Welcome to my auction! This auction is for a photo of Bob Braun. He was the co-host of the Ruth Lyons 50-50 Club and took continued the show after her retirement. It was then called the Bob Braun show and was the top rated live entertainment show in the mid-west. I don't know anything else about the photo and there is no writing on the back of the one. It comes from the collection of Ruth Lyons photos I am listing . It measures 8 x 10 inches.
Ruth Lyons (Ruth Reeves Oct.4,1905 to Nov. 7 1988) was a pioneer in
radio and television broadcasting. Her career was in Cincinnati,
Ohio. She was the creator of the daytime TV talk show and she built an
empire around that.
Her career began at WKRC where she worked as a radio show pianist
and organist. Her first broadcast was when a show host called in sick
and she was asked to take over. In 1942 WKRC lost Lyons because of
there failure to give her a $10 raise and she went to WLW. The owner of
Taft broadcasting said the ten dollar raise cost his company millions
in advertising.
The 50/50 Club started on radio when 50 women were invited to a
daily broadcast. It was renamed the 50/50 club when the audience went
to 100. It was broadcast on TV for 90 minutes. Ruth had a variety of
guests including Bob Hope, Arthur Godfrey, David Letterman and Phil
Donahue. Ruth also ad libbed TV commercials. She is credited with
making Kroger's famous. People waited up to 5 years to get tickets to
her show.
Ruth's adopted daughter Candy Newman became an important part of the
50/50
Club. She died of cancer in 1966. After her death Ruth suffered a
series of strokes and retired from broadcasting in 1967. The death of
her beloved daughter took her will to live. She died on November 7,
1988.
She started the Ruth Lyons Christmas Fund which gives Cincinnati area
hospitalized children toys, hospital equipment, etc. It has raised tens
of millions of dollars over the years.
Ruth was truly a great woman and an innovator in early broadcasting.
I was fortunate enough to acquire a collection of photos of Ruth and
her family and will be posting some of them on e-Bay in the coming
weeks. They are a treasure and a great look into early television
broadcasting!
Neat Christmas present! Great to add to any collection! Please take a good look at my pictures. Please
LMK if you have any questions. Buyer to pay for item with PayPal. Payment required in 10 days. Thanks for
looking!