{{italic title}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} thumb|200px|Garroway at WMAQ in 1951 with Connie Russell and Jack Haskell. '''''Garroway at Large''''' is an experimental American musical variety show program with the host Dave Garroway in the Golden Age of Television. It was telecast at 10pm on Saturday (and later on Sundays and Fridays) on NBC from April 1949<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PA4EAAAAMBAJ&dq=garroway&pg=PT9|title=Chi NBC Video Sets Garroway, Wallace Shows|date=26 March 1949|publisher=Billboard|accessdate=5 July 2010}}</ref> to 1951.<ref name="Dave Garroway">{{cite web|url=http://www.richsamuels.com/nbcmm/garroway/index.html|title=TV Turns up a New Comic|date=22 November 1949|publisher=Look|accessdate=29 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.richsamuels.com/nbcmm/tcs.html|title=The Chicago School With Special Emphasis on Dave Garroway|date=11 September 1950|publisher=Time|accessdate=29 May 2010}}</ref><ref>[http://www.richsamuels.com/nbcmm/garroway/bestofgal.html Video file downloads-The Best of ''Garroway at Large'']</ref> ''Garroway at Large'' aired with a full symphony orchestra conducted by Joseph Gallicchio. There were two female singers, Betty Chapel and Connie Russell and a male singer, Jack Haskell. In addition, the Hamilton Trio, a contemporary dance group, appeared each week, along with comedian Cliff Norton.
The show had only one local Chicago broadcast on April 8, 1949 before becoming an NBC Network program.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=DMUpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TEQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2273,765170&dq=dave+garroway&hl=en|title=Dave Garroway|date=7 September 1950|publisher=The Toronto Daily Telegraph|accessdate=21 September 2010}}</ref> The series is notable for introducing an innovative presentation and staging to television.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GVIEAAAAMBAJ&dq=dave+garroway&pg=PA146|title=Dave Garroway:Prop Man At Large|date=10 October 1949|publisher=Life|accessdate=15 July 2010}}</ref> When television began in New York City, the shows adopted the familiar theatrical proscenium concept, separating the stage from the audience area. After World War II, several programs originated from Chicago, where Garroway was a disc jockey on radio station WMAQ.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tuxjunction.net/glennmiller.htm|title=Glenn Miller|publisher=Tux Junction|accessdate=April 25, 2010|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100211140502/http://www.tuxjunction.net/glennmiller.htm|archivedate=February 11, 2010}}</ref>
When Garroway was assigned to host on television, he abandoned the usual conventions for a more casual approach in which the reality of the studio was acknowledged. Followed by a single camera, he walked around the entire large studio space and simple abstract sets as he talked to guests and the TV viewer directly. This live staging technique, known as the "Chicago Style", was developed further on Garroway's next show, ''Today''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.richsamuels.com/nbcmm/chschool.html|title=Chicago School of Television|author=Samuels, Rich|publisher=Samuels, Rich|accessdate=29 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3dgDAAAAMBAJ&dq=garroway&pg=PA144|title=They Fool You Every Night|author=Railton, Arthur|date=October 1951|publisher=Popular Mechanics|accessdate=5 July 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8uErAAAAIBAJ&sjid=12UFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1599,3971024&dq=ernie+kovacs&hl=en|title=Garroway-More At Large Than On TV|author=Perrigo, Lucia|date=9 November 1951|publisher=Kentucky New Era|accessdate=10 July 2010}}</ref>
==Production== On February 19, 1950, Congoleum-Nairn became a sponsor of the show, which originated from WNBQ-TV in Chicago.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=February 19, 1950 |page=1 |title=Debuts, Highlights, Changes |url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele06ross/page/n22/mode/1up?view=theater |magazine=Ross Reports |access-date=July 22, 2023 }}</ref>
==References== <references/> *Teruaki Georges Sumioka, ''The Grammar of Pop TV Program'' (2006) {{ISBN|978-4-8459-0697-0}}
==External links== *{{IMDb title|0313078}} *[http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/shows/garroway-at-large ''Garroway at Large'' Archive of American Television] *[https://books.google.com/books?id=GVIEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Dave+Garroway+Show%22&pg=PA146 ''Prop Man at Large'', a photo feature about ''Garroway at Large'' from ''Life'' magazine's October 10, 1949, issue]
Category:1949 American television series debuts Category:1954 American television series endings Category:1940s American variety television series Category:1950s American variety television series Category:American live television series Category:Black-and-white American television shows Category:NBC original programming