Presented on "OMNIBUS." The third part of this Omnibus presentation is complete. An un-staged George Gershwin one-act opera with an all-Negro cast. Composed by Gershwin in 1922 when he was 23. It's primitive in construction and content, although "The Blue Monday Blues" and some other early Gershwin excursions into the Jazz idiom stand out.  
  
Host for Ominbus series, Alistair Cooke

Directed by Seymour Robbie.  
De Sylva, B.G. -  Librettist
Starring Jimmy Rushing                    

CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow comments on his thoughts of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy and his Senate hearings.       

Investigating what separates jazz music from all other forms of music. 

Guest: Leonard Berstein.            

November 9th, 1952-April April 16th, 1961. (NBC). 

Hosted by Alistair Cooke, this series presented everything from dramas to musicals to documentaries. SEARCH PROGRAM TITLE FOR COMPLETE DETAILS.

Leonard Bernstein: The art of conducting an orchestra. The importance of the conductor.    

Host: Alistair Cooke. 

November 9th, 1952-April April 16th, 1961. (NBC). 

Hosted by Alistair Cooke, this series presented everything from dramas to musicals to documentaries. SEARCH PROGRAM TITLE FOR COMPLETE DETAILS.

American Musical Comedy. 

The history of American Musical Comedy over the last 100 years.

Note: Final fifteen minutes of the broadcast. 

Guest: Leonard Bernstein.

Host: Alistair Cooke.     

Excerpt.               

May 12th, 1956- 1960

Interview/talk series which ran for four years, premiering May 12th, 1956, at 6PM on WNBC-TV in New York City.   

This weekly series of half-hour programs is planned and produced in cooperation with the faculties of various colleges and universities. Controversial and topical problems confronting our society will be selected for discussion. 

On this show, the topic is "The New Negro." A critical evaluation of the "new" Negro's self-assertiveness. Guests include Dr. Martin Luther King. 

Moderator is Richard Heffner.         

Duplicate of 10609.                                  

May 12th, 1956- 1960

Interview/talk series which ran for four years, premiering May 12th, 1956, at 6PM on WNBC-TV in New York City.   

This weekly series of half-hour programs is planned and produced in cooperation with the faculties of various colleges and universities. Controversial and topical problems confronting our society will be selected for discussion. 

On this show, the topic is "The New Negro." A critical evaluation of the "new" Negro's self-assertiveness. Guests include Dr. Martin Luther King. 

Moderator is Richard Heffner.                               

November 9th, 1952-April April 16th, 1961. (NBC). 

Hosted by Alistair Cooke, this series presented everything from dramas to musicals to documentaries. SEARCH PROGRAM TITLE FOR COMPLETE DETAILS.

Leonard Berstein analyzes Bach's music and techniques with excerpt from "The St. Matthew Passion" and other choral works.

Guest: Leonard Bernstein.

Host: Alistair Cooke.     

Excerpt: Open.                  

Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus responds to President Eisenhower's address to the nation regarding the crisis at Little Rock Central High School. Faubus says Federal Government has no right to send troops into Little Rock. 

   This Special OMNIBUS presentation, "THE SUBURBAN REVIEW" features Bert Lahr, Pat Stanley, and Mike Nichols and Elaine May. Through comedy sketches, songs and dances we witness suburban living in the U.S. of the 1920's with Suburbia as it exists today in 1958.                       

November 9th, 1952-April April 16th, 1961. (NBC). 

Hosted by Alistair Cooke, this series presented everything from dramas to musicals to documentaries. SEARCH PROGRAM TITLE FOR COMPLETE DETAILS.

"Leonard Bernstein looks at Opera" offers ninety minutes of operatic music direct from the stage at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Participating will be the  Metropolitan's singers and orchestra. 
Leonard Berstein's remarks are illustrated with excerpts, his translation of a scene, from Puccini's "La Boheme" is acted out, then the scene is sung in Italian. There will also be the "Liebestod" from Wagner's "Tristan," the "Credo," from Verdi's "Otello," and selections from "Rosenkavalier," "Carmen," "The Medium," Don Giovanni" and "Lucia." Musetta: Laurel Hurley. Mimi: Marcella Pobbe, Isoldr: Martha Moedl, Rodolpho; Frank Guarrera,




Host: Alistair Cooke. 

1954-1967-Syndicated
1969-Syndicated

A weekly Sunday morning Christian program that featured faith healer Oral Roberts. During the middle and late 1950s and into the 1960s,, Roberts was regarded as television's most famous televangelist. His program was first seen in 1954 and a year later, his show was broadcast in a large tent. Worshippers with various handicaps would be called up to the tent by Roberts who would attempt to heal them.  The show ran until 1967 when Roberts shut down his television operations. In 1969, Roberts returned to syndicated television with a new show entitled "Oral Roberts And You." The latter program also featured Roberts's son Richard and later his daughter Patti.                                   

The oldest surviving archived remnant of a David Susskind OPEN END television broadcast  is a WNTA TV  December 23,1958 kinescope 20 minute segment of a broadcast titled "Method or Madness?" The topic, "method acting" with guests Michael Benthal, Ben Gazarra,  Adolph Green, Betty Comden, Lawrence Harvey, Jule Styne , and Patricia Neal.                

NOTE: Archival Television Audio, Inc. has a rare 90 second pristine sound recorded excerpt air check representing this early earliest extant OPEN END broadcast.  

Originally scheduled to premiere on October 7, but delayed one week.
October 14, 1958 - August 13, 1961
OPEN END with David Susskind: (WNTA Channel 13 Television)

September 10, 1961-May 5, 1963
OPEN END with David Susskind (WNEW Channel 5 Television)

June 9, 1963 last show of the season broadcast on WPIX TV.

October 13, 1963-September 18, 1966
OPEN END with David Susskind (WPIX Channel 11 Television)

October 2, 1966-September, 1986
DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW (SYNDICATED, PBS, and COMMERCIAL STATIONS, including WNEW, New York). 

After an association of nearly three decades with Channel 5 in New York, the former WNEW-TV, later changed to WNYW-TV, David Susskind stopped producing the program in September 1986 because of its late-night time slot, from 1:30 to 3:30 A.M. Sunday nights. His audience like his iconic talk show dwindled not only in its following but in the ratings. Susskind knew when to quit. His last David Susskind Show aired only five months from the time of his death. 
            
Open End with David Susskind was a break through talk show which literally had no time limit. 

The premiere broadcast reviewed in Variety stated:
"In the blueprint stage, OPEN END was initiated on WNTA-TV on Tuesday October 14th the same night 'The World of Suzie Wong' premiered on Broadway. When the show is going slowly, then Susskind has the right to end it as soon as he likes; when it's going well , he can stretch it the night through since "OPEN END" is the last scheduled WNTA program of the night."

