Sylvania Award

Sylvania Award
Sponsored by	Sylvania Electric Products
Date	1951–1959
Country	United States

The Sylvania Awards were given by the television manufacturer Sylvania Electric Products for various categories of television performance, broadcasting, scripts, music and other aspects of production between 1951 and 1959. In their day they rivaled the Emmy Award for prestige. They came to an end after the sponsor was merged into GTE.

History

Sylvania Electric Products, a television set manufacturer, gave the annual Sylvania Awards from 1951.^[1] The awards were given for advancing creative television techniques.^[2] The Sylvania Award was as prestigious as the Emmy Award in the early days of television.^[3] It was one of several developed in the 1950s after the Emmy award was founded in 1949. Others included the TV Guide Award and the Look Magazine TV Award. Ed Sullivan gave out the Michael award in Los Angeles from 1950 to 1953.^[4]

In 1951 the Sylvania award for best program suitable for children was given to Zoo Parade by the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, headed by Mrs. Johnny Hays.^[5] The awards for 1953 were presented in New York on 1 December 1953, with winners announced in advance. No grand award was presented. Winners included Rod Steiger (actor) and Paddy Chayefsky (script) for Marty, Donald O'Connor, Danny Thomas and Mary Martin.^[6] The 1955 awards were presented by broadcaster Deems Taylor on 29 November 1955. Sylvester L. Weaver Jr., head of NBC, received an award.^[7]

1957 Sylvania Television Award winners included Mary Martin, Dinah Shore, Marian Anderson, Steve Allen and Jack Paar.^[8] The 1958 awards were presented in January 1959 at a ceremony in the Grand Ballroom of the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan attended by about 400 guests including performers and representatives of networks, TV stations and production companies. Comedian Orson Bean was the master of ceremonies. The awards were presented by Don G. Mitchell, chairman and president of Sylvania Electric Products.^[9] In 1959 Sylvania Electric Products merged with General Telephone to form General Telephone and Electronics (GTE). The awards for 1959 were the last.^[1]

Trophy

The award winners received a trophy in the form of a clock. A walnut wood base is decorated by a high-relief sculpture of a woman in a robe who carries the clock face on her shoulders. The face is made of glass, with etched gilt stars at each hour and stylized metal lightening bolts for hands. Some versions of the award were functioning electric clocks made by Jefferson Electric Company of Bellwood, Illinois.^[1] In others the clock hands were permanently attached to the glass face. The clock was about 14 inches (360 mm) tall, made by the Medallic Art Co. of New York, NY.^[10]

Selected recipients

Year	Award	Recipient	Show
1951	Director	Max Liebman	Your Show of Shows
1951	Best actor	Sid Caesar	Your Show of Shows
1951	Best actress	Imogene Coca	Your Show of Shows
1951	Best program suitable for children		Zoo Parade[5]
1952		Thomas Granik	Youth Wants to Know[10]
1952		Jess Oppenheimer	I Love Lucy
1953		Franklin J. Schaffner	[11]
1953		Goodson-Todman Productions	What's My Line[3]
1953	Outstanding actor	Rod Steiger	Marty (NBC Television Theater)[6]
1953	Original script	Paddy Chayefsky	Marty[6][12]
1953	Variety performer	Donald O'Connor	[6]
1953	Comedy series	Danny Thomas	Make Way for Daddy[6]
1953	Comedy	Mary Martin	Fashion pantomime of Ford Anniversary Show[6]
1953	Best supporting actress	Eileen Heckart	The Haven[13]
1953	Law enforcement documentary		Dragnet[14]
1954		Franklin J. Schaffner	[11]
1954	Music score	Steve Allen	The Bachelor
1954	Television series for children of all ages	Walt Disney	Disneyland[15]
1954	Comedian	George Gobel	[2]
1954	Wholesome family entertainment	Jane Wyatt	Father Knows Best[2][16]
1954	Dramatic actor	Steven Hill[2]
1955	Best teleplay	Rod Serling	Patterns[17]
1955	Best locally produced children's show	Fred Rogers	Children's Corner[18]
1956		Bob Keeshan	Captain Kangaroo[19]
1956	Best teleplay	Rod Serling	Requiem for a Heavyweight[17]
1956	Comedy writer	Louis M. Heyward	The Ernie Kovacs Show
1957	Outstanding variety series	William O. Harbach	The Steve Allen Show
1957	Documentary	Harry Preston	Tornado
1957	Songwriting	Robert Wells
1957	Comedy	Ernie Kovacs	Silent Show
1957	Investigative reporting	Clark R. Mollenhoff	Commentary on Senate Committee investigation of labor and management practices[20]
1958	Comedy	Sid Caesar	Sid Caesar Invites You[21][22]
1958	Public service series	NBC	Continental Classroom[23]
1958	Local educational series	KQED San Francisco	The Criminal Man[23]
1959	Best actor	Laurence Olivier	The Moon and Sixpence[24]
1959	Best actress	Ingrid Bergman	The Turn of the Screw[24]
1959	Script	Loring Mandel	Playhouse 90

