Fifty years ago tonight, on May 22, 1966, US Broadcast Television held its 18th annual (Primetime) Emmy Awards for outstanding performances in the field of television.
Danny Kaye and Bill Cosby were hosts, and the event was broadcast on CBS from the Hollywood Palladium. The Dick Van Dyke Show, which had just finished its final season on the air, was the top show that night winning five major awards. It was the fourth consecutive year that the show won the Emmy for best comedy series.
Wikipedia has a nice list of Emmy awards presentations, spanning the decades and is a nice way to pass the time to get a quick history of television awards over these many decades since 1949.
When one looks at the list of nominees for awards that night, it is a "who's who" of television legends; remarkable the amount of talent that graced American television screens during the 1965-1966 season. In our minds here at Television Vanguard, truly a 'golden age' of television, and certainly the most under rated era of television.
The list is remarkable:
Outstanding Comedy Series:
- The Dick Van Dyke Show (CBS) - award winner
- Batman (ABC)
- Bewitched (ABC)
- Get Smart (NBC)
- Hogan's Heroes (CBS)
Outstanding Drama Series
- The Fugitive (ABC) - award winner
- Bonanza (NBC)
- I Spy (NBC)
- The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (NBC)
- Slattery's People (CBS)
Outstanding Variety Series
- The Andy Williams Show (NBC) - award winner
- The Danny Kaye Show (CBS)
- The Hollywood Palace (ABC)
- The Red Skelton Show (CBS)
- The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (NBC)
Outstanding Musical Program
- Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music (NBC) - award winner
- The Bell Telephone Hour (NBC)
- Color Me Barbra (CBS)
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
- Dick Van Dyke as Rob Petrie on the Dick Van Dyke Show (CBS) - award winner
- Don Adams as Maxwell Smart on Get Smart (NBC)
- Bob Crane as Col. Robert E. Hogan on Hogan's Heroes (CBS)
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series
- Mary Tyler Moore as Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show (CBS) - award winner
- Lucille Ball as Lucy Carmichael on The Lucy Show (CBS)
- Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens on Bewitched (ABC)
(What a list! - this group of three women have accounted for millions of hours of television entertainment in world wide syndication for decades - remarkable!)
Outstanding Lead Actor on a Dramatic Series
- Bill Cosby as Alexander Scott on I Spy (NBC) - award winner
- Robert Culp as Kelly Robinson on I Spy (NBC)
- Richard Crenna as James Slattery on Slattery's People (CBS)
- David Janssen as Dr. Richard Kimble on The Fugitive (ABC)
- David McCallum as Illya Kuryakin on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (NBC)
Outstanding Lead Actress on a Dramatic Series
- Barbara Stanwyck as Victoria Barkley on The Big Valley (ABC) - award winner
- Ann Francis as Honey West on Honey West (ABC)
- Barbara Parkins as Betty Anderson Cord on Peyton Place (ABC)
This clip (from the excellent fifth season DVD set of the Dick Van Dyke Show) shows the Emmy presentation to both Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. The presenters - David Janssen (The Fugitive on ABC) and Anne Francis (Honey West, ABC).
This clip is presented here on KZfaq for the entertainment and informational value of the viewer, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Happy 50th Anniversary to all those who attended that Emmy event fifty years ago tonight, and to all those actors, actresses and crew/talent who helped make the 1965-1966 television season quite possibly the best in television history, and certainly the season with the great longevity in television syndication.
Seated at the Dick Van Dyke Show table at the Hollywood Palladium that night were Carl Reiner (series creator and producer from start: 1960 to finish: 1966), Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Morey Amsterdam, Rose Marie and their respective spouses and family.
Also key to the five year success of the Dick Van Dyke Show on a weekly basis were Richard Deacon, Larry Mathews, Ann Morgan Guilbert, Jerry Paris, John Rich, Carl Reiner (of course!), and Sam Denoff & Bill Persky (more on these two amazing men soon this coming fall!) And... a very special mention also to the great tandem of Sheldon Leonard and Danny Thomas (a special tribute to them is available here at Television Vanguard - posted last fall 2015), whose production company helped guide the series (and so many others) to greatness during the 1960's.
Final note: I've been looking at this clip and the audience members now for a few minutes, and I think I recognize the great Norman Lear seated just in back of Mary Tyler Moore. I believe he congratulates Dick Van Dyke as he is walking up to the stage. More on the great Norman Lear, and his business partner, the great Bud Yorkin, later this spring!