''Your Show Time'' is an American
anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors.
In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...
drama series
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-gen ...
that debuted on
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 ...
on the
East Coast
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* East Coast FM, a ra ...
in September 1948 and then on both the East and the
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to:
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, as a network show, on January 21, 1949.
The show was produced by Marshall Grant for Grant Productions and
Stanley Rubin
Stanley Creamer Rubin (October 8, 1917 – March 2, 2014) was an American screenwriter and film and television producer born in New York City. He was the recipient of the Television Academy's first Emmy in 1949 for writing and producing (in colla ...
for Realm Productions. The series was hosted and narrated by
Arthur Shields
Arthur Shields (15 February 1896 – 27 April 1970) was an Irish actor on television, stage and film.
Early years
Born into an Irish Protestant family in Portobello, Dublin, Shields started acting in the Abbey Theatre when he was 17 years old. ...
, aired on Friday evenings, and ran until July 15, 1949. The series was sponsored by
Lucky Strike
Lucky Strike is an American brand of cigarettes owned by the British American Tobacco group. Individual cigarettes of the brand are often referred to colloquially as "Luckies." Throughout their 150 year history, Lucky Strike has had fluctuating ...
cigarettes, and was later syndicated as ''Film Drama'' in 1955 and ''Story Theater'' in 1956.
Production background
Filmed by Grant Productions at
Hal Roach Studios
Hal Roach Studios was an American motion picture and television production studio. Known as ''The Laugh Factory to the World'', it was founded by producer Hal Roach and business partners Dan Linthicum and I.H. Nance as the Rolin Film Company on Ju ...
, ''Your Show Time'' was American television's first dramatic series to be shot on film instead of being aired on
live television
Live television is a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. In a secondary meaning, it may refer to streaming television over the Internet when content or programming is played continuously (not on demand) ...
or as a
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 ...
. The series ''
Public Prosecutor
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...
'' was produced on film in 1947–48, for a planned September 1948 debut, but remained unaired until
DuMont aired that series in 1951–52.
''Your Show Time'' is also notable for being the first series to win 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 ...
. The 1949 episode "The Necklace", produced by Stanley Rubin, won the Emmy Award as Outstanding Made For Television Movie.
Synopsis
The show featured half-hour dramatizations of stories by renowned authors such as
Guy de Maupassant
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destin ...
,
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
,
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...
,
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
,
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...
,
Frank Stockton
Frank Richard Stockton (April 5, 1834 – April 20, 1902) was an American writer and humorist, best known today for a series of innovative children's fairy tales that were widely popular during the last decades of the 19th century.
Life
Born i ...
, and
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
. Other episodes were adapted from chapters of novels, such as ''The Bishop's Experiment'', an adaptation of the section featuring the bishop in Victor Hugo's ''
Les Misérables
''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century.
In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original ...
'' with
Leif Erickson as
Jean Valjean
Jean Valjean () is the protagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel ''Les Misérables''. The story depicts the character's struggle to lead a normal life and redeem himself after serving a 19-year-long prison sentence for stealing bread to feed his ...
. An adaptation of "
The Adventure of the Speckled Band
"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" is one of 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the eighth story of twelve in the collection ''The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes''. It was originally published in '' Strand Maga ...
" marked one of the earliest known television appearances of
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...
.
Cast
The show featured appearances by such actors as
Julie Adams
Julie Adams (born Betty May Adams; October 17, 1926 – February 3, 2019) was an American actress, billed as Julia Adams toward the beginning of her career, primarily known for her numerous television guest roles. She starred in a number of ...
,
Robert Alda
Robert Alda (born Alfonso Giuseppe Giovanni Roberto D'Abruzzo; February 26, 1914 – May 3, 1986) was an Italian-American theatrical and film actor, a singer, and a dancer. He was the father of actors Alan and Antony Alda. Alda was featured in a ...
,
Evelyn Ankers
Evelyn Felisa Ankers (August 17, 1918 – August 29, 1985) was a British-American actress who often played variations on the role of the cultured young leading lady in many American horror films during the 1940s, most notably '' The Wolf Man'' (1 ...
,
Morris Carnovsky
Morris Carnovsky (September 5, 1897 – September 1, 1992) was an American stage and film actor. He was one of the founders of the Group Theatre (1931-1940) in New York City and had a thriving acting career both on Broadway and in films un ...
