''Pulitzer Prize Playhouse'' is an American television anthology drama series which offered adaptations of Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, novels, and stories. The distinguished journalist

Elmer Davis Elmer Holmes Davis (January 13, 1890 – May 18, 1958) was an American news reporter, author, the Director of the United States Office of War Information during World War II and a Peabody Award recipient. Early life and career Davis was born ...

was the host and narrator of this 1950-1952 ABC series.

Sponsor

Productions and performers

Plays in the first season included '' You Can't Take It with You'' (the initial telecast), ''

The Magnificent Ambersons ''The Magnificent Ambersons'' is a 1918 novel by Booth Tarkington, the second in his ''Growth'' trilogy after ''The Turmoil'' (1915) and before ''The Midlander'' (1923, retitled ''National Avenue'' in 1927). It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction ...

'' and ''

Our Town ''Our Town'' is a 1938 Metatheatre, metatheatrical Three act structure, three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder which won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play tells the story of the fictional American small town of Grover's Cor ...

''. The second season productions included '' Ah, Wilderness'' and '' The Skin of Our Teeth''. Actors in these shows included Spring Byington, Charles Dingle, James Dunn, Nina Foch, John Forsythe,

Helen Hayes Helen Hayes MacArthur ( Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have w ...

, Wanda Hendrix, Wright King, Otto Kruger, Joan McCracken, Thomas Mitchell, Mildred Natwick, Gene Raymond, Kent Smith and Fredd Wayne. Lighting design was by Imero Fiorentino. The announcer was Nelson Case.

A brewing problem

The series began October 6, 1950, and a month later it came under criticism from the

Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international Temperance movement, temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social ref ...

, which objected to the tie-in between Schlitz and the Pulitzer Prize. Mrs. D. Leigh Colvin, president of the WCTU, suggested that Columbia should return the $100,000, stating that the program was "a scheme of education for alcoholism which uses American classics as a springboard for beer promotion. The tie-up... allies the university, its school and the Pulitzer name with programs which are obviously put on by the brewer to promote drinking in the American home. Beer bottles and beer drinking have been rampant in commercials between acts, one recent commercial depicting

Mona Lisa The ''Mona Lisa'' ( ; it, Gioconda or ; french: Joconde ) is a Half length portrait, half-length portrait painting by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Considered an archetypal masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, it has been described ...

coming to life from her painting to reach for a glass of the sponsor's beer." Dean Carl W. Ackerman of the Pulitzer School responded, "This has been a pioneering development in the relationship between industry and education. It is raising the standards of entertainment in American homes. Any development which contributes to the improvement of home life is wholesome because the home is the bulwark of democracy." Schlitz president Erwin C. Uilein pointed out that Vassar College was founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar who had made a fortune in his

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie ...

brewery."WCTU Decries TV Beer Show,"''Tucson Daily Citizen'', November 9, 1950.

Graphic design and formats

The opening title card displayed a painted design of comedy/tragedy masks with a quill pen positioned in the mouth of the tragedy mask. Advertising for the series also used comedy/tragedy masks but in a more simplified line-art version minus the quill pen. The series was telecast live, but in some areas it was shown two weeks later as captured on

kinescope Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film, directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940 ...

film. It initially presented hour-long dramas from October 1950 to June 1951; the series was reduced to a 30-minute format from December 1951 to June 1952. During the second season, the series alternated with '' Celanese Theater''. ''Pulitzer Prize Playhouse'' continued until June 4, 1952, producing a total of 53 episodes.

Awards and nominations

Episodes

References

External links

Classic Themes
* {{EmmyAward DramaSeries 1951-1975 1950 American television series debuts 1952 American television series endings 1950s American anthology television series American Broadcasting Company original programming 1950s American drama television series Black-and-white American television shows English-language television shows Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series winners Pulitzer Prizes