October 3, 1954: "Father Knows Best" Premieres

Clockwise from top left: Elinor Donahue, Robert Young,

Jane Wyatt, Lauren Chapin, Billy Gray

October 3, 1954: Father Knows Best premieres on CBS. After 1 season, it moved to NBC. In 1958, it moved back to CBS, and ran there until 1960, after 6 seasons.

It became, in public memory, symbolic of 1950s television: Lighthearted, simplistic, white, suburban, a family comedy with only the most minor of conflicts, easily resolved in half an honor. Like The Simpsons, it was set in a town named Springfield, which was generic enough that it could be in any of several States with a town with that name, including Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois and Oregon.

Robert Young played Jim Anderson, an insurance salesman. Jane Wyatt played his wife, Margaret, a typical 1950s suburban housewife, who did not have an outside-the-home job. They had 3 children: Betty (Elinor Donahue), James Jr. (Billy Gray) and Kathy Anderson (Lauren Chapin) -- nicknamed Princess, Bud and Kitten, respectively. Betty graduated from Springfield High School in 1956, and Bud in 1959, making them 16 and 13 when the show began; and they went to Springfield Junior College. Chapin was 9 when the show began, so we can presume that was also her character's age.

The house that stood in for the Anderson house was built on the backlot of Columbia Pictures in Burbank, California, now part of the Warner Brothers Ranch. It was originally built for a series of movies based on the comic strip Blondie. It became Mr. Wilson's house on the TV version of the comic strip Dennis the Menace, and the house of The Partridge Family.

Robert Young later played a doctor on the ABC drama Marcus Welby, M.D., and starred in commercials for Sanka coffee. Jane Wyatt later made a guest appearance on Star Trek, playing Amanda Grayson, mother of Spock, and reprised the role in one of the movies.

Elinor Donahue was already married for the 1st time in real life in 1955. She appeared in the 1st season of The Andy Griffith Show in 1960-61, as Ellie Walker, a pharmacist and a love interest for Griffith's widowed Sheriff Andy Taylor. She also made a guest appearance on Star Trek, and made a few on The Odd Couple, as Felix Unger's occasional girlfriend -- named Miriam Welby. As that show was also on ABC, that had to be an inside joke. She later appeared on an episode of Friends as Ross and Monica's aunt.

Billy Gray had previously played the boy version of the title character in Jim Thorpe -- All-American, and appeared in the science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still, eventually becoming its last surviving castmember. He later became a collector of motorcycles and a promoter of motorcycle races.

Lauren Chapin fell victim to drugs, and spent some time in prison. After getting clean, she worked for a brokerage firm and became a minister. She also worked as the agent of actress Jennifer Love Hewitt, a childhood friend of her daughter.

There were 2 reunion movies in 1977, airing on NBC. Betty and Bud had married and had children, but Betty had been widowed; while Kathy was engaged to a doctor.

Young died in 1998, and Wyatt in 2006. As of October 3, 1954, Donahue, Gray and Chapin are still alive. (UPDATE: Chapin died in 2026.)

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October 3, 1954 was a Sunday. Hall of Fame baseball pitcher Dennis Eckersley, guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, and minister and political activist Al Sharpton were born.

Baseball season had ended the day before, when the New York Giants completed their 4-game World Series sweep over the Cleveland Indians. The NHL season began 4 days later. and the NBA season 23 days after that.

Only 3 NFL games were played that day:

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Chicago Cardinals, 35-16 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Chicago Bears beat the Green Bay Packers, 10-3 at Green Bay City Stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin. By this point, the Bears considered the Packers, not the crosstown Cardinals, to be their arch-rivals.

* And the San Francisco 49ers and their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Rams, played to a tie, 24-24 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

September 18, 1951: "The Day the Earth Stood Still" Premieres

September 18, 1951, 75 years ago: The Day the Earth Stood Still premieres. Directed by Robert Wise, it becomes a classic of science fiction.

A flying saucer lands on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. Out steps a regular-sized human-looking man named Klaatu (played by Michael Rennie) and a considerably taller robot named Gort (Lock Martin). The U.S. Army have surrounded the saucer, and they shoot Klaatu. Still alive, he orders Gort not to interfere. Klaatu is taken to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, but escapes, and quickly heals.

He takes on a human identity, and blends in among people to learn how they really think and feel. This is considerably easier than it would soon become, since most Americans do not yet have television sets, and haven't seen him before, including his face on news broadcasts. He is aided by Helen Benson (Patricia Neal), a young widow, and her son, Bobby (Billy Gray).

Not liking what he sees, Klaatu returns to his ship. At 12:00 Noon, U.S. Eastern Time, the next day, he uses the controls on his ship to stop all electrical equipment on Earth for 30 minutes, except for essential services, such as hospitals, and aircraft already in flight.

This gets the world's attention. He tells the world that an interplanetary organization has created a police force of invincible robots like Gort. He says, "In matters of aggression, we have given them absolute power over us. Your choice is simple: Join us and live in peace, or pursue your present course and face obliteration. We shall be waiting for your answer." Then they leave Earth.

In real life, at this point, Earth had developed nuclear weapons, but rocketry was still in the beginning stages: The defined barrier between "Earth" and "space" had been breached, but nothing had yet been placed into Earth orbit. And the Cold War was at a hot point: The Korean War had been going for a little more than a year. The film tapped into Cold War fears, and suggested that turning away from such aggression was a better idea.

A remake was released in 2008, starring Keanu Reeves, but was not well-received.

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September 18, 1951 was a Tuesday. Dee Dee Ramone, bass guitarist for The Ramones, was born on this day. So was Ben Carson, the neurosurgeon who ran for the Republican nomination for President in 2016, and was then appointed by Donald Trump to be Secretary of... Housing & Urban Development.

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Chicago White Sox, 7-1 at Yankee Stadium. Billy Pierce outpitched Vic Raschi. Bud Stewart hit a home run for the White Sox. Joe DiMaggio (in his last season), Yogi Berra (in his 1st Most Valuable Player season) and Mickey Mantle (in his rookie season) each went 1-for-4.

* The New York Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 6-5 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Monte Irvin hit a home run, and rookie Willie Mays went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Dave Koslo was the winning pitcher.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-1 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Stan Musial went 0-for-4, but the Cardinals didn't need him, knocking Ralph Branca out of the box in the 6th inning. Jackie Robinson went 2-for-4. The Dodgers had led the National League by 13 1/2 games over the Giants on August 11. The lead was now 3 games.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-4 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ted Williams went 2-for-4 with an RBI. The results of the day's games meant that the Indians had tied the Yankees for 1st place in the American League, with the Red Sox 2 1/2 games back. The Indians had 7 games left, the Yankees 11, the Red Sox 12.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 8-6 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia.

* The St. Louis Browns swept a doubleheader from the Washington Senators, 8-0 and 3-2 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. Tommy Byrne pitched a 3-hit shutout in the opener. In the nightcap, Byrne -- a 1950 All-Star, a 4-time World Series winner with the Yankees, and a good hitter for a pitcher, with a .238 lifetime batting average, 14 home runs and 98 RBIs -- was used as a pinch-hitter in the top of the 10th inning, and singled home Fred Marsh with the winning run.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Boston Braves, 6-5 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Ralph Kiner hit a home run.

* And the Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-4 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.