The show ended when host, moderator David Susskind, felt all conversation points were discussed. Some of these marathon telecasts lasted over four hours! Jean Kennedy was the producer during the 28 year run of the series.

The series premiered and aired on WNTA Channel 13 in New York for three years, an independent broadcast station, before it would become a Public Broadcast Station in 1962. A myriad of talk show guests, famous, infamous and unknown, found a forum on OPEN END. Subjects varied focusing on usually one topic...show business, politics, the economy, sex, education, crime, etc. Typically, many guests would discuss a subject sitting around a large table with David Susskind moderating, leading his guests with baited questions. On occasion a solo guest would highlight the show.

For the first three years, of its 28 year existence as a regular series, WNTA TV was home to OPEN END which originally began its broadcasts on Tuesday nights, switching on January 18, 1959 to Sunday nights...a future Sunday evening time slot of the week where it would remain until 1986, for the rest of its run.

After broadcasting with a two hour truncated format on WNEW form September 10, 1961 to May 5, 1963 a falling out and rift occurred between Susskind and WNEW management centered on WNEW's reluctance to air discussions regarding race relations in America. WPIX reacted with interest in bringing OPEN END to their flagship New York channel. For the last OPEN END show of the 1962-1963 season WPIX  TOOK LAST MINUTE EMERGENCY MEASURES TO CLEAR TWO HOURS ON SUNDAY NIGHT  June 9, 1963, featuring solo guest Dr. Martin Luther KIng, pre-empting regular scheduled programming (6:30-8:30 pm).

Open End was later cut by WPIX to one hour time slot. David Susskind not satisfied with the shortened format reconnected with WNEW where he returned to a two hour format with a changed  program name. 
THE DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW  had its return premiere on WNEW TV October 2, 1966. 
 
The David Susskind Show also found syndication across the country and each market would run the program at different times at their own discretion. 

Most all of the telecasts were recorded on video tape, 2" quadruplex. Most shows were kept for a year or two like THE MOVIE MAKERS broadcast which was re-run on August 6, 1961 almost a year after it was first telecast on October 2, 1960. By this time the show was no longer without a time limit. It ran for a finite three hours long. Thus the re-run of the MOVIE MAKERS had some footage deleted from its original run which aired for over three and half hours, including commercials. 

The re-run of "THE MOVIE MAKERS" was the next to last broadcast telecast on WNTA channel 13. On September 10, 1961 the show moved to WNEW Channel 5 METROMEDIA in New York.

Sadly, most all of OPEN END broadcasts (1958-1966), later re titled THE DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW (1966-1986), were wiped erased, destroyed, discarded...whereabouts unknown, representing most shows produced and telecast during the late 1950's, 1960's and early 1970's.   Only a handful of OPEN END / DAVID SUSSKIND  shows are known to survive from 1958 thru 1969. Hundreds of programs survive representing the middle 1970's thru 1986. 

                
Open End with David Susskind was a unique break through talk with no time limit, rare during any time in television broadcast history, and never to be replicated in the future of television broadcasting after 1960. 

On occasion only one guest would be profiled. Mostly shows were comprised of many individuals discussing one topic which  included race relations, the draft, organized crime, the Hollywood scene, the politics of the times, sex-change operations, divorce, clairvoyants, psychoanalysis, prostitution, etc.

Sadly, most all of OPEN END broadcasts, later re titled THE DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW, commencing with the Oct. 2, 1966 broadcast, were wiped (erased), destroyed, discarded...whereabouts unknown, representing most shows produced and telecast during the late 1950's, 1960's and early 1970's. Hundreds of broadcasts circa mid 1970's - 1986 have been archived and are extant. 

Rediscovering David Susskind
May 17, 2016 by Cary O’Dell

David Susskind was one of the most prolific yet overlooked producers in the history of American film and television. 

Eight years after OPEN END had changed its name to The David Susskind Show, it was videotaped weekly in New York City and then syndicated across the nation, most often over PBS stations. Each episode typically addressing two topics. Given the show’s 28 year run, a full list of David Susskind Show topics, airdates, and guests runs to a staggering 160-plus pages.

The depth and breadth of subjects discussed on Susskind—not to mention his star-studded guest lists—reads like an annotated history for the second half of the 20th century. A very small sample:

1959: “Words and Wit” with guests Truman Capote, Dorothy Parker, and Norman Mailer

1960: Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev

1963:“LSD: Madness or Miracle?”

1965: “4 Draftees in a Hot Debate on Going to Viet Nam”

1966: “Are Cigarettes a Killer?”

Unfortunately, the majority of Susskind talk programs from the late 1950's and 1960s do not survive—either lost, destroyed or taped over. But what remains makes for fascinating viewing. Consider:

1971: “What It Means to Be a Homosexual”

1972: “Nice White People Scream ‘Blacks Stay Out of Our Neighborhood!’”

1972: “Is A Woman’s Body Her Business?—The Abortion Battle”

1976: “Why the Rich Get a Kick from Cocaine”

1982: “Video Game Craze”

At the time of David Susskind’s passing in February 1987, his videotape archive (most of it on 2” Quadruplex) was so vast it was divided up between different institutions, including the Paley Center (then the Museum of Television & Radio) in New York, the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago, and the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research in Madison.

But that wasn’t the end of the archive’s travels; only Wisconsin, whose collection includes most of Susskind’s fictional productions, has retained its holdings. The Museum of Broadcast Communications transferred its tapes to University of Southern California in the late 1990s. In 1992, the Paley Center—facing severe space issues—transferred their copies of Susskind’s talk show to the Library of Congress where they are now stored in Culpeper, Virginia.

We (The Library of Congress) hold almost 350 episodes of The David Susskind Show, the great majority of them unseen since their original broadcast. While some are still awaiting preservation—and, in some cases, identification due to insufficient labeling on the original tapes—a great many have been transferred, including a 1982 episode featuring Truman Capote, Norman Mailer, and Susskind’s wife Joyce Susskind, who occasionally served as co-host on the show. These shows are an extraordinary time machine, a fascinating glimpse into our culture, and featuring a very brave host and his often fearlessly candid guests.

NOTE:

Archived in the collection of Archival Television Audio, Inc. are 42 "lost" OPEN END broadcasts (1958-1966...some excerpt, some complete), including the very first extended talk show Woody Allen ever appeared (broadcast December 24, 1961). In 1997 Phil Gries, who personally audio recorded this complete program, gave a copy to Allen who had been searching for this broadcast for thirty years. It began a correspondence relationship with Woody Allen that continues to this day, having received 35 anecdotal letters from him during a span of 26 years. 

