Behind The Scenes From TV's Golden Years

(CBSDFW.COM) - This week, I was thinking about TV's early years and the people and shows that entertained but also dealt with the business side……..with an iron hand! Here are a few examples!

1. Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz: Lucille and Desi may have been slightly crazy on the set while as Lucy and Ricky, but off camera they were all business. They were workaholics. Arnaz is the one who purchased the old RKO studios in Los Angeles where he and Lucille had been actors. When it came to casting the role of Fred Mertz, actor Gale Gordon was the first choice but due to his commitment as Mr. Conklin on CBS's Our Miss Brooks, he was not available. William Frawley had been a character actor in motion pictures and came to the attention of the Arnaz's. Originally CBS did not want Frawley but the Arnaz's prevailed. Frawley was also known as someone who drank too much and was not always reliable on showing up on time. When Desi hired him, he told him that if he was late or inebriated even once for a call on the set, he would be written out of the show. Frawley kept his word and throughout the run of I Love Lucy and The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, he showed up on time and sober.

2. Ed Sullivan: from 1948 to 1971, this average looking newspaper entertainment writer had one of the top shows on CBS and on television. On one show, as told to me by comedian Rich Little, there was a severe blizzard that hit the NY area where the show originated. Rich was supposed to appear but is running late to make the call time set by Sullivan due to the weather. He gets there in time to appear on TV but NOT by the time Sullivan had mandated. When they saw each other, Sullivan blasted him for being late. Rich replied that all transportation in and out of New York was at a standstill due to the weather and that he did his best. Sullivan replied, "You should have planned better!". Ah, geez!!

3. Lawrence Welk: this North Dakotan accordion player and band leader had one of the top Saturday night shows on ABC from 1955-1971 and in syndication and PBS. Welk had his own idea of what was appropriate and what was not. In 1959, Welk fired Champagne Lady Alice Lon for nothing more than showing "too much knee." The public was upset about this and Welk received thousands of angry letters for doing what he did. He later tried to rehire Lon but with no success. But Welk wanted to make sure his show was squeaky clean at all times. Run afoul of him and you were subject to be taken off the show permanently. Welk was also sensitive to viewer letters who had comments on his performers. If the letters were positive about someone, that performer got more air time; if negative, they were gone. I met Welk's son, Larry, years ago and he pitched me on clearing the old Welk shows when I was with KTVT as an independent station.

4. Perry Mason: even this show had some actor controversy with William Talman (Hamilton Burger). He was removed from the cast in 1960 temporarily when deputy sheriffs in Beverly Hills raided a party at a private home where marijuana was found as well as Talman and other either nude or semi-nude. All were arrested but the charges on marijuana possession were dropped. The judge in the case also dismissed the lewd vagrancy charges against Talman. But it took a while before Talman returned to the series. The show's executive producer, Gail Patrick Jackson, made a request to CBS to have Talman reinstated after viewers flooded them with letters in support of Talman. Of the 271 episodes made of Perry Mason, Talman appeared in 225.

In 1968, Talman shot an anti-smoking PSA as he was diagnosed with lung cancer and died shortly after this was filmed...take a look...