Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town

Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town, also known as Wonderful Town, USA, is a half-hour variety television series that aired on CBS from June 16, 1951, to April 19, 1952, in which Faye Emerson visits various cities.^[1] Episodes of the program were also shown to American military personnel overseas via Kinescope.^[2]

Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town
Genre	Variety show
Presented by	Faye Emerson Skitch Henderson
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	42
Production
Executive producer	Gil Fates
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	CBS
Original release	June 16, 1951 (1951-06-16) – April 12, 1952 (1952-04-12)

Premise

Wonderful Town is one of several 1950s series in which Emerson, called the "first lady of television," had a starring role. Emerson's third husband, bandleader Skitch Henderson, appeared with her on the series. Because the series was broadcast on location, it was particularly expensive to produce.^[3]

Music, drama, and narrative in each episode were tailored to the city from which it originated. Guest stars were people associated with the city.^[4]

In the premiere episode, Emerson visits Boston, Massachusetts.^[1] On July 7, 1951, she hosted Barry Bingham, Sr., publisher of the Louisville Courier-Journal, when the program visited Louisville, Kentucky. In the fifth episode based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which aired on July 14, former mayor and then U.S. Senator Hubert H. Humphrey and actor Richard Carlson were among the guests. On October 27, 1951, humorist and author Abe Burrows was the guest star in his native The Bronx borough of New York City.

On December 1, 1951, Emerson focuses on four college towns, Los Angeles: UCLA, Dallas: Southern Methodist University, and in New England: Smith College and Dartmouth College. On December 8, 1951, Emerson visited the city where she was reared, San Diego, California, with Mayor John D. Butler and Florence Chadwick, a swimmer of the English Channel, as the guests. On January 19, 1952, Emerson hosted columnist Earl Wilson in Columbus, Ohio. On February 2, the host city is Washington, D.C., featuring U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine. On March 1, 1952, the editor Virginius Dabney was the guest as the series visited Richmond, Virginia. Other segments focus on Paris, Mexico City, and Brooklyn. The last episode is set in Times Square.

Emerson hosted one Wonderful Town program from New Orleans.

The Don Large Chorus performed on Wonderful Town, which aired on Saturdays at 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Other guest stars

• Pearl Bailey
• Sally Benson
• Dane Clark
• Rosemary Clooney
• Wally Cox
• Jane Darwell
• Dizzy Dean
• Johnny Desmond
• Dave Garroway
• Lillian Gish
• Benny Goodman
• W.C. Handy
• The Honey Dreamers
• The Ink Spots
• Buster Keaton
• Patrick H. O'Malley, Jr.
• Garry Moore
• Hazel Scott
• Cornelia Otis Skinner
• Gladys Swarthout
• Mel Torme
• Ernest Truex
• Nancy Walker
• Margaret Whiting

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References

1. McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present (4th ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. p. 282. ISBN 0-14-02-4916-8.
2. "Armed Forces Get TV Shows From All Webs" (PDF). Billboard. September 22, 1951. p. 7. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
3. Prial, Frank J. (11 March 1983). . The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 24, 2015. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
4. Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (1999). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present (7th ed.). New York: The Ballentine Publishing Group. p. 340. ISBN 0-345-42923-0.