                                                 

Originally scheduled to premiere on October 7, but delayed one week.
October 14, 1958 - August 13, 1961
OPEN END with David Susskind: (WNTA Channel 13 Television)

September 10, 1961-May 5, 1963
OPEN END with David Susskind (WNEW Channel 5 Television)

June 9, 1963 last show of the season broadcast on WPIX TV.

October 13, 1963-September 18, 1966
OPEN END with David Susskind (WPIX Channel 11 Television)

October 2, 1966-September, 1986
DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW (SYNDICATED, PBS, and COMMERCIAL STATIONS, including WNEW, New York). 

After an association of nearly three decades with Channel 5 in New York, the former WNEW-TV, later changed to WNYW-TV, David Susskind stopped producing the program in September 1986 because of its late-night time slot, from 1:30 to 3:30 A.M. Sunday nights. His audience like his iconic talk show dwindled not only in its following but in the ratings. Susskind knew when to quit. His last David Susskind Show aired only five months from the time of his death. 
            
Open End with David Susskind was a break through talk show which literally had no time limit. 

The premiere broadcast reviewed in Variety stated:
"In the blueprint stage, OPEN END was initiated on WNTA-TV on Tuesday October 14th the same night 'The World of Suzie Wong' premiered on Broadway. When the show is going slowly, then Susskind has the right to end it as soon as he likes; when it's going well , he can stretch it the night through since "OPEN END" is the last scheduled WNTA program of the night."

The show ended when host, moderator David Susskind, felt all conversation points were discussed. Some of these marathon telecasts lasted over four hours! Jean Kennedy was the producer during the 28 year run of the series.

The series premiered and aired on WNTA Channel 13 in New York for three years, an independent broadcast station, before it would become a Public Broadcast Station in 1962. A myriad of talk show guests, famous, infamous and unknown, found a forum on OPEN END. Subjects varied focusing on usually one topic...show business, politics, the economy, sex, education, crime, etc. Typically, many guests would discuss a subject sitting around a large table with David Susskind moderating, leading his guests with baited questions. On occasion a solo guest would highlight the show.

For the first three years, of its 28 year existence as a regular series, WNTA TV was home to OPEN END which originally began its broadcasts on Tuesday nights, switching on January 18, 1959 to Sunday nights...a future Sunday evening time slot of the week where it would remain until 1986, for the rest of its run.

After broadcasting with a two hour truncated format on WNEW form September 10, 1961 to May 5, 1963 a falling out and rift occurred between Susskind and WNEW management centered on WNEW's reluctance to air discussions regarding race relations in America. WPIX reacted with interest in bringing OPEN END to their flagship New York channel. For the last OPEN END show of the 1962-1963 season WPIX  TOOK LAST MINUTE EMERGENCY MEASURES TO CLEAR TWO HOURS ON SUNDAY NIGHT  June 9, 1963, featuring solo guest Dr. Martin Luther KIng, pre-empting regular scheduled programming (6:30-8:30 pm).

Open End was later cut by WPIX to one hour time slot. David Susskind not satisfied with the shortened format reconnected with WNEW where he returned to a two hour format with a changed  program name. 
THE DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW  had its return premiere on WNEW TV October 2, 1966. 
 
The David Susskind Show also found syndication across the country and each market would run the program at different times at their own discretion. 

Most all of the telecasts were recorded on video tape, 2" quadruplex. Most shows were kept for a year or two like THE MOVIE MAKERS broadcast which was re-run on August 6, 1961 almost a year after it was first telecast on October 2, 1960. By this time the show was no longer without a time limit. It ran for a finite three hours long. Thus the re-run of the MOVIE MAKERS had some footage deleted from its original run which aired for over three and half hours, including commercials. 

The re-run of "THE MOVIE MAKERS" was the next to last broadcast telecast on WNTA channel 13. On September 10, 1961 the show moved to WNEW Channel 5 METROMEDIA in New York.

Sadly, most all of OPEN END broadcasts (1958-1966), later re titled THE DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW (1966-1986), were wiped erased, destroyed, discarded...whereabouts unknown, representing most shows produced and telecast during the late 1950's, 1960's and early 1970's.   Only a handful of OPEN END / DAVID SUSSKIND  shows are known to survive from 1958 thru 1969. Hundreds of programs survive representing the middle 1970's thru 1986. 

                
Open End with David Susskind was a unique break through talk with no time limit, rare during any time in television broadcast history, and never to be replicated in the future of television broadcasting after 1960. 

On occasion only one guest would be profiled. Mostly shows were comprised of many individuals discussing one topic which  included race relations, the draft, organized crime, the Hollywood scene, the politics of the times, sex-change operations, divorce, clairvoyants, psychoanalysis, prostitution, etc.

Sadly, most all of OPEN END broadcasts, later re titled THE DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW, commencing with the Oct. 2, 1966 broadcast, were wiped (erased), destroyed, discarded...whereabouts unknown, representing most shows produced and telecast during the late 1950's, 1960's and early 1970's. Hundreds of broadcasts circa mid 1970's - 1986 have been archived and are extant.

David Susskind interviews Arthur Godfrey on the status of television. Godfrey comments on the present state of television and its future.  He believes that at one time he had 40% of the TV audience when he was number one. Importance of selling a sponsor.  Susskind believes that the public should be more pro active and demand what content they would prefer to view on TV.  
Arthur  Godfrey states how much he has enjoyed doing the show. It has given him time to think in a studio talk show atmosphere. 

NOTE: This March 15, 1959 show is the second oldest known program, surviving in any broadcast form, to be extant. 

The video tape of this original broadcast would be used again for a repeat TV broadcast on Sunday, September 20, 1959. Then it would be erased. 

The oldest surviving archived remnant is a December 23,1958 kinescope 20 minute segment of a broadcast titled "Method or Madness?" The topic, "method acting" with guests Michael Benthal, Ben Gazarra,  Adolph Green, Betty Comden, Lawrence Harvey, Jule Styne , and Patricia Neal.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

  March 26, 1959 - May 7, 1959

Bill Hayes and Florence Henderson co host this live half-hour  anthology series. Most presentations were musicals. 

 In this premiere broadcast Jackie Cooper and Genevieve, in her first dramatic role,  star in "A NICE PLACE TO HIDE."
Story about an interesting relationship that forms slowly between two people who are looking for love. 

Songs:
"The Sunny Side of the Street" (Jackie Cooper & Genevieve)
"When I Fall in Love" (Genevieve)
"I'm Glad There Is You." (Jackie Cooper & Genevieve)

Included is a two minute Oldsmobile commercial. 

                                    

                March 9 - June 15, 1959 
A video taped 90 minute music series on New York television channel 13, WNTA, airing every Monday from 10:30pm to Midnight, hosted by Jazz expert Nat Hentoff. 

