Arthur Murray Party, The


Arthur Murray was the founder and figurehead of a chain of studios that would teach you to dance, thereby making you more attractive and popular.  The Arthur Murray Party was a weekly show that was basically an infomercial before that term was invented.  Each week, Arthur and his wife Kathryn hosted a big party filled with instructors from his schools who would dance together and with guest stars, making it all look so fun and easy.

The series started in 1950 on ABC, the moved to the DuMont Network, then back to ABC, then over to CBS and continued to rebound between networks, NBC included, until it finally went off in 1960.  Its form was often parodied as was the stiffness of his host, who was often compared to Ed Sullivan.  But it entertained a lot of people and probably sold them a lot of dance lessons.