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by | Mar 21, 2018 | Impatiens

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Family Classics is a Chicago television series which began in 1962 when Frazier Thomas was added to another program at WGN-TV. Thomas not only hosted classic films, but also selected the titles and personally edited them to remove those scenes which he thought were not fit for family viewing.[3] After Thomas' death in 1985, Roy Leonard took over the program.[4] The series continued sporadically until its initial cancellation in 2000.[4][5]

On November 10, 2017, WGN announced that Family Classics would be returning after a 17-year hiatus with a presentation of the 1951 version of Scrooge to air on Friday, December 8, 2017, and announced that its longtime entertainment reporter, Dean Richards, would be the new host.[6] Since then, it would continue to air each holiday season.

History

In 1962, Fred Silverman, then a WGN-TV executive, conceived the idea of the show by scheduling classic family films at a prime time Friday night position rather than a late show slot where children wouldn't see them. The show was a huge ratings success and inspired the networks to schedule recently released films in prime time. When the networks began showing first-run films in prime time, the show was rescheduled to Sunday afternoons.[3][7]

For the series' December 2019 airing of the 1942 film Holiday Inn, and New Year's Eve airings of the Marx Brothers' Monkey Business & Animal Crackers, WGN veteran anchor, Steve Sanders, filled in as host as current host Dean Richards was recovering from a fractured wrist and facial abrasions before the episode's taping.[8]

The set

The theme music was a piece of library music recorded on the Berry/Conroy label, entitled Moviescope, and was written by Dennis Berry. The camera would slowly zoom in on the set designed by Thomas that resembled a study with a painting on the wall of Garfield Goose done by Roy Brown, a model sailing ship sitting on top of a shelf of books with the titles of the films to be shown that were repainted encyclopedias and dictionaries also done by Anthony M Sulla as credited in the final credits, that Frazier would introduce.[4][9][10][11]

List of titles

Notes

  1. ^ "WGN 9 Chicago "Family Classics" Movie Timeline". WGN 9 Chicago. 27 January 2017.
  2. ^ a b Tufts, Chris. "Family Classics-titles and air dates". epguides. Archived from the original on 28 February 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  3. ^ a b Okuda & Mulqueen 2004, pp. 60–62.
  4. ^ a b c Feder, Robert (2 May 2010). "Remembering a Chicago Classic:Frazier Thomas". WBEZ Radio. Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  5. ^ Johnson, Allan (3 April 1988). "At 50, WGN Finds The TV Picture and Audiences Have Changed". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
  6. ^ "Chicago's Merry Own: 'Family Classics' returns to WGN-TV for special holiday showing of 'Scrooge' hosted by Dean Richards". WGN 9 Chicago. 11 November 2017. Archived from the original on 18 January 2018. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  7. ^ "Frazier Thomas". Chicago Television. Retrieved 6 February 2011.
  8. ^ Feder, Robert (12 December 2019). "Robservations: Steve Sanders saves the day on WGN's 'Family Classics'". Robert Feder. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  9. ^ Berger, Daniel; Jajkowski, Steve, eds. (2010). Chicago Television. For the Museum of Broadcast Communications; Foreword by Bob Sirott. Arcadia Publishing. p. 168. ISBN 978-0-7385-7713-5. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
  10. ^ "This classy portrait by Roy Brown of Garfield Goose adorned a wall on the set of "Family Classics."". LA Times. Archived from the original on 5 November 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  11. ^ Okuda & Mulqueen 2004, p. 61.

Bibliography

  • Okuda, Ted; Mulqueen, Jack (2004). The Golden Age of Chicago Children's Television. Lake Claremont Press. ISBN 978-1-893-12117-1.
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