The Philco Television Playhouse

Infobox Television
show_name = The Philco Television Playhouse


caption = Fred Coe, producer of "The Philco Television Playhouse"
genre = Anthology drama
director = Fred Coe
Vincent J. Donehue
Gordon Duff
Herbert Hirschman
Delbert Mann
Robert Mulligan
Arthur Penn
Ira Skutch
composer = Morris Mamorsky
country = USA
language = English
num_seasons = 7
num_episodes =
list_episodes =
producer = Fred Coe
Gordon Duff
Ira Skutch
asst_producer = Robert Alan Aurthur
Bo Goldman
runtime = 60 mins.
channel = NBC
first_aired = October 3, 1948
last_aired = October 2, 1955
related = "Goodyear Television Playhouse"
"The Alcoa Hour"

"The Philco Television Playhouse" is a live television anthology series sponsored by Philco and telecast from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the NBC series was seen on Sundays from 9:00pm to 10:00pm. 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 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" for the remainder of its run.

ynopsis

The first season featured adaptations of popular Broadway plays and musicals. The first episode was "Dinner at Eight" by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. The second season was mostly adaptations of popular novels from the Book of the Month Club. During later seasons, both original stories and adaptations were used.

The series launched the television writing careers of Robert Alan Aurthur, Paddy Chayefsky, Sumner Locke Elliott, Horton Foote, Tad Mosel, Arnold Schulman and Gore Vidal. Its most famous drama was Chayefsky's "Marty", which starred Rod Steiger and was later made into a movie that won an Academy Award for Ernest Borgnine.

Among the many performers on the "Philco Television Playhouse" were Melvyn Douglas, Grace Kelly, Jack Klugman, Cloris Leachman, Walter Matthau, Steve McQueen, Paul Muni, Zasu Pitts, Eva Marie Saint, Everett Sloane, Kim Stanley, Eli Wallach and Joanne Woodward.

Beginning in 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. In 1955, the show was retitled the "Alcoa Hour". The three series were essentially the same, with the only real difference being the name of the sponsor. 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 by Columbia Pictures in 1959.

On August 7, 1955, John Cassavetes played an American artist expatriate in "A Room in Paris". This adaptation of Peggy Mann's novel (her first novel for adults) was published in 1955 by Doubleday, followed by Popular Library's paperback edition.

U.S. television ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of "The Philco Television Playhouse" on NBC.

Awards and nominations

In popular culture

In 2006, the NBC series "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" referenced "The Philco Television Playhouse" as the "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.

External links

* [http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/P/htmlP/philcotelevi/philcotelevi.htm Museum of Broadcast Communications profile]
*imdb title|id=0040049|title=The Philco Television Playhouse
*Tv.com show|id=2757|title=The Philco Television Playhouse
* [http://www.tvdads.com/tvdparks.shtml Van Dyke Parks interviewed by Jim O'Kane]