Radio City Music Hall. Those who passed the initial screening were invited to compete on the program, featuring amateurs whose performance were judged by viewers, voting via letters and phone calls. Contestants who won three times earned cash prizes, scholarships, or participation in a traveling stage show associated with the program. Winners who went on to show business careers included singers Gladys Knight, Ann-Margret, Pat Boone, Raul Julia, Teresa Brewer, Irene Cara, The Rock and Roll Trio, and Los Concertinos from Puerto Rico. Ted Mack and producer Lewis Graham (the former Lou Goldberg) programmed something for everybody. A single broadcast (Easter Sunday, 1959) featured an opera singer, a trumpet sextet, a dulcimer player, a kiddie dance troupe, a young vocalist, a dancer, a rhythm-and-blues combo, a barbershop quartet, and mother-and-son Irish step dancers. Mack's pleasant manner and unflappable calm put many nervous contestants at ease, and he used the same down-to-earth tone for commercials and public-service announcements. Other television In 1951, Mack was host of Ted Mack's Family Hour on ABC. A TV reference book summarized the show as "A Sunday evening program of music, songs and comedy." In 1955, he had a daily afternoon program, Ted Mack's Matinee on NBC. A review of the April 20 episode in the April 30, 1955, issue of Billboard said, "Unpretentious and easy-going, NBC's new Ted Mack's Matinee looks as if it's going to provide housewives with a smooth, relaxing stanza to break up her [sic] daytime chores." Personal life In 1926, Mack married Ellen Marguerite Overholt. They had no children but fostered children from Catholic charities at their home. After the Original Amateur Hour ended its broadcast run, Mack became a lecturer at colleges and served as host of local amateur shows. Death Mack died of heart failure July 12, 1976, at Phelps Memorial Hospital in North Tarrytown, New York at the age of 72. He was survived by his wife. References External links Museum of Broadcast Communications: The Original Amateur Hour Original Amateur Hour website (archived) Clip from the December 29, 1957, episode of Ted Mack and The Original Amateur Hour from YouTube 1904 births 1976 deaths Radio personalities from Colorado American television personalities Male television personalities People from Greeley, Colorado People from Sleepy Hollow, New York