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TV's Golden Age (1940s & '50s)

Archive Interviewees discuss "The Golden Age" of Television.

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Featured Content

"Never anywhere at anytime was there so much work for creative people. And that's pretty golden, I always say there was gold dust in the air." - Tad Mosel, WriterArchive 

Who Talked About This Topic

  • Edward Asner
  • Dick Berg
  • John Conte
  • Hume Cronyn
  • Fred De Cordova
  • Richard Donner
  • David Dortort
  • John Forsythe
  • Jerry Goldsmith
  • Arthur Hiller
  • Russell Johnson
  • Ernest Kinoy
  • Eartha Kitt
  • Don Knotts
  • Sheila Kuehl
  • Norman Lear
  • Jack Lemmon
  • Stewart MacGregory
  • Jayne Meadows
  • Priscilla Morgan
  • Tad Mosel
  • Bill Mumy
  • Agnes Nixon
  • Don Pike
  • David Pressman
  • Gene Reynolds
  • Cliff Robertson
  • Howard Rosenberg
  • Joseph Sargent
  • David Shaw
  • Jack Shea
  • James Sheldon
  • Hazel Shermet
  • Mary Kay Stearns
  • Johnny Stearns
  • Dick Van Dyke
  • Ellen M. Violett
  • Clint Walker
  • Ruth Warrick
  • Betty White with Emerson College

Resources

from the Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Television

The "golden age" of American television generally refers to the proliferation of original and classic dramas produced for live television during America's postwar years. From 1949 to approximately 1960, these live dramas became the fitting programmatic complements to the game shows, westerns, soap operas and vaudeo shows (vaudeville and variety acts on TV) that dominated network television's prime time schedule. As the nation's economy grew and the population expanded, television and advertising executives turned to dramatic shows as a programming strategy to elevate the status of television and to attract the growing and increasingly important suburban family audience. "Golden age" dramas, quickly became the ideal marketing vehicle for major U.S. corporations seeking to display their products favorably before a national audience.

 In the early years, "golden age" drama programs such as The Actors' Studio (ABC/CBS, 1948-1950) originated from primitive but innovative two-camera television studios located primarily in New York city, although some broadcasts, such as Mr. Black (ABC, 1949), a half-hour mystery anthology series, were produced in Chicago as well. Ranging in duration from thirty minutes to an hour, these live dramas were generic hybrids uniquely suited to the evolving video technology. Borrowing specific elements from the legitimate stage, network radio, and the Hollywood film, the newly constructed dramas on television (teledramas) fashioned a dynamic entertainment form that effectively fused these high and low cultural expressions.

 From radio these teledramas inherited the CBS and NBC network distribution system, sound effects, music, theme songs and the omniscient narrator, who provided continuity after commercial message breaks. From film, teledramas borrowed aging stars and emerging personalities, camera stylistics, mobility and flexibility. Imported from the theater were Broadway-inspired set designs, contemporary stage (i.e. realist and "method") acting techniques that imparted a sense of immediacy and reality to small-screen performances, and finally, teleplay adaptations of classic and middle-brow literature. In a statement that clearly expresses television drama's debt to the stage, Fred Coe, producer of the weekly NBC Television Playhouse (1948-55), remarked that "all of us were convinced it was our mission to bring Broadway to America via the television set." 

Ironically, however, it was live teledramas that helped television to displace radio, the stage and film as the favorite leisure-time activities for the nation's burgeoning suburban families in the late forties to the mid-fifties. This postwar demographic shift from urban to suburban centers is often credited with creating the new mass audience and the subsequent demand for the home-theater mode of entertainment that network television, boosted by the high quality drama programs, was uniquely capable of satisfying.

