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Miracle On 34th Street (NBC Friday Night Special Presentation)
"Miracle on 34th Street" is the Christmas episode, broadcast November 27, 1959, of the American color anthology television series ''NBC Friday Night Special Presentation'' which showcased drama, comedy and musical entertainment (produced by TV veteran David Susskind) and occasional news special reports, while alternating once per month with ''The Bell Telephone Hour'' musical series, also in color, in the 8:30–9:30 pm time slot from September 11, 1959 until June 17, 1960. Plot The story takes place between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day in New York City, and focuses on the impact of a department store Santa Claus who claims to be the real Santa. Cast *Ed Wynn as Kris Kringle *Peter Lind Hayes as Fred Gaily * Mary Healy as Doris Walker *Orson Bean as Dr. William Sawyer *Loring Smith as Mr. Shellhammer *Hiram Sherman as R. H. Macy *Susan Gordon as Susan Walker *Lawrence Weber as Mr. Mara *John Gibson as Judge Harper *Joey Walsh as Al, post office employee * Arnie Freeman as L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Seaton
George Seaton (April 17, 1911 – July 28, 1979) was an American screenwriter, playwright, film director and producer, and theatre director. Life and career Early life Seaton was born George Edward Stenius in South Bend, Indiana, of Swedish descent, the son of Olga (Berglund) and Charles Stenius, who was a chef and restaurant manager. He was baptized as Roman Catholic. He grew up in a Detroit Jewish neighborhood, and described himself as a " Shabas goy". So he went on to learn Hebrew in an Orthodox Jewish Yeshiva and was even bar mitzvahed. He attended Exeter and was meant to go to Yale but instead auditioned for Jesse Bonstelle's drama school in Detroit. She hired him for her stock company at $15 a week."George Seaton, Director, Dead; Got Two Oscars for Screenplays: Also Directed 'Country Girl' A Change of Plans" By ALFRED E. CLARK. ''New York Times'' 29 July 1979: 36. Actor Seaton worked in stock and on radio. He worked as an actor on radio station WXYZ. John L. Barrett play ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Great Man
''The Great Man'' is a 1956 American film noir drama film directed by and starring José Ferrer. The screenplay was written by Ferrer and Al Morgan, Morgan's novel of the same name the source material. It was loosely based on the controversial career of Arthur Godfrey, a beloved TV and radio host whose image had been tarnished by a number of cast firings and Godfrey's contentious battles with the press. Plot Joe Harris (José Ferrer) is a popular, established local radio news reporter covering Broadway entertainment with a wise-guy attitude. Herb Fuller is the network's undisputed star. When Fuller dies in an auto accident, Philip Carleton (Dean Jagger), president of the Amalgamated Broadcasting Network, assigns Harris to prepare a memorial extravaganza, including an elaborate public viewing and a special memorial show featuring interviews with Fuller's radio cast, the "Fuller Family" (based on Arthur Godfrey's cast of "Little Godfreys"), and others who knew him. Carleton dangle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1950s Fantasy Films
Year 195 ( CXCV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Scrapula and Clemens (or, less frequently, year 948 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 195 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Emperor Septimius Severus has the Roman Senate deify the previous emperor Commodus, in an attempt to gain favor with the family of Marcus Aurelius. * King Vologases V and other eastern princes support the claims of Pescennius Niger. The Roman province of Mesopotamia rises in revolt with Parthian support. Severus marches to Mesopotamia to battle the Parthians. * The Roman province of Syria is divided and the role of Antioch is diminished. The Romans annexed the Syrian cities of Edessa and Nisibis. Severus re-establish his head ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1959 Drama Films
Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of Earth's Moon, and was also the first spacecraft to be placed in heliocentric orbit. * January 3 ** The three southernmost atolls of the Maldive archipelago ( Addu Atoll, Huvadhu Atoll and Fuvahmulah island) declare independence. ** Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state. * January 4 ** In Cuba, rebel troops led by Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos enter the city of Havana. ** Léopoldville riots: At least 49 people are killed during clashes between the police and participants of a meeting of the ABAKO Party in Léopoldville in the Belgian Congo. * January 6 ** Fidel Castro arrives in Havana. ** The International Maritime Organization is inaugurated. * January 7 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1959 American Television Episodes
Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of Earth's Moon, and was also the first spacecraft to be placed in heliocentric orbit. * January 3 ** The three southernmost atolls of the Maldive Islands, Maldive archipelago (Addu Atoll, Huvadhu Atoll and Fuvahmulah island) United Suvadive Republic, declare independence. ** Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state. * January 4 ** In Cuba, rebel troops led by Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos enter the city of Havana. ** Léopoldville riots: At least 49 people are killed during clashes between the police and participants of a meeting of the ABAKO Party in Kinshasa, Léopoldville in the Belgian Congo. * January 6 ** Fidel Castro arrives in Havana. ** The International Maritime Organization is inaugurated. * January 7 – The United States reco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1959 Films
