''Crawford Mystery Theatre'' (originally broadcast on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
as ''
Public Prosecutor
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...
'' before being dropped by NBC, then picked up by DuMont) is an American
television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...
broadcast on the
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being ...
Thursdays at 9:30pm ET beginning on September 6, 1951. The series was also seen in
first-run syndication
Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where ...
. The series ran from 1951 to 1952.
Broadcast history
Originally filmed in 1947-48 by
Jerry Fairbanks Productions and titled ''
Public Prosecutor
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...
'', the program starred John Howard, Walter Sande, and Anne Gwynne in a typical murder-mystery setting. The show originally aired on NBC.
The series is most notable for being television's first
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
ed series (although not the first filmed series broadcast),
[The NBC ]anthology 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 differ ...
''Your Show Time
''Your Show Time'' is an American anthology drama series that debuted on NBC Television on the East Coast in September 1948 and then on both the East and the West Coast, as a network show, on January 21, 1949.
The show was produced by Marshall Gr ...
'' became American television's first filmed dramatic series to be broadcast, in January 1949. Stanley Rubin,
A (Very) Personal History of the First Sponsored Film Series on National Television
, ''E-Media Studies'', vol. 1, issue 1 (2008). paving the way for later filmed TV series such as ''
I Love Lucy
''I Love Lucy'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning six seasons. The show starred Lucille Ball, her husband, Desi Arnaz, along with ...
'' four years later.
After running in syndication earlier that year as ''Public Prosecutor'', the program aired on DuMont from 6 September 1951 to 27 September 1951. Re-titled ''Crawford Mystery Theatre'', after sponsor Crawford Clothes, the series was padded out to thirty minutes with the addition of a
panel show
A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on ''The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on ' ...
segment. Before the guilty party was revealed, three studio panelists would attempt to guess his or her identity. This version of the show was hosted by
Warren Hull
John Warren Hull (January 17, 1903 – September 14, 1974), known professionally as Warren Hull, was an American actor, singer and television personality active from the 1930s through the 1960s. He was one of the most popular serial actors in t ...
.
After the network cancellation, the program continued to air locally on DuMont's flagship station,
WABD
WABD (97.5 FM) is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of Mobile, Alabama. The station, established in 1973 as WABB-FM, is owned and operated by Cumulus Media. Its studios are on Dauphin Street in Midtown Mobile, and its ...
in New York City. The final program aired on February 28, 1952.
[McNeil, Alex. ''Total Television''. Fourth edition, p 677. New York: Penguin Books. .]
Episode status
An episode of ''Crawford Mystery Theatre'' survives at the
Museum of Broadcast Communications
The Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) is an American museum, the stated mission of which is "to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform and entertain through our archi ...
in Chicago.
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
has two episodes, "The Case of the Comic-Strip Murder" (September 20, 1951) and "The Case of the Man Who Wasn't There" (January 17, 1952). ''Public Prosecutor'' has over 20 surviving episodes.
See also
*
List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network
This is a list of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network, which operated in the United States from 1942 to 1956. All regularly scheduled programs which were aired on the DuMont network are listed below, regardless of whether they orig ...
*
List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts
The DuMont Television Network was launched in 1946 and ceased broadcasting in 1956. Allen DuMont, who created the network, preserved most of what it produced in kinescope format. By 1958, however, much of the library had been destroyed to recover ...
*
1951-52 United States network television schedule
References
Bibliography
*David Weinstein, ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'' (Philadelphia:
Temple University Press
Temple University Press is a university press founded in 1969 that is part of Temple University (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). It is one of thirteen publishers to participate in the Knowledge Unlatched pilot, a global library consortium approach t ...
, 2004)
*Alex McNeil, ''Total Television'', Fourth edition (New York:
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.[Ballantine Books
Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann in 1998 and remains ...]
, 1964)
External links
*
*{{IMDb title, id=0039125, title=Public Prosecutor
List of episodes at CTVA"The Case of the Comic-Strip Murder" (aired September 20, 1951) at Internet Archive"The Case of the Man Who Wasn't There" (aired January 17, 1952) at Internet Archive
DuMont Television Network original programming
1950s American television series
Black-and-white American television shows
1951 American television series debuts
1952 American television series endings