September 27, 1954 - January 25, 1957. This evenings telecast is the final TONIGHT! show starring Steve Allen. A farewell party is staged. All the regular singers are featured in musical numbers and Steve uses some of the 'gimmicks which found great popularity on show during the 2 1/2 years on air, including the big salami, and goo goo dolls. Steve speaks briefly to some of the men on the new "Tonight" show which starts next week. They include Jack Lescoulie, Earl Wilson, Hy Gardner, & Bob Considine. 

The basic format of The Tonight! Show was established during Allen's tenure: an opening monologue, a segment involving the studio audience (through interviews or games such as "Stump the Band"), and a simple set (a desk and chair for the host, a couch for the guests), all trademarks of the Allen era. Allen inaugurated the out-of-town broadcast (the first one was done from Miami), the one guest show (Carl Sandburg was the first solo guest), and the one topic show (entire programs devoted to such subjects as narcotics, civil rights, and black music). Allen also established the practice of paying his guests only "scale," the minimum fee required by union-network contract (this practice led to a highly publicized  feud between Steve Allen and Ed Sullivan and later between Jack Paar and Ed Sullivan, as Sullivan paid top dollar for his guests). Though Allen's Tonight! show closely resembled the shows of his successors, Jack Paar and Johnny Carson, it was more a musical show; Allen himself was an accomplished musician and composer (he wrote his theme, "This Could Be The Start of Something Big"), and he employed a nucleus of musical regulars on his show. In addition to announcer – sidekick Gene Rayburn, the show featured singers Steve Lawrence (who was only seventeen when he began singing on Allen's local show), Eydie Gormé (who subsequently married Steve Lawrence), Andy Williams (who later hosted several series of his own), and Pat Marshall (who was succeeded by Pat Kirby).  Skitch Henderson led the Orchestra.                                       

July 29, 1957- March 30,1962. 

For four years and eight months Jack Paar reigned supreme as host of the Tonight Show with a crew of regulars, but only two stayed with him for the entire run; announcer Hugh Downs and band leader Jose Melies, a former army buddy. Familiar faces who appeared many times with Jack included Dody Goodman, Betty Johnson, Elsa Maxwell, Alexander King, Genevieve, Jack Douglas; and wife Reiko, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Hans Conried, Peggy Cass, Cliff (Charley Weaver) Arquette, and Johnathan Winters. Hugh Downs substituted for Jack Paar 79 times, more than any other substitute host there were 20 different performers over the period of the series run. Joey Bishop substituted for Paar 31 times. Arlene Francis, 30 times, Jonathan Winters, 26 times, Orson Bean, 21 times and Johnny Carson 15 times. Altogether there were 243 broadcasts that had substitute hosts filling in for Paar during Jack Paar's TONIGHT SHOW tenure. The title of the late-night broadcast changed to THE JACK PAAR SHOW which took effect on February 3, 1958. The first videotaped broadcast aired on January 5, 1959. "Best of Paar " Re-runs began on July 10, 1959. The first color broadcast aired on September 19, 1960.  

Jack comments on the tractor for prisoner trade, Guest Milt Kamen does a stand-up routine.                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Jerry Lewis hosts on three successive nights...July 4, 1962 with guest Chuck McCann, July 5, 1962, with guest Phil Foster, and July 6, 1962, with guests, Rick Norman (Rick Saphire), Milt Kamen, The Vagabonds and Henry Gibson. 
These segments are combined within this audio air check.                         

Les Crane hosts this live 1:00 AM late night phone-in talk show with guests Milt Kamen, Jack E. Leonard and Joyce Davidson. Rudy Vallee phones the show and talks to the guests. 
He especially criticizes Leonard for using incorrect grammar when speaking on the show.

Debut of program was September 16, 1963. For the first month the title of the telecast was NIGHT LINE...LES CRANE. Beginning on October 18, 1963 the title was changed to THE LES CRANE SHOW. 

