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The Philco Television Playhouse is an American television anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series was sponsored by Philco. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the Golden Age of Television, winning a 1954 Peabody Award and receiving eight Emmy nominations between 1951 and 1956.
| The Philco Television Playhouse | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Anthology drama |
| Directed by | Fred Coe Vincent J. Donehue Gordon Duff Herbert Hirschman Delbert Mann Robert Mulligan Arthur Penn Ira Skutch |
| Composer | Morris Mamorsky |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 7 |
| No. of episodes | 251 |
| Production | |
| Producers | Fred Coe Gordon Duff Ira Skutch |
| Running time | 46–50 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | October 3, 1948 – October 2, 1955 |
| Related | |
| Goodyear Television Playhouse The Alcoa Hour | |
For the first season, Philco entered into a partnership with the Actors’ Equity Association to produce adaptations of Broadway plays and musicals with Bert Lytell, silent film era actor and Honorary Life President of Equity, as host.[1] The first episode was Dinner at Eight by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. Ronald Wayne Rodman, in his book Tuning in: American Narrative Television Music, noted, "Despite ensuing complications over the legalities of broadcasting copyrighted plays on television and several legal battles that ensued, the show flourished."[2] That flourishing came at a cost, however, as the trade publication Variety reported in January 1949 that the program had gone $126,000 over budget since its premiere. Increased costs were said to result from fees spent for rights to produce plays and "considerably higher talent fees", with José Ferrer cited as an example.[3] Philco executives were "reportedly seriously disturbed" that, despite the expenditures, the show had yet to make the top 10 shows in ratings, while Toast of the Town (its competition on CBS) was consistently rated second or third.[3]
The title of the show was briefly changed to Repertory Theatre and Arena Theatre during part of the first season, but then reverted to The Philco Television Playhouse.[citation needed]
The second season consisted mostly of adaptations of popular novels from the Book of the Month Club.[4] During later seasons, both original stories and adaptations were used.
Beginning in October 1951, Philco shared sponsorship of the program with Goodyear, with the title alternating between Philco Television Playhouse and Goodyear Television Playhouse to reflect that week's sponsor.[5] (Reference sources sometimes refer to the alternating programs collectively as the Philco/Goodyear Television Playhouse or the Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse, although neither are actual program titles.)
In the sixth season, Cathleen Nesbitt and Maureen Stapleton starred in Chayefsky's The Mother (April 4, 1954). This is one of the rare teleplays from television's Golden Age to be restaged on TV decades later, a Great Performances production on October 24, 1994, with Anne Bancroft and Joan Cusack.
The seventh season began September 19, 1954, with E. G. Marshall and Eva Marie Saint in Chayefsky's Middle of the Night, a play which moved to Broadway 15 months later and was filmed under the same title by Columbia Pictures in 1959.
A single source suggests that Philco Television Playhouse continued into 1956,[6] although most other sources agree that the final production came on October 2, 1955.[7][8] This was Robert Alan Aurthur's A Man Is Ten Feet Tall, co-starring Don Murray and Sidney Poitier, which was adapted and expanded into the 1957 MGM feature film, Edge of the City, with Poitier recreating his original role and John Cassavetes in Murray's part.
On October 16, 1955, Alcoa took over sponsorship from Philco and The Alcoa Hour alternated with Goodyear Television Playhouse for two more seasons.
Among the many performers on the Philco Television Playhouse were James Dean, Lillian Gish, Janet De Gore, Melvyn Douglas, Grace Kelly, Jack Klugman, Cloris Leachman, Walter Matthau, Steve McQueen, Felicia Montealegre Bernstein, Paul Muni, ZaSu Pitts, Eva Marie Saint, Everett Sloane, Kim Stanley, Eli Wallach and Joanne Woodward. Many of these actors were making their first television appearance;[citation needed] one was Jose Ferrer, who recreated his stage performance in a one-hour television condensation of Cyrano de Bergerac on January 9, 1949,[9] a full year before the 1950 film version, for which Ferrer won an Oscar, was released. Another was Paul Muni, who starred in the 1948 presentation Counsellor-at Law.
The series launched the television writing careers of Robert Alan Aurthur, Paddy Chayefsky, Sumner Locke Elliott, Horton Foote, Tad Mosel, William Templeton, Arnold Schulman, and Gore Vidal. Its most famous drama was Chayefsky's Marty (May 24, 1953), which starred Rod Steiger and was later made into a movie that won an Academy Award for Ernest Borgnine.
