Sitcoms Online Photo Galleries - Pinky Lee Show

The Pinky Lee Show aired from April until November 1950 on NBC.

Pinky Lee ( real name: Pincuss Leff) first came to network TV in 1950. This series was a loosely structured situation comedy, set in a vaudeville theater. Pinky appeared as a stagehand, dressed in baggy clothes, who usually managed to fumble every assigment, but who was nevertheless called upon to fill in for singers and comedians who couldn't make it-thus giving him the opportunity to appear on stage in a variety of roles. The only other regular on the show was William Bakewell who appeared as the stage manager.

The program originated from Hollywood and was seen in the rest of the country via kinescopes. Pinky later starred in the comedy Those Two from 1951 to 1953 and in various weekday afternoon and Saturday morning children's shows from 1954 to 1957.

An Article from Time Magazine on some of the changing childrens shows of the mid 1950s.

The Week in Review
Monday, Nov. 07, 1955 Article

The U.S. and Soviet Russia are racing to launch the first rocket missile into interplanetary space. But if the statesmen paid more attention to television, they would realize that space adventures are strictly for the birds. Even durable Captain Video has been downgraded to a supporting role in a local show called Wonderama, where he shares billing with a drawing teacher and a cooking instructor. The only planetary wanderer left on the network air is CBS's Captain Midnight, who last week, in the fashion of spacemen everywhere, was locked in combat with the inevitable mad scientist.

This season, animals are all the rage. Alice in Wonderland's sizable audience may have been more fascinated by such strange creatures as the Gryphon, Mock Turtle, March Hare and Cheshire Cat than by such stars as Eva Le Gallienne, Elsa Lanchester, Martyn Green and Gilliam Barber. On one hour of ABC's Mickey Mouse Club last week, moppets saw a succession of wild hares, lemurs, hamsters, pythons, lions, leopards, pumas and sharks. At the same moment, NBC's rival Pinky Lee Show was knee-deep in lions. Lassie and Rin Tin Tin are dedicated to proving that a dog is a boy's best friend. CBS's Champion is about Gene Autry's horse, rather than Gene Autry. The newest kid show, Captain Kangaroo, is crowded with baby chicks, baby squirrels, lambkins, goats and assorted birds. And Kangaroo's Bob Keeshan promises bigger and better quadrupeds as soon as his show is moved to a studio equipped with a large elevator: "Now we're limited to those that can walk—or be carried—upstairs." The animal take-over has been so complete that the new programs employing mostly humans have been tooled to appeal more to adults than children. NBC's Frontier, ABC's Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp and CBS's Adventures of Robin Hood all stiffly announce that, while children are welcome, what they are really seeking is a grown-up audience. As for Hopalong Cassidy, the vanquished king of an earlier TV era, his noble-minded triumphs can now be glimpsed only on local shows. Says one adolescent firmly: "We've seen all his shows five or six times already. That's enough."

At week's end, Police Sergeant Barney Arluck, a contestant on NBC's The Big Surprise, got his chance to be the first man on TV to win $100,000. Instead, faced by a complex legal question prepared by Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, he became the first man on TV not to win $100,000. His consolation: $50,000. Big Surprise may improve its low audience rating with the next contestant, sprightly Kyra Shirk, a housewife from York, Pa. who spent the war years as a citizen of Leningrad and a second lieutenant in the Red army. Her subject: wars and weapons.

Here is Pinky Lee's Obituary from The New York Times

Pinky Lee, 85, Host of Children's TV Shows, Dies

Published: April 7, 1993

Pinky Lee, a vaudeville comic who took his baggy-pants act to children's television shows in the 1950's and 60's, died on Saturday at his home here. He was 85.

The cause of death was a heart attack, said the Orange County coroner's office.

"The Pinky Lee Show," telecast from Los Angeles, was on NBC in the early 1950's. Mr. Lee, wearing his signature checkered coat and rolled-brim hat several sizes too small, sang, danced and told stories during the half-hour show. Attacking a Network

From 1951 to 1953 he was also a host of the variety show "Those Two," with Vivian Blaine and Martha Stewart. He became the host of another children's program, NBC's "Gumby Show," in 1957, but left the show and NBC several months later. Mr. Lee accused the networks of having lost interest in children's programming in favor of "the bloody murder of gangster films and westerns."

After his career in network television ended, Mr. Lee appeared on local children's shows in Los Angeles in 1964 and 1966. He later performed around the country in vaudeville-style revues, including the musical "Sugar Babies."

Mr. Lee, whose name was originally Pincus Leff, was a native of St. Paul. As a young man he briefly entertained hopes of becoming a lawyer, but abandoned the idea when his classmates laughed at his lisp. Oh, but What a Valuable Lisp!

He got his start in burlesque in the 1930's, and by 1947 the lisp had become so much a part of his comic persona that he asked Lloyd's of London to insure it for $50,000.

During his comic acts, he often told vulgar jokes, which made some question his ability to do children's television.

"I guess quite a few parents may have been apprehensive when I first decided that entertaining kids was for me," he said in a 1955 interview. "I'll admit I didn't quite know what I was getting into, but you can say for me that I've never had a warmer audience to work to in my career."

Mr. Lee's film credits included "Lady of Burlesque" (1943) and "Earl Carroll Vanities" (1945).

He is survived by his wife, Bebe; a son, Morgan, and a daughter, Patricia.

For more on The Pinky Lee Show go to http://www.tvparty.com/lostpinky.html

For more on Pinky Lee go to http://www.tvacres.com/child_pinkylee.htm

For an article on Pinky Lee's hat go to http://www.tvacres.com/clothing_hats_pinkylee.htm

For a Biography of Pinky Lee go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinky_Lee

To listen to the theme of the Pinky Lee Show go to http://www.televisiontunes.com/Pinky_Lee_Show_(The).html