maybe even just Rhode Island, I’m not sure … I am pretty sure it was on channel 56, although again – I can’t quite remember.
but here goes:
Okay, anyone who is vaguely my age, do you remember this song and the television show it was attached to?
Star of the day
Who will it be?
Your votes will hold the key …
There were about 3 more lines to the song which I now cannot remember although they are juuuust at the tip of my tongue.
I would so love to watch that cheesy old show. I remember a baton-twirler. And tap dancers. And that horrible public television “set”.
It was a really low-rent local American Idol type show. Genius.
But still, many fond memories.
Dan?? You’re so often my go-to guy for stuff like this. Do you recall “Star of the Day”?
Or how about Beth, Betsy or Meredith? You guys remember that?
Also what’s the end of that song?
If I squint, I can almost see the face of the host of that show in my mind.
Star of the day
Who will it be
Your votes will hold the key
Bah bum
Bah bum
Bah bum bum bum ba bum
Star of the
dayyyyyyy
something like that.
Community Auditions of course. Set be revived by NECN this year.
Star of the day,
Who will it be?
Your vote may hold the key.
It’s up to you.
So tell me true.
Who’ll be Star of the day.
My undeveloped yet mad library skillz tell me Community Auditions first aired Aug 1950 on WBZ-TV hosted first by Gene Jones and then Dave Maynard, running for 37 years.
Apropos of nothing, my mom likes to keep track of license plates in her travels, and see how many states she can get.
On this last trip from Illinois to Florida, she got 49. The lone holdout? That’s right, ol’ Rhody.
We drove through so many parking lots in Destin looking for some poor RI snowbird’s car that I was wishing for your phone number so that I could call you and tell you to take a picture of your dad’s license plate, then send it to my phone.
Ack.
Dan
My God. You just so come thru for me.
Community Auditions!
Well, I do live for those kind of questions; I completely and totally geek out for New England-centric pop culture.
Had I the time I’d write a long diatribe/reminiscence of how Ch.56’s Eight O’Clock Movie, Ch 7’s Dialing for Dollars, and Ch. 38’s Movieloft (with Dana Hersey) provided my cinematic education in the pre-cable/VCR days when if you wanted to see a movie you had to hope it would show on regular tv.
But those kids today probably wouldn’t understand. ;-)
Dan –
I would KILL to read such a post.
We had the same childhood.
I can’t believe you supplied the missing lyrics -I am howling!!
It’s up to you.
So tell me true.
Who’ll be Star of the day.
Lisa – ha!!
So my memory of the host, then, is Dave Maynard?
Dialing for Dollars was extremely formative for me as well.
Yeah. Maynard retired in ’91 – I think he’s still kicking too.
I remember what a huuuuuuge deal it was when the Movie Loft played ‘Shane.’ My Dad was all about me seeing that movie, so much so that we made a trip to my Nana’s house to watch the movie there, because at the time my Dad’s folks had a color TV and we did not, and Dad wanted me to see the film. Plus, I got to stay up late which made just about anything seem exciting.
God. Amazing, right? It was an EVENT.
Huge event. I still remember when Star Wars aired on network TV for the first time and what a huge event that was – magazine covers and all. It seems like another world now, a quaint old-fashioned world.
This was when TV Guide (or at least the TV pages in the paper) was still relevant. I would scour those pages every week to see if any channel was re-running my favorites. Like … East of Eden or whatever. I had to be VIGILANT, I tell you!!
And then of course there were the 2 infamous evenings where my parents let my brother and i stay up late to watch movies that were on television – one was What’s Up Doc and one was The Sting. They’re still favorites of mine to this day – but I just love the image of my parents thinking – Okay, who knows when these movies will be on again … we’ll let the kids stay up til 11 tonight.
Not to mention the yearly ritual of Wizard of Oz being on. Talk about an event!!
Yes vigilance was key. Becuase you couldn’t just push a button and get a movie on demand – if you missed it you had to wait until it aired next.
I used to read the movie section of TV guide weekly too!
I had a couple things I was always on the lookout for – any James Dean movie – but also re-runs of specific after-school specials I adored … and for some reason, for a good year I was absolutely OBSESSED with the movie I Wanna Hold Your Hand (member that movie?) – I had seen it randomly one afternoon and loved it so much that I needed to see it again IMMEDIATELY but I had nowhere to go … no choice but to wait. And wait. And wait.
Eventually it was on again but seriously – SEASONS had gone by, I had changed grades! hahaha
Lisa – you can have the two Rhodie’s plates I saw on my own just-concluded trip from Jersey to Florida and back.
slightly O/T, did you know that the state of Florida offers SEVENTY different license plate designs? Seriously, and a lot of them fit no recognizable pattern or color scheme. Most states offer specialty tags, but they usually only change the graphic in the corner, keeping the rest of the plate the same. The cops down there pretty much have to memorize an entire extra country’s worth of license plates in order to recognize them on the highway. It is truly bananas.
“did you know that the state of Florida offers SEVENTY different license plate designs?”
Um, YEAH! Every time I’d go, “What’s that one?!” the answer would be, “Florida.” As my youngest son said about the bikini-top plate, “There’s even one with boobs!”
I just have three words…(WLVI out of Boston (Channel 56 for us up here)
CREATURE DOUBLE FEATURE!!!
and gawd who didn’t love the Movieloft…what a cheesy set!!!
chuck – ha! I know!!! Cheesy – but so wonderful!