 The first so-called "golden age" drama program to appear was the Kraft Television Theater, which premiered on 7 May 1947, on the NBC network. The Ford Theater (CBS/NBC/ABC, 1948-57), Philco and Goodyear Television Playhouses (NBC, 1948-55), Studio One (CBS, 1948-58), Tele-Theatre (NBC, 1948-50) and Actors Studio (ABC/CBS, 1948-49) followed the very next year. In 1951 network television was linked coast to coast and in 1950 Hollywood Theater Time (ABC) became one of the first dramatic anthology shows to originate from the West coast (although transmitted to the East via kinescopes--inferior copies of shows filmed directly from the television screen).

 Several important factors contributed to the rise of "golden age" dramas by the mid-1950s. First, the U.S. Congress issued more station licenses and allocated more air time and frequencies to the nation's four networks, NBC, CBS, ABC and DuMont. Consequently, this major expansion of the television industry necessitated a rapid increase for new shows. Because this early video era preceded the advent of telefilm and videotape, the live television schedule was a programming vortex with an inexhaustible demand for new shows, 90% of which were broadcast live. The remaining dramas were transmitted (usually from the East Coast to the West) via kinescopes. Location on the television schedule was also a key element in the success of anthology dramas during this early phase. Because the sponsors rather than the networks generally controlled the programs, teledramas were not restricted to a particular network or time schedule. As a result of this programming flexibility, it was not unusual for shows either to rotate around the dial or to remain firmly entrenched, all in search of the best possible ratings. In 1953, the Kraft Television Theater aired at 9:00 P.M. on Wednesdays over the NBC network and aired a second hour under the same series title on Thursdays at 9:30 P.M. on ABC. The venerable Ford Television Theater appeared on all three networks during its nine-year run. The anthology format itself, which demanded a constant supply of actors, writers, directors and producers, and was quite different from the episodic series structure featuring a stable cast, always offered something new to viewers. And since anthology dramas provided plenty of work to go around, many actors got their first starring roles in live dramas, while others gained national exposure that was not possible on the stage or that eluded them on the big screen.

 This rotating system of anthology drama production resulted in a creative firmament for television that many television historians consider as yet unsurpassed. The fact that these shows dramatized many high quality original works as well as adaptations of high and middle-brow literature gave advertisers cost-effective reasons for underwriting the relatively high production values that characterized many of the topnotch anthology programs. Many, in fact, were consistent Emmy Award winners. The Texaco Star Theater won the 1949 Emmy for "Best Kinescope Show." U.S. Steel Hour won two Emmys in 1953, its debut year, and Studio One received three Emmys for the 1955 season for its production of "Twelve Angry Men."

As the genre matured and traded its amateur sets for professionally designed studios, it looked good, and by extension, so did its sponsors. Accordingly, the growing prestige of live dramas enabled established and fading stars from the Broadway stage and Hollywood films to be less reticent about performing on television, and many flocked to the new medium. In fact, some even lent their famous names to these anthology drama programs. Robert Montgomery Presents (ABC, 1950-57) is one of the first anthology series to rely on Hollywood talent. His star-driven program was later joined by the Charles Boyer Theater (1953), and in 1955 silent film star Conrad Nagel hosted his own syndicated anthology drama entitled The Conrad Nagel Theater. Bing Crosby Enterprises produced The Gloria Swanson Show in 1954, with Swanson as host and occasional star in teleplays produced for this dramatic anthology series. More commonly, however, it was the sponsor's name that appeared in the show titles, with stars serving as narrators or hosts. For example, from 1954 to 1962 Ronald Reagan hosted CBS' General Electric Theater.

 As crucial as these elements were, perhaps the most important reason leading to the success of this nascent television art form was the high caliber of talent on both sides of the video camera. Whereas many well-known actors from the stage and screen participated in live television dramas as the 1950s progressed, it was the obscure but professionally trained theater personnel from summer stock and university theater programs like Yale's Drama School who launched the innovative teletheater broadcasts that we now refer to as television's "golden age."

