| You Are an Artist | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | The Warren Hull Show The Ben Grauer Show |
| Genre | Talk |
| Presented by | Jon Gnagy Ben Grauer (Feb-June 1950) Warren Hull (Jan-Feb 1950) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 15 mins./20 mins. |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | May 13, 1946 – 1950 |
You Are an Artist is a television series, which first aired on NBC flagship station WNBT-TV in New York City and "a small network of stations on the East Coast" on May 13, 1946, and then continued on the NBC Television network until 1950.[1]
In February 1950 the show moved to CBS, originating from WCBS-TV. It was sponsored by Doubleday.[2]
As its title suggests, it was a program designed to teach people how to draw. Artist Jon Gnagy "would execute drawings before the camera while describing his technique in simple, understandable language."[1] In later episodes, he added analysis of a famous painting on each episode.
The program briefly reverted to a New York City local show before a final three-week run on NBC in 1950.[1]
Warren Hull became host of the program in January 1950, and the title changed to reflect his role as star. The format changed to a talk show, "nothing more than an extended commercial for its sponsors, the book publishers Doubleday and Company."[1]: 12 In each episode, Hull talked about a new book from Doubleday and interviewed the author. Hull was host for a month, before Ben Grauer replaced him.[1]: 12
Once more, the title was changed to indicate a new host. Grauer continued Hull's format of talking about books and interviewing authors. His program also plugged Doubleday book clubs that offered discounted versions of books. Grauer's version of the show ran from February 1950 through June 1950.[1]: 12
No complete kinescoped episodes are known to survive of this program, due to NBC's lack of an archival policy at the time. However, a small segment without sound survives on a test reel of programs made by Hubert Chain in 1947 as recorded from the TV screen. This reel is in the Library of Congress archives. There are also numerous audio recordings without video images from as early as January 9, 1947 (featuring Jon Gnagy) as taken from the live WNBT-TV broadcasts in New York, as documented in the Library of Congress SONIC Archives.
