WLS Channel 7 - Ending of Friday Night, Special Report, & Opening of Late Night Movie - "I Married A Witch" (1980)

Here's the ending moments of an edition of Friday Night on WLS Channel 7, hosted by Jay Levine with guests Dr. Robert M. (Bob) Liepert, Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook, and co-trainer Mary Ann Mayo (sp?); followed by a Special Report and then the opening moments of the Late Night Movie presentation of the 1942 Fredric March / Veronica Lake film "I Married a Witch" (directed by Rene Clair). Includes:

Dr. Liepert speaking to Jay about "appropriate social effective action" before Jay signals for the next commercial break, with the theme music and shot of applauding audience followed by "More to Come" bumper slide

Commercial offer for The Knitting Machine, with which you could make Afghan rugs, designer handbags, pillows and other items (main voiceover by ??) (ending voiceover by Mike Rapchak)

Jay finishes the show by saying goodnight to Dr. Liepert and Ms. Mayo (sp?) and thanking the audience, then with a shot of the audience we see what may be an Ikegami HK-312C camera peering out from frame right (can anyone who worked at WLS at that time verify which camera this was?)

Ending credit sequence (with ending instrumental section of George Benson's version of "On Broadway" in the background), starting with a plug for the Whitehall Hotel (voiceover by ??) and followed by:

Produced by Bonnie Kaplan
Directed by Michael Wall
Technical Director - Cliff Vogel
Audio - Mike Donovan
Production Assistant - Kathleen Fanning
Lighting - Dan Chaneske
Cameras - Ray Freutel, Bob Christensen, Roger Brunn
Stage Manager - Stephanie Hyman
Electronic Graphics - Elena Alvarez Eckhouse
Scenic Designer - Bob Proper
Stagehands - Eddie Russell, Jack Maloney, Billie Kehoe
(C) 1980, American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

Brief moment where videotape is rewound on air, with closing credits showing up sped-up reversed (and music in chipmunk speed) before that feed is cut off

Promo for upcoming The 3:30 Movie presentation of the 1967 Dick Van Dyke / Barbara Feldon film "Fitzwilly", airing on Monday, January 7th (voiceover by Janice Gears Kos)

Commercial: Chicago Boat Show, with appearances by a scary clown and Chicago Cubs slugger Dave Kingman; to be held from January 2nd through 6th at McCormick Place

Commercial: Daisy 2 Home Pregnancy Test Kit - only kit with 2 complete tests and 1 hour test time - "Double Check with Daisy 2" (voiceover by ??)

Commercial: Long Chevrolet in Elmhurst - champagne party for first Chevrolet of the 1980s (voiceover by ??)

Special Report (voiceover by Mike Rapchak, who identified himself at the end of this report) about a report from Eyewitness News' Hugh Hill about Governor James Thompson's adjournment of a summit meeting with Chicago school board members and representatives of state, city, union and banking officials in Springfield after failure to achieve a bailout plan, as teachers and other Board of Education employees weren't paid for the second Friday in a row

Station ID slide with American Cancer Society PSA (voiceover by Mike Rapchak)

Late Night Movie open (with "swirling stars" animation and "Flight to the World" theme music by Sven Libaek and his Orchestra)

First 33 seconds of opening titles of "I Married a Witch" (which, along with the 1958 Jimmy Stewart / Kim Novak / Jack Lemmon film "Bell, Book and Candle," served as Sol Saks' inspiration for creating the 1964-72 series Bewitched)

This aired on local Chicago TV early Saturday, January 5th 1980 within the 12:20am to 12:30am timeframe.

Add To

You must login to add videos to your playlists.