Talk Show
In 1954, Susskind became producer of the NBC legal drama Justice, based on case files of the Legal Aid Society of New York. His program, Open End, began in 1958 on WNTA-TV in New York City, and was appropriately titled: the program continued until Susskind or his guests were too tired to continue. In 1961, Open End was constrained to two hours and went into national syndication. The show was retitled The David Susskind Show for its telecast on Sunday night, October 2, 1966. In the 1960s it was the first nationally broadcast television talk show to feature people speaking out against American involvement in the Vietnam War. In the 1970s it was the first nationally broadcast television talk show to feature people speaking out for gay rights. The show continued until its New York outlet cancelled it in 1986, approximately six months before Susskind died.
During his almost 30-year run as a talk show host, Susskind covered many controversial topics of the day, such as race relations, transexualism and the Vietnam War. Susskind's interview of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, which aired in October 1960, during the height of the cold war, generated national attention. It is one of the very few talk show telecasts from that long ago that was preserved and can be viewed today.
In 1961, Susskind conducted a series of interviews with former President Harry Truman in Truman's hometown of Independence, Missouri. After picking Truman up at his home to take him to the Truman Presidential Library for the interviews over a number of days, Susskind asked Truman why he hadn't been invited into the home. According to presidential historian Michael Beschloss, Truman flatly told Susskind, "This is Bess's house" and that there had never been nor would there ever be a Jewish guest in there.
Read more about this topic: David Susskind
Famous quotes containing the words talk show, talk and/or show:
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