Monodrama Theater
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''Monodrama Theater'', also known as ''Mono-Drama Theatre'', was a late night television series which aired 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 ...
weekdays at 11pm ET from May 1952 to December 1953.


Production background

The series consisted of a single actor or actress performing in front of a black curtain, or bare stage, with recorded music cues, in an example of monodrama. Some sources suggest this series, produced by Lawrence Menkin (1911-2000), also aired episodes of ''
One Man's Experience ''One Man's Experience'', also known as ''One Man's Story'', was a DuMont Television Network anthology TV show written and produced by Lawrence Menkin (1911-2000). The show aired Monday through Friday at 2:30pm ET from October 6, 1952, to April 10, ...
'' and ''
One Woman's Experience ''One Woman's Experience'', also known as ''One Woman's Story'', was a DuMont Television Network anthology TV show created and produced by Lawrence Menkin (1911-2000) and starring Wendy Waldron. The show aired from October 6, 1952 to April 3, 1953 ...
'', both also produced by Menkin. Filming took place at a tiny studio at 515 Madison Avenue. In 1953, in a series of episodes of ''Monodrama Theater'', actor Jack Manning performed a one-man show of '' Hamlet''. His performance took place over the course of two weeks in 15-minute-long segments. Jack Gould, a television critic for the '' New York Times'', praised Manning's performance as Hamlet, calling him "inventive, versatile and, above all, natural." Gould also noted of Manning at the time that, "He knows his Shakespeare and truly catches the meaning of the lines." In April 1954, DuMont filled the 11pm ET time slot with '' The Ernie Kovacs Show'', which ran until April 7, 1955.


Preservation status

As with most DuMont series, no episodes are known to exist.


Episode list

A list of 28 titles from 1953 are given on the Internet Movie Database entry. The list begins with the April 6, 1953, episode, and ends with the final episode of December 7, 1953. Episodes include '' Hedda Gabler'', '' A Doll's House'', ''
Great Expectations ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip (Great Expectations), Pip (the book is a ''bildungsroman''; a coming-of-age story). It ...
'', '' A Tale of Two Cities'', and '' Jane Eyre''.IMDB entry
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See also

* List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network * List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts * 1953-54 United States network television schedule * List of late-night American network TV programs


References


Bibliography

*David Weinstein, ''The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television'' (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004) *Alex McNeil, ''Total Television'', Fourth edition (New York: Penguin Books, 1980) *Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows'', Third edition (New York:
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) {{ISBN, 0-345-31864-1


External links


''Monodrama Theater'' at IMDB
DuMont Television Network original programming 1952 American television series debuts 1953 American television series endings Black-and-white American television shows English-language television shows Lost television shows Monodrama 1950s American late-night television series