
Episode pre-empted due to Rose
Bowl game between Michigan State and UCLA |
| Friday, January 6, 1956 |
The operation of the NBC news department
is explained through interviews and films. The cameras pick up a
rehearsal Ken Banghart’s news program. |
| Monday, January 9, 1956 |
Bill Cullen visits NBC’s special
effects dept. to show how fog, rain, snow, etc. are made for TV. |
| Friday, January 13, 1956 |
Les Colodny, director of NBC’s comedy
development program, explains and tells of plans for ’56. He introduces
an act by some new talent. |
| Monday, January 16, 1956 |
Richard Linkroum, executive producer
of Home, conducts a tour of the Home studios. |
| Friday, January 20, 1956 |
No description given |
| Monday, January 23, 1956 |
Tex Antoine explains the preparation
of his weather programs. Bill Cullen interviews Henry Salomon, producer
of Circle Theater’s Nightmare in Red, to be repeated
tomorrow evening. |
| Friday, January 27, 1956 |
Bill Cullen takes viewers behind
the scenes of radio’s Monitor. Guest will be Gene Rayburn. |
| Monday, January 30, 1956 |
The NBC Technical Operations Department
demonstrates the transmission of a TV picture from coast to coast.
Cameras pick up a rehearsal of Milton Berle’s show from Hollywood, Cal.
Bill Cullen. |
| Friday, February 3, 1956 |
Host Bill Cullen and Maurice Evans
discuss this Sunday’s Hallmark Hall of Fame production of The
Good Fairy, starring Julie Harris. Chet Huntley of the NBC
News Department previews Outlook, a news program which debuts
this Sunday. Special guest: J. Fred Muggs. |
| Monday, February 6, 1956 |
Bill Cullen visits Sid Caesar at
his office and studios. |
| Friday, February 10, 1956 |
Bill Cullen reviews the first NBC
telecast, April 30, 1939. This was the NBC special events pickup
of the opening of the World’s Fair at Flushing Meadows. |
| Monday, February 13, 1956 |
Bill Cullen interviews Martha Raye. |
| Friday, February 17, 1956 |
No description given |
| Monday, February 20, 1956 |
No description given |
| Friday, February 24, 1956 |
No description given |
| Monday, February 27, 1956 |
The cameras switch to Hollywood
to pick up a rehearsal of Tuesday’s Matinee Theater production,
A Tall Dark Stranger. Its star, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and
host John Conte are guests. Bill Cullen, in New York, does a feature
on the early days of NBC news coverage. |
| Friday, March 2, 1956 |
The cameras switch to the RCA Hall
of Progress in Camden, N.J., which holds electronics equipment developed
during the past century. Bill Cullen hosts. |
| Monday, March 5, 1956 |
Guest: Stockton Hellfrich of NBC’s
Continuity Acceptance Dept. Bill Cullen shows Martha Raye Show
in rehearsal, via film. |
| Friday, March 9, 1956 |
Host Bill Cullen highlights NBC’s
coverage of the Presidential campaign. He also interviews Laurence
Olivier. |
| Monday, March 12, 1956 |
Ike Kleinerman, film editor of Wednesday’s
Project 20 production, explains how the film was procured and edited. |
| Friday, March 16, 1956 |
Host Bill Cullen discusses the presentation
of the TV “Emmy” Awards. |
| Monday, March 19, 1956 |
Virginia Graham of NBC Radio’s Weekday
is Bill Cullen’s guest. |
| Friday, March 23, 1956 |
Guest: Broadcast Film Division director
Stan Parlan. Bill Cullen hosts. |
| Monday, March 26, 1956 |
No description given |
| Friday, March 30, 1956 |
No description given |
| Monday, April 2, 1956 |
Bill Cullen comments on the television
entertainment scene as reported by the New York columnists. |
| Friday, April 6, 1956 |
Bill Cullen introduces the winner
of the Army air auditions conducted last Friday, for the female lead in
You, Me and the Gatepost, a Playwrights ’56 production
to be seen April 10. |
| Monday, April 9, 1956 |
Bill Cullen is visited in Cullen’s
Corner by guests with unusual merchandise to sell home viewers. |
| Friday, April 13, 1956 |
Ernie Kovacs joins Bill Cullen in
his search for “Bridie Cullen". |
| Monday, April 16, 1956 |
Bill Cullen conducts a remote program
with WRCA-TV’s new mobile unit. |
| Friday, April 20, 1956 |
Bill Cullen does a take off on the
smooth-talking Continental. His guest is Renzo Cezana, the real Continental. |
| Monday, April 23, 1956 |
Bill Cullen’s guests are Tex and
Jinx McCrary, who are celebrating their 10th anniversary with NBC. |
| Friday, April 27, 1956 |
Bill Cullen salutes Military Reserve
Week. |
| Monday, April 30, 1956 |
Guests once again visit Bill Cullen
in Cullen’s Corner to sell unusual merchandise to home viewers. |
| Friday, May 4, 1956 |
Today Bill Cullen’s feature concerns
the NBC Program Development Department. |
| Monday, May 7, 1956 |
Host Bill Cullen and his special
guest, Lee Ann Meriwether, conduct a quiz show. Contestants are the
five finalists of the “Miss NBC” contest. |
| Friday, May 11, 1956 |
Bill Cullen’s guest is David Broekman,
orchestra conductor and composer of Wide Wide World theme.
The Barbara Carroll Trio performs its version of the Wide Wide World
Theme. |
| Monday, May 14, 1956 |
In honor of National Radio Week,
Bill Cullen shows film clips of some old-time radio performers. His
guests, Ben Grauer and columnist Marie Torre, discuss the development of
radio. |
| Friday, May 18, 1956 |
Bill Cullen is host to Thomas B.
McFadden, general manager of WRCA-TV and Ray Owen from the reporting staff
of WRCA’s Pulse. Owens discusses Pulse’s technique
for covering news. |
| Monday, May 21, 1956 |
No description given |
| Friday, May 25, 1956 |
No description given |
| Monday, May 28, 1956 |
No description given |
| Friday, June 1, 1956 |
This is the last show of the series. |
VIDEO
Seems unlikely, doesn't it? |