Notes

1. Nate D. Sanders 2013.
2. Winners of Sylvania Television Awards 1954.
3. "What's My Line/Sylvania Award 1953" Clock.
4. Macfarlane & Crossland 2009, p. 282.
5. Mitman 2012, p. 136.
6. Nielsen Business Media 1953, p. 6.
7. Cox 2009, p. 34.
8. Sylvania Award dinner Thursday 1959-01-24, p. 15.
9. Sylvania Award dinner Thursday 1959-01-24.
10. Sylvania Award-1952 – Reverse Time Page.
11. Newcomb 2014, p. 2021.
12. Newcomb 2014, p. 496.
13. Yankee 2006, p. 52.
14. Kramer 2007, p. 85.
15. Watts 2001, p. 367.
16. Gillan 2014, p. 62.
17. Newcomb 2014, p. 2053.
18. Broughton 1986, p. 49.
19. Newcomb 2014, p. 1242.
20. Schmidt 2002, p. 99.
21. Newcomb 2014, p. 399.
22. Reed & Reed 2012, p. 90.
23. University of California 1958, p. 126.
24. Sylvania Awards ... Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 1960, p. 18.

Sources

• Broughton, Irv (1986-09-01). Producers on Producing: The Making of Film and Television. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-1207-5. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
• Cox, Jim (2009-07-01). American Radio Networks: A History. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-5424-2. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
• Gillan, Jennifer (2014-11-20). Television Brandcasting: The Return of the Content-Promotion Hybrid. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-02062-0. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
• Kramer, Alisa Sarah (2007). William H. Parker and the Thin Blue Line: Politics, Public Relations and Policing in Postwar Los Angeles. ProQuest. ISBN 978-0-549-28990-6. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
• Macfarlane, Malcolm; Crossland, Ken (2009-07-06). Perry Como: A Biography and Complete Career Record. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-7166-9. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
• Mitman, Gregg (2012-09-01). Reel Nature: America's Romance with Wildlife on Film. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0-295-80372-2. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
• Nate D. Sanders (2013). "Extraordinarily Rare 1956 Sylvania Award Presented to Bob Keeshan for Captain Kangaroo -- Considered the Pre-Cursor of the Emmy Awards". Retrieved 2015-09-01.
• Nielsen Business Media (1953-12-05). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
• Newcomb, Horace (2014-02-03). Encyclopedia of Television. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-135-19479-6. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
• Reed, R.M.; Reed, M.K. (2012-12-06). The Encyclopedia of Television, Cable, and Video. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-1-4684-6521-1. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
• Schmidt, Duane A. (2002). Iowa Pride. Xulon Press. ISBN 978-1-59160-134-0. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
• "Sylvania Award-1952". Reverse Time Page. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
• "Sylvania Award dinner Thursday". The Afro American. 1959-01-24. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
• "Sylvania Awards Tell History of Television". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 1960-08-21. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
• University of California (1958). University Bulletin: A Weekly Bulletin for the Staff of the University of California. Office of Official Publications, University of California. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
• Watts, Steven (2001-10-01). The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life. University of Missouri Press. ISBN 978-0-8262-1379-2. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
• ""What's My Line/Sylvania Award 1953" Clock". Hake's Americana & Collectibles. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
• "Winners of Sylvania Television Awards 1954". Corbis Corporation. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
• Yankee, Luke (2006). Just Outside the Spotlight: Growing Up with Eileen Heckart. Back Stage Books. ISBN 978-0-8230-7888-2. Retrieved 2015-09-01.