Author Topic: The Kaiser Aluminum Hour  (Read 1262 times)

konrad

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The Kaiser Aluminum Hour
« on: May 30, 2021, 02:20:49 AM »
Okay, this is kinda cool, never knew about this show.  Broadcast from 1956 - 57 every other week, it was a one hour show of dramatic pieces that drew some up and coming and well known actors of the day.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048880/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_125

Given this began just as Kaiser Motors was nearing the end, I kind of wonder if they were hoping to make some money this way in hopes of keeping the car company afloat...hmmm...
51 Kaiser Deluxe

kaiserfrazerlibrary

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Re: The Kaiser Aluminum Hour
« Reply #1 on: May 30, 2021, 09:17:07 AM »
Henry J Kaiser, or so the story goes, was ribbed by golfing partners about how with all his business interests didn't he have one or more business units sponsor a TV series.  This evolved into a few different TV series  that aired between 1956 and the mid 1960's.  While this came after production of passenger cars ended in the United States, Kaiser Industries still had Willys Motors, Incorporated makers of the Jeeps. 

The KAISER ALUMINUM HOUR which first aired July 2, 1956 (and ran through June 18, 1957) on the NBC Television Network ran every other Tuesday alternated in the 9:30-10:30 time slot with ARMSTRONG CIRCLE THEATER.  Among the stories presented was an actual dramatic story about the sinking of the Italian ocean liner ANDREA DORIA.  Kaiser Industries then moved to a "Participating" position on MAVERICK (ABC-TV), full sponsorship of THE LLOYD BRIDGES SHOW (he played a newspaper man in dramatic tales) and THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, which was about a traveling circus. 

The various later series had Kaiser Aluminum Foil and Jeep ads for the most part but the sponsor identification ads (billboards) included mentions of Kaiser Engineers and even Permanente Cement with occasional institutional ads for the other Kaiser businesses. 

While I don't have a complete program sponsored by Kaiser Industries (or a division of same) I do have the opening of a LLOYD BRIDGES SHOW and the commercials from an episode (2 Kaiser Aluminum 60 second spots and 1 Willys Motors ad with various Jeep models in a construction setting).