''PM East/PM West'' is a late-night talk show hosted by

Mike Wallace Myron Leon Wallace (May 9, 1918 – April 7, 2012) was an American journalist, game show host, actor, and media personality. Known for his investigative journalism, he interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers during his seven-decade car ...

and Joyce Davidson in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

(where the ''PM East'' portion originated) and ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'' television critic Terrence O'Flaherty in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

(''PM West''). The program was seen five nights a week from June 12, 1961, to June 22, 1962. The show was syndicated by

Group W Productions The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for Broadca ...

to Westinghouse-owned television stations in Boston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, San Francisco, as well as to other stations in Washington D.C., New York, Los Angeles and Dallas, Texas. It was scheduled at the same time as

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 ...

's ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

'', then hosted by

Jack Paar Jack Harold Paar (May 1, 1918 – January 27, 2004) was an American talk show host, writer, radio and television comedian, and film actor. He was the second host of ''The Tonight Show'' from 1957 to 1962. ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine's ob ...

. Westinghouse, which was only a broadcaster that syndicated its programs through Group W, attempted to compete with NBC, which had had a monopoly on late-night television since

Steve Allen Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was an American television and radio personality, comedian, musician, composer, writer, and actor. In 1954, he achieved national fame as the co-creator and ...

had originated ''The Tonight Show'' in 1954. ''PM East/PM West'' was never accessible in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is census regions United States Census Bureau. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the ...

, the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

or in the state of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

WFAA WFAA (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving as the American Broadcasting Company, ABC affiliate for the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Decatur, Texas, Decatur-li ...

channel 8 in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

carried it starting with the first episode, but viewers in other Texas cities and in the

American Southwest The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...

never watched it.

Episode status

Audio recordings of some of

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand ( ; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, songwriter, producer, and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success across multiple fields of entertainment, being the ...

's appearances constitute nearly all that survives. The sole episode known to exist in its entirety with moving images and sound, available for viewing at the

UCLA Film and Television Archive The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the film preservation, preservation, film studies, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). As a nonpro ...

, is the February 12, 1962, telecast, which was a tribute to

George Schaefer George Scha(e)f(f)er may refer to: * George J. Schaefer (1888–1981), American film producer and studio executive * George Schaefer (finance), American banking executive * George Schaefer (director) (1920–1997), American television and theatre ...

. It features actors who worked with Schaefer, including

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), known professionally as Boris Karloff () and occasionally billed as Karloff the Uncanny, was a British actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstei ...

(who is interviewed by Davidson),

Ed Wynn Isaiah Edwin Leopold (November 9, 1886 – June 19, 1966), better known as Ed Wynn, was an American actor and comedian. He began his career in vaudeville in 1903 and was known for his ''Perfect Fool'' comedy character, his pioneering radio show ...

, and

Ethel Griffies Ethel Griffies (born Ethel Woods; 26 April 1878 – 9 September 1975) was a British actress. She is remembered for portraying the ornithology, ornithologist Mrs. Bundy in Alfred Hitchcock's classic ''The Birds (film), The Birds'' (1963). She app ...

. Streisand does not appear, nor does anyone mention her name. In 2018, someone uploaded to YouTube a clip that lasts 4 minutes 46 seconds from an episode in which the guests include comedian

Dick Gregory Richard Claxton Gregory (October 12, 1932 – August 19, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, writer, activist and social critic. His books were bestsellers. Gregory became popular among the African-American communities in the southern U ...

and

Victor Lownes Victor Aubrey Lownes III (April 17, 1928 – January 11, 2017) was an executive for HMH Publishing Company Inc., later known as Playboy Enterprises, from 1955 through the early 1980s. Soon after he met Hugh Hefner in 1954, Hefner founded ''Playbo ...

, an executive with the company that later became known as

Playboy Enterprises PLBY Group, Inc. is an American global media and lifestyle company founded by Hugh Hefner as Playboy Enterprises, Inc. to oversee the ''Playboy'' magazine and related assets. Its headquarters are in Los Angeles, California. The company is focus ...

. The company owned the Chicago location of the

Playboy Club The Playboy Club was initially a chain of nightclubs and resorts owned and operated by Playboy Enterprises. The first Playboy Club opened in Chicago in 1960. Each club generally featured a Living Room, a Playmate Bar, a Dining Room, and a Club ...

where Gregory performed a short time before his appearance on ''PM East''. As already noted, the program was not seen in Chicago, so it could not help the Playboy Club promote appearances there by Gregory or any other performer.

References

External links

*
Summary from ''Time'' Magazine of an interview of Dorothy Kilgallen on ''PM East'' in 1961
{{DEFAULTSORT:PM East PM West American television talk shows 1961 American television series debuts 1962 American television series endings Black-and-white American television shows First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Television series by CBS Studios Westinghouse Broadcasting Television shows set in New York City Television shows set in San Francisco Television in the San Francisco Bay Area