Don McNeill's "Breakfast Club"
1951
[From "Twenty
Years of Corn"]
| Breaking an 18-year
tradition, breakfast was served for the first time on Breakfast Club in April.
It was a spur-of-the-moment decision prompted by a studio visitor's insistence
that she be served breakfast. Don invited her to return the next day when everyone
in the audience was offered a breakfast of KIX and Swift's bacon and eggs, prepared
on a Philco Electric Range. Another studio guest sparked a hitch-hiking stunt.
Mrs. Elmer Feagins of Texarkansas told Don that her husband would walk to Chicago
if McNeill interviewed her. Don did and Mr. Feagins did! As a surprise the family,
five children, Mrs. Feagins and a daughter-in-law, was brought to Chicago to greet
Elmer when he completed his trek. While Don was on vacation, Joe E. Brown and
Peter Donald sat in for the toastmaster. Jell-O took over the first quarter hour
in May, and Philco renewed both the TV Club and Breakfast Club contracts. Hollywood found out "radio was still alive" when Breakfast Club arrived in February to originate ten broadcasts. The demand for tickets ran as high as 10,000 a day, but only 17,000 could be accommodated. It was the show's first California visit. Kay McNeill made news, too, by chasing a robbery suspect in Hollywood. While walking with a friend, Kay saw a man dash from a store followed by the proprietor who was yelling he had been robbed. She ran after the two men. A passing taxi driver joined the chase and collared the suspect. Only then did Kay learn the man had threatened the store man with a knife! |
| Right: "Meet the new TV Club mascot," says Don and his heckler, Sam Cowling, srikes the dog-gonedest pose. |  |
 |
Left: One of the ten capacity audiences which attended broadcasts in Hollywood. |
Return to the "Twenty Years of Corn" index
Comments or suggestions? click here to send them to Rich Samuels