Today In History: Wednesday, October 27, 2021

Television and Radio
“You Bet Your Life” with Groucho Marx premiered on ABC radio in 1947. He went on to host the original TV version of the comedy quiz show on NBC from 1950 to 1961. The current reboot hosted by Jay Leno is the third attempt at this series following Buddy Hackett in 1980-81 and Bill Cosby in 1991-92. Both were huge flops (as is the current version with Leno)…The first Walt Disney show, “Disneyland,“ debuted in 1954. It shifted from ABC to NBC in 1961 as “Walt Disney’s Magical World of Color” (and eventually “The Wonderful World of Disney”) and remained there for 20 years. CBS picked-up the then titled “Walt Disney” in 1981 and aired it for two seasons. “The Disney Sunday Movie” surfaced on ABC in 1986 and ran for two more years, while NBC kept the franchise alive as “The Magical World of Disney” from 1988-90…Animated holiday classic “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” premiered on CBS in 1966…Short-lived coming-of-age drama “James at 15” starring Lance Kerwin premiered as a weekly series on NBC in 1977…19th century-set western drama “Paradise” debuted on CBS in 1988. The series, co-created by David Jacobs (“Dallas”, “Knots Landing”) and had starred Lee Horsley, ran for three seasons. In its shortened final season, it was re-titled as “Guns of Paradise“…In 1989, Jane Pauley officially announced that she would leave NBC’s “Today” by the end of that year…Saturday daytime sports program “NBA Inside Stuff” debuted on NBC in 1990. Hosted by Ahmad Rashad, it ran for 12 years on NBC and 4 years on ABC. It was later revived by NBA TV in 2013 with hosts Grant Hill and Kristen Ledlow.

Movies:
“Rebel Without a Cause” starring James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo was released in theaters in 1955. From Wipekedia: The film was a groundbreaking attempt to portray the moral decay of American youth, critique parental style, and explore the difference and conflicts between generations. The title was adopted from psychiatrist Robert M. Lindner’s 1944 book, “Rebel Without a Cause: The Hypnoanalysis of a Criminal Psychopath.” The film, however, does not make any references to Lindner’s book in any way. Warner Bros. released it on October 27, 1955, nearly a month after Dean’s death in a car accident on September 30, 1955.

Music:
Paul McCartney released single “Pretty Little Head” in 1986…Taylor Swift released her 5th studio album “1989” in 2015. It was named the Billboard Album of the Year, and won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2016.

News:
The first underground subway line opened in New York City in 1904.

Sports:
In a case of announcing serendipity, Fox’s Joe Buck uttered “We will see you tomorrow night!” in 2011 to describe St. Louis Cardinals’ David Freese‘s 11th inning walk-off solo home run in Game 6 of the World Series. It was 20 years and one day prior that Joe’s father Jack Buck had used that same phrase on CBS to call Kirby Puckett‘s 11th inning walk-off solo home run for the Minnesota Twins in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series.

Celebrity Birthdays:
“Monty Python” actor John Cleese is 82; country singer Lee Greenwood is 79; “Ghostbusters” director Ivan Reitman is 75; actor-director Roberto Benigni (“Life is Beautiful”) is 69; Duran Duran lead singer Simon LeBon is 63; Marla Maples is 58; Kelly Osbourne is 37; “The Goldbergs” co-star Troy Gentile is 28.

Did You Know?
In 1990, “Rebel Without a Cause” was added to the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry as being deemed “culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant”…After James’ (Lance Kerwin) first sexual experience, the title of NBC drama “James at 15” was changed to “James at 16.”