1950s Local TV

Wink Martindale reviews his cue cards for his show "Top Ten Dance Party" in 1956.
Saturdays from 5 pm to 6:30 pm on WHBQ Channel 13
(click to enlarge)

In June 1956, Wink interviewed Elvis Presley on "Top Ten Dance Party"
just four months after Elvis first broke into the Top 40.

Wink Martindale is still going strong!
To see what he's up to these days,
visit his official website at
www.winkmartindale.com.

Channel 5 Sports Reporter Jack Eaton interviews the two wrestlers,
Billy Wicks and Greg Peterson
tv 5 1959

The studios were located in the Goodwyn Institute Building
at Third & Madison, which has since been torn down.

Left to right: Hostess Carolyn Godman, guests Mrs. Joe Harris
and daughter Altona, producer Ken Berryhill.
(notice the tiny size of the kitchen studio)

Left to right: Audio engineer Dick Condra, video engineer Joe Burnett, video engineer George Alsobrooke, producer-director Ken Berryhill.

Hosted by Denby Brandon (left)
and produced by Ken Berryhill (second from left).

Denby Brandon is still an active financial planner!
For more information, visit his website at
www.brandonplanning.com.

Submitted by: Nina J. Stone : 26 Dec 2007, 14:16

That pix of Gerber's brought back a lot of memories. It was my first job out of Messick Hi School. It had a very exclusive clientel. And originally WMCT was on channel 4, and they didn't go to 5 until that long Sunday when they moved to 1960 Union and have been there ever since. I never failed to watch Dance Party with Wink and Suzy Bancroft.
It was lots of fun to go "downtown on Sat., eat @the Krystal buy some candy @ Kress then take in a movie.
I believe Goblin Giveway was on WHBQ radio, sponsered by the Recreation Dept. and CocaCola. The tickets were given out in school and you had to be in @ 8:00 and hope they called on the phone.

Submitted by: Glenda Young Spearman : 22 Feb 2008, 14:33

Goblin Giveaway was created to get kids off the streets by 8:00 PM halloween nite. Each school child was given a ticket and if they called your ticket # on the program you would call in and win a prize Bicycle, fishing pole etc. You had to be watching to win the prize, so we were all at home to watch Goblin Giveaway Channel 13 I believe

Submitted by: Bill Anderson : 22 Feb 2008, 16:39

I remember Mr. Bingle, the snowman puppet in the window of Lowenstein's Dept. Store on Main during the Christmas season, and the little hut that Santa was in at Court Square on Main.How about the way the electric busses sparked the wires as they ran down the streets of downtown. I remember how polluted the downtown Wolf River Harbor was--the water was purple, it had so many chemicals in it.

Submitted by: Bill Bagwell : 19 Mar 2008, 11:51

On Saturdays my young friends and I used to go to the WMC radio studios in the Goodwin Institute to watch radio shows. Lots of fun! Later, Wink Martindale and I were in at least one class together at Memphis State.

Since I left Memphis over 50 years ago for the Air Force I miss it. This is a grear web site !!

Bill Bagwell

Submitted by: Bonnie Hapes Lazarow : 09 May 2008, 06:02

The Memphis Park Commission offered dancing lessions (tap, ballet, toe and acrobat). Mrs. Crystal Steiger taught my sister and I. Every year our dance classes were in the Christmas parade down main street. It was lots of fun, but very cold. We also competed in the Mid-South Fair dance competitions and we were on the program in the evening.qo7k6

Submitted by: Ronnie : 21 Jul 2008, 16:20

In 2007, I was working at Sam't Town Casino. Wink Martindale was there for some kind of promotion. I shook his hand and asked if he remembered me. He said "mmmmmmmm I don't think so". I said "you should, I was on Dance Party in 1956". We had a good laugh.

Submitted by: Nina J. Stone : 24 Jul 2008, 23:34

WMCT had a dance program during the week, don't remember the days, but Tina Santi and Bill Anthony (Ithink that was his name), were co-hosts. several of us from I.C. and some other scools would go down and every once in a while the camera would pan around the studio and show who was there and you could watch them dance or just sit and listen to the music. Does anyone remember Daddy-O Dewey and Harry? I went to sleep many nights listening to Red Hot and Blue Show.

Submitted by: Mike Curtis : 27 Jul 2008, 08:11

GOBLIN GIVEAWAY- I've been trying to remember that for years. Didn't Happy Hal show spooky 3 Stooges and cartoons during it? What years did it run?
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MILLION DOLLAR MOVIE on WHBQ always started with black and white film footage of a spectacular fireworks display. I learned years later it was newsreel footage from VJ Day.

