TV Title Characters and Series of Yesteryear Quiz

Answer: first series filmed exclusively in color

The series began production in 1949, with episodes filmed exclusively in color.
While this marked a major breakthrough and achievement in television history, the vast majority of viewers saw the series in black and white. When the series ended its run in 1958, less than 0.05% of households had color television sets.

"The Cisco Kid" ran for six seasons (1950-1956) with 156 half hour episodes.
Starring with Renaldo was Leo Carrillo, who played Cisco's sidekick "Pancho", a gregarious and likable character who had a knack for mangling the English language, and added the element of comic relief for the series.

Although they were considered to be outlaw desperadoes, they traveled and helped those who were less fortunate, and righted wrongs. They were the Western version of "Robin Hood".

The series also made stars Duncan Renaldo and Leo Carrillo the first Hispanic stars of a regular TV series.

In 1953, the series was nominated for an Emmy Award for children's programming.

In 1955, the series was reported to be the most popular TV series among children in America.

Answer: Noel Neill as Lois Lane

Noel Neill took over the part at the beginning of the second season in 1953, and remained in the role until the series ended in 1958.
During the first season, Phyllis Coates played the role of the feisty reporter for the "Daily Planet" opposite Reeves.
The producers of the series took a brief hiatus after the first season to seek sponsorship for the show. During that time, Coates became committed to another acting project, and was unavailable when the series returned for its second season.
Producers hired Noel Neill for the part based on her past performances in the role in the 1948 and 1950 theater productions of "Superman".

Neill was slated for the seventh season of the series, which was abruptly cancelled following the unexpected death of star George Reeves.

"The Adventures of Superman" ran for six seasons (1952-1958) with 104 episodes.

When the series started filming episodes in its third season, a decision that made the series, which was extremely popular and highly sought, was to start filming in color. Reruns of the series ran in syndication for over 40 years after the original run ended, and commanded top price in the syndication market.

One necessary change when the series started filming in color was to change the colors of Superman's costume. For the black and white episodes, Superman wore a brown, gray, and white costume. The colors provided the required contrast for black and white film.
For the color episodes, Superman wore the traditional red, blue, and yellow costume to match the images in the "Superman" comic books.

Radio announcer Bill Kennedy spoke the opening narration for the show:

"Faster than a speeding bullet!
More powerful than a locomotive!
Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!"
("Look up in the sky." "It's a bird". "It's a plane". "It's Superman").

Yes, it's Superman ... strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth
with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men.
Superman ... who can change the course of mighty rivers,
bend steel in his bare hands, and who disguised as Clark Kent,
mild mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper
fight a never ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way".

"And now, another exciting episode in "The Adventures of Superman".

Answer: Yukon King and Rex

Sergeant Preston was a member of the Northwest Mounted Police, and usually represented the only law enforcement in the wild Yukon Territory. During the Winter, Sgt. Preston covered his beat riding a dog sled, pulled by a team of Alaskan Husky dogs. His lead dog and companion was "Yukon King", who was described in the opening narration as the "swiftest and strongest lead dog".
Sgt. Preston often yelled as he was being pulled, "On King, on you Huskies".

During the Spring and Summer months when there was no snow on the ground, Sgt. Preston rode his horse, "Rex". Yukon King was always seen running next to Sgt. Preston and Rex.

For the episodes filmed in color, Sgt. Preston cut a dashing figure with his dark mustache, his scarlet tunic uniform jacket with yellow chevrons on his shoulders, and yellow leg stripe and his brown official "Mountie" campaign hat.

While Yukon King and the other sled dogs were referred to as Alaskan Huskies, they were in fact Alaskan Malamutes.

"Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" ran for three seasons (1955-1958) with 78 episodes.
Most of the filming for the series was done in and around Ashcroft, Colorado, with some filmed footage in California (Big Bear Valley, Bear Valley, and in the San Bernardino National Forest).

The rousing and stirring opening theme song and much of the music for the series was from the "Overture to Donna Diane", a musical score written in 1894 by Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek.

Answer: Butterfly McQueen

Actress Butterfly McQueen appeared in the first season of the series as "Oriole", another domestic servant on the series, but never starred in the title role.

Ethel Waters starred in the title role through the first and most of the second season (1950-1951).
When Waters quit the show in the second season, Hattie McDaniel starred as Beulah for the final six episodes of the season. McDaniel was forced to leave the series due to illness, and Louise Beavers played the role from late 1951 until the series ended in 1952.

"Beulah" made its mark in television history because it was the first sitcom series to star an African American actress in the lead role.

