Brought to You By: Postwar Television Advertising and the American Dream

289 Pages·2002·2.77 MB·English

by  Lawrence R. Samuel

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LawrenceR.Samuel
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Brought to You By
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Postwar Television Advertising
and the American Dream
   
Austin

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Copyright©bytheUniversityofTexasPress
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am PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
S

2 Firstedition,
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Requestsforpermissiontoreproducematerialfromthisworkshouldbesentto
Permissions,UniversityofTexasPress,P.O.Box,Austin,TX-.
(cid:8)Thepaperusedinthisbookmeetstheminimumrequirementsof
/.-()(PermanenceofPaper).
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Samuel,LawrenceR.
Broughttoyouby:postwartelevisionadvertisingandthe
Americandream/LawrenceR.Samuel.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
---(alk.paper)—---(alk.paper)
.Televisionadvertising—UnitedStates—History. I.Title.
. 
.''—dc 

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vii [ Acknowledgments
ix [ Introduction
 [ P O: H S H
 [ Chapter:ThePrecociousProdigy,–
 [ Chapter:ShowerofStars,–
 [ P T: K U   J
 [ Chapter:TheSparkPlugofProsperity,–
 [ Chapter:AMistSettlingonOurPond,–
 [ P T: T N S
 [ Chapter:ThinkYoung,–
 [ Chapter:ThePsychicAirWeBreathe,–
 [ Conclusion
 [ Notes
 [ Index

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Many thanks to Jim Burr, Allison Faust, Nancy Bryan, and the other fine
folksattheUniversityofTexasPressaswellascopyeditordeluxeSueCarter
forbringingBroughttoYouBytofruition.ThanksalsotoMarkHirsch,Ann
Miller,RichardWentworth,DouglasArmato,SusanFerber,andtheanony-
mousreaders,allofwhomcontributedvaluableideasalongtheway.Igreatly
appreciatetheeffortsofthestaffsattheMuseumof TelevisionandRadio,
Universityof Southern California Cinema-Television Library,UCLA Film
and Television Archive, Libraryof Congress Print and Photographs Divi-
sion,theNationalMuseumofAmericanHistoryArchivesCenter,theJohnW.
HartmanCenterforSales,Advertising,andMarketingHistoryatDukeUni-
versity,andCampbell-Ewald,whohelpedleadmetoimportantmaterials.I
stilloweadebtofgratitudetoLaryMayandJohnFiske,bothofwhomwere
instrumentalinhelpingmeforgemyownviewsofsocialhistoryandcultural
theory.KudostoShereeBykofskyandJanetRosenforbeingthefirstones
torecognizethiswasastoryworthtelling.ExtraspecialhugstoMaryEllen
Muckermanandtomymomfortheirsupportandlove.

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Broughttoyouby...
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63 BeginningofTheJackBennyProgram,Playhouse,andmanyothertelevisionshows
Betweentheyearsand,Americantelevision—andmuchofAmeri-
canculture—wasbroughttoyoubytelevisionadvertising.Theaimofthis
bookistoshowhowtelevisionadvertisingwasgroundcentralforthepost-
warAmericanDream,bothshapingandreflectingournationalethosofcon-
sumption.BroughttoYouBy:PostwarTelevisionAdvertisingandtheAmeri-
canDreamisdesignedtofillagapingholeinthehistoryofadvertisingand
completeamissingchapteroftwentieth-centuryAmericansocialhistory.The
postwaryearswerewhatIbelievetobethemostexcitinganddynamicperiod
ofadvertisinginAmerica,asthedevelopmentofthemostpowerfulmediumin
historydovetailedwithapatrioticcelebrationofconsumerismand,ofcourse,
withthebabyboom.Althoughtelevisionadvertisingofthiseraisafascinat-
ingandimportantculturalsite,thesubjectisconspicuouslyabsentfromboth
popularandscholarlyliterature.Therearemanygoodbooksonpostwartele-
vision,butpreciousfewresourcesdedicatedtotelevisionadvertising.This
isunfortunatebecauseitwastelevisionadvertisingthatbroughttelevisionto
usand,intheprocess,assumedacentralroleinpostwarculture.Onecan-
nottrulyunderstandpostwarAmerica,Ibelieve,withoutunderstandingthe
culturalhistoryofoneofitsloudestvoices.
Televisionadvertisingisespeciallyfertilegroundtostudythesocialand
cultural dynamics of postwar America because it was the perfect medium
for and a perfect metaphor of the times, steeped in the values of consen-
sus,conformity,and,ofcourse,consumption.Televisionadvertisingquickly
emergedasanewvocabularyallAmericanscouldshare,acommonlanguage
thatoftencrossedthesocialdivisionsofgender,race,class,andgeography.
By the early sixties, both doctors and construction workers could tell you
thatAjaxwasstrongerthandirtandthateverylitterbithurts,andpeoplein

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