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Anthology Television Series
An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a different cast in each episode, but several series in the past, such as ''Four Star Playhouse'', employed a permanent troupe of character actors who would appear in a different drama each week. Some anthology series, such as '' Studio One'', began on radio and then expanded to television. Etymology The word comes from Ancient Greek ἀνθολογία (''anthología'', “flower-gathering”), from ἀνθολογέω (''anthologéō'', "I gather flowers"), from ἄνθος (''ánthos'', "flower") + λέγω (''légō'', "I gather, pick up, collect"), coined by Meleager of Gadara circa 60 BCE, originally as Στέφανος (στέφανος (''stéphanos'', "garland")) to describe a collection of poetry, later retitled anthology – see Gree ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Network
The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American Commercial broadcasting, radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the NBC, National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the independent Blue Network was born of a divestiture in 1942, arising from antitrust litigation. In 1943, the Blue Network formally became the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), but operated closely with NBC for another two years. Early history The Blue Network dates to 1923, when the RCA, Radio Corporation of America acquired WABC (AM), WJZ Newark, New Jersey, Newark from Westinghouse Electric Corporation (1886), Westinghouse, which had established the station in 1921. WJZ moved to New York City in May of that year. When RCA commenced operations of WTEM, WRC, Washington, D.C., Washington on August 1, 1923, the root of a network was born, though it did not operate under the name by which it wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Screen Guild Theater
''The Screen Guild Theater'' is a radio anthology series broadcast from 1939 until 1952 during the Golden Age of Radio. Leading Hollywood stars performed adaptations of popular motion pictures. Originating on CBS Radio, it aired under several different titles including ''The Gulf Screen Guild Show'', ''The Gulf Screen Guild Theater'', ''The Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater'' and ''The Camel Screen Guild Players''. Fees that would ordinarily have been paid to the stars and studios were instead donated to the Motion Picture Relief Fund, and were used for the construction and maintenance of the Motion Picture Country House. Production ''The Screen Guild Theater'' had a long run beginning January 8, 1939, lasting for 14 seasons and 527 episodes. Actors on the series included Ethel Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, Eddie Cantor, Gary Cooper, Bing Crosby, Bette Davis, Jimmy Durante, Nelson Eddy, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Gene Kell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mercury Theatre On The Air
''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' is a radio series of live radio dramas created and hosted by Orson Welles. The weekly hour-long show presented classic literary works performed by Welles's celebrated Mercury Theatre repertory company, with music composed or arranged by Bernard Herrmann. The series began July 11, 1938, as a sustaining program on the CBS Radio network, airing Mondays at 9 pm ET. On September 11, the show moved to Sundays at 8 pm. The show made headlines with its "The War of the Worlds" broadcast on October 30, one of the most famous broadcasts in the history of radio due to the panic it allegedly caused, after which the Campbell Soup Company signed on as sponsor. ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' made its last broadcast on December 4 of that year, and '' The Campbell Playhouse'' began five days later, on December 9. Production After the theatrical successes of the Mercury Theatre, CBS Radio invited Orson Welles to create a summer show for 13 weeks. The serie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hollywood Star Time (dramatic Anthology)
''For the interview program of the same name, see ''Hollywood Star Time (interview program)''.'' ''Hollywood Star Time'' was a radio dramatic anthology series in the United States. It was broadcast on CBS January 6, 1946 – March 27, 1947. Format A newspaper article announcing the debut of ''Hollywood Star Time'' described it as "featuring big-name movie talent and hit films." The first episode featured Tyrone Power and Jeanne Crain starring in '' Seventh Heaven''. Other works presented on the program and leading actors in them included the following: *''The Song of Bernadette'' – Lee J. Cobb and Vanessa Brown *''Riders of the Purple Sage'' – George Montgomery and Lynn Bari *''The Lodger'' – Vincent Price *''Talk of the Town'' – Cary Grant, Herbert Marshall and Marguerite Chapman."Dunning, John (1976). ''Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 1925–1976''. Prentice-Hall, Inc. . pp. 285–286. ''Hollywood Star Time'' was one of several radio pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lux Radio Theater
''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of American Broadcasting Company BCin 1943–1945); CBS Radio network (Columbia Broadcasting System) (1935–54), and NBC Radio (1954–55). Initially, the series adapted Broadway plays during its first two seasons before it began adapting films. These hour-long radio programs were performed live before studio audiences. The series became the most popular dramatic anthology series on radio, broadcast for more than 20 years and continued on television as the ''Lux Video Theatre'' through most of the 1950s. The primary sponsor of the show was Unilever through its Lux Soap brand. Broadcasting from New York, the series premiered at 2:30 pm, October 14, 1934, on the NBC Blue Network with a production of '' Seventh Heaven'' starring Miriam Hopkins and John Boles in a fu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Four Star Playhouse (radio Program)
