Jackie Gleason Gets A Fresh Start on Dumont TV Network and Away He Goes!

When Commercial TV began in earnest in 1948, it was not easy getting established entertainers to grace the airways. The movies frowned on TV, so you didn't see established movie folk on the small screen. Nor did you see the leading hit makers from the record world. For the most part, the initial TV personalities were those who had outlasted vaudeville and had been discarded by the movie and record industry. NBC found such a 'has been' in Milton Berle with excellent results. The Dumont TV Network came up with Jackie Gleason, and the rest is history. Gleason was so pent up with under utilized talent that he burst upon the scene with Dumont as a host, comedian, comic actor, and even a singer. He was such a hit with Dumont as the host of Cavalcade of Stars and because of the lax nature of Dumont's creative process, he was able to have major imput into what he thought he could bring to his show.

The ability to do what he wanted, coupled with the time to do it, honed his considerable skills and quickly made him a major star. Once established, he quickly segued over to CBS where they were looking for the equivilent of NBC's Milton Berle. Jackie Gleason delivered in spades and has provided the TV viewer with a massive portfolio of excellent works.

You can enjoy many of Jackie Gleason's early TV moments on Dumont TV Network.Com as well as on Nostalgia Television Network, which can be found at NTV Tele.Net. Both, of course, are on the 49 channel video portal TV4U.Com.

Remembering Dick Dreyfuss from the old Dumont Television Network

In 1948, at the very start of commercial TV, a young man named Dick Dreyfuss became the very first 'film buyer' for the CBS Television Network. Today that position would be clled the Program Director or the VP of Programming. Dick then segued over to the Dumont Television Network, where he remained as a programming executive until the demise of the network in 1957. Always a 'pack rat' Dick kept kinescope copies of almost all of the shows that he was involved with. He later completed an illustrious career as program director for TV stations in Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Ever the pioneer, he spent time between his Philadelphia (Taft) and Pittsburgh (Meredith) assignments by helming the programming of the Federal Broadcasting Network. FBC was (with major help from ad agency Young and Rubicam) the first cable TV network programming service. For seven years before there was an ESPN, Dick helmed the programming for FBC as cable systems airded a series of 3/4" U Matic tapes each week as it was prior to satellites. When FBC satcast the first live commercial cablecast, a WHA hockey game, it was Dick who threw the switch to set in motion live sports programming on cable TV systems. The rest as they say, is history.

Dick passed away in the early 1990's, but his legacy....that library of Dumont kinescopes lives on.
Perhaps the largest single collection of Dumont Television programming, it is now being restored and digitized to be shown on the DumontTVNetwork.Com site owned by Margate Entertainment. From Jackie Gleason to Captain Video to Chris Schenkel doing the St. Nicholas Arena fights to Dennis James doing sports, game shows, whatever to Bishop Sheen, to Ted Mack and his Original Amateur Hour, its all getting a new life. Check the Dumont Channel on TV4U.Com and you can enjoy these shows over and over.