"Marriage Institution" joke (1954)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   From John Crosby's Radio and Televison column, NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE, 15 January 1954, pg. 17, col. 2:

   "The first regularly scheduled color television show" looks as if it had been put together with a piece of string and twenty-five cents.  It could loosely be called a variety show--singers, tap dancers, puppets, and occasionally from Mike Wallas, the emcee, jokes.  "Marriage is a wonderful institution," declared Mr. Wallace, "but who wants to live in an institution."  That, I've decided, is what you might call an on-color joke.  Enough of those and they'll drive us all back to the burlesque houses to listen to the other kind.