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CUT! This was too much of a leg show for 1950's TV
Find out what one television station in LA told it's teen dance show producer
about too much leg show on camera ...read below! (scroll down)
Television censorship, usually by top level network execs and station program directors, was austere
in the early days of television. Words such as "pregnant" and "menstruation" were out,
nor could even a married couple be seen lying in the same bed.
A network affiliate TV station (we aren't allowed to say which) told it's circa 1960's Teen Dance Party
producer Steve Forrest "not more than one inch above (the girl dancer's) knee can show on camera." So we
asked Steve if he had to use a tape measure on the dance floor. Well, when the miniskirt came into fad,
the rule became nil. Alas, Steve told us, in the early 60's the station brass would at times peer through
the studio glass window and, indeed, if they saw that second inch, there'd be a knock at that look thru plate.
The show was live (until 1969) and there was no tape or film to edit. Teen Dance Party ended in
1972 and producer Forrest took to Columbus, Ohio to oversee another dance show that would eventually
go into cable syndication in the later 70's.
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