A Book About Early Television, By Andrew Lee Fielding
Published by BearManor Media
To purchase a discounted (and signed) copy of The Lucky Strike Papers, please scroll down to the bottom right of this page.
Andrew Fielding will be speaking about The Lucky Strike Papers, and early television, at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention, which will be held August 27-29, 2009, in Aberdeen, Maryland. He'll be part of a panel of authors.
Information concerning the specific date and time of the panel discussion is not yet available.
For additional information about the convention, please click on this link:
A generous review of The Lucky Strike Papers was posted on November 8th, on Michael Coston’s nostalgia-oriented blog, “Master of My Public Domain.” The blog focuses on “Public Domain Movies, TV Shows, and Old Time Radio shows available for free download off the Internet.”
He writes, in part:
“For anyone curious at all about the early days of live television, and the transition from radio to TV as being the dominant form of home entertainment, this book is a delight... “It makes a worthy addition to anyone's library, and would make a terrific Christmas gift for anyone with a love of nostalgia… “Highly recommended.” http://masterofmypublicdomain.blogspot.com
*********** An April, 2008 review on Blogcritics Magazine (http://blogcritics.org), calls The Lucky Strike Papers "an outstanding new book." The book, says criticBig Geez, "is a rich history of the early days of TV, complete with lots of pictures and trivia, and a number of delicious inside stories--some that will surprise you, even if you think you might remember a lot about an era when DuMont was both a TV network and a manufacturer of television sets..." He writes: "Early TV was a fascinating world, and reading about it is the next best thing to having been there."
*********** A January, 2008 review on cashboxmagazine.com gives The Lucky Strike Papers five stars. The review says: "The Lucky Strike Papers is a must read for anyone wanting...insights [into] early American television." **********
The Lucky Strike Papers (subtitled Journeys Through My Mother's Television Past) was brought out at the end of December, 2007 by publisher BearManor Media, and is available through its web site, http://bearmanormedia.bizland.com/id281.html, and through amazon.com and other on-line booksellers. The cover price of the softbound book is $24.95.
The book focuses on the early television programs on which author Andrew Fielding's late mother, singer Sue Bennett, appeared, including these programs on NBC: Kay Kyser's College of Musical Knowledge (in 1949 and 1950), The Freddy Martin Show (in 1951), John Conte's Little Show (in 1951) and Your Hit Parade (in 1951 and 1952). In 1949, she also starred on a weeknight TV program on the Dumont Network.
The Lucky Strike Papers features conversations with singers, bandleaders, dancers, writers, directors, producers, and others from the shows on which Ms. Bennett sang--including conversations with such vocalists as Dorothy Collins, Snooky Lanson, Eileen Wilson, Russell Arms, and Merv Griffin; bandleaders Raymond Scott, Kay Kyser, and Milton DeLugg; comedian and musician Merwyn Bogue (also known as Ish Kabibble), host/singer/actor John Conte; choreographer Tony Charmoli; directors Buzz Kulik and Clark Jones, and producer and director Perry Lafferty; Fred Rogers (later known as Mister Rogers), who in the early 1950s worked as a floor manager on Your Hit Parade; film director Arthur Penn (briefly a floor manager on The Freddy Martin Show), and many others.
Mr. Fielding's writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Providence Journal, The Boston Herald, The Philadelphia Daily News, HorizonMagazine, and other publications. He has also worked as a radio talk show host--in Philadelphia, in suburban Philadelphia, in Charlottesville, Virginia, and, most recently, in northern New Jersey, where he currently lives.
Kay Kyser on TeleVision Guide magazine, 1950; Cast of "Your Hit Parade," 1952; Kay Kyser Orchestra record, 1950. (collage by Jenny Lynn)
Contents of this web site copyright Andrew Lee Fielding, 2007, when not otherwise noted.