The trade publication Variety commended the Playhouse's "Pride and Prejudice" episode (January 23, 1949) and generalized, "It's getting so that viewers can take for granted this show's superior taste and overall production excellence. This is video at its adult best."[9] Regarding that specific production, the review praised Samuel Taylor's adaptation, Fred Coe's direction, Harry Sosnick's musical score, and the acting of Madge Evans and Viola Roache.[9]
 |
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of The Philco Television Playhouse on NBC.
| Season | TV season | Ranking | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd | 1950–1951 | #3 | 4.620 |
| 4th | 1951–1952 | #12 | 6.181 |
| 5th | 1952–1953 | #17 | 7.609 |
| 6th | 1953–1954 | #19 | 8.450 |
In 2006, the NBC series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip referenced The Philco Television Playhouse as The Philco Comedy Hour, a comedy show that aired on the fictional NBS network. Eli Wallach made a guest appearance on Studio 60, playing a former show writer who was blacklisted in the 1950s.
Season 1 (1948–1949)
| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Dinner at Eight" | October 3, 1948 |
| 2 | 2 | "Rebecca" | October 10, 1948[10] |
| 3 | 3 | "Counselor-at-Law" | October 17, 1948[10] |
| 4 | 4 | "Angel in the Wings" | October 24, 1948[10] |
| 5 | 5 | "Street Scene" | October 31, 1948[10] |
| 6 | 6 | "This Thing Called Love" | November 7, 1948[10] |
| 7 | 7 | "Camille" | November 14, 1948[10]: 245-246 |
| 8 | 8 | "An Inspector Calls" | November 21, 1948[10]: 246 |
| 9 | 9 | "I Like It Here" | November 28, 1948[10]: 246 |
| 10 | 10 | "Suspect" | December 5, 1948[10]: 246 |
| 11 | 11 | "Parlor Story" | December 12, 1948[10]: 246 |
| 12 | 12 | "A Christmas Carol" | December 19, 1948 |
| 13 | 13 | "The Old Lady Shows Her Medals" | December 26, 1948 |
| 14 | 14 | "Ramshackle Inn" | January 2, 1949 |
| 15 | 15 | "Cyrano de Bergerac" | January 9, 1949 |
| 16 | 16 | "Papa Is All" | January 16, 1949 |
| 17 | 17 | "Pride and Prejudice" | January 23, 1949 |
| 18 | 18 | "Dark Hammock" | January 30, 1949 |
| 19 | 19 | "The Late Christopher Bean" | February 6, 1949 |
| 20 | 20 | "The Story of Mary Surratt" | February 13, 1949[10]: 249 |
| 21 | 21 | "Twelfth Night" | February 20, 1949[10]: 249 |
| 22 | 22 | "St. Helena" | February 27, 1949[10]: 249 |
| 23 | 23 | "The Druid Circle" | March 6, 1949 |
| 24 | 24 | "Quality Street" | March 13, 1949 |
| 25 | 25 | "Dinner at Antoine's" | March 20, 1949 |
| 26 | 26 | "Becky Sharp" | March 27, 1949 |
| 27 | 27 | "And Never Been Kissed" | April 3, 1949 |
| 28 | 28 | "What Makes Sammy Run?" | April 10, 1949 |
| 29 | 29 | "Mr. Mergenthwirker's Lobblies" | April 17, 1949 |
| 30 | 30 | "Burlesque" | April 24, 1949 |
| 31 | 31 | "Macbeth" | May 1, 1949 |
| 32 | 32 | "Romeo and Juliet" | May 15, 1949 |
| 33 | 33 | "This Time, Next Year" | June 5, 1949 |
| 34 | 34 | "It Pays To Advertise" | June 12, 1949 |
| 35 | 35 | "Summer Formal" | June 19, 1949 |
| 36 | 36 | "Jenny Kissed Me" | June 26, 1949 |
| 37 | 37 | "Dark of the Moon" | July 3, 1949 |
| 38 | 38 | "For Love or Money" | July 10, 1949 |
| 39 | 39 | "The Five Lives of Richard Gordon" | July 17, 1949 |
| 40 | 40 | "You Touched Me!" | July 24, 1949 |
| 41 | 41 | "The Fourth Wall" | July 31, 1949 |
| 42 | 42 | "Enter Madame" | August 7, 1949 |
| 43 | 43 | "A Murder Has Been Arranged" | August 14, 1949 |
| 44 | 44 | "Pretty Little Parlor" | August 21, 1949 |
| 45 | 45 | "Three Concerned Moon" | August 28, 1949 |
Season 2 (1949–1950)
| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 46 | 1 | "What Every Woman Knows" | September 4, 1949 |