Tonight's broadcast, "A PORTRAIT OF DELLA REESE." She sings blues and gospel songs accompanied by the Meditation Singers and pianist, George Butcher. Also appearing are the Emmett Berry Five Jazz Group.            

1958-1987

Theatrical and television producer David Susskind hosted this talk program consisting of a wide variety of topics. Each show centered around one topic consisting of four to seven guests. 

On this broadcast one guest, Vice President Richard M. Nixon discusses a myriad of topics related to this marathon 3 hour and 29 minute OPEN END live interview with host David Susskind. 

The guest is Vice-President Richard Nixon. Topics include the U-2 affair, the proposed summit, American culture, morality, education and television. 

Host: David Susskind. Seen on WNTA-TV channel 13 in New York City.                                                                                                     

1958-1987

Theatrical and television producer David Susskind hosted this talk program consisting of a wide variety of topics. Each show centered around one topic consisting of four to seven guests. 

The guest is Vice-President Richard Nixon. Topics include the U-2 affair and the proposed summit. 

Host: David Susskind. Seen on WNTA-TV channel 13 in New York City.                                                                                                     

January 22nd, 1955-November 21st, 1961 (ABC)

Country and Western music show hosted by Red Foley. It originated for most of its run from Springfield Missouri. Among the show's regulars were Smiley Burnette, Bobby Lord, Wanda Jackson, and Brenda Lee.

Tonight's guests include Eddy Arnold, Don Gibson, and June Carter. 

Red Foley is the host.               

New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller talks politics and other subjects for 2 hours and 17 minutes with host David Susskind.        

David Susskind hosts this roundtable discussion with entertainers who exhibit strong convictions. Joining in this marathon 2 hour & 42 minute conversation are Steve Allen, Shelley Winters, Pamela Mason, Dr. Frank Baxter, and SAG President, Richard Green.            

   OPEN END WITH DAVID SUSSKIND:"THE MOVIE MAKERS"
1960-10-02, WNTA, 168 min.
David Susskind, George Cukor, Jerry Wald, Greer Garson, Fred Zinnemann, Daniel Taradash, Richard Brooks, Gary Rutowski, Phil Gries
                 October 14, 1958 - August 13, 1961
OPEN END with David Susskind: (WNTA Channel 13 Television)

                  September 10, 1961-May 5, 1963
OPEN END with David Susskind (WNEW Channel 5 Television)

June 9, 1963 last show of the season broadcast on WPIX TV.

                October 13, 1963-September 18, 1966
OPEN END with David Susskind (WPIX Channel 11 Television)

                October 2, 1966-September, 1986
DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW (SYNDICATED, PBS, and COMMERCIAL STATIONS, including WNEW, New York). 


OPEN END with David Susskind: (WNTA Channel 13 Television)

                          "THE MOVIE MAKERS"

Open End with David Susskind was a break through talk show which literally had no time limit. The show ended when host, moderator David Susskind felt all conversation points were discussed. Some of these marathon telecasts lasted over four hours!. 

The series premiered on WNTA Channel 13 in New York for three years, an independent broadcast station, before it would become a Public Broadcast Station in 1962. A myriad of talk show guests, famous, infamous and unknown, found a forum on OPEN END. Subjects varied focusing on usually one topic...show business, politics, the economy, sex, education, crime, etc. Typically, many guests would discuss a subject sitting around a large table with David Susskind moderating, leading his guests with baited questions. For the first three years, of its 26 year existence as a regular series, WNTA TV was home to OPEN END which originally began its broadcasts on Tuesday nights, switching on January 18, 1959 to Sunday nights...a future Sunday evening time slot of the week where it would remain until 1986, for the rest of its run. The OPEN END with David Susskind Show also found syndication across the country and each market would run the program at different time at their own discretion. 

Most all of the telecasts were recorded on video tape, 2" quadruplex. Most shows were kept for a year or two like THE MOVIE MAKERS broadcast which was re-run on August 6, 1961 almost a year after it was first telecast on October 2, 1960. By this time the show ran for a finite three hours long. Thus the re-run of the MOVIE MAKERS had some footage deleted from its original telecast which aired for over 3 hours & 30 minutes,  2 hours & 48 minutes sans commercials.

The re-run of "THE MOVIE MAKERS" was the next to last broadcast telecast on WNTA channel 13. On September 10, 1961 the show moved to WNEW Channel 5 METROMEDIA in New York, and its air time was reduced to a two hour show.  

Sadly, most all of OPEN END broadcasts, later re titled THE DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW, commencing with the Oct. 2, 1966 broadcast, were wiped (erased), destroyed, discarded...whereabouts unknown, representing most shows produced and telecast during the late 1950's, 1960's and early 1970's.

"THE MOVIE MAKERS" panel consisted of directors, Fred Zinnemann, Richard Brooks, George Cukor, writer / producer Jerry Wald and screen writer Daniel Taradash. The round table discussion is lively and continued for almost three hours, sans commercials, many topics and anecdotal stories are exchanged. Discussion related to critics, the picture making business of today and yesterday, technical financial challenges of the day, budgets, the independent film making movement, working methods, the motion picture code, the black list, stars of tomorrow, new wave cinema, and commentary related to Hollywood legends, past and present, including  D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Jerry Lewis, John Wayne, Burt Lancaster, Humphrey Bogart, and so many others.

One unexpected highlight on this show is the inclusion of actress Greer Garson who can be heard in the studio, and at one point comes to the round-table and serves sandwiches to the panel, where Susskind and the panel start to inject their own humor related to this gesture.

NOTE: This broadcast was discovered by archivist / scholar, Gary Rutowski (www.savetv.tv) in the form of six two sided 10" acetate discs. Eleven sides were cut. Each side plays for approximately 15 minutes. The discs were recorded by Soundcraft, at the request of guest panelist, Daniel Taradash, who paid for this service. Soundcraft was a duplication company with headquarters located  in New York City at the time. The acetates were recorded at 33 &1/3rpm.

Phil Gries cleaned, restored and digitized the acetates in December of 2018. The ten hour process required some equalization, slight volume adjustments, elimination of occasional unwanted extraneous recorded content, occasional moderate unwanted electronic "noise," host David Susskind lead ins to commercial breaks (ten) and four additional edits eliminating gaps, clicks, and chatter. Thus, segues from one disc side to another, eleven in all, were created producing a listening flow as a complete program which never goes to commercial.  

This rare example of a very early OPEN END with David Susskind broadcast is an historic and important television audio air check, now archived and preserved in digital form, reprocessed with continuity by Phil Gries (all extraneous audio eliminated), for the first time in six decades. It is considered one of the oldest surviving OPEN END complete broadcasts, extant.  