"Beulah" aired for three seasons from 1950 through 1952 with 87 half hour episodes. During its entire run, "Beulah" was seen on Tuesday nights, in the 7:30pm time slot.

In the show, Beulah, a domestic worker, seem to have a skill for helping to resolve the daily situations and problems of the family that she worked for.

"Beulah" was a television adaptation of "The Beulah Show", a very popular and successful radio show broadcast on the CBS radio network from 1945 until 1954.

Answer: The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok

A real favorite among the younger viewers, "The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok" made an impression on young minds.

The stories were a fictional account of real life figure James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok. The message in the episodes was very basic. The good and honest always triumphed over evil and the bad.
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The series followed U.S. Marshal "Wild Bill" Hickok and his sidekick, Deputy U.S. Marshal Jingle P. Jones as they rode throughout the territory solving problems, capturing outlaws, and bringing law and justice to the towns in the wild West.

Guy Madison cut a handsome and dashing figure in the title role as the famed relentless lawman. His friend and partner, Jingles, played by Andy Devine, brought a touch of comic relief to the series.

The opening credit sequence for the series showed Wild Bill Hickok riding at full speed on his horse, "Buckshot", heading straight towards the camera, with his guns blazing, obviously in pursuit of a dangerous outlaw. Riding several yards behind him was his sidekick, 300 pound deputy Jingles P. Jones, riding his horse, "Joker", with one hand holding his hat and yelling (in his signature raspy voice), "Hey Wild Bill, wait for me".

The series started in syndication in 1951, and ran for eight season, ending in 1958 with 112 episodes. From 1955 until 1958, the series ran on the CBS network. Episodes proved to be so successful that the series also ran concurrently from 1957 to 1958 on the ABC network.

Separate from the television series, performers Guy Madison and Andy Devine also played their roles on 271 episodes of "Wild Bill Hickok" on radio from April, 1951 until December or 1954.

The series received an Emma nomination in 1955 for "Best Western or Action Series".

Answer: John Hart

John Hart played the title role in the third season only.

For that season of production, Clayton Moore chose to "sit out" the season due to a salary dispute with the producers. The matter was resolved, and Moore returned to his signature role for the final two seasons of the series.

"The Lone Ranger" aired for eight seasons, with new episodes being produced in only five seasons. The fifth and final season of the series was filmed in color.

The series, targeted on children, served as a vehicle to instill moral standards for the viewers, with the Long Ranger becoming not only a television icon, but a role model for young viewers to follow. The Long Ranger often became involve in fist fights with outlaws and was known to occasionally shoot a gun out of the hand of a villain, but unlike many westerns of the time, The Lone Ranger never killed one of his foes.

In the series, The Lone Ranger, along with his faithful Indian companion Tonto (Jay Silverheels) rode the plains, visiting towns and outposts, and setting right the wrongs and injustices that they encountered.

He was known as the "Masked Man" by many, and never stopped long enough to be thanked by those he helped by his deeds. He only left a single "silver bullet" as a reminder and symbol of his presence. The Lone Ranger was always seen riding away from the locations, yelling his signature phrase, "Hi-yo Silver, away!"

Tonto called him "Ke-mo-sah-bee", which in his Indian language meant "trusted friend". John Reid was one of five Texas Rangers ambushed as they were in pursuit of the Butch Cavendish gang, a band of ruthless outlaws. All of the Rangers were left for dead, but unknown to the gang one survived his serious injuries. Found near death by Tonto, the lone survivor was nursed back to health. To disguise the fact that there was a survivor, five graves were dug. The surviving Ranger recovered to again uphold the law, but disguised himself by always wearing a mask.

New episodes were produced for five of the eight seasons of the run of the series.
The series earned Emmy nominations in 1950 and 1951. Reruns of classic episodes were aired for over 60 years after the production of the series ended.

"The Lone Ranger" started as a radio series in 1933, gained almost instant popularity, and remained on radio through 1954, producing 1,933 episodes.

Jay Silverheels was feature in all 217 of the television episodes.

Viewers of the series were alerted by the sound of the rousing theme music from the "William Tell Overture", written by Gioacchino Antonio Rossini, announcing the start of the show.
Nearly all viewers were familiar with the opening narration for the series, delivered by voice announcer Fred Foy:
"A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty "Hi Yo Silver", The Lone Ranger."
"With his faithful Indian companion Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains led the fight for law and order in the early west. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. "The Lone Ranger" rides again."

