Edward Bowes - Death and Legacy

Death and Legacy

Major Bowes died on the eve of his 72nd birthday at his home in the New York suburb of Rumson, New Jersey. The following week, his talent coordinator Ted Mack took over the hosting chores, first as the interim, and later as permanent host until Mack ended the series 24 years later, on September 27, 1970. As a measure of the affection attached to Bowes' name, the show continued to be called Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour until the 1950-51 season, when it became simply Original Amateur Hour and in 1955 became Ted Mack and The Original Amateur Hour.

Major Bowes was referred to in Cab Calloway's "I Love to Singa" from the movie The Singing Kid (1936), and in the Dorothy Fields lyrics for "Never Gonna Dance" from the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers film Swing Time (1936).

Nineteen months after Bowes's death, on January 18, 1948, the program, with Ted Mack as host, debuted on the DuMont Television Network, ultimately running on all four major networks until 1970. The radio version, also with Mack, ran until 1952.

Bowes was also a major benefactor of the Catholic Church in New York: Our Lady of Victory Church, in the Wall Street neighborhood, is built on land donated by Bowes; the auidtorium at Archbishop Stepinac High School in White PLains is named in his honor, and the rare books room at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers was donated by him, to name just a few examples.