                                                                                                                                                                                               
                                 

The final 66 minutes has been archived on 1/4" master audio tape of the show with David Susskind interviewing Nikita Khrushchev.  

NOTE:  David Susskind's show, Open End, was so titled because the show's episode ran as long as needed to cover the topic. In mid October, 1960, Susskind invited Nikita Khrushchev to appear for an interview. Khrushchev was prepared to expose any hypocrisy and propaganda, and the usually unbeatable Susskind had met his match. For 2 hours, Khrushchev pummeled Susskind's anti-Russian and anti-Castro's rants, embarrassing Susskind and the nation. It was even more unfortunate when a anti-communism commercial ran mid-way through the live event. Khrushchev, realizing what had just happened, commented about the "trickery."

Susskind delivered long patriotic orations and attempted to appear statesman-like, but Khrushchev exposed Susskind's flip behavior. When Susskind remarked to Khrushchev, "You are baying at the moon", Khrushchev, according to Time Magazine, "gave him a naughty-boy dressing down, beginning by asking Susskind's age (39) and suggesting he had much to learn." Throughout the interview, Khrushchev was amiable, calm, and on-target. 

SEE ATA#13496B, "WORLD IN PERSPECTIVE" televised right after the OPEN END Susskind & Khrushchev interview. A review of the program is discussed with David Susskind and a panel of six journalists. 

Part 2 of David Susskind's interview with Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev.                                                                       

The final 66 minutes has been archived on 1/4" master audio tape of the show with David Susskind interviewing Nikita Khrushchev.  

NOTE:  David Susskind's show, Open End, was so titled because the show's episode ran as long as needed to cover the topic. In mid October, 1960, Susskind invited Nikita Khrushchev to appear for an interview. Khrushchev was prepared to expose any hypocrisy and propaganda, and the usually unbeatable Susskind had met his match. For 2 hours, Khrushchev pummeled Susskind's anti-Russian and anti-Castro's rants, embarrassing Susskind and the nation. It was even more unfortunate when a anti-communism commercial ran mid-way through the live event. Khrushchev, realizing what had just happened, commented about the "trickery."

Susskind delivered long patriotic orations and attempted to appear statesman-like, but Khrushchev exposed Susskind's flip behavior. When Susskind remarked to Khrushchev, "You are baying at the moon", Khrushchev, according to Time Magazine, "gave him a naughty-boy dressing down, beginning by asking Susskind's age (39) and suggesting he had much to learn." Throughout the interview, Khrushchev was amiable, calm, and on-target. 

SEE ATA#13496B, "WORLD IN PERSPECTIVE" televised right after the OPEN END Susskind & Khrushchev interview. A review of the program is discussed with David Susskind and a panel of six journalists.                                                                         

The final 66 minutes has been archived on 1/4" master audio tape of the show with David Susskind interviewing Nikita Khrushchev.  

NOTE:  David Susskind's show, Open End, was so titled because the show's episode ran as long as needed to cover the topic. In mid October, 1960, Susskind invited Nikita Khrushchev to appear for an interview. Khrushchev was prepared to expose any hypocrisy and propaganda, and the usually unbeatable Susskind had met his match. For 2 hours, Khrushchev pummeled Susskind's anti-Russian and anti-Castro's rants, embarrassing Susskind and the nation. It was even more unfortunate when a anti-communism commercial ran mid-way through the live event. Khrushchev, realizing what had just happened, commented about the "trickery."

Susskind delivered long patriotic orations and attempted to appear statesman-like, but Khrushchev exposed Susskind's flip behavior. When Susskind remarked to Khrushchev, "You are baying at the moon", Khrushchev, according to Time Magazine, "gave him a naughty-boy dressing down, beginning by asking Susskind's age (39) and suggesting he had much to learn." Throughout the interview, Khrushchev was amiable, calm, and on-target. 

SEE ATA#13496B, "WORLD IN PERSPECTIVE" televised right after the OPEN END Susskind & Khrushchev interview. A review of the program is discussed with David Susskind and a panel of six journalists.                                                                         

    The topic of tonight's round table discussion relate to the problems and political challenges facing the continent of contemporary Africa. Guests include Mr. Mulhallom of Somalia, Cryson Saki of Ghana, Mr. Washakie of Nigeria and Sir Andrew Cohen of Great Britain.          

 Theater is the subject. Joining host David Susskind are his guests, Jack Lemmon, Anthony Quinn, Brendan Beahan, Celeste Holme, George Devine, and Tennessee Williams.                          

Topic of tonight's round table discussion with host David Susskind relate to the challenges faced by The United Nations. 
Guests include Sir David Ormsby-Gore, British diplomat and conservative politician, Walt W. Rostow, American economist, professor and political theorist, Adolf A. Berle Jr., lawyer, educator, and former US Assistant Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs, Dr. Louis Nevel, member on many UN councils, and Chandra Jau, advocate on the Human Rights Commission.                        

 Three United States Senators and two House of Representatives discuss the future of their Republican Party. 
Joining host David Susskind are Senator Leverett Saltonstall of Massachusetts, Senator George D. Akin of Vermont, Representative Clair Hoffman of Michigan, Senator Clifford Case of New Jersey, and Representative Melvin Laird of Wisconsin.
                         

                 October 14, 1958 - August 13, 1961
OPEN END with David Susskind: (WNTA Channel 13 Television)

                  September 10, 1961-May 5, 1963
OPEN END with David Susskind (WNEW Channel 5 Television)

June 9, 1963 last show of the season broadcast on WPIX TV.

                October 13, 1963-September 18, 1966
OPEN END with David Susskind (WPIX Channel 11 Television)

                October 2, 1966-September, 1986
DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW (SYNDICATED, PBS, and COMMERCIAL STATIONS, including WNEW, New York). 


OPEN END with David Susskind: (WNTA Channel 13 Television)

              "PSYCHE, PSYCHOSIS & PSYCHOLOGY"

Open End with David Susskind was a break through talk show which literally had no time limit. The show ended when host, moderator David Susskind felt all conversation points were discussed. Some of these marathon telecasts lasted over four hours!. 

The series premiered on WNTA Channel 13 in New York for three years, an independent broadcast station, before it would become a Public Broadcast Station in 1962. A myriad of talk show guests, famous, infamous and unknown, found a forum on OPEN END. Subjects varied focusing on usually one topic...show business, politics, the economy, sex, education, crime, etc. Typically, many guests would discuss a subject sitting around a large table with David Susskind moderating, leading his guests with baited questions. For the first three years, of its 26 year existence as a regular series, WNTA TV was home to OPEN END which originally began its broadcasts on Tuesday nights, switching on January 18, 1959 to Sunday nights...a future Sunday evening time slot of the week where it would remain until 1986, for the rest of its run. The OPEN END with David Susskind Show also found syndication across the country and each market would run the program at different time at their own discretion. 

