The Boys from Boise (TV program) explained

Runtime:120 minutes[1]
Genre:Musical
Director:Ray Nelson
Producer:Sam Medoff
Music:Sam Medoff
Country:United States
Language:English
Company:Charles M. Storm Theatrical Company[2] [3]
Network:DuMont (WABD)[4]

The Boys from Boise was a television special that aired on the DuMont Network on September 28, 1944,[5] on its New York City affiliate WABD. The special, a musical written and composed by Sam Medoff, was the first such production ever commissioned for television.[1] [4]

Synopsis

In Boise, Idaho, several showgirls get stranded on a ranch; willing to return home, they decide to raise money by becoming cowgirls. While doing so, they have to put up with the ranch’s wicked owner, who manipulates mortgages and controls a posse of rustlers. While on the search for a boyfriend, the ranch's manager - a female undercover agent for the FBI - is investigating the owner's exploits.[1] [6]

Cast

NameCharacterSource
Audrey
Judy
Cecile
Jose
Jack O'Brien Bill
Marie
Joan
Bette
Jede
Frosty
Janie
Mike
Patsy
Lawson
Pete
Barbara
Chiquita
Jill
Carole
Specialty Dancer
Dancers
Joan Pederson
Dorsee Brent
Barbara Pederson
Joy Douglas
Show Girls
Jackie Flynn
Elin Carlyle
Mary Sinclair
Vicki Raff
Shanna Dean
Mickie Ames
The Conover Models
Joan Charlton
Jacqueline Soans
Shanna Dean
Bette Bughee
Dorsee Brent
Eleanor Niles
Jede Charles
Joy Douglas
Mary Sinclair
Frosty Webb
Titia
Mickie Ames
Joan Pederson
Joyce Gates

Musical numbers

Though recordings and scores are scarce, the list of musical numbers is as follows:[7]

Development and production

The DuMont Network (WABD) was a station based in New York and was one of the cardinal networks when it comes to establishing television into the monolith of arts and sciences it is today.[8] It is often regarded by experts as the first original televised musical, though it is not often viewed as the start of the trend (usually people will point to the iconic performance of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella in 1957 as the beginning of the live television musical trend).[9]

DuMont broadcast The Boys from Boise at a time when less than 1 percent of Americans had a television set in their households, preceding iconic pioneers such as the Ed Sullivan Show and I Love Lucy.

The program was produced by the Charles M. Storm Company,[2] [3] and sponsored by Esquire magazine on its original airing.[10] Charles M. Storm's representatives initially planned to use dancers from Broadway shows, but the need for closeups presented a problem. After 75 dancers failed to qualify through auditions because they lacked the right "combination of grace and beauty", the producers turned to Conover models.[10] The models who were selected were taught the necessary dancing skills. The 45 women joined five men to compose the program's cast.

Reception

On October 7, 1944, Lou Frankel of Billboard deemed The Boys from Boise "a worthy experiment" and "an important and expensive first".[2] The following day in The New York Times, Jack Gould described the performance as "entirely praiseworthy because it patently represented an appreciable investment in time and money."[4] He also said, "It did exemplify the difficulties of experimenting under wartime handicaps with a medium so challenging to the imagination as the video art."[4] At the end of his review, Gould wrote, "If nothing else, the show was too ambitious and too long for its own good, because inevitably a 'musical comedy' will seem pretty static when the cameras and receiving screen will encompass only four girls at a time and then without enough room to permit real dancing."[4]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Baxter, Joan. Television Musicals: Plots, Critiques, Casts, and Credits for 222 Shows Written for and Presented on Television, 1944–1996. 0-7864-0286-5. 1997. McFarland & Company.
  2. Reviews: The Boys from Boise. Frankel. Lou. October 7, 1944. 2023-04-14. Billboard. 56. 41. 10, 12. Google Books.
  3. Book: Watching TV: Four Decades of American Television. Castleman. Harry. Podrazik. Walter J.. 16. 0-07-010269-4. 1982. 2023-04-14. McGraw Hill. limited. Google Books. ... 'The Boys from Boise' (staged by the Charles M. Storm Theatrical Company) suffered from the technical shortcomings of mid- 1940s television..
  4. News: 'The Boys from Boise'. Gould. Jack. October 8, 1944. 2023-04-14. The New York Times. 51. subscription.
  5. Web site: Musicals on TV: Introduction. www.musicals101.com. 2020-04-08.
  6. Web site: Musicals on Television: 1944–1955. Kenrick. John. 2003. 1996. 2023-04-14. John Kenrick.
  7. Web site: The Boys from Boise (1944): TV's First Musical OneTubeRadio.com. en-US. 2020-04-08.
  8. Web site: Seventy-Five Years Ago, the Television Musical Made Its Debut. Mansky. Jackie. Smithsonian Magazine. en. 2020-04-08.
  9. Web site: TV Musicals, 1944 - 1996 - Book. Brad Hathaway. en. 2020-04-08.
  10. Nelson . Raymond E. . Story of Video's 2-hr Musical -- 'Boys from Boise . Televiser . Winter 1945 . 1 . 2 . 24–25 .