A large percent of the present U.S. population were there watching them. For the most part, they made us laugh or sang us songs that made us feel good. Just to drop a few names, Milton Berle, Red Skelton, Bob Hope, Perry Como, Jimmy Durante, Art Linkletter and Arthur Godrey were all stars. Are you smiling yet? Then there were the pairs, like Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Sid Ceasar and Imogene Coca and Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez. Yeah, those were the days! It all started with vaudeville, which was frowned upon by the pious of the day.

Entertainment was an escape from the harsh realities of life. Then came radio, and many of the early TV personalities started on that media. Remember hearing about Orson Wells having a radio show about an invasion from Mars, and people thought it was actually happening? There were also lots of comedy shows, musical shows and more. Television shows just naturally flowed from there. In 1951-52 the top shows were "The Texaco Star Theatre," "Fireside Theatre," and "Sid Ceasar’s Your Show of Shows," all on NBC. By 1952-53 "Arthur Godrey’s Talent Scouts" took first place on CBS, with "Texaco" second and, you guessed it, "I Love Lucy" on CBS at third.

The following year "I Love Lucy" was number one, and other contenders were shows like "Philco Television Playhouse" on NBC "The Jack Benny Program" and "The Colgate Comedy Hour." Little by little we began to get more specialized programming, like sports, westerns such as "Gunsmoke and The Legend of Wyatt Earp," and drama or suspense such as "Dragnet" and "Alfred Hitchcock." Thank goodness that most of it is preserved for those born after that happy time!