The Wendy Barrie Show

American TV series or program

The Wendy Barrie Show
Barrie in NBC publicity photo (1950) inscribed "Wendy Barrie, called Television's No. 1 interviewer, meets the great and near-great on her show, Tuesdays and Thursdays on NBC Television"
Also known as	Inside Photoplay Photoplay Time Through Wendy's Window
Genre	Talk show
Presented by	Wendy Barrie
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 mins. (March 1949–February 1950) 15 mins. (February 1950–September 1950)
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	November 10, 1948 (1948-11-10) – September 1950 (1950-09)
Network	DuMont (January–July 1949)
Release	January 17 (1949-01-17) – July 13, 1949 (1949-07-13)
Network	NBC
Release	February 21 (1950-02-21) – September 27, 1950 (1950-09-27)
Network	WHIO-TV
Release	January 11 (1954-01-11) – October 30, 1954 (1954-10-30)

The Wendy Barrie Show (also known as Inside Photoplay, Photoplay Time, Through Wendy's Window, and Who's Who With Wendy Barrie) is an American talk show hosted by Wendy Barrie, which aired from November 10, 1948, to September 27, 1950.

Broadcast history

The Wendy Barrie Show is notable as one of the first examples of a televised talk show. It aired separately on ABC, DuMont, and NBC, debuting on ABC on November 10, 1948 (Wednesday) at 8:30 pm ET as the sketch comedy Inside Photoplay before switching to Mondays in September–December 1949 as Photoplay Time, then becoming Through Wendy's Window in August–September 1950 The DuMont version aired from 2:30 to 3:00 pm ET from January 17, 1949 (Monday), to July 13, 1949 (Wednesday).^{[citation needed]}

The NBC version debuted on February 21, 1950. It aired Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:30 to 7:45 p.m. Eastern Time,^[1] with the final episode airing on September 27, 1950.^{[citation needed]} Martin Goodman was the producer, and Alan Neuman was the director.^[1]

The series stars Wendy Barrie, a film and television actress with over 40 films to her credit.

According to the book What Women Watched: Daytime Television in the 1950s (University of Texas Press, 2005) by Marsha Cassidy, the DuMont daytime schedule beginning in January 1949 was:

10-10:30am Johnny Olson's Rumpus Room
10:30-11am Welcome, Neighbors
11am-12noon The Stan Shaw Show
12noon-12:15pm Amanda
12:15-12:30pm Man in the Street
12:30-12:45pm Camera Headlines
12:45-1pm Fashions in Song
1-1:30pm Okay, Mother
2:30-3pm Inside Photoplay (The Wendy Barrie Show)
3-3:15pm The Needle Shop
3:15-3:30pm Vincent Lopez Speaking (The Vincent Lopez Show)

Tri-State Network

In 1953, three television stations owned by Taft Broadcasting Company and Cox Communications formed the short-lived "Tri-State Network" to compete with entertainment programming produced by Crosley Broadcasting Corporation on Crosley television stations in the Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton, Ohio broadcast markets. On January 11, 1954, a new The Wendy Barrie Show premiered from the studios of WHIO-TV in Dayton, simulcast on Taft Broadcasting's WKRC-TV in Cincinnati and WTVN-TV (now WSYX) in Columbus.^[2] Wendy Barrie's contract was terminated in October, 1954.^[3]

Episode status

A DuMont episode survives on YouTube under the title The Wendy Barrie Show, and featuring guest Jack Shaindlin.

One DuMont episode from June 1949, under the title Who's Who With Wendy Barrie, is held in the J. Fred MacDonald collection at the Library of Congress.

An episode from the ABC run, dated October 17, 1949, and titled Photoplay Time, is in the collection of the UCLA Film and Television Archive.^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b "Debuts, Highlights, Changes". Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index. February 19, 1950. p. 1. Retrieved May 31, 2023.
^ "Form Regional Webs in 3 Wide TV Areas". Billboard. Page 6. December 12, 1953. Retrieved January 20, 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^ "Wendy Barrie Exits Tri-State". Billboard. Page 5. October 30, 1954. Retrieved January 20, 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^ UCLA Film and Television Archive database entry

Bibliography

David Weinstein, The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004) ISBN 1-59213-245-6
Alex McNeil, Total Television, Fourth edition (New York: Penguin Books, 1980) ISBN 0-14-024916-8
Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows, Third edition (New York: Ballantine Books, 1964) ISBN 0-345-31864-1