Eddy Arnold Time is an American musical television series syndicated to local stations

Television station

A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...

 from 1955 through 1957. The show consisted of 26 half-hour filmed episodes starring Eddy Arnold

Eddy Arnold

Richard Edward Arnold , known professionally as Eddy Arnold, was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones. He sold more...

 in different roles within a musical narrative. Arnold portrayed, among others, a lumberjack, a traveling salesman, a cowboy, a pet shop owner, himself, and even Stephen Foster

Stephen Foster

Stephen Collins Foster , known as the "father of American music", was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century...

.

Production and cast

Produced, directed and written by Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 veteran Ben Park, the series featured Betty Johnson

Betty Johnson

Betty Johnson is an American traditional pop and cabaret singer.-Biography:Johnson was born in Guilford County, North Carolina. Her professional debut was in a family group, The Johnson Family Singers, including her parents and three brothers, singing a repertoire primarily of religious material...

, who usually played Arnold's romantic interest; and in supporting roles, the Jordanaires, using the name Gordonaires. A promotional booklet for the program explained that the group used the name Jordanaires "only for their recordings." The more complete explanation is that it legally protected the producers in case the group, which owned the name Jordanaires, left the program prematurely. For this show, the group was composed of Hoyt Hawkins, Hugh Jarett, Neal Matthews, Jr.

Neal Matthews, Jr.

Neal Matthews, Jr. was an American vocalist who achieved fame as part of The Jordanaires, one of country music's premier backup groups; most notably with Elvis Presley.-Biography:...

 and Gordon Stoker. Guitarist Hank Garland

Hank Garland

Walter Louis Garland , better known as Hank Garland, was a Nashville studio musician who performed with Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Roy Orbison and many others.-Biography:...

 and Roy Wiggins (steel guitar) also made occasional appearances. A young Ed Asner

Ed Asner

Edward Asner , commonly known as Ed Asner, is an American film, television, stage, and voice actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild, primarily known for his Emmy Award-winning role as Lou Grant on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off series, Lou Grant...

 appeared in one episode.

The producers termed the program, filmed at Kling Studios in Chicago, Illinois, a TV filmusical. Production began in October 1954; it was among the earliest syndicated American TV programs. Although popular in some small markets

Media market

A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...

, it suffered from uninspired performances and storylines, a poor soundtrack

Soundtrack

A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...

 and inadequate marketing.

In 1959, episodes were edited together with segments from The Old American Barn Dance

The Old American Barn Dance

The Old American Barn Dance is an American country music television series carried by the DuMont Television Network from July 5–September 13, 1953. The summer replacement program, hosted by Bill Bailey, aired on Sunday nights from 10:30–11 p.m. Eastern Time. It was filmed at Kling...

and Jimmy Dean

Jimmy Dean

Jimmy Ray Dean was an American country music singer, television host, actor and businessman. Although he may be best known today as the creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand, he became a national television personality starting in 1957, rising to fame for his 1961 country crossover hit "Big Bad...

's Town and Country Time (a local Washington, DC program) and syndicated by producer Bernard L. Schubert under the title, Your Musical Jamboree.

Episodes (22 of 26)

"Poor Lonesome Cowboys" "The Bayou Baby and the Traveling Salesman" "At the Logging Camp" "On a Picnic" "The Deacon's Hoedown" "At a Canteen" "The 'Come as You Are' Party" "The Birthday Party Rehearsal" "Sunday at Home" "The Last of the Bad Men" "An Old Fashioned Melodrama" "Gamblers, Gunmen and Sasparilla"

"Discovery in a Pet Shop" "Wedding Day" "At the Church Social" "The Stephen Foster Story" "Reminiscing in a Record Shop" "'Round the Merry-go-round" "The Pioneers Head West" "Dr. Eddy's Medicine Show" "Found: Two Lost Lovers" "At the Country Store" "The Cornhusking Bee" "The Railroaders' Surprise"