Kraft Television Theatre

{{Short description|1947–1958 anthology drama television series}}

{{Infobox television

| image = Patterns01.jpg

| caption = Ed Begley, Everett Sloane and Richard Kiley in Rod Serling's Patterns on Kraft Television Theatre (1955)

| alt_name = Kraft Mystery Theatre

| genre = Anthology drama

| narrated = Ed Herlihy (1947-55)
Charles Stark (1955)

| theme_music_composer = Norman Cloutier

| country = United States

| language = English

| num_seasons = 11

| num_episodes = 650

| list_episodes =

| camera = Multi-camera

| runtime = 48–52 minutes

| company = J. Walter Thompson Agency
Talent Associates

| channel = NBC

| first_aired = {{Start date|1947|05|07}}

| last_aired = {{End date|1958|10|01}}

}}

Kraft Television Theatre is an American anthology drama television series running from 1947 to 1958. It began May 7, 1947, on NBC, airing at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday evenings until December of that year. It first promoted MacLaren's Imperial Cheese, which was advertised nowhere else.[http://adage.com/article/adage-encyclopedia/kraft-foods/98739/ Kraft Foods profile], from AdAge In January 1948, it moved to 9 p.m. on Wednesdays, continuing in that timeslot until 1958. Initially produced by the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, the live hour-long series offered television plays with new stories and new characters each week,{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_tov/ai_2419100683 |title=Kraft Television Theatre |last=Griffith |first=Benjamin |work=St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture |publisher=Thomas Gale |access-date=2008-07-19 |year=2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080217021212/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_tov/ai_2419100683 |archive-date=2008-02-17 }} in addition to adaptations of such classics as A Christmas Carol and Alice in Wonderland. The program was broadcast live from Studio 8-H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, currently the home of Saturday Night Live.

Beginning October 1953, ABC added a separate series (also titled Kraft Television Theatre), created to promote Kraft's new Cheez Whiz product. This series ran for sixteen months, telecast on Thursday evenings at 9:30 p.m., until January 1955. After Kraft cancelled the second show, the second show changed its sponsor to become Pond's Theatre on ABC-TV from March 1955, while the original Kraft Theatre continued on NBC-TV.

Background

A prestige show for NBC, it launched the careers of more than a few actors, directors and playwrights, including future Emmy-winning and Academy Award-nominated actress Hope Lange.{{cite news |author= Tom Vallance| title=Hope Lange | work=The Independent | date=2003-12-23 | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/hope-lange-549138.html | access-date=2008-10-30 }}{{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

Actors on the series included James Dean, Janet De Gore, Colleen Dewhurst, Anne Francis, Lee Grant, Helen Hayes, Jack Lemmon, Grace Kelly, Jack Klugman, Cloris Leachman, Sam Levene, Patrick McVey, Michael Higgins, Felicia Montealegre Bernstein, John Newland, Paul Newman, Leslie Nielsen, Anthony Perkins, Judson Pratt, silent film icon Esther Ralston, Lee Remick, George C. Scott, Rod Steiger, Joan Tompkins (her first television role), Grace Carney and Joanne Woodward. Announcers for the show were Ed Herlihy (1947–1955) and Charles Stark (1955).{{Citation needed |date=April 2021}} In 1958, young performers Martin Huston and Zina Bethune appeared in "This Property Is Condemned", based on a Tennessee Williams play, the last show of Kraft Television Theatre.

Directors for the series included Sidney Lumet, Robert Altman, George Roy Hill, Fielder Cook, and John Boulting, and the many contributing writers included Rod Serling, William Templeton and JP Miller. Serling won an Emmy for scripting Patterns (January 12, 1955), the best remembered episode of the series. The drama had such an impact that it made television history by staging a second live encore performance three weeks later and was developed as a feature film, also titled Patterns.

In April 1958, Kraft sold the rights to David Susskind's Talent Associates, which revamped the series as Kraft Mystery Theatre. Under that title, it continued until September 1958. However, this eventually evolved into the 1963 filmed series Kraft Suspense Theatre, which concentrated exclusively on original dramas written for television, not on adaptations.