These late night LIVE broadcasts were aired Monday thru Friday. on local station WABC New York. Beginning December 6, 1963 late night broadcasts aired Tuesday thru Saturday. Also, another time slot opened for Crane with a similar format airing on WABC in the afternoon...a one hour version broadcast from 1:30-2:30pm, five days a week, and again returning to late night broadcasting usually 1am to 2:00am after the WABC late movie, THE BEST OF BROADWAY. This TALK SHOW / PHONE IN version of The Les Crane Show concluded its final broadcast  on July 31, 1964.

On August 3, 4, 5, 6, & 8, 1964 THE NEW LES CRANE SHOW premiered...a five program trial rivaling Johnny Carson's TONIGHT SHOW.  It was Nationally televised and it is considered the FIRST network talk show program to compete with THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JOHNNY CARSON. On November 9, 1964 THE LES CRANE SHOW premiered and aired regularly weeknights on the ABC network, opposite Johnny Carson's TONIGHT SHOW.
After 14 weeks, and low ratings, this series ended with its last telecast airing on February 26, 1965. Les Crane's late night network career was over, and never to be resumed Nationally.

ABC renamed their late night time slot NIGHTLIFE, premiering on February 29, 1965.This one hour forty five minute weekly late night talk series showcased guest hosts. This series run  lasted four months, the last broadcast airing on June 25, 1965. Guest hosts included: Shelley Berman, Pat Boone, Jack Carter, Allan Sherman, Dave Garroway, Bill Cullen, William B. Williams (announcer of this series run), Eddy Arnold, Dale Robetson, Dick Shawn, Louis Nye, & Jan Murray. 

Form June 28 to October 22, 1965 Les Crane returned to this time slot...the series title remaining, NIGHTLIFE. Les Crane no longer was a solo host. He co-hosted with Dave Garroway, and Nippsy Russell.

Two years later, Les Crane returned to local late night television appearing for eight months on WNEW channel 5 in New York 11:15pm - 12:15am from January 15, 1968 changing time slots on July 8, 1968, 11:45pm - 12:45pm. Final show aired on September 6, 1968, and it was the last time Les Crane would host a late night television talk show.   

NOTE: A two hour radio broadcast profiling Les Crane, including TV Audio Air Check Crane highlights from the ATA archive can be listend to in its entirety. It appears on the ATA website under the link TV CONFIDENTIAL. The segment (SOUNDS OF LOST TELEVISION) was recorded in Pasadena California and aired in 2014 with host Ed Roberton, and guest Phil Gries. 

NOTE: Most all of Les Crane's cumulative 26 months of broadcasting as a talk show host is today non-existent. Tapes were destroyed, erased and whereabouts unknown. The 25 television air checks archived in the Archival Television Audio, Inc. library is the most known Les Crane broadcast records to exist in the country.
 
Extant examples existing elsewhere include two broadcast kinescopes archived by The Paley Center for Media (one from 1967, and the other, a broadcast from January 31, 1968 titled "Rich Jews." There is archived at UCLA FILM & TV ARCHIVE four extant examples related to Les Crane, including a 45 minute compilation demo/presentation reel with clips from the New Les Crane Show trial run (Aug. 1964).

NOTE: The Les Crane Show  late night talk program on ABC during the 1964-65 television season pioneered a format of television later embraced by icon Phil Donahue, Crane fell to NBC’s The Tonight Show, a national brand with a decade of broadcasting tenure, proved its dominance.  Donahue began his legendary career in Dayton in 1967, evolving into a daytime programming staple for nearly 30 years.

Les Crane’s daughter Caprice points out that her father used journalism to cover topics and people that others feared to explore.  “He created the shotgun mike,” says Crane of her dad, who passed away in 2008.  “He had guests who did not provide the typical fluff, for example, Malcolm X, Bob Dylan, and the mother of Lee Harvey Oswald.  He had the first publicly gay man on his show.  He was also an amazing listener who helped create a new television format that demanded more information for the listener.  
The Les Crane Show didn’t last long because the person who tries the new thing always gets penalized.  People are afraid of the unknown until it becomes mainstream.”