The year 1959 in film involved some significant events, with '' Ben-Hur'' winning a record 11 Academy Awards. Top-grossing films (U.S.) The top ten 1959 released films by box office gross in North America are as follows: Events * January 23 – Republic Pictures releases its last production, ''Plunderers of Painted Flats''. *January 29 – Walt Disney's ''Sleeping Beauty'' premieres, their most expensive film to date and the first animated film to be shot in Super Technirama 70. It initially ends up losing money for the studio due to its high production costs. However, it would eventually gain a cult following and is now considered one of Disney's great classics. *April 30 – François Truffaut's ''The 400 Blows'' opens the 1959 Cannes Film Festival bringing international attention to the French New Wave. * June 4 – The Three Stooges release their 190th and last short film, ''Sappy Bull Fighters''. * June 7 – A contract between Paramount and Jerry Lewis Productions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Library Of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.; it also maintains a conservation center in Culpeper, Virginia. The library's functions are overseen by the Librarian of Congress, and its buildings are maintained by the Architect of the Capitol. The Library of Congress is one of the largest libraries in the world. Its "collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 470 languages." Congress moved to Washington, D.C., in 1800 after holding sessions for eleven years in the temporary national capitals in New York City and Philadelphia. In both cities, members of the U.S. Congress had access to the sizable collection ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thankgiving
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and the Australian territory of Norfolk Island. It began as a day of giving thanks for the blessings of the harvest and of the preceding year. (Similarly named harvest festival holidays occur throughout the world during autumn, including in Germany and Japan). Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and around the same part of the year in other places. Although Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, it has long been celebrated as a secular holiday as well. History Prayers of thanks and special thanksgiving ceremonies are common among most religions after harvests and at other times of the year. The Thanksgiving holiday's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Five Pennies
''The Five Pennies'' is a semi-biographical 1959 film starring Danny Kaye as jazz cornet player and bandleader Loring "Red" Nichols. Other cast members include Barbara Bel Geddes, Louis Armstrong, Harry Guardino, Bob Crosby, Bobby Troup, Susan Gordon, and Tuesday Weld. The film was directed by Melville Shavelson. The film received four Oscar nominations: Best Musical Scoring (Leith Stevens), Best Original Song ( Sylvia Fine—Danny Kaye's wife), Best Cinematography ( Daniel L. Fapp), and Best Costumes (Edith Head). The real Red Nichols recorded all of Kaye's cornet playing for the film soundtrack. The other musicians in Red's band were not asked to provide their musical contributions, and the sound of his band was supplied by session players. Plot Red Nichols (Kaye) is a small-town cornet player who moves to New York City in the 1920s and finds work in a band led by Wil Paradise (Crosby). He meets and marries singer Willia Stutsman, a.k.a. "Bobbie Meredith" (Bel Geddes). Red ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Man In The Net
''The Man in the Net'' is a 1959 American film noir starring Alan Ladd and Carolyn Jones. The taut drama was directed by Michael Curtiz. The supporting cast features Diane Brewster. Plot Commercial artist John Hamilton (Alan Ladd) and wife Linda (Carolyn Jones) leave New York and move to Stoneville, Connecticut, in the New England countryside, to escape the bustle of the city and because of John's growing concern about Linda's alcoholism. John quickly befriends the town's children, but he's treated like an outsider by many of the adults. Linda misses their social life in New York, as well as the salary John made there. She insists they attend a party at the home of Brad (John Lupton) and Vickie Carey (Diane Brewster), where the guests include another married couple, Roz (Betty Lou Holland) and Gordon Moreland (Tom Helmore), the wealthy father of Brad Carey. A scene is created by an intoxicated Linda, who insults John and lies that he gave her a black eye, confessing to Vickie a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goodyear Theatre
''Goodyear Theatre'' (also known as ''Award Theatre'' and ''Golden Years of Television'') is a 30-minute dramatic television anthology series telecast on NBC from 1957 to 1960 for a total of 55 episodes. The live show was directed by many notable directors, including Don Taylor, Arthur Hiller (3 episodes, 1958–59) and Robert Ellis Miller (3 episodes, 1958–59). It followed ''Goodyear Television Playhouse'' (1951). Cast Actors appearing in the series included: *Vivi Janiss *John Larch *James Mason *Ray Milland * Edward G. Robinson *Gig Young *Errol Flynn *Michael Landon *Barbara Stanwyck *Rod Taylor *Eli Wallach * Cameron Mitchell *Robert Ryan (5 episodes, 1957-1958) *David Niven (4 episodes, 1957-1958) *Jack Lemmon (4 episodes, 1957-1958) *Jane Powell (4 episodes, 1957-1958) *Virginia Gregg (3 episodes, 1957-1959) *Peter Leeds (3 episodes, 1958) *Paul Douglas (2 episodes, 1958-1959) * James McCallion (2 episodes, 1958-1959) *Vivi Janiss (2 episodes, 1958-1960) *Willard Sage (2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Playhouse 90
''Playhouse 90'' was an American television anthology series, anthology drama series that aired on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. The show was produced at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology drama series of the mid-1950s usually were hour-long shows, the title highlighted the network's intention to present something unusual: a weekly series of hour-and-a-half-long dramas rather than 60-minute plays. Background The producers of the show were Martin Manulis, John Houseman, Russell Stoneman, Fred Coe, Arthur Penn, and Hubbell Robinson. The leading director was John Frankenheimer (27 episodes), followed by Franklin J. Schaffner (19 episodes). Other directors included Sidney Lumet, George Roy Hill, Delbert Mann, and Robert Mulligan. With Alex North's opening theme music, the series debuted October 4, 1956 with Rod Serling's Forbidden Area (Playhouse 90), adaptation of Pat Frank's novel ''Forbidden Area (Playhouse 90), Forbidden Area ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