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When Happy Hal moved from noontime to afternoons (FUN HOUSE) he briefly had co hosts for specific features (like TALL PAUL for 3 STOOGES). Occasionally he had specially sponsored hosts for certain segments. Like KING COTTON KID for MARVEL SUPER HEROES cartoons.

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Capn Bill Killebrew originally did drawings and hosted the rare cartoon QT HUSH for Hart's Bread before turning to serials.

One memorable episode on a Friday involved the concluding chapter of ROBINSON CRUSOE OF CLIPPER ISLAND. The show ran long, and the villians ran after failing to kill the hero. The camera cur to Bill as he quickly said "Looks like the bad guys get away this time, see you Monday Kids!" I waited 30 years to see the end of that serial. What a cliffhanger!

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Anyone got a picture of the Snoopy fighter pilot that rode atop the Harts Bread loaf outside the bakery?

Mike Curtis
Greenbrier Ark

Submitted by: Marcia Mitchell : 17 Aug 2008, 17:59

When I was growing up in the 1950's the only place to go shopping was downtown. My mother and I dressed up like we were going to church to go shopping. I remember eating lunch at Gerber's or Goldsmith's Tea Room (I can't remember which) and then walking down Main Street. I still remember the smell of the peanuts and Mr. Peanut tapping his cane on the inside of the shop window. We would meet my father at Britling's Downtown and then go to a movie downtown. I remember what a big deal it was when Sears Poplar Plaza opened! Finally a place to shop in East Memphis! I remember the opening of the Plaza Theatre - now a Bookstar at Poplar and Highland. You could get in for so many bottle tops at the opening night. I remember when there was nothing past Poplar and Colonial Road but fields all the way to Germantown and going to Collierville was a trip.

Submitted by: Teresa Cook Pictor : 18 Sep 2008, 16:59

I remember a bunch of this stuff. I also remember walking home with my Daddy who worked downtown at Chandler's shoe store on cold winter nights. I remember great Christmas window displays, buses, drinking hot chocolate in a coffee shop with Mama and looking out on the river. And we had great parades with Kewpie dolls.

I took ballet,tap,and acrobatics at Margerie Duckett's school of dance. We lived at 1526 Court Street and men used to go down the street selling vegetables in bushel baskets. We also went to the curb market. There is so much I could write a book. But I was very young then and a huge Elvis and Ricky fan. I was eight when we left the city but made a few trips back from time to time.

Does anyone remember the area that is now Overton Square before it was Overton Square? My mom and aunt used to get their hair done down there at Lucille's and there was a drug store with a soda fountain. Every drug store had a soda fountain. So Much!!

Submitted by: L.A. Pitts : 15 Feb 2009, 16:13

In the mid-50's, George Klein had his radio show in the old Ellis Auditorium on Main Street. Besides the Memphian Theater on Cooper, after getting out of the army, Elvis used to go to the late movie a the Loew's Theatre a block up and across from Goldsmith's on Main Street.

Submitted by: Jeanna : 07 Oct 2009, 17:07

My sister and I danced on a local children's show about 1962. I remember it was a children's show and that the host was male. I have gotten responses from people, but several contradictions. Any ideas from anyone? I would love to find video or even a photo; my sister died several years ago.

Submitted by: jamie : 10 Dec 2009, 09:51

Responding to Jeanna. I was on a 'dance show' in the afternoons after school. It was during the "Dance Party" era with Martindale, but not as much hype. I loved it--but cannot remember the name either. I think it was on WMCT.
I also was on "Happy Hal" in the 50's. I was supposed to be on Capn Bill but caught the measles!
Help us please......