 In 1949, 24 year-old Marlon Brando starred in "I'm No Hero," produced by the Actors' Studio. Other young actors, such as Susan Strasberg (1953), Paul Newman (1954), and Steve McQueen, made noteworthy appearances on the Goodyear Playhouse. Among some of the most prominent writers of "golden age" dramas were Rod Serling, Paddy Chayevsky, Gore Vidal, Reginald Rose and Tad Mosel. Rod Serling stands out for special consideration here because in addition to winning the 1955 Emmy for "Best Original Teleplay Writing" ("Patterns" on Kraft Television Theater), Serling also won two teleplay Emmys for Playhouse 90 (1956 & 1957), and two "Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama" Emmys for Twilight Zone (1959 and 1960) and for Chrysler Theater in 1963. Serling's six Emmys for four separate anthology programs over two networks unquestionably secures his position at the top of the golden age pantheon. For television, it was writers like Serling and Chayevsky who became the auteurs of its "golden-age." Gore Vidal sums up the opportunity that writing for television dramas represented in this way: "one can find better work oftener on the small grey screen than on Broadway." Chayevsky was more sanguine when he stated that television presented "the drama of introspection," and that "television, the scorned stepchild of drama, may well be the basic theater of our century."

In addition to actors and writers, some of the most renowned Hollywood directors got their big breaks on television's anthology dramas. John Frankenheimer directed for the Kraft Television Theater, Robert Altman for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Yul Brynner and Sidney Lumet for Studio One, Sidney Pollack for The Chrysler Theater (1965 Emmy for "Directoral Achievement in Drama") and Delbert Mann for NBC Television Playhouse. These are but a few major directors who honed their kills during television's "golden age."

By 1955 "golden age" dramas had proven so popular with national audiences that they became important staples of the network television schedule. Some of the anthologies were now produced on film, but they maintained the aesthetic and psychological premises of the live productions that tutored their creators and their audiences. These drama series aired on the networks each day except Saturdays and on some days there were up to four separate anthology shows airing on one evening's prime-time schedule. One instance of such a programming pattern occurred on Thursday nights during the 1954-55, TV season. Here, in one single evening viewers could choose between Kraft Television Theater (ABC, 1953-55), Four Star Playhouse (CBS, 1952-56), Ford Theater (NBC, 1952-56) and Lux Video Theater (NBC, 1954-57). Dramatic anthologies came in various generic formats as well. The other genres were, for example, suspense: Kraft Suspense Theater (NBC, 1963-65) and The Clock (NBC/ABC, 1949-51), mystery: Mr. Arsenic (ABC, 1952) and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (CBS/NBC, 1955-65), psychological: Theater of the Mind (NBC, 1949), legal: They Stand Accused (DuMont 1949-54), science fiction: Twilight Zone (CBS, 1959-64), military: Citizen Soldier (Syndicated, 1956), reenactments: Armstrong Circle Theater (NBC/CBS, 1950-63).

As these various titles suggest, the dramas staged on these anthology programs were remarkably diverse, at least in form if not in substance. In this regard, critics of the so-called "golden age" dramas have noted what they consider to be major problems inherent in the staging of plays for the commercial television medium.

Much of the criticism of these live television dramas concerned the power sponsors often exerted over program content. Specifically, the complaints concerned the mandate by sponsors that programs adhere to a "dead-centerism." In other words, sponsored shows were to avoid completely socially and politically controversial themes. Only those dramas that supported and reflected positive middle-class values, which likewise reflected favorably the image of the advertisers, were broadcast. Critics charge the networks with pandering to Southern viewer expectations in order not to offend regional sensibilities. Scripts exploring problems at the societal level (i.e. racial discrimination, structural poverty, and other social ills) were systematically ignored. Instead, critics complain, too many "golden age" dramas were little more than simplistic morality tales focusing on the every day problems and conflicts of weak individuals confronted by personal shortcomings such as alcoholism, greed, impotence, and divorce, for example. While there is no doubt that teleplays dealing with serious social issues were not what most network or advertising executives considered appropriate subject matter for predisposing viewers to consume their products, it is important to note that the "golden age" did coincide with the cold-war era and McCarthyism and that cold-war references, such as avoiding communism and loving America, were frequently incorporated in teleplays of the mid to late 1950s.

