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''Fireside Theatre'' (also known as ''Jane Wyman Presents'') is an American anthology
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-ge ...
that ran on
NBC 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 ...
from 1949 to 1958, and was the first successful filmed series on American
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
. Productions were low-budget and often based on
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...
stories or written by freelance writers such as Rod Serling. While it was panned by critics, it remained in the top ten most popular shows for most of its run. It predated the other major pioneer of filmed TV in America, ''
I Love Lucy ''I Love Lucy'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning six seasons. The show starred Lucille Ball, her husband, Desi Arnaz, along wit ...
'', by two years.


Overview

''Fireside Theatre'' was created by
Frank Wisbar Frank Wisbar (born Franz Wysbar 9 December 1899 – 17 March 1967) was a German film director and screenwriter. Born in Lithuania, Wisbar directed more than 20 films between 1932 and 1967 in Germany and the United States, as well as amassin ...
, who also wrote and directed many episodes. From 1952 to 1958, the program was presented by a host. This role was first filled by Wisbar (1952–1953), then by
Gene Raymond Gene Raymond (born Raymond Guion; August 13, 1908 – May 3, 1998) was an American film, television, and stage actor of the 1930s and 1940s. In addition to acting, Raymond was also a singer, composer, screenwriter, director, producer, and decorat ...
(1953–1955), and finally by the person most associated with the series in the public mind,
Jane Wyman Jane Wyman ( ; born Sarah Jane Mayfield; January 5, 1917 – September 10, 2007)"Actress, P ...
(1955–1958). When episodes of this program were
rerun A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. There are two types of reruns – those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Variations In the United Kingdom, the word ...
on ABC during the summer of 1963, it was under the title ''Jane Wyman Presents''; during the period first-run episodes were hosted by Wyman, the series was sometimes known as ''The Jane Wyman Show''. One of ''Fireside Theatres most notable offerings was a 1951 condensed version of
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 ...
's '' A Christmas Carol'', featuring Ralph Richardson as Ebenezer Scrooge for the only time on American television. He later recreated the role on a spoken word Caedmon Records LP album, with
Paul Scofield David Paul Scofield (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was a British actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved the US Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Award, Emmy, and Tony for his work. He won the three awards in a seve ...
as narrator. It has since been released on CD. The Doubleday Book Club also ran a playscripts club called The Fireside Theatre.