Submitted by: CINDY MILLER : 23 Jan 2010, 09:12

MY DAD , ARTHUR GROOM WAS MANAGER OF LOEW'S STATE THEATER IN THE DAYS WHEN ELVIS WOULD COME LATE AT NIGHT . ONE EVENING OUR MOM HAD US TAKE A NAP. SHE WOKE US AND TOLD US TO GET DRESSED . WE WERE DRIVEN TO THE THEATER WHERE ELVIS, NATALIE WOOD, NICK ADAMS ( JOHNNY YUMA , THE REBEL), MARIE AND VERNON PRESLEY AND THE MEMPHIS MAFIA WERE ALL GATHERED . MY SISTER , MICKI GROOM AND MYSELF WERE SURPRISED AND WE SAW THE SCREENING OF ''LOVE ME TENDER'' . AFTER THE MOVIE , MARIE WAS CRYING AND SAID IT WAS HARD TO WATCH HER BOY GET KILLED , EVEN IN A MOVIE . AFTER THE MOVIE ,, I WAS IN MY DAD'S TINY LITTLE OFFICE WITH HIM AND ELVIS AND HE SIGNED A HUGE PILE OF 8/10 PHOTOS FOR ME AND GAVE ME AN AUTOGRAPHED ELVIS HAT . SEVERAL TIMES AFTER THAT I WENT TO SCREENINGS OF MGM MOVIES WITH MY DAD AND ELVIS , WINK MARTINDALE AND A GIRL FROM TV ( I WANT TO SAY ANITA WOODS) WOULD BE THERE . THIS WAS ALL VERY SPECIAL AND EXCITING FOR ME , AS I WAS ONLY 10 YRS. OLD .WHAT SPECIAL MEMORIES THESE TIMES SPENT WITH MY DAD IN THE PRESENCE OF THESE ''FAMOUS PEOPLE'' HOLD FOR ME . AHH MEMPHIS , I WILL ALWAYS LOVE AND MISS YOU !

Submitted by: Gloria : 14 Mar 2010, 16:09

I used to buy my records from Wink Martindale's record store in Parks Belk, I think it was, when it first opened. It thrilled us if Wink was there and we got to see him too. He was and is still, a good looking man. Saw Elvis at his houses, several times, and in concert at Ellis Auditorum, my mother took my friend, Pat, and I. I think I was in the 7th or 8th grade, graduated in 1960.

Submitted by: Lillian Teresa Cook Pictor : 03 Oct 2010, 02:34

Yes, My mother and I also dressed up and went downtown. My Daddy worked downtown and we would meet him for lunch at Walgreen's. I also remember those great parades and the Cotton Carnival. My mother took me to all the great stores where a little elevator bell would ding and the perfume counter was heavenly when you walked in the door. We would also go to the PLanter's Peanut store and smell hot roasted peanuts and get a bag. I have so many memories from then and I am so glad because my mother died when I was eight years old and those are my main memories of her.

Submitted by: Cynthia Groom Miller : 12 Feb 2011, 09:25

I grew up on Main ST. My Dad , Arthur Groom was the 'DEAN OF MEMPHIS THEATERS' He gave the first man to hire and frie Elvis .Hired him twice as an usher for Loews State Theater and fired him fbecause of a little scuffle with another usher over the 'candy girl '!Some claim to fame ,huh?? . Your site is awesome ... Bringing back so many happy memories for me . Thanks so much .... Signe "OLDMEMPHISGIRL" Cynthis Groom Miller

Submitted by: Bill Gray : 22 Jul 2011, 19:57

I remember Mr. Groom and his daughter Cindy. A bunch of us hung out together around East High and Hesselbeins Tire Co. Downtown Memphis was a special place until the wind came up from the West. The "smell" of the Wolf River was something awful. Coupon books were available that got you into most of the downtown theatres free. My brother John and I saw The Proud Rebel over 20 times. Good Luck OLDMEMPHISGIRL.

Submitted by: DE Palmer : 27 Aug 2011, 17:11

Back in 1957-58 my friend and I danced in the Jackson Dance Party and won. Went on to Memphis and lost out there. Was fun knowing we were on TV. My mom and dad stayed home and watch TV. I, also, worked for Wink's father-in-law an attorney for 3 years. Wink did not come to our office much, but when he did it was exciting.

Submitted by: Stephen Atkinson : 07 Oct 2011, 03:25

Main street in the 50s was "big"... the most special of gathering places. Eating at Krystals hamburgers just off Main and then walking on Main street was really exciting. I recall a newsstand on the east side of Main, just south of Court Square... It was open to the street and you could walk into it and be surrounded by mags. When I was really into comic books in my pet-teens, going to this news stand was magical... MORE comic books than I ever saw any where else. I would save my dimes so I could stock up when I got to go "downtown". Later in my early teens, it was in this news stand that I first saw a Playboy magazine.... Whoa, that was not a comic book.

Submitted by: cynthia groom miller : 25 Oct 2011, 20:27

curios , is the bill gray that commented he remembered me , the bill that married laura , had a daughter named jorie and worked for singers ???

Submitted by: CYNTHIA GROOM MILLER : 25 Oct 2011, 21:45

downtown was magical at christmas time ..... i loved court square and going to see santa ...