The Continental (TV series)

The Continental
Starring Renzo Cesana
Country of origin  United States
Original language(s) English
Release
Original network CBS
Original release January 22, 1952 – April 17, 1952

The Continental was a 1952 CBS television series starring Renzo Cesana in the title role. The 15-minute program was shown on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:15pm, at the end of the night's prime time schedule.

Synopsis

The series used a subjective camera, as Cesana spoke directly to women in the viewing audience in a suave manner, with each episode a different romantic rendezvous, accompanied by lounge music played on an electronic organ. Occasionally, he would recite the lyrics to a song.

In an era when advertisers and advertising agencies played major roles in program creation and sponsorship, the show began as a syndicated 15-minute radio show created, written and produced by agency owner Cesana on Los Angeles station KHJ in February 1951.[1][2] It directly followed The Lonesome Gal, a nationally syndicated radio show in which host Jean King played records and spoke in a soothing monologue to male listeners. The Continental failed to attract an audience and was soon cancelled. Cesana convinced television station KNBH to air a video version, which went on the air twice weekly beginning in June 1951. The show was picked up briefly by the CBS network, where it debuted on January 22, 1952, and pitched its last woo on April 17, 1952.

Cesana was back as the Continental on New York radio station WMGM in 1953.[3] A package of 13 new quarter-hour television episodes of The Continental was syndicated in 1954.[4]

Pop culture references

Despite the fact that the show was short-lived, The Continental has been satirized and referenced in the years following its cancellation:

Recordings

Cesana obtained a recording contract with Capitol Records during the run of The Continental, although he confessed to Time magazine, "I'm the only Italian living who can't sing." Recordings by Renzo Cesana, in which he recites song lyrics to musical accompaniment, appear as unnamed tracks at the end of several CDs in the Capitol Records Ultra-Lounge series, always unmentioned in the liner notes. Among them are "Violets for Your Furs" and "Walk the Lonesome Night."

External links

References

  1. "Pitching Woo for Shampoo", Billboard, February 10, 1951, p. 4.
  2. "The Continental" (review), Billboard, March 24, 1951, p. 8.
  3. Mark Barron, "On the Air" (column), Indiana Evening Gazette (Indiana, Pennsylvania), July 8, 1953, p. 18.
  4. "Dynamic Pix, Zucker Enter Distrib Field", Billboard, January 23, 1954, p. 5.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, October 29, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.