The Forgotten Network: Dumont and the Birth of American Television

by Weinstein, David

• ISBN13: 9781592132454
• ISBN10: 1592132456
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-05-01
• Publisher: Temple Univ Pr

Summary

During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the name DuMont was synonymous with the new medium of television. Many people first watched TV on DuMont-brand sets, the best receivers money could buy. More viewers enjoyed their first programs on the DuMont network, which was established in 1946. Network founder Allen B. Du Mont became a folk hero for his entrepreneurial spirit in bringing television to the American people. Yet, by 1955, the DuMont network was out of business and its founder and namesake was forced to relinquish control of the company he had spent a quarter century building.The heart of David Weinstein's book examines DuMont's programs and personalities, including Dennis James, Captain Video, Morey Amsterdam, Jackie Gleason and The Honeymooners, Ernie Kovacs, and Rocky King, Detective. Weinstein uses rare kinescopes, archival photographs, exclusive interviews, trade journal articles, and corporate documents to tell the story of a "forgotten network" that helped invent the very business of network television.An original and important contribution to the history of television, The Forgotten Network provides a glimpse into the dawn of broadcasting and the growth of our most ubiquitous cultural medium.

Author Biography

David Weinstein is a Senior Program Officer at the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Table of Contents

A Note on Spelling	vi
Preface and Acknowledgments	vii
1 My Father Was An Engineer	1	(8)
2 From Basement to Broadway	9	(22)
3 Who Is in Charge Here?	31	(20)
4 The DuMont Daytime Experiment	51	(18)
5 Captain Video: Protector of the Free World and the DuMont Network	69	(24)
6 What'd He Say? Morey Amsterdam Meets Norman Rockwell	93	(18)
7 And Away He Went . . . Jackie Gleason and the Cavalcade of Stars	111	(26)
8 Law and Order, DuMont Style	137	(18)
9 A Bishop for Berle Fans	155	(20)
10 Ernie Kovacs and the DuMont Legacy	175	(15)
Appendix: DuMont Chronology	190	(4)
Notes	194	(27)
Index	221