 Most of the scripts in the live television dramas, however, were original teleplays or works adapted from the stage, ranging from Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman and Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh to such high-brow and classic literary adaptations of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Othello, among many others. This menu of live television dramas, especially when compared with popular Hollywood films, the elite theater, or commercial radio, presented American audiences with an extraordinary breadth of viewing experiences in a solitary entertainment medium. Moreover, this cultural explosion was occurring in the comfort of the new mass audiences' brand new suburban living rooms. While the classics and some contemporary popular writers provided material for the teleplays, they were not enough for the networks' demanding weekly program schedules. Moreover, the television programmers were often thwarted by Hollywood's practice of buying the rights to popular works and refusing to grant a rival medium access to them, thereby foreclosing the television networks' ability to dramatize some of the most popular and classic plays. In response, the networks began cultivating original scripts from young writers. Thus, the majority of the dramas appearing on these anthology shows were original works.

Perhaps the quintessential "golden age" drama is Paddy Chayevsky's "Marty." On 24 May 1953, Delbert Mann directed Chayevsky's most renowned teleplay for NBC's Philco Television Playhouse. Starring Rod Steiger and Nancy Marchand as the principals, "Marty" is a love story about two ordinary characters and the mundane world they inhabit. "Marty" is important because its uncomplicated and sympathetic treatment of Marty, the butcher, and his ability to achieve independence from his demanding mother and embrace his uncertain future resonated with many new suburban viewers, who were, themselves, facing similar social and political changes in post war American society. "Marty" was an ideal drama for the times, leading one reviewer to write that it represented "the unadorned glimpse of the American middle-class milieu." The suburban viewers, like the fictional "Marty" they welcomed into their living rooms, had become willing participants in an emerging national culture no longer distinguishable by inter-generational and inter-ethnic differences. What further distinguishes "Marty" is the fact that it signaled a trend in the entertainment industry whereby teleplays were increasingly adapted for film. Shortly after its phenomenal television success, "Marty" became a successful feature film.

 Some of the most successful and critically acclaimed dramatic anthology programs of the "golden age" were, Armstrong Circle Theater (thirteen seasons), Kraft Television Theater (eleven seasons), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (ten seasons), Studio One (ten seasons), The U.S. Steel Hour (ten seasons), General Electric Theater (nine seasons), Philco Television Playhouse (seven seasons), Goodyear Playhouse (six seasons), Playhouse 90 (four seasons), and Twilight Zone (four seasons-revived in 1985-88). In present times, only the Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951-present), survives from the heyday of television's "golden age." With the advent of videotape, telefilm and the shift to Hollywood studios as sites of program production, and the social upheavals of the 1960s, live anthology dramas fell victim to poor ratings and changing social tastes.

 

-Anna Everett

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  • Highlights
  • All Interviewee clips on this topic

