''Startime'' is an anthology show of drama, comedy, and variety, and was one of the first American television shows broadcast in

color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

. The program was aired Tuesday nights in the United States on the

NBC Television The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

network in the 1959–1960 television season.

Summary

The show was known as either Ford Startime—TV's Finest Hour or Lincoln–Mercury Startime, depending on which division of the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

was presenting commercials within that show. The contents varied from week to week — dramas, musical comedies, and variety shows were all presented.Tim Brooks and Earl March, ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows: 1946–Present'' (Random House, 2007) p. 976 The show was always broadcast on Tuesday nights. Initially, from the premiere through the end of 1959, the show was broadcast 9:30–10:30 PM (EST) - but, starting on January 5, 1960, the show was broadcast 8:30–9:30 PM (EST). Furthermore, some of the shows first broadcast in 1959 were ninety minutes long, continuing to 11 PM. Some of the presentations of this series might be considered tryouts—for example,

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...

hosted two variety episodes within this series, several years before he began his own successful variety show. The same is true for

Mitch Miller Mitchell William Miller (July 4, 1911 – July 31, 2010) was an American choral conductor, record producer, record-industry executive, and professional oboist. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor ...

, and, to a lesser extent,

Art Linkletter Arthur Gordon Linkletter (born Gordon Arthur Kelly or Arthur Gordon Kelly; sources differ; July 17, 1912 – May 26, 2010) was a Canadian-born American radio and television personality. He was the host of ''House Party'', which ran on CBS radio a ...

Production

The

Music Corporation of America MCA Inc. (originally an initialism for Music Corporation of America) was an American media conglomerate founded in 1924. Originally a talent agency with artists in the music business as clients, the company became a major force in the film ind ...

(MCA), under

Lew Wasserman Lewis Robert Wasserman (March 22, 1913 – June 3, 2002) was an American talent agent and studio executive, described as "the last of the legendary movie moguls" and "arguably the most powerful and influential Hollywood titan in the four decades ...

, was the "packager" of the series, providing stars who would not ordinarily appear on American television, such as

Alec Guinness Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. After an early career on the stage, Guinness was featured in several of the Ealing comedies, including ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (194 ...

and

Rex Harrison Sir Reginald Carey "Rex" Harrison (5 March 1908 – 2 June 1990) was an English actor. Harrison began his career on the stage in 1924. He made his West End debut in 1936 appearing in the Terence Rattigan play ''French Without Tears'', in what ...

at reduced rates, in exchange for an overall packaging fee for the entire series paid to MCA. Wasserman was also the agent for

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

, who directed one ''Startime'' episode, "Incident at a Corner" (aired April 5, 1960). For example,

Ingrid Bergman Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films, television movies, and plays.Obituary ''Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, she is often ...

, who at that time commanded a salary of $750,000 per film, and who had never appeared in a dramatic role on American television, was paid $100,000 for her role in Startime's presentation of ''The Turn of the Screw''. Though MCA only received $10,000 (10% of Bergman's salary) as commission, the company also received, as packager, 10% of the entire production schedule of the entire ''Startime'' season (which was $7.24 million). In other words, MCA received $724,000 solely for providing to ''Startime'' the services of stars such as Bergman, in addition to the commissions for each individual star.Dennis McDougal, ''The Last Mogul: Lew Wasserman, MCA, and the Hidden History of Hollywood'' (Da Capo Press, 2001) page 282

Episodes

Nominations and awards

Alec Guinness, playing the lead role in ''The Wicked Scheme of Jebal Deeks'', received a nomination in the Outstanding Single Performance by an Actor category in the '' 12th Primetime Emmy Awards''. He lost to

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the Theatre of the U ...

in ''

The Moon and Sixpence ''The Moon and Sixpence'' is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham, first published on 15 April 1919. It is told in episodic form by a first-person narrator providing a series of glimpses into the mind and soul of the central character, Charles Stric ...

''.

Canadian version

From October 6, 1959 through June 28, 1960, Ford of Canada broadcast, in the Tuesday 9–11 PM timeslot, on the CBC network in Canada, a show also called ''Ford Startime'', presenting many of the same shows as the American version, alternating with Canadian-produced shows, including adaptions of

Arthur Miller's Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are '' All My Sons'' (1947), ''Death of a Salesman'' ( ...

The Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. Miller wrote the play as a ...

'' (starring

Leslie Nielsen Leslie William Nielsen (11 February 192628 November 2010) was a Canadian actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters. Nielsen was bo ...

), Henrik Ibsen's ''

An Enemy of the People ''An Enemy of the People'' (original Norwegian title: ''En folkefiende''), an 1882 play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, followed his previous play, ''Ghosts'', which criticized the hypocrisy of his society's moral code. That response inclu ...

'', Oscar Wilde's ''

The Importance of Being Earnest ''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...

'', and James Thurber's ''

The Thirteen Clocks ''The 13 Clocks'' is a fantasy tale written by James Thurber in 1950, while he was completing one of his other novels. It is written in a unique cadenced style, in which a mysterious prince must complete a seemingly impossible task to free a maid ...

''."CBC Television Series, 1952-82 (Stage Door to Switzer)"
webpage on the Queens' Film and Media website

References

External links

''Startime'' at IMDB

{{DEFAULTSORT:Startime (Tv Series) 1959 American television series debuts 1960 American television series endings 1950s American anthology television series 1960s American anthology television series Ford Motor Company NBC original programming