Between 1947 and 1958, the Kraft Television Theatre presented more than 650 comedies and dramas. The series finished #14 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1950–1951 season, #23 for 1951-1952 and #21 for 1953–1954.{{cite web |url=https://classictvguide.com/tvratings/index.htm |title = ClassicTVHits.com: TV Ratings}}

Episode status

Excerpts from several 1947 episodes and part of a reel of 1947 television clips are held by the Library of Congress.{{cite web |url=http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v2=190&ti=101,190&SEQ=20120707070827&Search%5FArg=Kraft%20Television%20Theatre&Search%5FCode=GKEY%5E%2A&CNT=100&type=quick&PID=7xWRYf_6UDvX_7OpJsD5YP6EOVUP&SID=1 |title=Early television excerpts and clips |website=The Library of Congress Online Catalog |publisher=The Library of Congress |access-date=July 28, 2013}} In addition, the Library of Congress holds a large number of complete episodes, including five from 1948.Sources:

{{cite web |url=https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/holdingsInfo?recPointer=65&bibId=11537623 |title=Kraft television theatre: The royal family |website=The Library of Congress Online Catalog |publisher=The Library of Congress |access-date=July 28, 2013}}
{{cite web |url=https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/holdingsInfo?recPointer=4&bibId=11534633 |title=Kraft television theatre: Captain Applejack|website=The Library of Congress Online Catalog |publisher=The Library of Congress |access-date=July 28, 2013}}
{{cite web |url=https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/holdingsInfo?recPointer=12&bibId=11534291 |title=Kraft television theatre: No way out |website=The Library of Congress Online Catalog |publisher=The Library of Congress |access-date=July 28, 2013}}
{{cite web |url=https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/holdingsInfo?recPointer=25&bibId=11534798 |title=Kraft television theatre: The silver cord |website=The Library of Congress Online Catalog |publisher=The Library of Congress |access-date=July 28, 2013}}
{{cite web |url=https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/holdingsInfo?recPointer=33&bibId=11535435 |title=Kraft television theatre: She stoops to conquer |website=The Library of Congress Online Catalog |publisher=The Library of Congress |access-date=July 28, 2013}} The American Heritage Center has a number of scripts from various episodes for the years 1947, 1948, and 1949 in the Edmund C. Rice papers. These scripts, though authored by various people, were edited by Rice.{{cite book |url=http://uwcatalog.uwyo.edu/record=b2136420~S3 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121212235808/http://uwcatalog.uwyo.edu/record=b2136420~S3 |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 12, 2012 |title=Edmund C. Rice 'Kraft Television Theatre' scripts, 1947-1954 |first=Edmund C. |last=Rice |publisher=University of Wyoming |oclc=31024449 |access-date=July 28, 2013 }}