Answer: 1

Starring in the series with Alan Hale, Jr. were Mary Lawrence as Casey's wife Alice, Bobby Clark as his son, Casey Jones, Jr., Dub Taylor as Casey's locomotive fireman, Wallie Sims, and Eddy Waller as train conductor, Red Rock Smith.

In this children's Western series, the activities of Casey and his family and crew were chronicled as he worked as a steam locomotive engineer for the Midwestern and Central Railroad during the late 19th century.

Much of the premise and background for the series could be heard in the opening theme song for the series.

"The Ballad of Casey Jones" (TV series version)

"Stop, look, listen cause you're gonna hear.
A brand new story bout a great engineer.
He's the greatest of them all we claim.
Number one his engine, Casey Jones his name.

Casey Jones, steamin' and a rollin'.
Casey Jones, you never have to guess.
When you hear, the tootin' of the whistle.
It's Casey at the throttle of the Cannonball Express"

"Casey Jones" ran for one season (1958-1959) with 32 episodes.

Answer: B Company

Unlike most TV series, the opening credits showed the character under their character name only. References to the actor's name appeared only during the closing credits.
During the opening credits, the camera pans in on child actor Lee Aaker, who is identified on the screen as "Rusty-'B' Company". Others pictured characters identified during the opening credits are "Lt. Rip Masters" (James Brown) and "Sgt. Biff O'Hara" (Joe Sawyer).

The series premise: A young boy is orphaned after his parents are killed in an Indian attack on their frontier settlement. Rusty and his pet German Shepherd (Rin Tin Tin) are adopted and cared for by the troopers at Fort Apache, a cavalry outpost somewhere in the West.

Rust is provided with a military cavalry uniform in his size, and given the rank (honorary) of Corporal. Rusty and Rin Tin Tin move around the fort doing chores and improving the morale for the troopers.

Rusty's primary care takers are the fort's commanding officer, Lt. Ripley "Rip" Masters and the company sergeant, Biff O'Hara.

At times when (for example) a soldier is attacked by an Indian scout outside the gates for the fort, Rusty would yell "Yo Rinty" and the dog sprang into action and attacked the adversary. Rin Tin Tin would then respond to Rusty's command to end the attack when commanded to "Stand at ease", and would leave the scene when ordered by his master with, "Rin Tin Tin, Dismissed".

Described as a "Children Adventure series, "Rin Tin Tin" produced 166 episodes between 1954 and 1959.
The series remained in syndication demand, with the color episodes being rebroadcast as late as 2010.

Answer: Kirby Grant

The title character, Schuyler "Sky" King (Kirby Grant) was a "gentleman rancher" who owned a vast spread near Grover, Arizona (a fictitious location). King checked his "Flying Crown Ranch" property by using his personal twin engine Cessna airplane named "Songbird".
When not tending to ranch duties, Sky King would lend a helping hand to the local sheriff, Mitch Hargrove (Ewing Mitchell) using his airplane to search for lost hikers and campers and capturing bad guys who threatened the serenity of his peaceful community.

Sky King lived on his ranch with his niece, Penny (Gloria Winters), who always seem to find some peril that Sky would rescue her from, and his nephew, Clipper (Ron Haggerty), who also occasionally needed to be rescued by his "Uncle Sky".

"Sky King" ran for four seasons, with 72 episodes. When the original series completed its run in 1955, it became one of the more popular series to enter the syndication market, and remained in reruns (often in Saturday morning time slots) for the next 20 years.

While professional stunt pilots did the majority of the flying for the series, Kirby Grant was an accomplished licensed pilot, and on occasion personally flew the Cessna for scenes in the series.

Answer: Micky Braddock

With his natural dark hair dyed blond for the role, young actor Micky Braddock played the title role of Corky.
Braddock, born George Michael Dolenz in later years returned his hair to its darker natural color, dropped his stage name and gained fame under his true surname, becoming the drummer and lead soloist for the television music group "The Monkees" (1966).

In the series, young Corky was orphaned when his parents, the aerial performers known as The Flying Falcons were killed in a trapeze accident.
Corky was adopted by his uncle, Joey the Clown (Noah Beery, Jr.) who was also with the circus and cared for by all of the members of the Burke and Walsh Circus, which was owned by Big Tim Champion (Robert Lowery).
Corky became the "water boy" for a baby elephant, and continued to travel from town to town with the circus.

