Bride and Groom

Hosts

John Nelson (1945-1954) Bob Paige & Byron Palmer (1957-1958)

Broadcast

ABC Radio: 11/26/1945 - 9/15/1950 CBS Daytime: 1/25/1951 - 2/1/1952, 4/4/1952 - 10/9/1953 NBC Daytime: 12/7/1953 - 8/27/1954, 7/1/1957 - 1/10/1958

Packager

Masterson-Reddy-Nelson Productions

Bride and Groom was a reality series where engaged couples were married on the air.

Premise

Engaged couples, selected from written essays, were interviewed by the host before going to a nearby chapel to be officially wed on-air, with family and friends in attendance. The couple would then come back to the studio and be given wedding gifts courtesy of various sponsors (usually silverware and kitchen appliances).

Trivia

• In May 1950, Masterson-Reddy-Nelson filed a plagiarism suit against KLAC-TV, claiming that the latter's program Wedding Bells (which had debuted on January 20, 1950) "closely mirrored" Bride and Groom. KLAC argued that their show was different (such as the fact that couples were given a choice of gifts), further claiming that the two shows were "complete opposites".
  • In July 1951, a jury found that Wedding Bells had indeed plagiarized Bride and Groom, awarding Masterson-Reddy-Nelson $800,000 in damages. The trio accepted a $50,000 cash settlement in lieu of the larger award, with Wedding Bells ending its run on August 11, 1951.
• At least some of the couples who appeared on the show were given an audio recording or 16mm film of their episode. Copies of these, posted by relatives, make up the majority of the available episodes.

Videos

ABC:
A full episode from January 13, 1949 (Louis Witt & Stanley Wayne VanZandt)
A full episode from April 8, 1949 (Harold H. Harmon & Idelle Reynolds)

CBS:
A full episode from October 25, 1951 (Natalie Rachel Liepmann & Stanley Howard Rubi)
A full episode from August 6, 1952 (Mary Lou Massingham & Don Gilbert Ellis)
A full episode from August 18, 1952 (Rosemary Potts & Maxwell Lewis Bible Jr.)
Another full episode from 1952 (Margaret Ann Westfall & Frank Edward Stanevich)
A full episode from February 4, 1953 (Katherine Alice Collins & Donald Ray Lyman): Part 1, Part 2
A partial episode from 1953 (Gladys Jane Lubbert & Everett Ralph Jacobson)
Another full episode from 1953 (Anna Goldman & George Robert Nathan)
Another full episode from 1953 (Nora Kowalczyk & Lonnie Gene Potter)
Another full episode from 1953 (Rachel Breidbart & Abraham Schwartz)
A full episode from May 8, 1953 (Mary Louise Stevenson & Ralph Chester Monegan Jr.)
Another full episode, unknown year (Wanda Lee Wilks & Don George Sypherd)

NBC:
A full episode from December 1953 (Peggy Joyce Carter & Charles Edward Knighton)
A full episode from 1953 or 1954 (Sonia Anne Young & Ellis Dillard Thompson Jr.)
A full episode from January 28, 1954 (Roberta Lee Russell & Archie Lee Woodie Jr.)
A full episode from March 16, 1954 (Ida Mae Hahl & Robert Albert Stitham)
A full episode from June 14, 1954
A full episode from June 29, 1954 (Marilyn Ruthe Black & Sam Glassman)
A full episode from September 24, 1957 (Honey Rona Dubin & Harold Greer)