10-7-1960

[953 nut 52,252]

                                    10-7-1960

CBS broadcasts the premiere episode of “Route 66”

On October 7, 1960, the first episode of the one-hour television drama “Route 66″airs on CBS. The program had a simple premise: It followed two young men, Buz Murdock and Tod Stiles, as they drove across the country in an inherited Corvette (Chevrolet was one of the show’s sponsors), doing odd jobs and looking for adventure. According to the show’s creator and writer, Stirling Silliphant (best known for his acclaimed “Naked City,” an earlier TV series), Buz and Tod were really on a journey in search of themselves. “Call ‘Route 66′ ‘Pilgrim’s Progress,'” Silliphant told a reporter. “The motive power driving our two characters is not a Corvette: it is the desire for knowledge–and for sentience; it is a quest through the perennially fascinating cosmos of personal identity.”

“Route 66″ was different from every other show on television. For one thing, it was shot on location all over the United States instead of in a studio. By the time its run was up in 1964, the show’s cast and crew had traveled from Maine to Florida and from Los Angeles to Toronto: In all, they taped 116 episodes in 25 states. (Silliphant himself arrived at all the show’s locations six weeks before anyone else. When he got there, he would acquaint himself with local culture and write the scripts on-site.)  The show was a serious drama with social-realist pretensions, but its nomadic premise meant that it could tackle a new issue–war, mental illness, religion, murder, drug addiction, drought–every week. By contrast, police procedurals and hospital dramas necessarily had a more limited range. The show’s stark black-and-white cinematography was likewise suited to its serious tone.

[jdleach 525]

Thank you for posting Richard.

 

I have wanted to take a trip on 66 for many years and have yet to do so, in spite of my many road travels over the years. Read the Wikipedia article on the road, which had several facts I was not aware of. The highway began as part of the U.S. Highway system in 1926, and once spanned from Chicago, IL to Santa Monica, CA, and was once a total of 2, 448 miles long. It gained fame through the aforementioned TV show, and the pop song "Get your Kicks" (on Route 66). The road is no longer a part of the U.S. highway system, having been largely bypassed by sections of the Interstate system. It has also been extensively rerouted in many places. There are still sections though that have been preserved as memorial highways, and are maintained by the states in which they pass through.

 

Another route, though not nearly as famous, is one I am intimately familiar with as it passed through the county in which I grew up in here in southern Indiana. And that is U.S. Highway 50.

 

Route 50 was also part of the early Federal Highway System, and was originally planned in 1925. Unlike Route 66, U.S. 50 goes coast to coast, beginning in Ocean City, Maryland, and ending in West Sacramento, California. Total length is approximately 3, 073 miles. While 66 covers 8 states, 50 spans 12 as well as the District of Columbia. Another difference from the original Route 66 is that 50 is still a part of the Federal Highway System, and for the vast part of its length covers the original route. Very little rerouting has been done, and only the last section west of Sacramento has been replaced with Interstate (Interstate 580). While 66 goes through several larger cities, 50 passes through mostly small towns and rural areas in the east and Midwest, and desert areas of the far west. One section is billed as "The Loneliest Road in America", and passes through central Nevada. I have been on that section, and can attest to its desolation. At either end of the Nevada stretch, there are signs advising motorists to stock up on water, gasoline, and any other essential items as services are virtually nonexistent.

[953 nut 52,252]

2 hours ago, jdleach said:

It gained fame through the aforementioned TV show, and the pop song "Get your Kicks" (on Route 66).

The "Mother Road" was also a key player in the Pixar film"Cars"

[DougC 2,641]

Always wanted that vette. Never got one. Now you need deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep pockets if you go shopping for one.