Most of you have never heard that name. If you have a little age on you and live in the Midwest, you probably remember that name. Ruthie was television in her day, 40's and 50's and in to the 60's..
"Ruth Lyons, (born Ruth Evelyn Reeves October 4, 1905, died November 7, 1988) was a pioneer radio and television broadcaster in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is said Ruth Lyons accidentally invented the daytime TV talk show. Like Arthur Godfrey and others of the era, Ruth built a TV empire"
During the 1950's, when nightclub venues were numerous throughout the nation, two of the most prominent in the country were Beverly Hills and the Lookout House, in the Northern Kentucky area of "Greater Cincinnati." Virtually every headliner, including Jack E. Leonard, Nelson Eddy, Ted Lewis, Pearl Bailey, Myron Cohen, and many others, appeared on Ruth Lyons' program. Among her regular guests were Bob Hope, Arthur Godfrey and pianist Peter Nero. Don Cornell, regularly appeared in the area, and even served as substitute host for the show during her occasional absences. David Letterman and Phil Donahue, both appeared on her show. Letterman appeared when Lyons' sidekick, Bob Braun, hosted the show in the 70s. In an audio biography of Ruth Lyons, called "Let Me Entertain You--A Ruth Lyons Memoir CD;" Letterman tells how his mother, who never turned on a TV during the daytime, was transfixed by it when The 50/50 Club was on.
That's the way it was in a three state area. If you wanted to sell a product or advertise a event, you got on Ruth's show. I remember the day she had a new product from Nabisco or Proctor and Gamble, she did the commercial and before the day was out, the product was sold out. They had to add an extra shift to replenish the product to the stores.
There was a long waiting list for tickets, three years or more. People gave her tickets as gifts, when they could get them, She had regulars on with her, not every day, but frequently, and they became family.
She was an unparalleled sales person, urging her viewers to go out and buy color TVs, an expensive luxury item in the late 1950s. A magazine article once showed Cincinnati leading the nation in per capita color TV sales — twice that of New York City, earning Cincinnati the name of “Color Town USA” by the early 1960s.