"Circus Boy" ran 49 episodes, filmed in black and white, during its two seasons.
The series opening showed a crowd of townspeople cheering on the circus performers as they arrived, first Big Tim Champion on horseback waving his hat to the crowd, Joey the clown riding on a wagon, and Corky riding on the back of Bimbo, the baby elephant, smiling and waving to the assembled group.

Answer: cab company owner and operator

In the series, Amos Jones was the owner of the Fresh Air cab company in the Harlem section of New York City. Amos served as the narrator on the show, explaining the plots of each episode at the beginning of the show. Amos always appeared businesslike and was always neatly dressed in his cab driver uniform.

The stories centered around a group of lodge brothers, members of the Mystic Knights of the Sea lodge.

Most episodes involved Andrew Hogg "Andy" Brown, a rotund, good natured but gullible guy (played by Spencer Williams) and his lodge brother George "Kingfish" Stevens (played by Tim Moore), who was a slick conniving attorney, always searching for a "get rich quick" scheme, or swindling money from his fellow lodge brothers, especially Andy.
Part of the series followed the home life of "The Kingfish" as he was known, and his verbal bouts with his sassy wife, Sapphire (Played by Ernestine Wade), and his mother-in law, referred to simply as "Mama" (played by Amanda Randolph).

Other memorable characters were Algonquin J. Calhoun (Johnny Lee), a fast talking, slightly shady attorney, and Ligntnin' (Nick Steward) the slow witted, slow moving janitor/handyman in the apartment building.

The series was an adaptation of the highly successful and long running radio comedy series, "Amos 'n' Andy", starring voice actors and character creators Freeman Gosden (as Amos) and Charles Correll (as Andy). The radio series ran continuously in some format from 1928 until 1960.

The television cast was comprised of African American actors in the main roles.

The actors were advised by the producers at CBS to keep their speech patterns and voices as close as possible to those of the Caucasian actors who originated the roles on radio to insure character continuity.

The television series produced 78 episodes between 1951 and 1953. While popular with the audience, the series drew sharp criticism from the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) who felt the series portrayed a negative image and stereotype of life in the African American community. Through their boycotting of the shows sponsors, they were finally able to have the show removed from the air in 1953.

Pronents of the NAACP position noted that the series portrayed a positive image of a middle class African American community, where the members were all working professionals that included business owners, doctors, lawyers, policemen, and judges. The series was nevertheless cancelled, even though at the time, it was considered by many as one of the funniest sitcom series to be aired.

Answer: Bank Vice President

Cosmo Topper was the conservative Vice President of a Los Angeles, California bank. He and his wife Henrietta (Lee Patrick) lead a quiet life. The couple purchased a home at an estate sale that once was owned by George and Marion Kerby, a fun loving couple who were killed by an avalanche while on a skiing vacation.
After moving into their new home, Cosmo discovered, to his shock, that the home was still occupied by the ghost of the former owners.
The Kerby's were only visible and able to be heard by Cosmo Topper.
The Kerby's felt that Topper was a bit too stuffy and formal, so they decided to try and inject a little excitement into Cosmo's quiet world by involving him in a number of different scenarios. As the Kerby's were seen and heard only by Topper, this made his explanations of unusual events made to others difficult and often not plausible.

Along with the Kerby's was Neal, their pet St. Bernard dog, who also died in the accident while trying to save them. Neal, who wore a small flask around his neck filled with an alcoholic beverage, developed a drinking problem and a passion for drinking Martinis. Topper could see Neal lapping up martinis from his feeding bowl, but to everyone else, Neal was invisible, so his bowl appeared to empty on its own.

The series "Topper", based on a 1937 movie (of the same name) aired for two seasons (1953-1955), producing 78 black and white 30 minute episodes.

The opening narration for the show, spoken over the series bouncy theme music, introduced the cast as:
"Anne Jeffreys as Marion Kerby, the Ghostess with the Mostess,
Robert Sterling as George Kerby, That most Sporting Spirit,
and Leo G. Carrol, host to said ghost as ... Topper".

Series stars Anne Jeffreys and Robert Sterling were real life man and wife.

Answer: Jackie Gleason

Gleason played the title role in the ill fated 1949 version of the sitcom.
Along with Gleason were Rosemary DeCamp as his wife Peg Reilly, and Sid Tomack as bis best friend Jim Gillis. The series aired 26 episodes in its only season. CBS canceled the series due to low ratings. It was believed that Jackie Gleason could not generate a following for the series. It was also felt by network officials that Gleason did not have a real future in television.
The network was wrong.
Gleason went on to star in "The Jackie Gleason Show" (1952-1957), "The Honeymooners" (1955), "The Jackie Gleason: American Scene Magazine" (1962), and "The Jackie Gleason Show" (1966).

