Robert Paige Frank Parker Bride and Groom 1957

''Bride and Groom'' is a 1951–58 American daytime television series. It was originally broadcast on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

from January 25, 1951 to October 9, 1953, and then moved to

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

for a run from December 1, 1953 to August 27, 1954. After a pause, the show returned on

from July 1, 1957 to January 10, 1958. It could be considered an early reality series. The series presented marriages live on the air, but these couples were not put together for the purpose of the program. Couples who were intending to get married could apply to be married on the show. The CBS episodes aired in a 15-minute time-slot, with two commercial breaks. The program was based on a radio series of the same name. In a 1957 news article, it was stated that the divorce rate of couples married on the show was lower than the national average.

Format

In the CBS version, the couple for the episode would be introduced and talked to. A vocalist would sing a song for them, and a short wedding ceremony would take place. Finally, the couple would be shown their gifts for appearing on the show, such as a basic silver set, a refrigerator, etc.

Legal case

In 1951, a jury in Hollywood, California, awarded $800,000 in damages to John Nelson, John Reddy and John Masterson as the result of a

plagiarism Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close ...

suit against KLAC-TV. The producers of ''Bride and Groom'' claimed that ''Wedding Bells'' on KLAC "closely mirrored" their own program.

Episode status

Three episodes appear on the Internet Archive, and several additional episodes appear on YouTube. Although daytime series were routinely

wiped Lost television broadcasts are television programs that were not preserved after their original airing, rendering them permanently unavailable for both public and private screening. Because of this, they are considered a form of lost media, par ...

during the 1950s, couples who appeared on the show were sometimes given a 16mm

kinescope Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940s ...

print of their appearance. In 2012 a couple married on the show celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, and clips from their episode appeared on ''CBS This Morning: Saturday''.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0050001
Early 1950s CBS episode on Internet Archive, with an elderly couple getting marriedNBC episode from 1957 on the Internet ArchiveAnother NBC episode on the Internet Archive"Love spoke to me from a newspaper" (article about ''Bride and Groom'' from ''Radio-TV Mirror'', October 1954)
1951 American television series debuts 1958 American television series endings 1950s American reality television series Black-and-white American television shows CBS reality television shows NBC reality television shows Television series based on radio series