The 25th annual Academy Awards show was first televised on NBC which continued to cover the event until 1960 when the ABC Network took over, televising the festivities through 1970, after which NBC resumed the broadcasts. ABC once again took over broadcast duties in 1976; it is under contract to do so through the year 2020. Bob
Hope is shown above hosting the first televised ceremony.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Jane Russell, the brunette who was discovered by Howard Hughes and went on to become one of the biggest stars of the 1940s and ’50s, has died at age 89.

Russell’s daughter-in-law Etta Waterfield says the actress died Monday at her home in Santa Maria of a respiratory-related illness.

Hughes, the eccentric billionaire, cast Russell in his sexy, and controversial, 1941 Western "The Outlaw," turning her into an overnight star.

She would go on to appear opposite such leading men as Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope, as well as fellow actress Marilyn Monroe.

Although her film career slowed in the 1960s, Russell remained active throughout her life.

Until her health began to decline a few weeks ago, Waterfield said she remained active singing and working for various causes.

This is Tom Jones was a British variety series starring Tom Jones. The show
was exported to the United States by ITC Entertainment and was networked
there by ABC-TV. The series ran between 1969 and 1971 for a total of 65 
color episodes. The show featured guest appearances by many top actors, 
comedians and singers of the time, including Bob Hope.

   
                                       Tom Jones, then and now

Hollywood-based KTLA-TV Channel 5 in Los Angeles, was the first commercially licensed television station west of the Mississippi. It first aired a 30-minute variety show from the Paramount TV theatre starring Bob Hope , Dorothy Lamour, William Bendix and Jerry Colonna. It was estimated that 322 television receivers were in use in Los Angeles at the time.

                                  The KTLA studios in 1949