The Philco Television Playhouse

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When Peggy Mann's first novel, A Room in Paris, was published by Doubleday in 1955, it was immediately adapted for The Philco Television Playhouse. In the months after the August 7, 1955 live telecast with John Cassavetes, Popular Library released their paperback edition.

The Philco Television Playhouse was a live television anthology series sponsored by Philco and telecast from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the NBC series was seen on Sundays from 9:00pm to 10:00pm. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the Golden Age of Television, winning a 1954 Peabody Award and receiving eight Emmy nominations between 1951 and 1956

The title of the show was briefly changed to Repertory Theatre and Arena Theatre during part of the first season, but then reverted to The Philco Television Playhouse for the remainder of its run.

The first season featured adaptations of popular Broadway plays and musicals. The first episode was Dinner at Eight by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. The second season was mostly adaptations of popular novels from the Book of the Month Club. During later seasons, both original stories and adaptations were used.

The series launched the television writing careers of Paddy Chayefsky, Horton Foote, Tad Mosel, Robert Alan Aurthur, Arnold Schulman and Gore Vidal. Its most famous drama was Chayefsky's Marty, which starred Rod Steiger and was later made into a movie that won an Academy Award for Ernest Borgnine.

Among the many performers on the Philco Television Playhouse were Melvyn Douglas, Grace Kelly, Jack Klugman, Cloris Leachman, Walter Matthau, Steve McQueen, Paul Muni, Zasu Pitts, Eva Marie Saint, Everett Sloane, Kim Stanley, Eli Wallach and Joanne Woodward.

Beginning in 1951, Philco shared sponsorship of the program with Goodyear, with the title alternating between Philco Television Playhouse and Goodyear Television Playhouse to reflect that week's sponsor. In 1955, the show was retitled the Alcoa Hour. The three series were essentially the same, with the only real difference being the name of the sponsor.

In the sixth season, Cathleen Nesbitt and Maureen Stapleton starred in Chayefsky's The Mother (April 4, 1954). This is one of the rare teleplays from television's Golden Age to be restaged on TV decades later, a Great Performances production on October 24, 1994, with Anne Bancroft and Joan Cusack.

The seventh season began September 19, 1954 with E. G. Marshall and Eva Marie Saint in Chayefsky's Middle of the Night, a play which moved to Broadway 15 months later and was filmed by Columbia Pictures in 1959. On August 7, 1955, John Cassavetes played an American artist expatriate in A Room in Paris. This adaptation of Peggy Mann's novel (her first novel for adults) was published in 1955 by Doubleday, followed by Popular Library's paperback edition.

In 2006, the NBC series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip referenced the Philco Television Playhouse as the "The Philco Comedy Hour", a comedy show that aired on the fictional NBS network. Eli Wallach made a guest appearance on Studio 60, playing a former show writer who was blacklisted in the 1950s.

[edit] U.S. television ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of The Philco Television Playhouse on NBC.

[edit] External links

• Museum of Broadcast Communications profile
• Philco Television Playhouse at IMDB