''The Star and the Story'' is an American television
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 ...
which aired 1955–1956 in first-run syndication. A filmed half-hour series, episodes were approximately 25 minutes long, excluding commercials.
Produced by
Four Star Productions, it was similar in some respects to ''
Four Star Playhouse
''Four Star Playhouse'' is an American anthology series that ran from 1952 to 1956. Four Star Playhouse was owned by Four Star International. Its episodes ranged anywhere from surreal mysteries, such as "The Man on the Train", to light comedies ...
'' and ''
Stage 7''.
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics.
Born and rai ...
was the host.
With a new cast each week, the series featured a wide range of actors, often well-known character actors such as
Edmond O'Brien
Eamon Joseph O'Brien (September 10, 1915 – May 9, 1985) was an American actor and film director. His career spanned almost 40 years, and he won one Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
O'Brien w ...
and occasionally emerging stars such as
Joanne Woodward
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an American actress. A star since the Golden Age of Hollywood, Woodward made her career breakthrough in the 1950s and earned esteem and respect playing complex women with a charact ...
. Notable directors included
Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards (born William Blake Crump; July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor.
Edwards began his career in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio s ...
and
Robert Stevenson Robert Stevenson may refer to:
* Robert Stevenson (actor and politician) (1915–1975), American actor and politician
* Robert Stevenson (civil engineer) (1772–1850), Scottish lighthouse engineer
* Robert Stevenson (director) (1905–1986), Engl ...
.
O'Brien starred in the premiere episode, "The Stranger".
It appears the series has entered the public domain; a number of episodes appear on budget public domain DVD releases.
Overseas syndication
During the late-1950s it was exported to Australia (as were ''Four Star Playhouse'', ''Stage 7'', ''
Studio 57
''Studio 57'' (also known as ''Heinz Studio 57'') is an American anthology series that was broadcast on the now-defunct DuMont Television Network from September 1954 to July 1955, and in syndication from 1955 to 1958.
"It's a Small World", the ...
'', etc.) where it often aired under the title ''Whitehall Playhouse'' (combined with episodes of ''Studio 57''). With limited television budgets Australian broadcasters were unable to produce a weekly anthology series of their own during the 1950s (the monthly 1959–1960 series ''
Shell Presents
''Shell Presents'' was an early attempt at Australian television drama, being an umbrella title for several different productions. It debuted on 4 April 1959, and aired on ATN-7 and GTV-9, who split production of plays for the series between t ...
'' was the closest to such a series, along with
standalone twice-monthly plays on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
from 1957 to early 1960s), and as such several American anthology series were shown there, along with a few British anthology series and at least one Canadian anthology. Others shown included ''
Ford Television Theatre
''General Motors Theatre'' (also known as ''CBC Theatre, Encounter, Ford Television Theatre,'' and ''General Motors Presents'') was a Canadian television anthology drama series of television plays, which ran on CBC Television under various titl ...
'' (re-titled ''Kraft TV Theatre'', no relation to ''
Kraft Television Theatre
''Kraft Television Theatre'' is an American anthology drama television series running from 1947 to 1958. It began May 7, 1947 on NBC, airing at 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings until December of that year. It first promoted MacLaren's Imperial Chees ...
''), ''
Short Short Dramas'' (re-titled ''Playhouse 15'') and ''
Science Fiction Theatre
''Science Fiction Theatre'' was an American science fiction anthology television series that was produced by Ivan Tors and Maurice Ziv and originally aired in syndication. It premiered on April 9, 1955 and ended on April 6, 1957, with a total of ...
''.
References
External links
''The Star and the Story'' at CVTA with episode listarchived at the
Wayback Machine
The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
''The Star and the Story'' on IMDbEpisode ''Dark Stranger'' viewable on the Internet ArchiveEpisode ''Payment in Kind'' viewable on the Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Star and the Story, The
1955 American television series debuts
1956 American television series endings
1950s American anthology television series
Black-and-white American television shows
Television series by Four Star Television
First-run syndicated television programs in the United States