Highlights

  • Actress Maria Riva on the Golden Age of live TV in New York in the 1950s, exemplified by such classic anthology series as Studio One <i/>Actress Maria Riva on the Golden Age of live TV in New York in the 1950s, exemplified by such classic anthology series as Studio One
    Clip begins at: 09:35, Duration: 01m 04s
  • Tad Mosel on what the Golden Age of Television means to him Tad Mosel on what the Golden Age of Television means to him 
    Clip begins at: 10:02, Duration: 04m 13s
  • Angela Lansbury on the experience of doing "live TV"Angela Lansbury on the experience of doing "live TV"
    Clip begins at: 19:55, Duration: 03m 33s
  • Jack Klugman on co-starring in the <i>Producers' Showcase</i> production of "The Petrified Forest" with Humphrey Bogart (airdate: May 30, 1955)Jack Klugman on co-starring in the Producers' Showcase production of "The Petrified Forest" with Humphrey Bogart (airdate: May 30, 1955)
    Clip begins at: 00:00, Duration: 06m 36s
  • Robert Vaughn on "The Troublemakers" on <i>Playhouse 90</i> with Ben Gazarra, directed by John FrankenheimerRobert Vaughn on "The Troublemakers" on Playhouse 90 with Ben Gazarra, directed by John Frankenheimer
    Clip begins at: 27:23, Duration: 02m 53s
  • John Frankenheimer on the end of the Golden Age of TelevisionJohn Frankenheimer on the end of the Golden Age of Television
    Clip begins at: 22:58, Duration: 01m 24s
  • Bandleader Milton Delugg on NBC exec Pat Weaver's idea to have morning, noon and night shows on NBC; on becoming bandleader on the night show Broadway Open House (precursor to <gx_error_missing_name>The Tonight Show</gx_error_missing_name>).Bandleader Milton Delugg on NBC exec Pat Weaver's idea to have morning, noon and night shows on NBC; on becoming bandleader on the night show Broadway Open House (precursor to The Tonight Show).
    Clip begins at: 24:26, Duration: 01m 56s
  • Sam Denoff on observing the early days of live television while working as a page at NBC's Studio 8H where <i>Kraft Television Theater, Robert Montgomery Presents</i>, and other live anthology series were filmedSam Denoff on observing the early days of live television while working as a page at NBC's Studio 8H where Kraft Television Theater, Robert Montgomery Presents, and other live anthology series were filmed
    Clip begins at: 19:55, Duration: 02m 57s

