By Brenda June Temple
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
The Chesterfield Supper Club is an NBC Radio musical variety program (1944–1950), which was also telecast by NBC Television (1948–1950).
The Chesterfield Supper Club appeared as a simulcast on NBC Television, beginning Christmas Eve, 1948, with a live performance by Perry Como. This was the beginning of Como’s long-standing tradition of television Christmas specials.
Initially, NBC had intended to broadcast three Friday night Supper Club shows on television as well as radio. The experiment had gone well enough for NBC to extend the experimental phase of televising The Chesterfield Supper Club through August 1949.
On September 8, 1949, Supper Club became a regularly scheduled television program.[5] This series was the first of four regular primetime musical variety TV series hosted by Perry Como. He continued to host The Chesterfield Supper Club until 1950, when he moved to CBS and the NBC series ended. However, his association with Chesterfield continued with the Perry Como Chesterfield Show until 1955, when he returned to NBC.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Annie Jump Cannon (cataloged over 225,000 stars) –
- Alexander Solzhenitsyn (novelist) –
- Brenda Lee (singer) –
- Terri Garr (actress) –
- Susan Seidelman (director of film) –
- Bess Armstrong (actress) –
- William Joyce (author) –
- Gary Dourdan (actor) –
- Mos Def (actor & rap artist) –
- Rider Strong (actor) –
Died
- Sam Cooke (singer) –
- Benton MacKaye (American conservationist) –
Events
- One of earliest recorded sightings of northern lights in North America–
- Edward Bevan’s venetian blinds patented, London, England–
- Indiana is admitted to the Union as the 19th state–
- Bijou Theater, first in the United States to be lit by electricity, opened in Boston, Massachusetts–
- First public demonstration in U.S. of colored moving pictures, New York City–
- Monument to the boll weevil, which had forced farmers to diversify, erected in Enterprise, Alabama–
- The Bank of the United States in New York failed, one of many signs of the looming depression–
- The Statute of Westminster was the last of the Imperial Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain applicable to all the Dominions. It granted Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Australia, the Union of South Africa and the Irish Free State what amounted to independence–
- British King Edward VIII abdicated throne to marry Wallis Simpson–
- George VI became King of England after his brother abdicated the throne–
- The Chesterfield Supper Club, featuring Perry Como, among others, debuted on the radio–
- United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was established by the United Nations General Assembly–
- Joe DiMaggio retired from baseball after 13 seasons with the NY Yankees–
Weather
- 2.1 inches rain fell in Vancouver, British Columbia–
- Arctic cold took over central and eastern U.S.–
- Dec. 11-12: Ice storm hit the Northeast–
COURTESY www.almanac.com
