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Talent scout Gene Carroll hosted The Gene Carroll Show on Sunday afternoons on WEWS-TV, one of a number of popular "amateur hour" shows around the country that served as entry points for starry-eyed performers of varying degrees of talent hoping for show business careers. However, in part due to the length of its run - it debuted in the late '40s and, hosted by Carroll until his 1972 death, ran until the late '70s - it became one of the better known. With its mix of no-hopers and diamonds in the rough, its appeal was similar to that of today's American Idol. Occasionally, the show hosted someone who went on to greater fame; the Cowsill Brothers are alleged to have given their first public performance on the show while their family lived in Canton. - AP
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