''Hallmark Playhouse'' is an American
old-time radio
The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the early ...
dramatic
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 ...
. It was broadcast on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
from June 10, 1948 until February 1, 1953, and was described by one author as "a program that consistently produced the highest levels of production quality and value."
Beginning on February 8, 1953, the program underwent changes of title, host, and format. It was broadcast as ''The Hallmark Hall of Fame'' until March 27, 1955, still on CBS.
Playhouse format
''Hallmark Playhouse'' began as a summer replacement for ''Radio Reader's Digest'', which Hallmark had also sponsored. Company officials decided to keep it for the fall of 1948 and drop its predecessor. An article in the trade publication ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' reported that Hallmark executives preferred not to continue sharing product identification with ''
Reader's Digest
''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...
''.
The new show broadcast adaptations of works — some obscure and some well-known — from drama and literature.
Personnel
James Hilton was the host of ''Hallmark Playhouse''.
Hollywood stars often had leading roles in episodes.
Among those starring were
Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore (born Ethel Mae Blythe; August 15, 1879 – June 18, 1959) was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors. Barrymore was a stage, screen and radio actress whose career spanned six decades, and was regarde ...
,
Ronald Colman
Ronald Charles Colman (9 February 1891 – 19 May 1958) was an English-born actor, starting his career in theatre and silent film in his native country, then immigrating to the United States and having a successful Hollywood film career. He wa ...
,
Joan Fontaine
Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was a British-American actress who is best known for her starring roles in Hollywood films during the "Golden Age". Fontaine appeared ...
,
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood ...
, and
Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman ( ; born Sarah Jane Mayfield; January 5, 1917 – September 10, 2007)["Actress, P ...](_blank)
.
[ Frank Gast was the announcer. ]Lyn Murray
Lyn Murray (born Lionel Breeze, August 13, 1909 – May 20, 1989) was a composer, conductor, and arranger of music for radio, film and television.
Early years
Born in London, Murray was the son of a violinist. Before entering a career in music, ...
provided the music. Dee Engelbach and Bill Gay were the producers. Writers included Jack Rubin and Jean Holloway.
Episodes
In the reference work ''On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio,'' radio historian John Dunning wrote that host Hilton would choose material to be adapted for the broadcasts: "Hilton announced plans to 'ransack' the past and search out never-before-broadcast tales from the 2,000-year history of written literature." That goal was missed, however, at the beginning; "The Devil and Daniel Webster
"The Devil and Daniel Webster" (1936) is a short story by American writer Stephen Vincent Benét. He tells of a New Hampshire farmer who sells his soul to the devil and is later defended by Daniel Webster, a fictional version of the noted 19th-c ...
", by Stephen Vincent Benét
Stephen Vincent Benét (; July 22, 1898 – March 13, 1943) was an American poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is best known for his book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, ''John Brown's Body'' (1928), for which he receive ...
was the program's premiere episode, and it had already been presented on radio by ''Columbia Workshop
''Columbia Workshop'' was a radio series that aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System from 1936 to 1943, returning in 1946–47.
Irving Reis
The series began as the idea of Irving Reis. Reis had begun his radio career as an engineer and devel ...
.''
"The Story of Silent Night", presented in 1946 was cited by John V. Pavlik in his book, ''Masterful Stories: Lessons from Golden Age Radio''. "History comes alive," Pavlik wrote, "through the production's rigorous research, splendid dialogue, and beautiful orchestrations, including acoustical guitar and song, especially as sung by a children's group." He added that the episode's musical arrangements and orchestrations "underscore the extraordinary resources, intellectual capital, and pure talent that went into creating a program such as the ''Hallmark Playhouse'' ..."[
Other stories adapted for the program included "]Penny Serenade
''Penny Serenade'' is a 1941 American melodrama film directed by George Stevens starring Irene Dunne and Cary Grant as a loving couple who must overcome adversity to keep their marriage and raise a child. Grant was nominated for the Academy Award ...
", ''Pride and Prejudice
''Pride and Prejudice'' is an 1813 novel of manners by Jane Austen. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussions of hasty judgments and comes to appreci ...
'', ''The Citadel
The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, commonly known simply as The Citadel, is a Public college, public United States senior military college, senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina. Established in 1842, it is one ...
'', and ''Parnassus on Wheels
''Parnassus on Wheels'' is a 1917 novel written by Christopher Morley and published by Doubleday, Page & Company. The title refers to the Mount Parnassus of Greek mythology; it was the home of the Muses.
Synopsis
''Parnassus on Wheels'' is Morle ...
.''
Hall of Fame
Unlike the focus on classical literature and drama of its predecessor, ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'' featured stories about people from America's past. Subjects of episodes included Lee de Forest
Lee de Forest (August 26, 1873 – June 30, 1961) was an American inventor and a fundamentally important early pioneer in electronics. He invented the first electronic device for controlling current flow; the three-element "Audion" triode va ...
and Mary Todd Lincoln
Mary Ann Todd Lincoln (December 13, 1818July 16, 1882) served as First Lady of the United States from 1861 until the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
Mary Lincoln was a member of a large and wealthy, slave-owning ...
.
Personnel
Lionel Barrymore
Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) was an American actor of stage, screen and radio as well as a film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''A Free Soul'' (1931) ...
was the host of ''Hallmark Hall of Fame''. Frank Goss was the announcer, and Bill Gay directed.
Critical reception
In the September 15, 1951, issue of ''Billboard'', Bob Francis reviewed the opening episode of the 1951–1952 season of ''Hallmark Playhouse'', an adaptation of J. M. Barrie's '' Quality Street'' that starred Deborah Kerr
Deborah Jane Trimmer CBE (30 September 192116 October 2007), known professionally as Deborah Kerr (), was a British actress. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
During her international film career, Kerr won a G ...
. Francis wrote, "The air adaptation was exceedingly
well put together, keeping the story line clear and retaining the quaint flavor of the original Barrie lines." He also commended the program's advertising, writing that Hallmark commercials "were well-spaced and timed — dignified attention-getters without distracting from the interest in the story."
Recognition
In 1952, ''Hallmark Playhouse'' was among the winners of Radio Honor Medals from the Freedoms Foundation
The Freedoms Foundation is an American non-profit, non-partisan, non-sectarian educational organization, founded in 1949. The foundation is located adjacent to the Valley Forge National Historical Park, near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
Bill of R ...
.
References
External links
Log of episodes of ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'' from The Digital Deli Too
* ttp://www.radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p2.cgi?ProgramName=The+Hallmark+Hall+Of+Fame Log of episodes of ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'' from radioGOLDINdex
Log of episodes of ''Hallmark Playhouse'' from Old Time Radio Researchers Group
Log of episodes of ''Hallmark Playhouse'' from radioGOLDINdex
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624171246/http://radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p2.cgi?ProgramName=Hallmark+Playhouse , date=2016-06-24
Episodes of ''Hallmark Playhouse'' from Old Time Radio Researchers Group Library
Episodes of ''Hallmark Playhouse'' from Zoot Radio
Episodes of ''Hallmark Hall of Fame'' from Old Time Radio Researchers Group Library
1948 radio programme debuts
1955 radio programme endings
1940s American radio programs
1950s American radio programs
CBS Radio programs
Anthology radio series