Most all of the telecasts were recorded on video tape, 2" quadruplex. Most shows were kept for a year or two like THE MOVIE MAKERS broadcast which was re-run on August 6, 1961 almost a year after it was first telecast on October 2, 1960. By this time the show ran for a finite three hours long. Thus the re-run of the MOVIE MAKERS had some footage deleted from its original run which aired for over three and half hours, including commercials. 

 This rare example of a very early OPEN END with David Susskind broadcast is an historic and important television audio air check, now archived and preserved in digital form, reprocessed with continuity by Phil Gries (all extraneous audio eliminated), for the first time in six decades. It is considered one of the oldest surviving OPEN END complete broadcasts, or almost complete broadcasts extant.  



                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Because of a New York City snowstorm, host David Susskind is not able to arrive for this broadcast. Fay Emerson replaces him as hostess. The first hour of the broadcast is not archived. Joined in progress. 
Guests include Pete Martin, Dr. Herbert Kupper, Bill Davidson, Gilbert Milstein, Eleanor Harris, and Maurice Zoltan                                     

    A discussion related to school desegregation in the New Orleans school system. 

NOTE: The New Orleans school desegregation crisis took place on November 14, 1960 when two New Orleans elementary schools were desegregated. Desegregation was a policy that introduced black students into all-white schools, as ordered by the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954, in which the court ruled racial segregation of public schools to be unconstitutional. There had been significant backlash form white New Orleans residents towards desegregating, and the New Orleans school board tried everything they could to postpone the mandatory desegregation from the federal government. 
        

 "Hollywood's Fourth Estate," is discussed by columnists covering the movieland scene. They include, Joe Hyams, American columnist and author of bestselling biographies of Hollywood stars including Humphrey Bogart, Mike Connolly, American magazine reporter and primarily a Hollywood columnist, Florabel Muir, American reporter, newspaper columnist and author, covering Hollywood celebrities and underworld gangsters from the 1920s through the 1960s, Murray Schumach, Author and Hollywood reporter for the New York Times, Mike Connolly, American magazine reporter and Hollywood columnist, and Jonah Ruddy.                                     

 "Hollywood's Fourth Estate," is discussed by columnists covering the movieland scene. They include, Joe Hyams, American columnist and author of bestselling biographies of Hollywood stars including Humphrey Bogart, Mike Connolly, American magazine reporter and primarily a Hollywood columnist, Florabel Muir, American reporter, newspaper columnist and author, covering Hollywood celebrities and underworld gangsters from the 1920s through the 1960s, Murray Schumach, Author and Hollywood reporter for the New York Times, Mike Connolly, American magazine reporter and Hollywood columnist, and Jonah Ruddy.                                                  

The topic of tonight's round table discussion, predictions about the world in the New Year, 1961. 

Guests include, Alogey Jose Nigerian Correspondent, William Clark, UK commentator and director, Bottom Nekrasov, Russian Correspondent, Patrick O' Donovan, Washington D.C. correspondent, James McCulley, Australian Editor, and Prim Batiya, Indian Correspondent.               

A 2 hour and 45 minute round table discussion...reflections by novelists James Mitchener(Tales of the South Pacific, Hawaii, Centennial), Nancy Wilson Ross(Joan of Arc, Westward the Women, Thor's Visit to the Land of Giants), Sloan Wilson(The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, A Summer Place),  Morris West(The Devil's Advocate, Children of the Sun, The Big Story), Virgilia Peterson, and Alan Drury(Advise and Consent).                         

      The premiere of OPEN END WITH DAVID SUSSKIND on WNEW TV, now reduced to a two hour weekly Sunday night broadcast time slot from the original open ended time concept as presented since 1958 on WNTA TV. 

On this Premiere show the discussion revolves around the RAT PACK, originally devised by Humphrey Bogart and now comprised of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford. 
On the panel discussing this topic with great candor are Jackie Gleason, Ernie Kovacs, Toots Shore, Joe E. Lewis, Marya Mannes, Dick Gehman and Lenore Lemmon, former girlfriend of George Reeves (Superman on TV) at the time of his death in 1959.

NOTE: This Archival TV Audio Air Check began recording when this program was in progress. It contains the entire first 62 minutes of the broadcast with the exception of the original introduction of guests by moderator David Susskind.   
 
HISTORY OF THE SERIES:
Originally scheduled to premiere on October 7, but delayed one week.
October 14, 1958 - August 13, 1961
OPEN END with David Susskind: (WNTA Channel 13 Television)

September 10, 1961-May 5, 1963
OPEN END with David Susskind (WNEW Channel 5 Television)

June 9, 1963 last show of the season broadcast on WPIX TV.

October 13, 1963-September 18, 1966
OPEN END with David Susskind (WPIX Channel 11 Television)

October 2, 1966-September, 1986
DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW (SYNDICATED, PBS, and COMMERCIAL STATIONS, including WNEW, New York). 

After an association of nearly three decades with Channel 5 in New York, the former WNEW-TV, later changed to WNYW-TV, David Susskind stopped producing the program in September 1986 because of its late-night time slot, from 1:30 to 3:30 A.M. Sunday nights. His audience like his iconic talk show dwindled not only in its following but in the ratings. Susskind knew when to quit. His last David Susskind Show aired only five months from the time of his death. 
            
Open End with David Susskind was a break through talk show which literally had no time limit. 

The premiere broadcast reviewed in Variety stated:
"In the blueprint stage, OPEN END was initiated on WNTA-TV on Tuesday October 14th the same night 'The World of Suzie Wong' premiered on Broadway. When the show is going slowly, then Susskind has the right to end it as soon as he likes; when it's going well , he can stretch it the night through since "OPEN END" is the last scheduled WNTA program of the night."

The show ended when host, moderator David Susskind, felt all conversation points were discussed. Some of these marathon telecasts lasted over four hours! Jean Kennedy was the producer during the 28 year run of the series.

The series premiered and aired on WNTA Channel 13 in New York for three years, an independent broadcast station, before it would become a Public Broadcast Station in 1962. A myriad of talk show guests, famous, infamous and unknown, found a forum on OPEN END. Subjects varied focusing on usually one topic...show business, politics, the economy, sex, education, crime, etc. Typically, many guests would discuss a subject sitting around a large table with David Susskind moderating, leading his guests with baited questions. On occasion a solo guest would highlight the show.

For the first three years, of its 28 year existence as a regular series, WNTA TV was home to OPEN END which originally began its broadcasts on Tuesday nights, switching on January 18, 1959 to Sunday nights...a future Sunday evening time slot of the week where it would remain until 1986, for the rest of its run.

