The Hank McCune Show

WE DO REMEMBER viewing this show over our local station, Channel 5, WNBQ* way back circa 1952-53. It was a pioneering work in the field of the Sitcom and most likely had a great influence on what would be coming down the pike in years to come. THE HANK McCUNE SHOW was, in its own way, quite prolific and is in possession of a most impressive family tree.

A TYPICAL HALF-HOUR would revolve around a very simple, everyday and totally believable problem. Story lines were big on characterizations of neighbors and their interacting during the current "crisis." Invariably the guy at the heart of the situation and in the eye of the hurricane was main character, Hank (himself).

THE EPISODES STOCKED their playbills with faces and voices familiar from the rosters of movie supporting players and from the annals of what has come to be called "Old Time Radio." Present in the episodes were: Hanley Stafford (voice of BABY SNOOKS father**), Arthur Q. Bryan (immortalized as ELMER FUDD'S voice in Warner Brothers cartoons), Larry Keating, Ellen Corby, Franklin Pangborn, Thurston Hall, Florence Bates and the ever present "Y-e-s-s-s-s man", Frank Nelson.

FOLLOWING ITS CANCELLATION on the tube, producer/star Mr. Henry McCune brought the same characters, concept and situation-type humor to the movie screen in a poverty row "B" comedy titled THE GO GETTER. Unlike the series episodes, THE GO GETTER boasted of having no added laugh track; of which THE HANK McCUNE SHOW was the originator of this soon to be staple of television comedy shows.

NOTE:* Channel 5 in Chicago is a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Broadcasting Company. The original WNBQ Radio station was owned by The Chicago Daily News and the call letters were changed to WMAQ in the mid sixties. The radio station ceased to be when NBC divested itself of radio broadcasting some 20 years or so ago.

This was one of the earliest TV shows I recall and I still remember it in my memory. It was great, clean, family oriented entertainment that brought humor and real enjoyment into our living rooms unlike most of the movies today. Today's shows could take a lesson from The Hank McCune Show. This was excellent entertainment enjoyed by all, young and old alike. We could sit in the living room with our grandparents and we would all laugh and enjoy ourselves. We did'not have to be on guard about the language that might seep into our homes or the suggestive sexual or moral statements or acts that might embarrass a family especially in the presence of children. Todays shows even show young children rebuking their parents and showing complete lack of respect for their elders. Not so in the early shows like The Hank McCune Show. They were great and we had less crime, less juvenile delinquency, less divorces and broken homes, less child pornography and child molestations than you have today. We had God in our lives and our hearts and this was reflected in the clean shows that we watched and in the quality of our lives. It was an age of morality. Its too bad Hollywood has corrupted our society by its modern day smut and immorality.