You Are There (TV Series)
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You Are There was a historical educational television and radio series broadcast over the CBS radio and television.
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[edit] Radio
Created by Goodman Ace for CBS Radio, it blended its history with modern technology, taking an entire network newsroom on a time trip each week reporting the great events of the past. Reporters included John Daly, Don Hollenbeck, and Richard C. Hottelet. First broadcast on July 7, 1947 under the title "CBS Is There." Final broadcast on March 19, 1950 under the title "You Are There".
According to author/historian Martin Grams, actress Canada Lee was a guest in episodes thirty-two and sixty. Martin Gabel appeared in character in episode eighty-two. The first 23 broadcasts went under the title "CBS Is There" and beginning with episode twenty-four, the title changed to "You Are There". A total of ninety episodes were broadcast. Only seventy-five episodes are known to exist in recorded form.
[edit] Television
The radio program made a transition to television in 1953, with Walter Cronkite as the regular host. Reporters included Dick Joy and Harlow Wilcox. First telecast on February 1, 1953. Final telecast on October 13, 1957.
The series also featured various key events in American and world history, portrayed in dramatic recreations, with one addition -- CBS News reporters, in modern-day suits, would report on the action and interview the characters. Each episode would begin with the characters setting the scene. Cronkite, from his anchor desk in New York, would give a few words on what was about to happen. An announcer would then give the date and the event, followed by a bold, "You Are There!"
Cronkite would then return to describe the event and its characters more in detail, before throwing it to the event, saying, "Everything you see here was as it happened that day, except... You Are There."
The program was seen again as a Saturday morning offering in color from 1971 to 1972. Both series were produced by CBS News and both hosted by Walter Cronkite.
At the end of the program, after Cronkite summarises what happened in the preceding event, he reminds viewers, "What sort of day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times... and you were there."
The 1950s edition was briefly parodied in a Merrie Melodies cartoon, Wideo Wabbit, featuring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, as Fudd's pursuit of Bugs lands him in a re-enactment of Custer's Last Stand.
From 2000 to 2005, Cronkite presented a series of essays for National Public Radio, reflecting on various key events, including his involvement on You Are There in the 1950s.
[edit] Availability
22 episodes of the 1950s version of You Are There are available on DVD from Woodhaven Entertainment. The 1970s version is currently not available on video or DVD. Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications has 20 episodes available for on-site viewing only. Both versions have also been made available to schools on 16mm film for both commercial and educational purposes.
Some episodes of the radio and television version are available for sale commercially (CBS still retains the copyrights) and for illegal download on various web-sites.
[edit] Sources
- The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946 - Present by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh (Ballantine Books, New York, 1995)
- Radio Drama: American Programs, 1932-1962 by Martin Grams (McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, North Carolina, 2000)
[edit] External links
- TV.com: "You Are There"
- NPR: Cronkite's essays
- libsyn.com: Podcasts of classic "You Are There" radio series
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