Full book title - "The Platinum Age Of Television: From I Love Lucy to The Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific."

Link + Audio (http://wesa.fm/post/greatest-hits-platinum-age-television#stream/0)

Sometimes I'm intrigued by the earliest days of tv. I ran across a still the other day which featured actress Dorothy McGuire from a 1938-vintage television broadcast. Or more likely, a rehearsal of said drama show. It seemed funny, because I'd just noticed McGuire guest-starring in a "Love Boat" episode from around 1984, being run on Me-TV. I think Eddie Albert was another actor that actually used to appear in late-1930s television, when it was still so limited and experimental. All before either were familiar screen stars. I suspect there were others as well.

Years ago, I recall posted on the internet a singular card which represented a week's tv-schedule from back in 1939. Only a few hours per day, of course. But it was also interesting to see the list of the various 'old movies' being broadcast. They were all old poverty-row films from little, defunct studios like Chesterfield and Mascot and such. Sort of mind-blowing to think that these antique old flicks from around 1933-36 were actually being broadcast only a few short years after their production.