CBS returned "The Life of Riley" to the air in 1953 with William Bendix in the title role. Bendix had previously play the role of Chester A. Riley both in the 1949 movie and on the "Life of Riley" radio program which ran from 1944 -1951. It was Bendix's commitment to the 1949 movie that prevented his from accepting the title role on the 1949 series.

The 1953 series starring William Bendix was a success with 217 episodes during its six season run (1953-1958). During the run of the series, "The Life of Riley" was ranked in the top 30 television shows during four of the six seasons it was broadcast.
Along with Bendix were Marjorie Reynolds who played his wife, Peg, and Tom D'Andrea as his best friend Gillis.

The series revolved around Chester A. Riley, a wing riveter at Cunningham Aircraft Plant, who was a big hearted man and was totally devoted to his family, his job, and his friends. The Riley's had two children, daughter Babs (Lugene Sanders) and a son, Chester A. Riley, Jr. (Wesley Morgan), who was most often referred to on the show as "Junior".
The senior Riley had a knack for turning small minor problems and situations into problems of major proportions, often as a result of advise received from his best friend, Gillis. When this occurred, Riley would often express his frustration and indignation with his signature catchphrase, "What a revolting development this is". In the end, Riley always seem to rectify the problem.

Answer: John Beresford Tipton

Radio voice actor Paul Frees played the title role of multi-billionaire John Beresford Tipton in this 30 minute drama series.
Camera angles for the scenes featuring the title character were always shot from behind him so the back of his chair, his arm, and hand were only seen by the audience. Throughout the run of the series, his face was never shown.

Marvin Miller starred as Michael Anthony, the executive secretary to Tipton.
Tipton resided in a mansion on "Silverton", his 60,000 acre estate. When needed, Anthony would be summons to the den of the mansion by Tipton.

Episodes started with Anthony, always impeccably dressed in a dark suit, entering Tipton;s den (office), standing before him, and asking, "You send for me, sir?".
Tipton who was usually sitting behind his desk with his Chess set on it, would make a few comments about his decision, and hand Anthony a note with the name of the next millionaire he had selected. Anthony after accepting the note would bow his head, and leave the room.

At the beginning of each episode, Michael Anthony, looking directly into the camera, would speak to the audience.

"My name is Michael Anthony. And until his death a few years ago, I was the executive secretary to the late John Beresford Tipton, Jr. John Beresford Tipton, a fabulously wealthy and fascinating man, whose many hobbies included his habit of giving away one million dollars, tax free each week, to a person who had never met him; indeed, had never even heard of him".

The only stipulations for the gift was that besides their spouse, they would not reveal the source or amount of their sudden wealth to anyone.

The remainder of the story would show how the gift affected each of the new millionaires, and how they chose to use the money. Most of the stories had happy ending, but there were those who let the money change their lives for the worst.

The series aired for six seasons, 1955-1960, with 206 episodes.

During the first season, Michael Anthonys opening monologue was changed. The original version made no reference to the passing of John Beresford Tipton. A number of viewers believed the stories to be based on actual events and television stations throughout the nation were deluged with request from viewers inquiring as to how they could get on Tipton's list. The monologue script was changed.

Answer: 3

Perry Mason's first defeat came in episode 26 of season 6 in "The Case of the Witless Witness", first broadcast May 16, 1963.

Perry lost the verdict in "The Case of the Deadly Verdict", episode 4 in season seven, first aired on October 17, 1963.

The third negative verdict against one of Perry Mason's clients came in episode 26 of season 9 in "The Case of the Dead Ringer", first seen on April 17, 1966.

The popular series ran for nine seasons with 271 episodes between 1957 and 1966. The series remained as one of the top rated TV shows for the first five seasons of its run, reaching the number five position on the 1961-62 Nielsen Television ratings list.

Along with Raymond Burr, the stellar cast included Barbara Hale as Della Street, Perry's hard working secretary and assistant, and William Hopper as Paul Drake, a private investigator Perry employed to locate witnesses and clues for pending cases.
Perry's adversary and the loser of most cases was District Attorney Hamilton Berger, played by William Talman, who was often aided by Lt. Tragg (Ray Collins), a dedicated police investigator who always seem to be in search of the true facts, even if the results were in Mason's favor.

"Perry Mason" was a true syndication blockbuster, with reruns of the series being broadcast almost continually since the series ended in 1966. Episodes were being shown as late as 2012 in some syndication markets.