All Interviewee clips on this topic

  • Edward Asner
    • Ed Asner on acting in the Studio One episode "The Night America Trembled"
      Clip begins at: 19:38, Duration: 02m 03s
  • Dick Berg
    • Dick Berg on writing "Man Under Glass" for Studio One 
      Clip begins at: 47:35, Duration: 01m 27s
    • Dick Berg on writing "The Right Hand Man" for Playhouse 90
      Clip begins at: 34:17, Duration: 03m 51s
    • Dick Berg on writing "Hollywood Award Winner" for Kaiser Aluminum Hour  and "The Clay Pigeon" for Robert Montgomery Presents
      Clip begins at: 29:41, Duration: 03m 42s
    • Dick Berg on writing for Kraft Television Theater  and Studio One
      Clip begins at: 24:43, Duration: 04m 58s
  • John Conte
    • John Conte on hosting Matinee Theater
      Clip begins at: 00:00, Duration: 20m 59s
    • John Conte on appearing in various live television productions
      Clip begins at: 13:52, Duration: 00m 43s
    • John Conte on appearing as an actor on live television in the '50s 
      Clip begins at: 24:50, Duration: 02m 49s
  • Hume Cronyn
    • Hume Cronyn on appearing in Studio One's  presentation of "A Member of the Family"
      Clip begins at: 19:57, Duration: 02m 40s
    • Hume Cronyn on appearing in the series The Marriage  with wife Jessica Tandy
      Clip begins at: 02:20, Duration: 08m 53s
    • Hume Cronyn on appearing as John Quincy Adams on Ominbus
      Clip begins at: 00:01, Duration: 02m 19s
    • Hume Cronyn on directing Jessica Tandy in "Portrait of a Madonna" for Actors Studio
      Clip begins at: 19:00, Duration: 03m 12s
    • Hume Cronyn on directing live television in the '50s
      Clip begins at: 22:12, Duration: 08m 02s
  • Richard Donner
    • Richard Donner on his experience in live television
      Clip begins at: 23:53, Duration: 01m 53s
  • David Dortort
    • David Dortort on adapting William Faulkner's "An Error in Chemistry" for Climax!  produced by Martin Manulis
      Clip begins at: 17:26, Duration: 07m 45s
    • David Dortort on writing for Suspense
      Clip begins at: 04:42, Duration: 05m 22s
  • John Forsythe
    • John Forsythe on his early experiences on live television including Studio One, Suspense, and The  U.S. Steel Hour
      Clip begins at: 00:00, Duration: 03m 37s
  • Jerry Goldsmith
    • Jerry Goldsmith on the pressure of composing for live television in the '50s and what he learned in that time
      Clip begins at: 04:13, Duration: 01m 40s
    • Jerry Goldsmith on the craft of composing music for live television broadcasts and on the process of composing for television
      Clip begins at: 21:16, Duration: 04m 30s
  • Arthur Hiller
    • Arthur Hiller on the excitement of "live" television
      Clip begins at: 09:59, Duration: 01m 04s
    • Arthur Hiller on camera tricks and fast changes he had to make while directing Playhouse 90
      Clip begins at: 07:29, Duration: 02m 29s
    • Arthur Hiller on dealing with an athlete who couldn't act appearing on NBC Matinee Theater, and his love of doing "live" television
      Clip begins at: 00:29, Duration: 02m 32s
    • Arthur Hiller on the schedule for producing NBC Matinee Theater and the excitement of directing for live television
      Clip begins at: 26:35, Duration: 02m 17s
  • Russell Johnson
    • Russell Johnson on enjoying working in live television
      Clip begins at: 18:11, Duration: 01m 52s
  • Ernest Kinoy
    • Ernest Kinoy on the Golden Age of Television 
      Clip begins at: 22:28, Duration: 06m 33s
  • Eartha Kitt
    • Eartha Kitt on acting on the anthology series Omnibus
      Clip begins at: 18:57, Duration: 02m 47s
    • Eartha Kitt on being an African-American performer on television in the 1950s
      Clip begins at: 21:42, Duration: 07m 30s
  • Don Knotts
    • Don Knotts on TV actors not needing agents during the early days of TV in New York City
      Clip begins at: 02:13, Duration: 00m 50s
    • Don Knotts on the challenges of performing on "live TV" in the 1950s
      Clip begins at: 25:36, Duration: 01m 01s
    • Don Knotts on a moment in "live" TV in the 1950s when fellow actor Les Damon went up on his lines on soap opera Search for Tomorrow
      Clip begins at: 24:40, Duration: 00m 56s
  • Sheila Kuehl
    • Sheila Kuehl on acting in live and filmed television dramas in the 1950s
      Clip begins at: 26:48, Duration: 03m 40s
    • Sheila Kuehl on playing "Jackie Erwin" on The Stu Erwin Show aka Trouble With Father
