Meeting of minds
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''Meeting of Minds'' is a
television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...
, created by
Steve Allen Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen (December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000) was an American television personality, radio personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. In 1954, he achieved national fame as the co-cre ...
, which aired on PBS from 1977 to 1981. The show featured guests who played significant roles in world history. Guests would interact with each other and host Steve Allen, discussing philosophy, religion, history, science, and many other topics.


Origin

Steve Allen originally created the concept for ''Meeting of Minds'' in the late 1950s. He intended to broadcast it as a segment of his weekly ''
The Steve Allen Show ''The Steve Allen Show'' was an American variety show hosted by Steve Allen from June 1956 to June 1960 on NBC, from September 1961 to December 1961 on ABC,
'' television program but the show's sponsor, The Chrysler Corporation, raised objections and the segment plans were cancelled. Five years later, however, Allen and an acting troupe finally performed the segment on Allen's nightly Westinghouse show. Then, in 1971, Allen attempted to revive the concept as part of a syndicated talk series. The first episode was a critical success, and the program won three local Emmy awards. Allen then personally financed the development of six additional one-hour programs, which were ultimately produced by PBS beginning in 1977.


PBS series 1977–1981

The series was filmed at television station
KCET KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOCE ...
in
Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Picture ...
. As nearly as was possible, the actual words of the historical figures were used. The show was fully scripted, yet the scripts were carefully crafted to give the appearance of spontaneous discussion among historic figures. Guests included:
Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
,
Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no t ...
,
Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...
,
Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, Dominican Order, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino, Italy, Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest who was an influential List of Catholic philo ...
,
Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...
,
Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...
,
Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...
,
Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War ...
,
Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (born Thomas Pain; – In the contemporary record as noted by Conway, Paine's birth date is given as January 29, 1736–37. Common practice was to use a dash or a slash to separate the old-style year from the new-style year. In th ...
,
Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
,
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
,
Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his '' nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—e ...
,
Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
,
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
,
Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilizat ...
,
Catherine II , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...
, and
Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three ...
. Typically, each episode would be split into two parts, broadcast separately, with most or all of the guests introduced over the course of the first part, and the discussions continuing into the second part. A total of 24 episodes (or 12 two-part episodes) were produced. Actors made multiple appearances as different guests over the course of the series; this was particularly true of Allen's wife,
Jayne Meadows Jayne Meadows (born Jane Cotter; September 27, 1919 – April 26, 2015), also known as Jayne Meadows Allen, was an American stage, film and television actress, as well as an author and lecturer. She was nominated for three Emmy Awards duri ...
, who appeared in 18 of the 24 episodes (playing nine distinct characters). There was also one major departure from the usual format, in which
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
was joined by several characters from his plays, with Meadows playing the role of the "dark lady" of his sonnets. The show won many awards, including an
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
br>Meeting of Minds nominations:
* Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series – 1978: Steve Allen, Writer; * Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a comedy or drama series – 1978: Beulah Quo; * Outstanding Lead Actress for a Single Performance in a dram or comedy series – 1978: Jayne Meadows; * Outstanding Achievement in Video Tape Editing for a Series – 1977: Terry Pickford, Editor and a
Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
. The scripts are available for public performance. Because of their educational nature, Allen did not attach a royalty to such performances.


Similar series

The Canadian television series ''
Witness to Yesterday ''Witness to Yesterday'' is a Canadian docudrama television series which featured staged interviews with historical personalities. It was first broadcast by Global Television Network in 1974 then produced by TVOntario to 1976. A 12-episode reviv ...
'', created by Arthur Voronka, aired three years before Allen's Emmy-award-winning local program. Unlike the ''Meeting of Minds'' round-table format, ''Witness to Yesterday'' employed a one-on-one interview format that focused on a single historical figure each episode. Steve Allen appeared on a 1976 episode of ''Witness to Yesterday'' as
George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...
. Another Canadian TV series, ''Titans'', followed a similar format. It was originally broadcast in 1981–82. In French-speaking Canada, a version titled ''Les grands esprits'' ("The Great Minds") aired on Radio-Canada from 1982 to 1989. It was based on the original concept, with the scripts adapted and translated for the viewers by Jean Boisvert.


References


Further reading

*


External links


Official webpage for the ''Meeting of Minds'' program


* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Meeting Of Minds PBS original programming 1970s American variety television series 1980s American variety television series 1970s American documentary television series 1980s American documentary television series 1977 American television series debuts 1981 American television series endings Peabody Award-winning television programs Emmy Award winners Cultural depictions of Plato Cultural depictions of Socrates Cultural depictions of Aristotle Cultural depictions of Thomas Aquinas Cultural depictions of Martin Luther Depictions of Cleopatra on television Cultural depictions of Marie Antoinette Cultural depictions of Florence Nightingale Cultural depictions of Thomas Jefferson Cultural depictions of Thomas Paine Cultural depictions of Voltaire Cultural depictions of Karl Marx Cultural depictions of Charles Darwin Cultural depictions of Catherine the Great Cultural depictions of Oliver Cromwell