broadcast facilities it had leased in the NBC Studios at Rockefeller Center. The debut broadcast was the Major Bowes Amateur Hour. In February 1937, the Manhattan Theatre became CBS Radio Theater No. 3 after the network acquired the Golden Theatre, which was labeled as theater number 1. The theater was subsequently known as the CBS Radio Playhouse. A New York Times reporter wrote in 1943 that the onetime memorial to Oscar Hammerstein was now "another kind of shrine" on Saturday nights. At the time, teenagers often congregated at the playhouse to hear Frank Sinatra. The comedy program The Fred Allen Show was also broadcast at CBS Radio Theater No. 3. Manufacturers Trust sold the theater and offices in May 1944 to Howard S. Cullman and the Cullman brothers, subject to a mortgage of $400,000. CBS Radio Theater No. 3 continued to operate within the auditorium and some of the upper stories, and CBS's lease had two years remaining. By December 1945, with CBS's lease about to expire, the network was negotiating to buy the Alvin Theatre. The Cullman brothers intended to return Hammerstein's to theatrical use the following year, presenting musical comedies. Theatre Incorporated expressed interest in operating Hammerstein's. Ultimately, in June 1946, Cullman and CBS formed an agreement in which CBS could use Hammerstein's for five more years, while Cullman would present productions at the Alvin instead. CBS Studio 50 The onetime Hammerstein's Theatre was converted for television in 1949, and it became CBS-TV Studio 50. The modifications included the addition of camera runways. Shielded television cameras had to be developed due to strong magnetic interference from equipment at a neighboring subway substation. With the conversion of Studio 50 to television use, the auditorium ceiling was painted white. By January 1950, Studio 50 was being used exclusively for television broadcasts and AM-TV simulcasts. The first TV show to be broadcast from Studio 50 was Arthur Godfrey's Monday prime-time show Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, which had simulcast on radio and TV since December 6, 1948. The next production to air from Studio 50 was The Jackie Gleason Show, which commenced in September 1952. Toast of the Town (later renamed The Ed Sullivan Show), hosted by newspaper columnist and impresario Ed Sullivan, relocated to Studio 50 in January 1953 because its previous quarters at the Maxine Elliott Theatre were too small. Cullman and CBS decided in 1951 to swap Studio 50