Episodes


Cast

As an anthology series, ''Fireside Theatre'' had no regular cast, just a series of guest stars: * Claude Akins * Keith Andes * John Archer *
Barry Atwater Garrett "Barry" Atwater (May 16, 1918 – May 24, 1978) was an American character actor who appeared frequently on television from the 1950s into the 1970s. He was sometimes credited as G.B. Atwater. Life and career The son of the landscape pai ...
*
Phyllis Avery Phyllis Avery (November 14, 1922-May 19, 2011) was an American actress. Early life Phyllis Avery was born to screenwriter Stephen Morehouse Avery and his wife Evelyn Martine Avery.
*
Parley Baer Parley Edward Baer (August 5, 1914 – November 22, 2002) was an American actor in radio and later in television and film. Despite dozens of appearances in television series and theatrical films, he remains best known as the original "Cheste ...
* Gene Barry *
Frances Bavier Frances Elizabeth Bavier (December 14, 1902 – December 6, 1989) was an American stage and television actress. Originally from New York theatre, she worked in film and television from the 1950s until the 1970s. She is best known for her role o ...
* William Bendix *
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* Whit Bissell *
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*
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* Frank Cady * Rod Cameron *
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* Jeannie Carson * Anthony Caruso * George Chandler * Dane Clark * Gary Clarke * Imogene Coca *
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*
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* Robert O. Cornthwaite *
Joseph Cotten Joseph Cheshire Cotten Jr. (May 15, 1905 – February 6, 1994) was an American film, stage, radio and television actor. Cotten achieved prominence on Broadway, starring in the original stage productions of '' The Philadelphia Story'' and '' Sab ...
*
Linda Darnell Linda Darnell (born Monetta Eloyse Darnell; October 16, 1923 – April 10, 1965) was an American actress. Darnell progressed from modeling as a child to acting in theater and film. At the encouragement of her mother, she made her first film in ...
*
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Albert Dekker Thomas Albert Ecke Van Dekker (December 20, 1905 – May 5, 1968) was an American character actor and politician best known for his roles in ''Dr. Cyclops'', ''The Killers (1946 film), The Killers'' (1946), ''Kiss Me Deadly'', and ''The Wild Bun ...
* Reginald Denny *
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*
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*
Paul Douglas Paul Howard Douglas (March 26, 1892 – September 24, 1976) was an American politician and Georgist economist. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from Illinois for eighteen years, from 1949 to 1967. During his Senat ...
* Stephen Dunne *
Dan Duryea Dan Duryea ( , January 23, 1907 – June 7, 1968) was an American actor in film, stage, and television. Known for portraying a vast range of character roles as a villain, he nonetheless had a long career in a wide variety of leading and second ...
* Vince Edwards *
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*
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Bill Erwin William Lindsey Erwin (December 2, 1914 – December 29, 2010) was an American film, stage and television actor and cartoonist with over 250 television and film credits. A veteran character actor, he is widely known for his 1993 Emmy Award-nomi ...
*
Felicia Farr Felicia Farr (born Olive Dines; October 4, 1932) is a American former actress and model Early years Farr was born in Westchester County, New York. She attended Erasmus Hall High School and studied sociology at Penn State. Career Farr beg ...
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*
Frank Ferguson Frank S. Ferguson (December 25, 1906 – September 12, 1978) was an American character actor with hundreds of appearances in both film and television. Background Ferguson was the younger of two children of W. Thomas Ferguson, a native Scottish ...
* Joe Flynn * Bruce Gordon *
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Don Haggerty Don Haggerty (July 3, 1914 – August 19, 1988) was an American actor of film and television. Early life and education Before he began appearing in films in 1947, Haggerty was a Brown University athlete and served in the United States Army ...
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* Carolyn Jones * Henry Jones *
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* Charles Lane *
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* Peter Leeds * Yvonne Lime * Betty Lynn *
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* Ralph Meeker *
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* George Montgomery * Dennis Morgan *
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* Don Murray * Burt Mustin *
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* Stuart Randall *
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* Lydia Reed * Addison Richards *
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* Roy Roberts *
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* Ruth Roman * Herbert Rudley *
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* Everett Sloane *
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* Aaron Spelling *
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* Nita Talbot *
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* Tom Tryon *
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*
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* Jesse White *
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* Cara Williams *
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*
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* Keenan Wynn


Reception


Critical response

'' Billboard'' magazine praised an episode titled "The Lottery", saying that the cast "all turned in taut, exciting performances to make Lottery a real winner". Unlike most episodes of the series, this episode aired live. In 1954, ''Billboard'' voted it fourth-best filmed network drama series, ahead of the more fondly remembered ''
General Electric Theater ''General Electric Theater'' was an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations. Radio After an audition show ...
''; however, ''Billboard''s list excluded "
mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...
" shows (which was a separate list topped by '' Dragnet'').The Billboard, 31 Jul 1954
Page 14.


Ratings

''Fireside Theatre'' became a hit for NBC, always in the Top 30 shows at the end of each TV season, until the 1956–1957 season, when its ratings slumped. After this, it never again regained its top spot. Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of ''Fireside Theatre'' on NBC. (''Note'': In the United States, each network television season starts in September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.)


References

*Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, ''
The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
''


Further reading

* Lafferty, William. "'No Attempt at Artiness, Profundity, or Significance': 'Fireside Theater' and the Rise of Filmed Television Programming." ''Cinema Journal'' (1987): 23–4
online


External links



* {{IMDb title, id=0041023, title=Fireside Theatre

1949 American television series debuts 1958 American television series endings 1940s American anthology television series 1950s American anthology television series American Broadcasting Company original programming 1940s American drama television series 1950s American drama television series Black-and-white American television shows English-language television shows NBC original programming