Henry Colman

Producer

"Learn the basics of how to put a show together and establish a level of taste for the kind of material you want to do. Meet as many other producers that you can because so they can help you, too. A lot of it has to do with the people you worked with before. That's the way I've gotten a lot of my jobs: having done a good job for these people, they wanted to hire me for something else."

About This Interview

Producer Henry Colman began his career in television as an assistant to the director on Kraft Television Theater. He continued on other programs including Robert Montgomery Presents and Colgate Comedy Hour. He became a television executive, overseeing the pilot of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. He then joined the CBS development department, working on programs such as Green Acres and Hawaii Five-0. He then worked on the development of The Love Boat, where he became line producer. He went on to produce the series Hotel. Mr. Colman also talked about his work as an interviewer himself for the Archive of American Television. The interview was conducted by Karen Herman on March 16, 2001.

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Highlights
Chapters
Shows
People
Topics
Genres

Highlights

Chapters

Shows

Amahl and the Night Visitors
- Henry Colman briefly on watching the rehearsals for Amahl and the Night Visitors (00m 47s)
Arthur Godfrey and His Friends
- Henry Colman on producing Pillsbury commercials for Arthur Godfrey and His Friends (04m 11s)
Bewitched
- Henry Colman on working as a Screen Gems production executive on Bewitched (and his run-in with William Asher)
  (03m 07s)
Brady Bunch, The
- Henry Colman on working as a Paramount production executive on The Brady Bunch (01m 42s)
Bridget Loves Bernie
- Henry Colman on working as a Screen Gems production executive on Bridget Loves Bernie
  (01m 39s)
Colgate Comedy Hour, The
- Henry Colman on an incident early in his career when he was working on The Colgate Comedy Hour (01m 06s)
Dr. Kildare
- Henry Colman on becoming associate producer on Dr. Kildare (00m 51s)
- Henry Colman on working as associate producer on Dr. Kildare (05m 39s)
Hawaii Five-O
- Henry Colman on working as a CBS program executive on Hawaii Five-0 and The Prisoner
  (02m 37s)
He & She
- Henry Colman on working as a Paramount production executive on He & She
  (01m 15s)
Hotel
- Henry Colman on producing Hotel
  (07m 44s)
- Henry Colman on escorting Elizabeth Taylor to a party while he was a producer on Hotel (continued)
  (01m 01s)
Kraft Television Theatre
- Henry Colman details being production coordinator on Kraft Television Theatre (07m 00s)
Love Boat, The
Love of Life
- Henry Colman on producing Love of Life
  (01m 16s)
Love, American Style
- Henry Colman on working as a Paramount production executive on Love, American Style and its influence on The Love Boat (01m 55s)
Lucy Show, The aka Here's Lucy
- Henry Colman on working as a CBS program executive on The Lucy Show
  
  (01m 09s)
Mannix
- Henry Colman on working as a Paramount executive on Mannix (01m 06s)
Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
- Henry Colman on developing The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (04m 11s)
Mary Tyler Moore Show, The
- Henry Colman on working as a CBS program executive during the development of The Mary Tyler Moore Show (00m 48s)
Medical Center
- Henry Colman on being an executive on Medical Center; on approving O.J. Simpson on his first TV acting role (02m 41s)
Mission: Impossible
- Henry Colman being an executive on Mission: Impossible when producer Bruce Geller died in a plane crash
  (02m 13s)
Navy Log
- Henry Colman on working in production on Navy Log (04m 03s)
Partridge Family, The
- Henry Colman on working as a Screen Gems production executive on The Partridge Family (00m 44s)
Peyton Place
- Henry Colman on working as an associate producer on Peyton Place (05m 00s)
Prisoner, The
- Henry Colman on working as a CBS program executive on Hawaii Five-0 and The Prisoner
  
  (02m 37s)
Robert Montgomery Presents
Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour, The
- Henry Colman on covering The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour for the network when Tom Smothers wouldn't relinquish a tape to CBS (02m 53s)
Top of the Hill
- On producing T op of the Hill (03m 31s)
Who Is the Black Dahlia?
- Henry Colman on producing the NBC TV movie Who is the Black Dahlia? (01m 17s)

People

Topics

Bloopers
- Henry Colman on working in live television, where an actor thought the dress rehearsal was the aired show (00m 56s)
Choose ..
Historic Events and Social Change > Diversity in Television > Minorities
- Henry Colman on a scene of a black man dancing with a white woman on one of Matthew Rapf's shows and the network's decision to cut the scene
  (03m 35s)
Television Industry > Censorship / Standards & Practices
- Henry Colman on an incident early in his career when he was working on The Colgate Comedy Hour (Jimmy Durante)
  (01m 06s)
Television Industry > Industry Crossroads > Hollywood Blacklist (ca. 1950s)
- Henry Colman on his encounter with the Blacklist during his tenure at Robert Montgomery Presents (03m 32s)
Television Industry > Studio Management
- Henry Colman on covering The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour for the network when Tom Smothers wouldn't relinquish a tape to CBS
  (02m 53s)

Genres

Commercials
- Henry Colman details being production coordinator on Kraft Television Theatre
  (07m 00s)
- Henry Colman on working in as a commercial producer at an Emil Mogul Advertising agency in 1956; on working on Pillsbury commercials for Arthur Godfrey and His Friends
  (08m 26s)

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