After broadcasting with a two hour truncated format on WNEW form September 10, 1961 to May 5, 1963 a falling out and rift occurred between Susskind and WNEW management centered on WNEW's reluctance to air discussions regarding race relations in America. WPIX reacted with interest in bringing OPEN END to their flagship New York channel. For the last OPEN END show of the 1962-1963 season WPIX  TOOK LAST MINUTE EMERGENCY MEASURES TO CLEAR TWO HOURS ON SUNDAY NIGHT  June 9, 1963, featuring solo guest Dr. Martin Luther KIng, pre-empting regular scheduled programming (6:30-8:30 pm).

Open End was later cut by WPIX to one hour time slot. David Susskind not satisfied with the shortened format reconnected with WNEW where he returned to a two hour format with a changed  program name. 
THE DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW  had its return premiere on WNEW TV October 2, 1966. 
 
The David Susskind Show also found syndication across the country and each market would run the program at different times at their own discretion. 

Most all of the telecasts were recorded on video tape, 2" quadruplex. Most shows were kept for a year or two like THE MOVIE MAKERS broadcast which was re-run on August 6, 1961 almost a year after it was first telecast on October 2, 1960. By this time the show was no longer without a time limit. It ran for a finite three hours long. Thus the re-run of the MOVIE MAKERS had some footage deleted from its original run which aired for over three and half hours, including commercials. 

The re-run of "THE MOVIE MAKERS" was the next to last broadcast telecast on WNTA channel 13. On September 10, 1961 the show moved to WNEW Channel 5 METROMEDIA in New York.

Sadly, most all of OPEN END broadcasts (1958-1966), later re titled THE DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW (1966-1986), were wiped erased, destroyed, discarded...whereabouts unknown, representing most shows produced and telecast during the late 1950's, 1960's and early 1970's.   Only a handful of OPEN END / DAVID SUSSKIND  shows are known to survive from 1958 thru 1969. Hundreds of programs survive representing the middle 1970's thru 1986. 

                
Open End with David Susskind was a unique break through talk with no time limit, rare during any time in television broadcast history, and never to be replicated in the future of television broadcasting after 1960. 

On occasion only one guest would be profiled. Mostly shows were comprised of many individuals discussing one topic which  included race relations, the draft, organized crime, the Hollywood scene, the politics of the times, sex-change operations, divorce, clairvoyants, psychoanalysis, prostitution, etc.

Sadly, most all of OPEN END broadcasts, later re titled THE DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW, commencing with the Oct. 2, 1966 broadcast, were wiped (erased), destroyed, discarded...whereabouts unknown, representing most shows produced and telecast during the late 1950's, 1960's and early 1970's. Hundreds of broadcasts circa mid 1970's - 1986 have been archived and are extant.

David Susskind interviews Arthur Godfrey on the status of television. Godfrey comments on the present state of television and its future.  He believes that at one time he had 40% of the TV audience when he was number one. Importance of selling a sponsor.  Susskind believes that the public should be more pro active and demand what content they would prefer to view on TV.  
Arthur  Godfrey states how much he has enjoyed doing the show. It has given him time to think in a studio talk show atmosphere. 

NOTE: This March 15, 1959 show is the second oldest known program, surviving in any broadcast form, to be extant. 

The video tape of this original broadcast would be used again for a repeat TV broadcast on Sunday, September 20, 1959. Then it would be erased. 

The oldest surviving archived remnant is a December 23,1958 kinescope 20 minute segment of a broadcast titled "Method or Madness?" The topic, "method acting" with guests Michael Benthal, Ben Gazarra,  Adolph Green, Betty Comden, Lawrence Harvey, Jule Styne , and Patricia Neal                                                      

The second broadest of OPEN END WITH DAVID SUSSKIND on WNEW TV, now reduced to a two hour weekly Sunday night broadcast time limitation from the original open ended time concept as presented since 1958 on WNTA TV. 

An in depth interview with former President Harry S. Truman. Topics discussed include, Red China, the Soviet Union, America's role in world affairs, Truman's days as Chief Executive and his philosophy related to longevity (he takes a few mile walk almost every day). 

NOTE:
When, in 1961, Susskind conducted this one on one interview with former President Harry Truman in Truman's hometown of Independence, Missouri, he offered to pick up Truman at his home to take him to the Truman Presidential Library for the taping. Susskind asked Truman why he hadn't been invited into the home. According to presidential historian Michael Beschloss, Truman flatly told Susskind, "This is Bess's house" and that there had never been nor would there ever be a Jewish guest in there.


                                                 

Guests Johnny Carson, Woody Allen, Dave Astor, Jack Carter and Mickey Rooney discuss the world of comedy with David Susskind.  This very rare "lost TV broadcast" was Woody Allen's first notable television appearance and was telecast nine months before Johnny Carson would become host of "The Tonight Show."  

NOTE: Originally recorded off the air by Phil Gries. Woody Allen who had been looking to obtain this "lost" broadcast for years was given a personal copy by Gries in January 1997 and soon after donated a copy to The Paley Center for Media (at that time named The  Museum of Television and Radio).
Jack Carter also received a copy of this broadcast from Gries who discussed in a letter his near fisticuff moments with Woody Allen during commercial breaks.                        

Television around the world is discussed by Dennis G. Scusse (UK),
Jacques Sallebert (France), Lister Sinclair (Canada), Leonard Mauger (Australia), John G. McCarthy (USA), and Francis Yoshimura (Japan). David Susskind is host.             

Jackie Gleason is interviewed by David Susskind. This television profile of the "Great One" was first broadcast on Jan. 7, 1962.

NOTE: Only a brief excerpt survives on kinescope of this definitive interview of "The Great One." This peerless television audio air check archives the complete program as audio recorded by Phil Gries off the air at the time of the original broadcast.              

This was the first televised concert from Lincoln Center in New York City. Conducted by Abraham Kaplan and Hugh Ross.  

Host: Alistair Cooke.     

Viewers across the country join first-nighters in New York City for an event of national significance; the opening of Lincoln Center for the performing arts. When completed, the center's five buildings will house the Metropolitan Opera, a repertory theater, a ballet company, a school of music and the New York Philharmonic.
Tonight from Philharmonic Hall, Leonard Bernstein conducts the dedicatory concert. Soloists:  Eileen Farrell, Richard Tucker, George London, Shirley Verrett-Carter, Lucine Amara, Charles Bressler, Jennie Tourel, Adele Addison, Lili Chookasian, Donald Bell, Jon Vickers, and Ezio Flagello. Choral groups: Schola Cantorum, Juilliard Chorus, Columbus Boychoir. 
During intermission, host Alistair Cooke visits backstage. Robert Saudek produced the live two-hour program. Directors: Kirk Browning, Don Hewitt.

