Gillette Cavalcade of Sports
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Gillette Cavalcade of Sports | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sports |
| Presenter(s) | Bob Stanton Ray Forrest Jimmy Powers |
| Theme music composer | Mahlon Merrick |
| Opening theme | "Look Sharp/Be Sharp March" |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Bill Garden Jack Mills |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Picture format | Black-and-white |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original run | November 8, 1946 – June 24, 1960 |
| Links | |
| IMDb profile | |
(UTC)The Gillette Cavalcade of Sports was a television program that, despite its name, focused exclusively on boxing. Its earlier incarnation, Cavalcade of Sports, likewise a boxing show, ran on NBC's New York City station WNBT (now WNBC) intermittently since 1943 and was picked up by the NBC network three years later. The twice-weekly 1946 shows began on Monday, November 8 at 9 p.m. and Friday, November 12 at 9:30 p.m. Both were open-ended programs—when the last bout ended, the station signed off the air (in the early days of TV, most stations did not have late-night news). St. Nicholas Arena in New York City was the site of the earliest bouts and continued to host the Monday night fights until the show's cancellation in May of 1949.
The Friday night show, broadcast from Madison Square Garden lasted until June 24, 1960, a 14-year period which is, by far, the longest continuous run of any boxing program in television history. The Gillette sponsorship began at the start of TV's first full-programming season, 1948-49. On September 4, the program was renamed The Gillette Cavalcade of Sports, a name that remained until the end. Every great boxer of the time—Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Robinson, Archie Moore, Rocky Graziano, Willie Pep and many others appeared on one or more of its broadcasts. In TV's early years, there was a saturation of boxing programs, as many as six prime-time network shows in one week, not even counting the myriad local shows. With so much boxing on the air, all weight divisions had a chance at stardom, not just the glamorous heavyweights.
Bob Stanton was the original announcer and he was joined by Ray Forrest in 1948. Jimmy Powers took over the role in 1949 and remained NBC's main boxing announcer until the network gave up on prime-time pugilism in 1960.
The show's theme song was the "Look Sharp/Be Sharp March" by Mahlon Merrick.
The band Glassjaw from Long Island, New York have a song named "The Gillette Cavalcade of Sports" on their album Worship and Tribute.
 |
This boxing-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 |
This article about a television show originating in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
