Gulf Playhouse

{{primary sources|date=October 2014}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox television

| image =

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| genre = Dramatic anthology

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| country = United States

| language = English

| num_seasons = 1

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| network = NBC

| first_aired = {{start date|1952|10|3}}

| last_aired = {{end date|1953|9|11}}

}}

Gulf Playhouse, also known as Gulf Playhouse: 1st Person and First Person Playhouse is an American anthology series that aired on Friday nights from 1952 to 1953 on NBC.{{cite book |author1=Tim Brooks |author-link1=Tim Brooks (television historian) |author2=Earle Marsh |title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present |publisher=Ballantine Books |location=New York |edition=Eighth |year=2003 |section=Gulf Playhouse, 1st Person (Dramatic Anthology) |page=493 |isbn=978-0-345-45542-0}} Originally a standard live dramatic anthology series, it was later redeveloped as a summer replacement series whose anthology stories were now told as seen through the "eye" of the camera. The actors in each episode would talk to the camera as if it were a person, animal or object.

Gulf Playhouse debuted on October 3, 1952,{{cite book |last1=Hawes |first1=William |title=Filmed Television Drama, 1952-1958 |date=2001 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-1132-0 |page=39 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0pQKmPSfHCQC&dq=%22Gulf+Playhouse%22&pg=PA39 |access-date=February 14, 2022 |language=en}} replacing We the People.{{cite news |title=This Week (Cont'd) |url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele24ross/page/n176/mode/1up?view=theater |access-date=June 21, 2022 |work=Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index |date=September 28, 1952 |page=5}} It initially ran on NBC opposite My Friend Irma. When it was canceled, Gulf replaced it with The Life of Riley.{{cite news |last1=Gould |first1=Jack |title=The Gulf Playhouse |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/12/21/archives/the-gulf-playhouse-programs-end-points-up-role-of-new-writer.html |access-date=February 14, 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=December 21, 1952 |page=X 11|url-access=subscription}} The revised version, Gulf Playhouse: 1st Person, was the summer replacement for Riley in 1953.

The series ran for twenty-four episodes with stars that included Rod Steiger, Tony Randall, Kim Stanley, Eddie Bracken, Ward Bond, Wendell Corey, Felicia Montealegre Bernstein, and Kim Hunter. The show's sponsor was Gulf Oil, and it was produced and directed by Frank Telford. Among its other directors was Arthur Penn.{{cite book |last1=Wood |first1=Robin |last2=Lippe |first2=Richard |title=Arthur Penn: New Edition |date=2014 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |isbn=978-0-8143-3927-5 |page=240 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_DqEAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Gulf+Playhouse%22&pg=PA240 |access-date=February 14, 2022 |language=en}} and Wes McKee. Bill Hoffman edited the scripts. Many of the writers were relatively unknown at the time. They included Carey Wilber, Frank D. Gilroy, Abby Mann, and Norman Lessing.