On This Day, September 5: The Whistler and You Are There
Also featured: The Cisco Kid.
September 5 Update
This report documents the historical provenance, broadcast scheduling, commercial sponsorship, credited cast, production personnel, alternate circulating titles, and pure narrative synopses for broadcasts transmitting on September 5 across psychological retribution on The Whistler for Signal Oil, live historical news simulation of Lincoln's assassination on You Are There, British headmaster comedy on Whack-O!, southwestern heroics on The Cisco Kid, aviation serial cliffhangers on Hop Harrigan for Grape-Nuts Wheat-Meal, and desert folklore on Death Valley Days for 20 Mule Team Borax, Tim Daniel Frawley (1935), Chester Stratton (1947), and John Daly (1948):
1. Broadcasts
| Title | Network, Airdate & Showtime | Sponsor & Commercial Ads | Credited Cast & Performers | Director, Writers & Crew | Genres | Story Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Smash-Up with Bill Forman" | CBS Pacific 1954-09-05 9:30 PM PST |
Signal Oil Company Signal Gasoline & Oil |
Bill Forman & Miller | Sterling Tracy (Director) | ["Mystery", "Psychological", "The Whistler", "Bill Forman", "Signal Oil"] |
A desperate embezzler stages a fatal highway accident to fake his own death, but an unanticipated passenger turns his perfect crime into a deadly trap. |
| "The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln with John Daly" | CBS (WABC) 1948-09-05 2:00 PM EDT |
Sustaining Docudrama Reenactment |
John Daly, Hollenbeck & Calmer | Robert Lewis Shayon | ["Docudrama", "History", "You Are There", "John Daly", "CBS"] |
CBS news correspondents report live from Ford's Theatre on the evening of April 14, 1865, covering John Wilkes Booth's fatal attack on President Lincoln. |
| "The New Post with Jimmy Edwards" | BBC Light Programme 1961-09-05 |
Sustaining British Sitcom |
Jimmy Edwards & Howard | Harold French (Director) | ["Comedy", "Sitcom", "Whack-O", "Jimmy Edwards", "BBC"] |
Headmaster Jimmy Edwards plots to secure a lucrative administrative appointment by blackmailing a visiting school board governor. |
| "The Hidden Treasure of San Lucas with Jack Mather and Harry Lang" | Mutual / Ziv 1957-09-05 |
Interstate Bakeries Butter-Nut Bread |
Jack Mather & Lang | O. Henry (Creator) | ["Western", "Adventure", "The Cisco Kid", "Jack Mather", "Harry Lang"] |
Cisco and Pancho protect an impoverished mission hospital from ruthless bandits hunting a buried cache of Spanish gold. |
| "The Channel Wing Plane (Part 8) with Chester Stratton" | Mutual (WOR) 1947-09-05 5:15 PM EDT |
General Foods Corp. Grape-Nuts Wheat-Meal |
Chester Stratton & Delmar | Albert Aley (Writer) | ["Adventure", "Aviation", "Hop Harrigan", "Chester Stratton", "Grape-Nuts"] |
Hop Harrigan and mechanic Tank Tinker evade enemy pursuit planes through dense mountain fog to deliver secret aircraft patents. |
| "Dust to Dust with Tim Daniel Frawley" | NBC Blue (WJZ) 1935-09-05 8:00 PM EDST |
Pacific Coast Borax Co. 20 Mule Team Borax |
Tim Daniel Frawley | Ruth Woodman (Writer) | ["Western", "Anthology", "Death Valley Days", "Old Ranger", "Borax"] |
The Old Ranger recounts how a pioneer desert prospector survived a blinding sandstorm to rescue trapped silver miners near Panamint City. |