During the 1950s, directed numerous musical and variety programs, including Your Hit Parade, a precedent-breaking closed circuit broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera, The Ford 50th Anniversary Show, Caesar's Hour, the award-winning 1955 television broadcast of Peter Pan, and the Royal Ballet's performance of Cinderella.
[1] After World War II, Jones moved to New York City and began working as a director on early television shows that included Voice of the People and One Man's Family.
The shows featured performances by jazz musician and bandleader Eddie Condon and guest stars, including Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, and Earl Hines.
[2][3] For one episode, he worked on a novel idea of preparing a special script depicting Holiday's life story.
[8] Cameras were placed in the "Diamond Horeshoe" boxes to capture a production that featured a 92-piece orchestra and as many as 120 persons on stage at the same time> It broadcast live via closed circuit to movie screens across the country.
[9][8] In June 1953, Jones took a two-week leave of absence from Your Hit Parade to direct The Ford 50th Anniversary Show.
The Ford show was a two-hour special broadcast simultaneously on both NBC and CBS and involved the coordination of three studios, eight cameras, 45 engineers, 25 stagehands, a 24-piece orchestra, and a large cast.
Jones took over as director from Jerome Robbins who directed the show on Broadway and received his second Emmy nomination for the project.
[14] Jones' other projects for Producers' Showcase included a musical adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk (1956) starring Joel Grey and the Royal Ballet's April 1957 performance of Prokofiev's Cinderella.
He received his fourth Emmy nomination in 1959 for Best Direction of a Single Musical Or Variety Program for his work on an episode of Como's show featuring Maureen O'Hara and Robert Preston.
[21][22] From 1960 to 1967, Jones also directed The Bell Telephone Hour, a concert series featuring performances by stars of opera, musical theater and ballet.