| 47 | 2 | "Pride's Castle" | September 11, 1949 |
| 48 | 3 | "The Little Sister" | September 18, 1949 |
| 49 | 4 | "The Lonely" | September 25, 1949 |
| 50 | 5 | "The Queen Bee" | October 2, 1949 |
| 51 | 6 | "Something's Got To Give" | October 9, 1949 |
| 52 | 7 | "The Last Tycoon" | October 16, 1949[10]: 262 |
| 53 | 8 | "Because of the Lockwoods" | October 23, 1949[10]: 262 |
| 54 | 9 | "Damion's Daughter" | October 30, 1949[10]: 263 |
| 55 | 10 | "The House of the Seven Gables" | November 6, 1949[10]: 263 |
| 56 | 11 | "The Promise" | November 13, 1949[10]: 264 |
| 57 | 12 | "Medical Meeting" | November 20, 1949[10]: 264 |
| 58 | 13 | "The Wonderful Mrs. Ingram" | November 27, 1949[10]: 265 |
| 59 | 14 | "Mist on the Waters" | December 4, 1949[10]: 265 |
| 60 | 15 | "The Beautiful Bequest" | December 11, 1949[10]: 266 |
| 61 | 16 | "The Strange Christmas Dinner" | December 18, 1949[10]: 266 |
| 62 | 17 | "In Beauty Like the Night" | December 25, 1949[10]: 267 |
| 63 | 18 | "Little Boy Lost" | January 1, 1950[10]: 267 |
| 64 | 19 | "Bethel Merriday" | January 8, 1950[10]: 268 |
| 65 | 20 | "Murder at the Stork Club" | January 15, 1950[10]: 268 |
| 66 | 21 | "The Marriages" | January 22, 1950 |
| 67 | 22 | "Uncle Dynamite" | January 29, 1950 |
| 68 | 23 | "The Sudden Guest" | February 5, 1950 |
| 69 | 24 | "Ann Rutledge" | February 12, 1950 |
| 70 | 25 | "Letter to Mr Priest" | February 19, 1950 |
| 71 | 26 | "Hometown" | February 26, 1950 |
| 72 | 27 | "The Life of Vincent Van Gogh" | March 5, 1950 |
| 73 | 28 | "The Uncertain Molly Collicutt" | March 12, 1950 |
| 74 | 29 | "The Trial of Steve Kent" | March 19, 1950 |
| 75 | 30 | "The Second Oldest Profession" | March 26, 1950 |
| 76 | 31 | "Nocturne" | April 2, 1950 |
| 77 | 32 | "Dirty Eddie" | April 9, 1950 |
| 78 | 33 | "The End Is Known" | April 16, 1950 |
| 79 | 34 | "The Man in the Black Hat" | April 23, 1950 |
| 80 | 35 | "The American" | April 30, 1950 |
| 81 | 36 | "The Feast" | May 7, 1950 |
| 82 | 37 | "Brat Farrar" | May 14, 1950 |
| 83 | 38 | "The Charmed Circle" | May 21, 1950 |
| 84 | 39 | "Semmelweis (Everett Sloane, Felicia Montealegre, E. G. Marshall, Mercer McLeod)[11]" | May 28, 1950 |
| 85 | 40 | "Sense and Sensibility" | June 4, 1950 |
| 86 | 41 | "The Bump on Brannigan's Head" | June 11, 1950 |
| 87 | 42 | "Anything Can Happen" | June 18, 1950 |
| 88 | 43 | "Hear My Heart Speak" | June 25, 1950 |
| 89 | 44 | "The Reluctant Landlord" | July 2, 1950 |
| 90 | 45 | "The Tentacles" | July 9, 1950 |
Season 3 (1950–1951)
| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 91 | 1 | "High Tor" | September 10, 1950 |
Other episodes in this season included "Requiem for a Model A" on October 7, 1951.[12]
|
| ||||||||||||||
| Totals[lower-alpha 1] | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Nominations | 8 | |||||||||||||
Note
| ||||||||||||||
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | The Philco Television Playhouse | Primetime Emmy Awards | Best Dramatic Show | Nominated |
| 1952 | Goodyear Television Playhouse | Nominated | ||
| 1954 | Nominated | |||
| 1954 | NBC | Peabody Award | — | Won |
| 1955 | The Philco Television Playhouse | Primetime Emmy Awards | Best Dramatic Series | Nominated |
| Eva Marie Saint on The Philco Television Playhouse (Episode: "Middle of the Night") | Best Actress in a Single Performance | Nominated | ||
| Paddy Chayefsky for The Philco Television Playhouse | Best Written Dramatic Material | Nominated | ||
| 1956 | Robert Alan Aurthur for The Philco Television Playhouse (Episode: "A Man Is Ten Feet Tall") | Best Original Teleplay Writing |
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