''The Arthur Murray Party'' is an American television
variety show
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp ...
which ran from July 1950 until September 1960. The show was hosted by famous dancers
Arthur
Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...
and
Kathryn Murray
Arthur Murray (born Moses Teichman, April 4, 1895 – March 3, 1991) was an American ballroom dancer and businessman, whose name is most often associated with the dance studio chain that bears his name.
Early life and start in dance
Arthur Mur ...
, and was basically one long advertisement for their chain of
dance studio
A dance studio is a space in which dancers learn or rehearse. The term is typically used to describe a space that has either been built or equipped for the purpose.
Overview
A dance studio normally includes a smooth floor covering or, if used fo ...
s. Each week the couple performed a mystery dance, and the viewer who correctly identified the dance would receive two free lessons at a local studio.
''The Arthur Murray Party'' is notable for being one of the few TV series—the others were '' Down You Go'', '' The Ernie Kovacs Show'', ''
Pantomime Quiz
''Pantomime Quiz'', initially titled ''Pantomime Quiz Time'' and later ''Stump the Stars'', was an American television game show produced and hosted by Mike Stokey. Running from 1947—1959, it has the distinction of being one of the few te ...
The show was set up like a large party, with Kathryn hosting a variety of guests, from sports stars to actors or musicians. Murray dance studio instructors would help Kathryn and Arthur to show their guests how to perform a particular
dance step
Dance moves or dance steps (more complex dance moves are called dance patterns, dance figures, dance movements, or dance variations) are usually isolated, defined, and organized so that beginning dancers can learn and use them independently of each ...
. At the end of the show, the couple would perform a Johann Strauss
waltz
The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position.
History
There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the w ...
.
The dancers often dressed in elegant clothing, which could cause amusing problems at times. In one surviving episode (February 15, 1954), available on
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
, the well-dressed female dancers are heard squealing with teenage-like excitement at guest star
Johnnie Ray
John Alvin Ray (January 10, 1927 – February 24, 1990) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Highly popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor to what became rock and roll, for his jazz and blu ...
The Crickets
The Crickets were an American rock and roll band from Lubbock, Texas, formed by singer-songwriter Buddy Holly in January 1957. Their first hit record, "That'll Be the Day", released in May 1957, peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, ...
performed " Peggy Sue" on the December 29, 1957 telecast, also preserved on a kinescope.
The J. Fred and Leslie W. MacDonald Collection at the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
contains thirteen kinescoped programs and partial programs of the various incarnations of Arthur Murray on TV. These include a complete one-hour show from late 1950 featuring guests The DeMarco Sisters plus Andy and Della Russell; a complete half-hour show from August 17, 1954, featuring guest
Don Cornell
Don Cornell (born Luigi Francisco Varlaro; April 21, 1919 – February 23, 2004) was an American singer.
Early years
Born to an Italian family in The Bronx, New York, Cornell attended Roosevelt High School in the Bronx.
Career
In his teens he pl ...
; a segment from September 27, 1956, in which
The Platters
The Platters was an American vocal group formed in 1952. They are one of the most successful vocal groups of the early rock and roll era. Their distinctive sound bridges the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition and the new burgeoning genre. The a ...
perform "
You'll Never Know
"You'll Never Know", sometimes referred to as "''You'll Never Know (Just How Much I Love You)''" in later years, is a popular song with music written by Harry Warren and the lyrics by Mack Gordon. The song is based on a poem written by a young ...
Canadian Sunset
"Canadian Sunset" is a popular song with music by jazz pianist Eddie Heywood and lyrics by Norman Gimbel. An instrumental version by Heywood and Hugo Winterhalter reached No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and No. 7 on the R&B chart in 19 ...
"; and a segment from August 5, 1957, in which celebrities
Jack E. Leonard
Jack E. Leonard (born Leonard Lebitsky; April 24, 1910 – May 10, 1973) was an American comedian and actor who made frequent appearances on television variety and game shows.
Biography
Leonard was born Leonard Lebitsky on April 24, 1910, in ...
,
Bert Lahr
Irving Lahrheim (August 13, 1895 – December 4, 1967), known professionally as Bert Lahr, was an American actor. He was best known for his role as the Cowardly Lion, as well as his counterpart Kansas farmworker "Zeke", in the MGM adaptation of ...
June Havoc
June Havoc (born Ellen Evangeline Hovick; November 8, 1912 – March 28, 2010) was a Canadian American actress, dancer, stage director and memoirist.
Havoc was a child vaudeville performer under the tutelage of her mother Rose Thompson Hovick, ...
compete in a dance contest.
Broadcast history
The show appeared on ABC for the first few months of its broadcast as ''Arthur Murray Party Time'', then moved to the DuMont, ABC,
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
, DuMont, CBS,
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
, CBS, and finally NBC (in that order).
The time slots for Season One are as follows:CTVA entry /ref>
*July 1950 – Sept 1950 Thursdays 9:00–9:30pm ET (ABC)
*Oct 1950 – Jan 1951 Sundays 9:00–10:00pm ET (DuMont)
*Jan 1951 – March 1951 Sundays 9:00–9:30pm ET (DuMont)
*Apr 1951 – June 1951 Mondays 9:00–9:30pm ET (ABC)
When the series first moved to DuMont in the fall of 1950, its title was changed to ''The Arthur Murray Show'', which it retained for over a year-and-a-half, before adapting the more familiar ''Arthur Murray Party'' moniker in the summer of 1952.
*David Weinstein, ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'' (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004)
*Alex McNeil, ''Total Television'', Fourth edition (New York:
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Ballantine Books, 1964)
Reginald Gardiner
William Reginald Gardiner (27 February 1903 – 7 July 1980) was an English actor on the stage, in films and on television.
Early years
Gardiner was born in Wimbledon, England, and he was a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.Katz, ...