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Pregnancy - Despite the moral
concerns and the attempts at keeping pregnancy in the closet and off of TV,
the topic did make it to the tube. The first "birth" to be televised in
closed circuit was shown in color on June 14, 1951 at a meeting of the
American Medical Association in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Some 2000
physicians and family members viewed the delivery of one Michael Gallagher
(9 pounds, 12 ounces).
The first "Public" viewing of a birth was televised
via Denver Colorado station KOA-TV over 49 NBC affiliate stations on
December 2, 1952. The focus of the blessed event was the delivery via
Caesarian section of Gordon Campbell Kerr (5 pounds, 7 ounces). He was
delivered at Colorado General Hospital of the University of Colorado Medical
School in Denver during a "March of Medicine" program sponsored by the
American Medical Association.
The first TV series to show the actual birth
of a baby (10/26/55) was the NBC medical anthology series MEDIC starring
Richard Boone as Doctor Konrad Styner. Filmed in cooperation with the Los
Angeles County Medical Association, the series depicted real hospitals and
clinics using doctors and nurses as support actors.
TV's earliest primetime delivery was on the sitcom MARY KAY
AND JOHNNY that starred Mary Kay Stearns and Johnny Stearns who played
themselves on the series. In December, 1948 Mary Kay gave birth in real-life
to a baby boy named Christopher. Within a month of his birth, the baby was
written into the script. This happened long before the Little Rickie Ricardo
birth on the I LOVE LUCY show.
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