,
Melville Cooper
George Melville Cooper (15 October 1896 – 13 March 1973) was an English actor. His many notable screen roles include the High Sheriff of Nottingham in ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938), Mr. Collins in ''Pride and Prejudice'' (1940) and ...
,
Reginald Denny,
William Frawley
William Clement Frawley (February 26, 1887 – March 3, 1966) was an American vaudevillian and actor best remembered for playing landlord Fred Mertz in the American television sitcom ''I Love Lucy'', "Bub" O'Casey in the television comedy series ...
,
Eva Gabor
Eva Gabor ( ; February 11, 1919 – July 4, 1995) was a Hungarian-American actress, businesswoman, singer, and socialite. She voiced Duchess and Miss Bianca in the animated Disney Classics, ''The Aristocats'' (1970), ''The Rescuers'' (1977), ...
,
Hurd Hatfield
William Rukard Hurd Hatfield (December 7, 1917 – December 26, 1998) was an American actor. He is best known for having played characters of handsome, narcissism, narcissistic young men, most notably Dorian Gray in the film ''The Picture of Dori ...
,
Hugo Haas
Hugo Haas (19 February 1901 – 1 December 1968) was a Czech film actor, director and writer. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1926 and 1962, as well as directing 20 films between 1933 and 1962.
Life and career
Haas was born in B ...
,
Sterling Holloway
Sterling Price Holloway Jr. (January 4, 1905 – November 22, 1992) was an American actor and voice actor who appeared in over 100 films and 40 television shows. He did voice acting for The Walt Disney Company, playing Mr. Stork in ''Dumbo'', Ad ...
,
Marjorie Lord
Marjorie Lord (née Wollenberg; July 26, 1918 – November 28, 2015) was an American television and film actress. She played Kathy "Clancy" O'Hara Williams, opposite Danny Thomas's character on ''The Danny Thomas Show'' (also known as ''Make ...
,
Alan Napier
Alan William Napier-Clavering (7 January 1903 – 8 August 1988), better known as Alan Napier, was an English actor. After a decade in West End theatre, he had a long film career in Britain and later, in Hollywood. Napier is best remembered for ...
,
Dan O'Herlihy
Daniel Peter O'Herlihy (May 1, 1919 – February 17, 2005) was an Irish actor of film, television, and radio. With a distinguished appearance and rich, resonant speaking voice, O'Herlihy's best known-roles included his Oscar-nominated portraya ...
,
Eve Miller
Eve Miller (born Marilyn Miller; August 8, 1923 – August 17, 1973) was an American actress who appeared in 41 films between 1945 and 1961. She was born in Los Angeles, California, and died in Van Nuys, California. She died by suicide at ...
,
Gene Reynolds
Eugene Reynolds Blumenthal (April 4, 1923 – February 3, 2020) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, and actor. He was one of the developers and producers of the TV series ''M*A*S*H''.
Early life
Reynolds was born on April 4, 1923, ...
, and
Selena Royle
Selena Royle (November 6, 1904 – April 23, 1983) was an American actress (of stage, radio, television and film), and later, an author.
Early life and career Actress
Royle was born in New York City to playwright Edwin Milton Royle and actress ...
.
Critical reception
A review of "The Diamond Necklace" episode in the trade publication ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' found it to be "not good television" and "a dull half-hour."
The review noted that a long commercial and a long introduction by the narrator took up almost five minutes before the first dialog was heard. In addition to that "deadly beginning", it said that the rest of the episode offered "little action".
Sale
In January 1950 Jerry Fairbanks Inc. bought "full rights for television, films and allied media" for the 26 episodes of ''Your Show Time''.
Preservation status
At least nine episodes survive at the
UCLA Film and Television Archive
The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Also a nonprofit exhibition venue, the archiv ...
.
Episodes
Awards
See also
*
1948-49 United States network television schedule
References
External links
*
''Your Show Time'' at CTVA with cast list for each episode*
Vintage 45's Blog* YouTube uploads of episodes from ''Your Show Time'':
The Adventure of the Speckled Band,
The Mummy's Foot
1940s American anthology television series
1949 American television series debuts
1949 American television series endings
1940s American drama television series
Black-and-white American television shows
NBC original programming
English-language television shows
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