Those networks were my first real exposure to what cable really was…sad but true. Maine had three stations and a PBS, if they came in. You saw the classics only once a year Wizard, Frosty, Rudolph.
But oh..that Movieloft TV 38. I can still remember the host not by name(Dana Hersey) but by voice and that perfect hair. TOO FUNNY. I feel soooo old.
This delights to me no end; it’s from the wikipedia entry for Creature Double Feature:
“To this day WLVI staffers report that they still receive more e-mail and phone calls about Creature Double Feature than anything else. In 2006 channel 56’s Steve Ratner was quoted in the Boston Globe as saying “I’m amazed at the following the show continues to have. It’s just insane how many people come up to us and ask after the Creature Double Feature. Every day we get e-mails from people all over the country.””
Dan – that just warms my heart.
yeah thanks dan…may Godzilla, Rodan, Creature from the Black Laggon, Franky, Drac, Mummy, and all my other pals live on forever.
Well, I have to butt in here. Being from The Hub myself, I was delighted to be reminded of Community Auditions! I loved that show. Does anybody remember, Major Mudd? It was an early morning kiddie show. He was an astronaut…and introduced cartoons. What about Tony Salentan??? A wally cox kind of guy with a guitar on PBS…Maybe your parents will remember. I’ve become an old bat.
My cousin was on community auditions way back when. I think she won, but that may be family folklore! Pretty sure she sang “What I Did For Love.” I’m remembering the theme song a smidge different from Dan…
Star of the day
who will it be?
your vote may hold the key
it’s up to you
tell us who’ll be star of the day.
I even remember it was sponsered by Community Optitions! The original host before Dave Maynard and his overbite was a guy with big black glasses!
Wow, and I remember it was on Sundays. Ma’s roast would be in the oven and the teevee would always be on. And the Globe funnies were all over the place and ads for Zayer’s and Stop and Shop. Oh my gawd, somebody stop me.
And one more thing, I do believe Susanna’s lyrics are the correct ones. Does anybody remember Rex Traylor?
Did any of you have a hand puppet doing the weather report on your local newscasts? Milwaukee did. For decades. Well into the 80s. This was a network affiliate, people!
Even as a kid, I knew it was damned odd.
Especially after what Dan’s said, I don’t think I have anything more to add than another wistful sigh, so I’ll add that.
“…did you know that the state of Florida offers SEVENTY different license plate designs?”
We probably created at LEAST one new design each of the three sessions I worked for the legislature. Some senator as a joke introduced the “Florida Design-Your-Own License Plate Bill,” with a preamble that talked about how law enforcement was insufficiently confused by the variety of plates. It would have allowed people to order white plates that came with magic markers.
I think Virginia has more designs than Florida, but Florida’s tend to be more radically different from each other.
Dave J – that’s a tangent I know nothing about.
Mark – hahahahaha with the puppets !!!! Genius!
Susan and Susanna – you both bring back so many memories!!!
These comments are making me remember “Shenanagins” – Saturday a.m. kid’s show hosted by Stubby Kaye where real life kids moved around a Monopoly board like menagerie.
Also “It’s About Time (It’s About Space)” – 2 Astronauts end up in cave man times. Pre-runner to Lost in Space.
Anyone else recall?
John – I don’t remember those shows although the caveman/astronaut one sounds like something I would have totally dug.
I remeber Rex Traylor too. How Captain Bob, that drawing show that came on Sunday mornings before Davy & Goliath?
Davy & Goliath was seriously one of the best shows ever. Can they be purchased, I wonder?
There are a couple Davey and Goliath DVDs listen on Amazon. The memories of a thousand 5AM Sunday mornings come flooding back….
Mark – I know – totally. How I adored that show!
Okay, let me go check on Amazon.
Davey and Goliath! Wow. I can hear the fanfare now.
Dave – I like that Senator’s sense of humor.
Dan,
That captain drawing show was out ot Providence. The set was the Salty Brine Shack. The Captain was known as Salty Brine. He did the news and weather for real at the station. Real name was Richard Kibride.
Does anybody remember a Santa show that came out of Providence on channel 6 or 8. I could barely get reception on our portable teevee up in Dedham Mass. I would mangle the rabbit ears until most of the snow would disappear. He was a really good Santa. His show was mostly reading kids letters and giving advice like eat your vegtables and say your prayers. Anybody?
Damn! I am soooooo late to this conversation! Right before Christmas I actually SANG THE LYRICS (Susanna’s version) while doing (a horrendous) tap dance in the teacher’s room. We had been talking about Community Audition’s, and trying to remembert the words. Of course, having a brain full of fluff and nonsense, I had to get up and do the opening number, replete with “jazz hands” and pointing at the audience when it is “up to YOU” to tell us WHO!!
I am such a loser.
beth – no way! You were just talking about it??
And listen, life is not worth living without occasional jazz hands.
And bless you for using the word “replete”.
Yes, yes indeed I did the whole scene. These poor, poor teachers at my school. They had no idea what they bargained for when they got me….
ok, I remember the theme song “star of the day” but i cannot remember ever watching it. I do, however remember the Creature Double Feature and Movie loft. didn’t channel 56 used to play karate and kung fu movies too. I think on sundays.
Beth, I can totally see you doing jazz hands in front of all your fellow teachers. hahahaha
Yeah! My dad was on Community Auditions somewhere around 1965-1967. He was on the show three times. I’m wondering if there’s anyone out there that knows if any of those old video/films are around anymore? perhaps Dave Maynard may know. Oh I wish I could see that again!!!!