The Marquam Bridge under construction in 1964.

One of the most popular Saturday night variety shows
was THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW, starring Jackie
Gleason with Art Carney and the June Taylor Dancers.
The show premiered on CBS, September 20, 1952. It
ran till June 22,1957. Comedy skits included Jackie
as Joe the Bartender, Reginald Van Gleason III and
The Poor Soul.”THE HONEYMOONERS” was such
a popular feature of the show that the variety format
was suspended and regular half-hour shows starring
Gleason, Art Carney, Audrey Meadows and Joyce 
Randolph began a run in 1955. Now that was TV!

Music legend Jimmy Dean’s “Big Bad John” became the
100th number one single of the Rock era on this date in
1961. Jimmy wrote the song in an hour and a half while
flying to Nashville for a recording session. It was his
only chart topper.