The Big Record

The Big Record is an American television music variety series which aired 1957 to 1958 on CBS. Originally it was an hour-long show (approx. 50 minutes excluding ads) but later was a half-hour show (approx. 25 minutes excluding ads, as can be seen on available episodes). It was hosted by Patti Page, who sang songs and introduced the guest performers. Most of the music was of the pop genre, although other styles of music were also featured, including jazz, rock and roll, and (very occasionally) country. Professional dancers also sometimes appeared as guests.

In one episode (March 12 1958), the guests included Pearl Bailey, Hilo Hattie, The Four Voices and Florence Henderson.^[1] There were 26 hour-long episodes and 12 half-hour episodes.^[2] The series aired live, and kinescoped for west coast broadcast. In the May 21 1958 episode, guest singer Jo Stafford mentioned the series being broadcast from New York City, and made a topical joke: "look at it this way, you haven't lost a ball team, you've gained a parking lot.".

Oldsmobile was the main sponsor, and some of the commercials featured Patti Page singing the Oldsmobile jingle. Florence Henderson appeared in some of the filmed ads for the cars. Due to the kinescope technology used to record the shows, a number of episodes with commercials intact still exist. Following the end of the series, Page did an additional series for Oldsmobile during the 1958-1959 television season (The Patti Page Oldsmobile Show).

Reception

Reviewing an episode, Billboard felt the series needed a more precise format, but also complimented Page's hosting and singing.^[3]

References

External links

The Big Record on IMDb
The series was not registered with the U.S. copyright office. Four and a half episodes appear on the Internet Archive: November 27 1957, April 23 1958, May 14 1958, May 21 1958 and the first half of February 5 1958

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