Episodes

Date	Episode	Actor(s)
class="wikitable" \|+ Partial List of Episodes of Kraft Television Theatre
June 25, 1947 \|"I Like it Here" \|Stefan Schnabel, Alice Yourman, Sterling Oliver, Betty Beuhler, Arthur Franz, Mel Brandt, Leopold Badia{{Citation \|title=I Like It Here - Excerpt from Kraft Television Theatre - June 25, 1947 \| date=10 July 2019 \|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn-lTOGBtCw \|language=en \|access-date=2022-07-04}}
February 15, 1950	"The Silent Room"	Tommy Nello, Neva Patterson, Jesse White, Dorothy Storm, Bruno Wick, Gene Fuller {{cite magazine \|date=February 11, 1950 \|page=6 \|title=Wednesday, February 15 \|url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele06ross/page/n10/mode/1up?view=theater \|magazine=Ross Reports \|access-date=July 19, 2023 }}
February 6, 1952	"Follow the Dream"	Vivian Ferrar, Royal Beal{{cite magazine \|date=February 6, 1952 \|page=30 \|title=TV Drama Calendar \|magazine=Variety \|url=https://archive.org/details/variety185-1952-02/page/n29/mode/1up?view=theater \|accessdate=March 29, 2024 }}
October 8, 1952	"The New Tenant"	Blanche Yurke, Alan Bunce, Katherine Meskill{{cite news \|title=Wednesday, October 8 \|url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele25ross/page/n18/mode/1up?view=theater \|access-date=February 8, 2022 \|work=Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index \|date=October 5, 1952 \|page=10}}
October 15, 1952	"A Kiss for Cinderella"	Melville Cooper, Mary Stearn, Leslie Nielsen, Rita Vale, Nancy Marchand, Susan Halloran, Patti McCormack, Gaye Huston, Betty Low, Rex O'Malley{{cite news \|title=Kraft TV Theater \|url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele25ross/page/n46/mode/1up?view=theater \|access-date=February 19, 2022 \|work=Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index \|date=October 12, 1952 \|page=10}}
October 22, 1952	"A Long Night In Forty Mile"	John Baragrey, Hildy Parks, Fred Stewart, Alan Shayne, Carol Wheeler, Dan Morgan, Joe Maross, Curtis Cooksey, Jack Arthur, Stuart Mackintosh{{cite news \|title=Kraft TV Theater \|url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele25ross/page/n74/mode/1up?view=theater \|access-date=March 3, 2022 \|work=Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index \|date=October 19, 1952 \|page=10}}
October 29, 1952	"Divine Drudge"	Felicia Monteleagre, Harry Townes, Robert Pastene, Mike Kellin, Timothy Lynn Kearse, Noel Leslie, Geoffrey Lumb, Cynthia Latham, William Brower{{cite news \|title=Kraft TV Theater \|url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele25ross/page/n100/mode/1up?view=theater \|access-date=March 11, 2022 \|work=Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index \|date=October 26, 1952 \|page=9}}
November 5, 1952	"Melody Jones"	Janet Lally, Patsy Bruder, Patti O'Neill, John McGovern, Peggy Allenby, Katherine Meskill, Jimmy Sommer, Jackie Colloris, Bob Casey, Robert McQuade, Steve Harris.{{cite news \|title=Kraft TV Theater \|url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele25ross/page/n124/mode/1up?view=theater \|access-date=March 19, 2022 \|work=Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index \|date=November 2, 1952 \|page=8}}
November 12, 1952	"Hilda McKahy"	Haila Stoddard, Shepperd Strudwick, Thomas Coley, Pat Breslin, Leta Bonynge{{cite news \|title=Kraft TV Theater \|url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele25ross/page/n152/mode/1up?view=theater \|access-date=March 23, 2022 \|work=Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index \|date=November 9, 1952 \|page=10}}
November 19, 1952	"The Quiet Wedding"	Alan Holmes, Petrena Lowthian, Edith Meiser, Pamela Simpson, Leslie Paul, Anthony Kemble Cooper, Carol Veazie, Anita Bolster, Carolyn Grier, Catherine Doucet, Guy Spaull, David Orrick{{cite news \|title=Kraft TV Theatre \|url=https://archive.org/details/rossreportstele25ross/page/n188/mode/1up?view=theater \|access-date=April 4, 2022 \|work=Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index \|date=November 16, 1952 \|page=9}}
October 14, 1953	"Keep Our Honor Bright"	Michael Higgins, Joan Potter, Larry Fletcher, James Dean, Addison Richards, Peter Fernandez, John Dutra, Don Dubbins, Jim Hickman, Cricket Skilling, George Roy Hill
December 1, 1954	"The Independent"	Frances Robinson, Jeffrey Lynn, Joey Fallon[https://www.newspapers.com/image/620126750/?clipping_id=165717920 "Serious Situation"]. Pasadena Independent. December 1, 1954. p. 37. Retrieved February 18, 2025.[https://www.newspapers.com/image/683794005/?clipping_id=166070539 "Television Programs"]. Hollywood Citizen-News. December 1, 1954. p. 12. Retrieved February 18, 2025.
January 12, 1955	"Patterns"	Everett Sloane, Richard Kiley, Ed Begley, June Dayton, Joanna Roos, Elizabeth Montgomery, Elizabeth Wilson, Jack Arthur, Victoria Ward, Sybil Baker, Shirley Standlee, Theodore Newton, Jack Livesey, Ronnie Welsh, Tom Charles, Ron Harper, Victor Harrison, Helen Ludlom, Joseph MacCauley, Al Morgen, Douglas Rutherford, Chuck Wallace
February 9, 1955	"Patterns" (repeated)	Everett Sloane, Richard Kiley, Ed Begley, June Dayton, Joanna Roos, Elizabeth Montgomery, Elizabeth Wilson, Jack Arthur, Victoria Ward, Sybil Baker, Shirley Standlee, Theodore Newton, Jack Livesey, Ronnie Welsh, Tom Charles, Ron Harper, Victor Harrison, Helen Ludlom, Joseph MacCauley, Al Morgen, Douglas Rutherford, Chuck Wallace
September 19, 1956	"Out to Kill"	James Whitmore.{{cite news \|title=TV Key Previews \|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76215550/the-capital-times/ \|access-date=April 21, 2021 \|work=The Capital Times \|date=September 18, 1956 \|location=Wisconsin, Madison \|page=25\|via = Newspapers.com}}