Highlights:

Gloria from "Missa Solemnis"...Beethoven 
Connotations for Orchestra...Copland
"Serenade To Music"...Vaughan Williams 
Hymn from Symphony No. 8...Mahler 



Duplicate of 7303.     

This was the first televised concert from Lincoln Center in New York City. Conducted by Abraham Kaplan and Hugh Ross.  

Host: Alistair Cooke.             

Andy Griffith, Lucille Ball, Danny Thomas and Jack Benny perform.                                     

October 14, 1958 - August 13, 1961
OPEN END with David Susskind: (WNTA Channel 13 Television)

September 10, 1961-May 5, 1963
OPEN END with David Susskind (WNEW Channel 5 Television)

June 9, 1963 last show of the season broadcast on WPIX TV.

October 13, 1963-September 18, 1966
OPEN END with David Susskind (WPIX Channel 11 Television)

October 2, 1966-September, 1986
DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW (SYNDICATED, PBS, and COMMERCIAL STATIONS, including WNEW, New York). 
            
Open End with David Susskind was a break through talk show which literally had no time limit. The show ended when host, moderator David Susskind, felt all conversation points were discussed. Some of these marathon telecasts lasted over four hours! Jean Kennedy was the producer during the 28 year run of the series.

The series premiered and aired on WNTA Channel 13 in New York for three years, an independent broadcast station, before it would become a Public Broadcast Station in 1962. A myriad of talk show guests, famous, infamous and unknown, found a forum on OPEN END. Subjects varied focusing on usually one topic...show business, politics, the economy, sex, education, crime, etc. Typically, many guests would discuss a subject sitting around a large table with David Susskind moderating, leading his guests with baited questions. On occasion a solo guest would highlight the show.

For the first three years, of its 28 year existence as a regular series, WNTA TV was home to OPEN END which originally began its broadcasts on Tuesday nights, switching on January 18, 1959 to Sunday nights...a future Sunday evening time slot of the week where it would remain until 1986, for the rest of its run.

After broadcasting with a two hour truncated format on WNEW form September 10, 1961 to May 5, 1963 a falling out and rift occurred between Susskind and WNEW management centered on WNEW's reluctance to air discussions regarding race relations in America. WPIX reacted with interest in bringing OPEN END to their flagship New York channel. For the last OPEN END show of the 1962-1963 season WPIX  TOOK LAST MINUTE EMERGENCY MEASURES TO CLEAR TWO HOURS ON SUNDAY NIGHT  June 9, 1963, featuring solo guest Dr. Martin Luther KIng, pre-empting regular scheduled programming (6:30-8:30 pm).

Open End was later cut by WPIX to one hour time slot. David Susskind not satisfied with the shortened format reconnected with WNEW where he returned to a two hour format with a changed  program name. 
THE DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW  had its return premiere on WNEW TV October 2, 1966. 
 
The David Susskind Show also found syndication across the country and each market would run the program at different times at their own discretion. 

Most all of the telecasts were recorded on video tape, 2" quadruplex. Most shows were kept for a year or two like THE MOVIE MAKERS broadcast which was re-run on August 6, 1961 almost a year after it was first telecast on October 2, 1960. By this time the show was no longer without a time limit. It ran for a finite three hours long. Thus the re-run of the MOVIE MAKERS had some footage deleted from its original run which aired for over three and half hours, including commercials. 

The re-run of "THE MOVIE MAKERS" was the next to last broadcast telecast on WNTA channel 13. On September 10, 1961 the show moved to WNEW Channel 5 METROMEDIA in New York.

Sadly, most all of OPEN END broadcasts (1958-1966), later re titled THE DAVID SUSSKIND SHOW (1966-1986), were wiped erased, destroyed, discarded...whereabouts unknown, representing most shows produced and telecast during the late 1950's, 1960's and early 1970's.   Only a handful of OPEN END / DAVID SUSSKIND  shows are known to survive from 1958 thru 1969. Hundreds of programs survive representing the middle 1970's thru 1986. 

                
Open End with David Susskind was a unique break through talk with no time limit, rare during any time in television broadcast history, and never to be replicated in the future of television broadcasting after 1960. 

On occasion only one guest would be profiled. Mostly shows were comprised of many individuals discussing one topic which  included race relations, the draft, organized crime, the Hollywood scene, the politics of the times, sex-change operations, divorce, clairvoyants, psychoanalysis, prostitution, etc.


NOTE: This March 15, 1959 show is the second oldest known program, surviving in any broadcast form, to be extant. 

The video tape of this original broadcast would be used again for a repeat TV broadcast on Sunday, September 20, 1959. Then it would be erased. 

The oldest surviving archived remnant is a December 23,1958 kinescope 20 minute segment of a broadcast titled "Method or Madness?" The topic, "method acting" with guests Michael Benthal, Ben Gazarra,  Adolph Green, Betty Comden, Lawrence Harvey, Jule Styne , and Patricia Neal.

Tonight's Topic: Should the US get tough with Cuba? Participants include Senator Thomas Dodd, (Democrat, Connecticut), and Senator Clifford Case, (New Jersey).
The discussion includes the current Soviet military buildup in Cuba, a possible US blockade around Cuba, the risk of World War 111.

Host: David Susskind. 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Leon Pearson-late news and comment. Reports from Mississippi and Washington, Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett comments on the US invasion of Mississippi, and James Meredith and he urges peace and that rioters go home.                        

1958-1987

Theatrical and television producer David Susskind hosted this talk program consisting of a wide variety of topics. Each show centered around one topic consisting of four to seven guests. Occasionally, there would be one guest.

Host: David Susskind. Topic: "Is This TV season a Flop?" 
Postponed from the previous week. 

Various TV critics discuss this issue.  They are Richard Doan, Ben Gross and John McPhee (New York) Terrence O'Flaherty (San Francisco) Laurence Laurent (Washington, D.C.) Terry Turner (Chicago) and Anthony La Camera (Boston).     

Additional topics discussed include past television programs / anecdotes  including  "Playhouse 90: Requiem For A Heavyweight," ratings, effect of critics by TV viewers, and the dirth of serious television criticism by today's film critics.      

First 44 minutes of the broadcast sans commercials.                                                                                                                                                                      

The 25th Anniversary of the March of Dimes is celebrated. Hosted by Dick Powell, guest artists include Morey Amsterdam, Pearl Bailey, Richard Chamberlain, Bing Crosby, Lionel Hampton, Dean Martin, Andre Previn, Juliet Prowse, Rose Marie, Dick Van Dyke, Jane Wyatt, Ed Wynn, Connie Stevens, Neville Brand, Don Knotts, Soupy Sales, Cara Williams and Frank Gorshin.