Description xi, 228 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Note Includes bibliographical references and index

Contents My father was an engineer -- From basement to Broadway -- Who is in charge here? -- The DuMont daytime experiment -- Captain video : protector of the free world and the DuMont network -- What'd he say? Morey Amsterdam meets Norman Rockwell -- And away he went ... Jackie Gleason and the cavalcade of stars -- Law and order, DuMont style -- A bishop for Berle fans -- Ernie Kovacs and the DuMont legacy -- Appendix : DuMont chronology

Summary "During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the name "DuMont" was synonymous with the new medium of television. Many people first watched TV on DuMont-brand sets, the best receivers money could buy. Even more viewers enjoyed their first programs on the DuMont network, which was established in 1946. Network founder Allen B. DuMont became a folk hero for his entrepreneurial spirit in bringing television to the American people. Yet, by 1955, the DuMont network was out of business and its founder and namesake was forced to relinquish control of the company he had spent a quarter century building."

"The heart of David Weinstein's book examines DuMont's programs and personalities, including Dennis James, Captain Video, Morey Amsterdam, Jackie Gleason and The Honeymooners, Ernie Kovacs, and Rocky King, Detective. Weinstein uses rare kinescopes, archival photographs, exclusive interviews, trade journal articles, and corporate documents to tell the story of a "forgotten network" that helped invent the very business of network television."--Jacket

Subjects Du Mont Television Network -- History

Du Mont, Allen B. (Allen Balcom), 1901-1965

Genre/Form History. fast

LC NO PN1992.92.D86 W45 2004

Dewey No 384.55/23/0973 22

OCLC # 53485354

ISBN 1592132456 (cloth : alk. paper)

9781592132454 (cloth : alk. paper)

159213260X (pbk. : alk. paper)

9781592132607 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1592134998

9781592134991