An article in the June issue of “Radiogram,” the magazine of the prominent OTR (Old Time Radio) organization SPERDVAC (the Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy) says this:
"Two recently published books are required reading this summer and deserve places on any OTR and early television bookshelf." One of the books referred to is “The Lucky Strike Papers.”
The book, the magazine says, is “a fascinating look at the early years of live television…” The story says: "Those truly interested in the transition, as it were, from radio to television in the late 1940s and early 1950s will find the work most interesting." To learn more about the Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy, which is based in California, please go to: http://www.sperdvac.org/
Brief story about "The Lucky Strike Papers" in the May, 2009 issue of Wayne (NJ) Magazine. Story is by Rita Gernant. (Please click on above image to enlarge.)
********** The syndicated radio show “Big Band Jump,” which originates in Atlanta, is heard on a great many stations in the United States and Canada. The show airs weekly, for two hours, and features music from (and music related to) the big band era. The host of the program is broadcast veteran Don Kennedy.
The March-April, 2009 issue of the show’s “Big Band Jump Newsletter”—the first issue in the newsletter’s 21st year of publication—includes a brief piece about The Lucky Strike Papers. (While The Lucky Strike Papers is largely about the early years of television, it also concerns a concurrent time: the closing years of the big band era.) The book, the newsletter observes, “takes us inside early TV to let us in on the confusion, uncertainty and thrill of performing ‘live’ in a black and white world before videotape…” To find a radio station in your area which carries “Big Band Jump” (or to find out how to listen on-line), please go to: http://www.bigbandjump.com/. The web site also includes information about subscribing to the “Big Band Jump Newsletter.”The newsletter is published six times a year; the cost of a yearly subscription is $24.95.
*********** In December, Andrew Fielding was a guest on the California-based Internet radio program "TV Confidential," with hosts Ed Robertson and Frankie Montiforte. The show's web address is: http://www.tvconfidential.net/
*********** Other Recent Radio Interviews: "The Jordan Rich Show," WBZ-AM, Boston; "The Sam Greenfield Show," WVNJ-AM, northern New Jersey; "Charlottesville--Right Now!," WINA-AM, Charlottesville, Virginia; "The Steve Leveille Broadcast" (with guest host Morgan White, Jr.), WBZ-AM, Boston; "1550 Today," WNTN-AM, Newton, Mass.
*********** David Baer reviewed The Lucky Strike Papers in the “About Books” column of the Bucks County (PA) Herald. In the review, which appeared in the weekly newspaper’s November 20, 2008 issue, Baer wrote: “The author has given us an enlightening view of what early TV was like…" He writes: "Those of us who lived in that time and watched the early TV shows will love the memories this book revives…”
The Fall 2008 issue of "The Voice," the quarterly newsletter of the California-based non-profit organization Society ofSingers, features a brief, positive review of The Lucky Strike Papers. The review is by Jerry Sharell, the group's president.
The book, the review says, includes "great stories about Merv Griffin, Kay Kyser, Milton DeLugg, Ish Kabibble and Mister Rogers."
On the cover of "The Voice," there is this motto, about the Society of Singers: "Helping Professional Singers Through Times of Crisis."
The organization provides financial assistance to singers; it also "awards scholarships to students pursuing an education in the vocal arts."
Sue Bennett, Andrew Fielding's late mother, was a supporter of the group. Fielding has also been a member for a number of years.
To support this fine organization, please visit its web site:
Merv Griffin, Sue Bennett, and Murray Arnold singing on NBC-TV's "Freddy Martin Show," 1951. Photo by Jenny Lynn, made from video of kinescope. Image used by permission of NBC Studios, Inc.
The cover price of The Lucky Strike Papers is $24.95. To order a specially-discounted (and signed) copy of the book--at a total cost of $23.00, which includes Media Mail shipping, with Delivery Confirmation--please click on the Paypal button below (Paypal account required). For information about purchasing via check, please click on the "Purchase" link in the navigation bar, above left.