A renaissance media man for the second half of the 20th century, Crane held interests and influences beyond journalism.  “My dad gave The Mamas and the Papas group its name,” reminds Caprice Crane.  “Casey Kasem credited him with inventing the Top 40 radio format at KRLA.  He also got into the computer business before it was big.  His company was Software Tool Works, which produced the Chess Master computer program.  He was always before his time.”

Crane’s innovative format allowed one of baseball’s biggest heroes, Jackie Robinson, to debate one of conservatism’s biggest allies, William F. Buckley.  Nowhere on television in the mid-1960s could audiences see this type of television fodder.  Unfortunately, The Les Crane Show fell victim to a common policy of television networks destroying tapes because of the shortsighted view that future generations would not be interested.  How wrong they were.                                                               

This program was scheduled to air one week before on Nov. 22, the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Re-scheduled for tonight there is also a brief epilogue by Jack Paar about the tragedy. Guests are Liberace, Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali), Mary McCarthy and Milt Kamen.             

Guests are Milt Kamen, Vikki Carr and Carl Smith, Jimmy Dean's favorite Country and Western singer. 

 September 19, 1963-April 1, 1966. In 1963 Dean hosted a prime-time hour variety series on ABC, which lasted three seasons. Regulars included Karen Morrow, Molly Bee, Chuck McCann, the Chuck Cassey Singers and Rowlf the Muppet, the first of the puppet creations of Jim Henson to be featured on national TV.           

Celebrities test their trivia knowledge.

WNEW-TV Channel 5 in New York City. 

Host Henry Morgan.                       

October 1, 1962-May 22, 1992. Johnny Carson, host of NBC's network late-night "Tonight Show" reigned for 30 unprecedented years...five times the combined tenure of Steve Allen, and Jack Paar. Carson was impervious to competition, including efforts to dethrone him by Les Crane, Joey Bishop, Merv Griffin, Dick Cavett, Jack Paar, Pat Sajak, Joan Rivers, and Arsenio Hall. Sadly, very few complete "Tonight Show" broadcasts survive during Johnny Carson's first ten years of broadcasting. Around 1965, through the early 1970's, oldest tapes were first erased systematically by orders from myopic NBC executives, to be recycled for purposes of saving money. Ironically, in many cases, these older master tapes were too brittle, and portended probable drop-outs for re-use after being erased. Subsequently blank after being erased, these older questionable master 2" Quad tapes were either sparingly used or never used again for recording new programming and eventually were discarded. Saving thousands of dollars at the time (wiping master tapes for potential re-use) resulted in losing millions of dollars by NBC in today's marketplace, and more importantly wiping thousands of historic TONIGHT SHOW broadcasts, which contain precious personal anecdotes from political, show business, and sports icons of the past.




Guest hostess: Phyllis Diller. Her guests are comedians Soupy Sales, Milt Kamen, and advice columnist Abigail Van Buren (Dear Abby).
                    

           June 20, 1948 - May 30, 1971

ED SULLIVAN SHOW, THE, (TOAST OF THE TOWN)
Television's longest running variety series. Originally, titled, TOAST OF THE TOWN, the name of the series changed on September 18, 1955 to THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW. Most remembered for introducing many stand-up comedians, and musical acts, including The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, The Beatles. 

 Most of the 1,087 broadcasts, encompassing 10,000 performers, have been archived. The major exceptions are the first half-year of shows circa 1948 of which a few kinescope excerpts survive.
 
The ED SULLIVAN SHOW was a spectacular showcase that for twenty-three years entertained the American family. In its prime, more than thirty million viewers, young and old, tuned in at the same time to view popular culture.  

The guests are Richard Harris, George Carlin. Stiller and Meara and Milt Kamen. Harris sings "Camelot."  Benson and Hedges cigarette commercial. Joined in progress.  

                                                                             

October 1, 1962-March 29, 1963 (NBC); 1965-1969 (Syndicated); August 18, 1969-February 11, 1972 (CBS); 1972-1986 (Syndicated).

Host: Merv Griffin. Guests: Milt Kamen and Beatrice Lillie.