Assignment Foreign Legion

The series related activities of the French Foreign Legion during World War II. Oberon narrated episodes and played a newspaper correspondent in search of stories about the Foreign Legion.{{cite news |last1=Adams |first1=Val |title=Merle Oberon to Star on C.B.S. In TV Series of Foreign Legion |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/08/20/archives/merle-oberon-to-star-on-cbs-in-tv-series-of-foreign-legion.html |access-date=August 26, 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=August 20, 1957 |page=53|url-access=subscription }}

The show's producers were M. Smedley Aston and Anthony C. Bartlett.{{cite book |last1=Hawes |first1=William |title=Filmed Television Drama, 1952-1958 |date=December 26, 2001 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-1132-0 |page=109 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0pQKmPSfHCQC&dq=%22Assignment+Foreign+Legion%22+CBS&pg=PA109 |access-date=October 5, 2023 |language=en}} Directors included Don Chaffey, Michael McCarthy and Lance Comfort.{{cite news |date=28 July 1962 |title=Stories Of The Foreign Legion |volume=36 |page=7 |newspaper=The Canberra Times |issue=10,289 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131728708 |accessdate=11 August 2020 |via=National Library of Australia}} Writers included Max Ehrlich.{{cite book |last1=Ellett |first1=Ryan |title=Radio Drama and Comedy Writers, 1928-1962 |date=November 2, 2017 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-2980-3 |page=67 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PsE8DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Assignment+Foreign+Legion%22+CBS&pg=PA67 |access-date=October 5, 2023 |language=en}} The series was filmed in Morocco, Algiers, England and Spain. Eventually it became too dangerous and filming was completed at Beaconsfield Studios in London.{{Citation needed |date=August 2023}} CBS Television Film Sales Inc. distributed the series.

Assignment Foreign Legion was broadcast on Tuesdays from 10:30 to 11 p.m. Eastern Time.{{cite book |last1=Brooks |first1=Tim |last2=Marsh |first2=Earle F. |title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present |date=June 24, 2009 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-48320-1 |page=85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&dq=%22Assignment+Foreign+Legion%22+CBS&pg=PA85 |access-date=October 5, 2023 |language=en}} Its average cost was $26,000 an episode.{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|url=https://archive.org/details/variety204-1956-11/page/n99/mode/1up?q=%22foreign+legion%22|date=14 November 1956|page=36|title=Earnings in Britain Cancel Out $100000 Investment}} It was sponsored by P. Lorillard Company{{cite magazine |date=November 4, 1957 |page=3 |title=Pabst Weighs CBS Tuesday |magazine=Billboard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_SgEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Assignment+Foreign+Legion%22+CBS&pg=PA3 |accessdate=October 5, 2023 }} for Kent cigarettes. The trade publication Variety reported, "there was some worry" prior to Lorillard's taking on the show because it "may be too controversial, possibly alienating nationalistic Arabs."{{cite magazine |date=October 9, 1957 |page=29 |title=Assignment Foreign Legion |magazine=Variety |url=https://archive.org/details/variety208-1957-10/page/n108/mode/1up?view=theater |accessdate=February 17, 2024}} The program ended when Lorillard decided to move its sponsorship to Richard Diamond, Private Detective, which began on January 2, 1958.{{cite news |last1=Adams |first1=Val |title=A. B. C. Reverses Film Show Trend: Drops 'Date With Angels' for Live Betty White Program --C.B.S. Signs Fred Coe Producer Gets C.B.S Pact |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/12/16/archives/abc-reverses-film-show-trend-drops-date-with-angels-for-live-betty.html?searchResultPosition=1 |access-date=July 23, 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=December 16, 1957 |page=51|url-access=subscription }}

Variety said "Stories, acting, and production are of good quality.[https://archive.org/details/variety205-1957-01/page/n573/mode/1up?q=%22foreign+legion%22 Review of series] at Variety

One week the show was among the top ten shows in Britain.{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|url=https://archive.org/details/variety205-1957-02/page/n262/mode/1up?q=%22foreign+legion%22|date=27 February 1957|title=Palladium Number 1|page=31}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049995/?ref_=tttg_tg_tt Assignment Foreign Legion] at IMDb
• [http://ctva.biz/UK/ITC/AssignmentForeignLegion.htm Assignment Foreign Legion] at CTVA
• [https://archive.org/details/variety208-1957-10/page/n108/mode/1up?q=%22foreign+legion%22 Review of episode "The Outcast"] at Variety

Category:1956 American television series debuts

Category:1950s American drama television series

Category:1957 American television series endings

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