      Clip begins at: 07:03, Duration: 11m 14s
  • Norman Lear
    • Norman Lear on what he sees as the best of television, from the days of Edward R. Murrow and the "golden age" of television
      Clip begins at: 00:01, Duration: 01m 47s
    • Norman Lear on the challenges of working all day and night in the days of live television
      Clip begins at: 09:44, Duration: 04m 50s
  • Jack Lemmon
    • Jack Lemmon on appearing on the Playhouse 90 production of "Face of a Hero"
      Clip begins at: 20:09, Duration: 04m 07s
    • Jack Lemmon on appearing on Ford Television Theatre's "The Day Lincoln Was Shot"
      Clip begins at: 23:08, Duration: 01m 42s
    • Jack Lemmon on working on Studio One 
      Clip begins at: 00:00, Duration: 03m 27s
    • Jack Lemmon on acting on Kraft Television Theatre  and appearing on live television
      Clip begins at: 20:55, Duration: 04m 06s
  • Stewart MacGregory
    • Stewart MacGregory on the cameras and other equipment used in the Golden Age of Television 
      Clip begins at: 02:55, Duration: 05m 20s
    • Stewart MacGregory on the atmosphere and logistics of a live television broadcast
      Clip begins at: 00:00, Duration: 02m 55s
    • Stewart MacGregory on being stage coordinator for NBC Television starting in 1948
      Clip begins at: 00:04, Duration: 05m 16s
  • Jayne Meadows
    • Jayne Meadows on how television has changed since the '50s
      Clip begins at: 16:42, Duration: 02m 06s
    • Jayne Meadows on her sister Audrey Meadows as "Alice Kramden" on The Honeymooners
      Clip begins at: 02:36, Duration: 05m 39s
    • Jayne Meadows on being a panelist on I've Got a Secret
      Clip begins at: 00:01, Duration: 17m 23s
    • Jayne Meadows on getting a job as a panelist on I've Got a Secret  and meeting Steve Allen
      Clip begins at: 22:01, Duration: 06m 36s
    • Jayne Meadows on the challenges of working in live television
      Clip begins at: 16:43, Duration: 05m 00s
  • Priscilla Morgan
    • Priscilla Morgan on the Golden Age of Television
      Clip begins at: 06:56, Duration: 05m 27s
  • Tad Mosel
    • Tad Mosel on the camaraderie among writers during the Golden Age of Television
      Clip begins at: 14:15, Duration: 03m 23s
    • Tad Mosel on what the Golden Age of Television means to him 
      Clip begins at: 10:02, Duration: 04m 13s
    • Tad Mosel on watching Playhouse 90 and other live dramas of his be performed
      Clip begins at: 00:00, Duration: 10m 14s
    • Tad Mosel on writing for Playhouse 90
      Clip begins at: 07:16, Duration: 21m 51s
    • Tad Mosel on writing "The Five Dollar Bill" for Studio One
      Clip begins at: 00:00, Duration: 07m 16s
    • Tad Mosel on working with Martin Manulis on Playhouse 90
      Clip begins at: 26:07, Duration: 01m 50s
    • Tad Mosel on working with Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Henry Fonda on Producers' Showcase: "The Petrified Forest"
      Clip begins at: 10:28, Duration: 13m 05s
    • Tad Mosel on writing for Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse
      Clip begins at: 17:54, Duration: 10m 31s
    • Tad Mosel on writing "The Waiting Place" for Playwrights '56
      Clip begins at: 14:19, Duration: 03m 35s
    • Tad Mosel on writing for Studio One
      Clip begins at: 05:55, Duration: 04m 09s
    • Tad Mosel on writing for Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse
      Clip begins at: 06:12, Duration: 21m 16s
    • Tad Mosel on writing for Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse
      Clip begins at: 16:47, Duration: 10m 47s
    • Tad Mosel on writing "The Haven" for Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse  produced by Fred Coe and on Coe's contribution to television 
      Clip begins at: 18:16, Duration: 05m 24s
    • Tad Mosel on writing for Medallion Theater
      Clip begins at: 06:51, Duration: 06m 48s
    • Tad Mosel on writing for Ominbus
      Clip begins at: 00:00, Duration: 06m 48s
  • Bill Mumy
    • Bill Mumy on acting on The Twilight Zone
      Clip begins at: 39:50, Duration: 22m 13s
  • Agnes Nixon
    • Agnes Nixon on writing for the Golden Age anthology dramas
      Clip begins at: 21:32, Duration: 00m 44s
  • Don Pike
    • Don Pike on being technical director for Chevrolet on Broadway
      Clip begins at: 04:31, Duration: 02m 16s
    • Don Pike on being technical director for Lights Out  and Your Hit Parade 