''Four Star Playhouse'' is a radio dramatic anthology series in the United States. The 30-minute program was broadcast on NBC beginning in July 1949 and was sustaining. It lasted only three months. ''Four Star Playhouse'' was one of "at least 10" new programs developed for that summer by NBC's estCoast programming department. A story in the July 2, 1949, issue of ''The Billboard'' reported that NBC "is now keyed to the recent programming drive, launched to offset Columbia Broadcasting System's (CBS) talent raids, and is anxious to use summer hiatus periods to develop shows worthy of fall bankrolling. Hence, the new raft of airers will not be treated as fill-in shows, but produced with an eye to long-term web tenancy.""Plethora of Summer Shows Swells Coast NBC Operations". ''The Billboard''. July 2, 1949. P. 6. Radio historian John Dunning put the production surge in context:The Four Star Playhouse was a 1949 NBC effort ... quickly put together as part of the network's barrage aga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earplay
''Earplay'' was the longest-running of the formal series of radio drama anthologies on National Public Radio, produced by WHA in Madison, Wisconsin and heard from 1972 into the 1990s. It approached radio drama as an art form with scripts written by such leading playwrights as Edward Albee, Arthur Kopit, Archibald MacLeish and David Mamet. Airing in stereo, ''Earplay'' provided a showcase for original and adapted work. Eventually, the less-sustained successor series ''NPR Playhouse'' drew episodes from the ''Earplay'' run. Often presented by NPR member stations on a weekly basis, ''Earplay'' episodes were produced with much attention to recording technique and sound-effects. In 1975, it scored a triumph with ''Listening'', an original play written by Edward Albee for stereo radio, employing one speaker for one character and another speaker for another character. Since both characters are seated in a room, the illusion is created that they are in the same room as the listener. Aft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CBS Radio Workshop
''The CBS Radio Workshop'' was an experimental dramatic radio anthology series that aired on CBS from January 27, 1956, until September 22, 1957. Subtitled “radio’s distinguished series to man’s imagination,” it was a revival of the earlier ''Columbia Experimental Laboratory'' (1931), ''Columbia Experimental Dramatic Laboratory'' (1932) and ''Columbia Workshop'' broadcasts by CBS from 1936 to 1943, and used some of the same writers and directors employed on the earlier series. ''The CBS Radio Workshop'' was one of American network radio's last attempts to hold on to, and perhaps recapture, some of the demographics they had lost to television in the post-World War II era. The premiere broadcast was a two-part adaptation of Aldous Huxley's ''Brave New World'', introduced and narrated by Huxley. It took a unique approach to sound effects, as described in a ''Time'' (February 6, 1956) review that week: :It took three radio sound men, a control-room engineer and five hours of h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cavalcade Of America
''Cavalcade of America'' is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented musicals, such as an adaptation of ''Show Boat'', and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially broadcast on radio from 1935 to 1953, and on television from 1952 to 1957. Originally on CBS, the series pioneered the use of anthology drama for company audio advertising. ''Cavalcade of America'' documented historical events using stories of individual courage, initiative and achievement, often with feel-good dramatizations of the human spirit's triumph against all odds. The series was intended to improve DuPont's public image after World War I. The company's motto, "Maker of better things for better living through chemistry," was read at the beginning of each program, and the dramas emphasized humanitarian progress, particularly improvements in the lives of women, often through technological innovation. Background The show started as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Campbell Playhouse (radio Series)
''The Campbell Playhouse'' (1938–1940) is a live CBS radio drama series directed by and starring Orson Welles. Produced by Welles and John Houseman, it was a sponsored continuation of ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air''. The series offered hour-long adaptations of classic plays and novels, as well as adaptations of popular motion pictures. When Welles left at the end of the second season, ''The Campbell Playhouse'' changed format as a 30-minute weekly series that ran for one season (1940–41). Production As a direct result of the front-page headlines Orson Welles generated with his 1938 Halloween production "The War of the Worlds", Campbell's Soup signed on as sponsor. ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' made its last broadcast December 4, 1938, and ''The Campbell Playhouse'' began December 9, 1938. The series made its debut with Welles's adaptation of ''Rebecca'', with guest stars Margaret Sullavan and Mildred Natwick. The radio drama was the first adaptation of the 1938 n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arch Oboler's Plays
''Arch Oboler's Plays'' is a radio anthology series written, produced and directed by Arch Oboler. Minus a sponsor, it ran for one year, airing Saturday evenings on NBC from March 25, 1939, to March 23, 1940, and revived five years later on Mutual for a sustaining summer run from April 5, 1945, to October 11, 1945. Lewis Titterton, an executive at NBC, originated the program's title. Titterton was described as a man who "thought the future of radio depended on the vision of the writer." With the launching of ''Arch Oboler's Plays'', Oboler became "the first writer accorded name-in-the-title status." Christopher H. Sterling, in his book ''Biographical Dictionary of Radio'', wrote, "Oboler, writing about 'the terrors and monsters within each of us,' used his stream-of-consciousness technique to shattering effect and made radio a viable new art form." Oboler used some of the scripts from ''Arch Oboler's Plays'' on his later series, '' Everyman's Theater''. Leading film actors wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