      Clip begins at: 00:00, Duration: 04m 31s
    • Don Pike on acting as technical director for Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse
      Clip begins at: 00:01, Duration: 25m 11s
  • David Pressman
    • David Pressman on early television's relationship to theater
      Clip begins at: 25:01, Duration: 04m 23s
  • Gene Reynolds
    • Gene Reynolds on working in live television in the '50s
      Clip begins at: 06:06, Duration: 02m 56s
  • Cliff Robertson
    • Cliff Robertson on The U.S. Steel Hour's   "The Two Worlds of Charly Gordon" and the feature film "Charly"
      Clip begins at: 23:45, Duration: 06m 07s
    • Cliff Robertson on starring in the Playhouse 90 live production of "The Days of Wine and Roses"
      Clip begins at: 04:04, Duration: 13m 16s
  • Howard Rosenberg
    • Howard Rosenberg on how television changed and evolved during the '70s and his thoughts on the Golden Age of Television
      Clip begins at: 38:31, Duration: 05m 18s
  • Joseph Sargent
    • Joseph Sargent on acting on live television in the '50s
      Clip begins at: 26:13, Duration: 03m 00s
  • David Shaw
    • David Shaw on the Golden Age of Television
      Clip begins at: 10:46, Duration: 01m 00s
  • Jack Shea
    • Director Jack Shea on working on live anthology dramas like Philco Television Playhouse
      Clip begins at: 04:47, Duration: 01m 03s
  • James Sheldon
    • James Sheldon on changes in the television business in the 1950s that led to directors becoming freelancers rather than employees of advertising agencies or networks
      Clip begins at: 23:23, Duration: 01m 02s
    • James Sheldon on directing the radio show "We, The People," which was then simulcast on television and radio and became a regular television show
      Clip begins at: 05:00, Duration: 04m 06s
  • Hazel Shermet
    • Hazel Shermet on doing Songs You've Never Heard for WOR
      Clip begins at: 00:01, Duration: 03m 17s
    • Hazel Shermet on appearing on The Fred Allen Show
      Clip begins at: 25:16, Duration: 02m 57s
    • Hazel Shermet on appearing on The Morey Amsterdam Show
      Clip begins at: 13:41, Duration: 10m 05s
  • Johnny Stearns
    • Johnny Stearns of Mary Kay and Johnny on the Golden Age of Television
      Clip begins at: 24:02, Duration: 01m 38s
    • Mary Kay and Johnny Stearns on the challenges of acting in live television; on sets and locations on Mary Kay and Johnny
      Clip begins at: 24:15, Duration: 04m 12s
    • Mary Kay and Johnny Stearns on how Mary Kay and Johnny (one of TV's earliest sitcoms) came about
      Clip begins at: 15:51, Duration: 03m 12s
  • Mary Kay Stearns
    • Mary Kay and Johnny Stearns on the challenges of acting in live television; on sets and locations on Mary Kay and Johnny
      Clip begins at: 24:15, Duration: 04m 12s
    • Mary Kay and Johnny Stearns on how Mary Kay and Johnny (one of TV's earliest sitcoms) came about
      Clip begins at: 15:51, Duration: 03m 12s
  • Dick Van Dyke
    • Dick Van Dyke recalls the first time he appeared on television
      Clip begins at: 04:25
  • Ellen M. Violett
    • Ellen M. Violett on writing for Producer's Showcase
      Clip begins at: 44:41, Duration: 09m 48s
    • Ellen M. Violett on writing for Omnibus
      Clip begins at: 26:29, Duration: 15m 04s
    • Ellen M. Violett on writing "Breakdown" for Suspense
      Clip begins at: 23:08, Duration: 03m 21s
    • Ellen M. Violett on writing Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" for Cameo Theater
      Clip begins at: 13:06, Duration: 09m 18s
  • Clint Walker
    • Clint Walker on the legacy of Cheyenne
      Clip begins at: 08:29, Duration: 02m 24s
  • Ruth Warrick
    • Ruth Warrick on acting in live television
      Clip begins at: 11:31, Duration: 10m 15s
  • Betty White with Emerson College
    • Betty White on being a pioneer on television and appearing on early live local television in Los Angeles
      Clip begins at: 02:39, Duration: 03m 25s
  • Fred De Cordova
    • Fred de Cordova on the '50s Golden Age of Television 
      Clip begins at: 19:27, Duration: 05m 41s
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From the Collection

  • Archive Presents Rod Serling Studio One Dramas

    ROD SERLING: STUDIO ONE DRAMAS "The Arena" and "The Strike" are now available on The Archive of American Television Presents DVD series.

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