Lux Video Theatre
{{Short description|American television anthology series (1950–1957)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image = Aplaceinsun54.jpg
| caption = 1954 production of A Place in the Sun on the series
| genre = Anthology
| creator =
| writer =
| director =
| developer =
| presenter = James Mason (1954–1955)
Otto Kruger (1955–1956)
Gordon MacRae (1956–1957)
Ken Carpenter (1955–1957)
| starring =
| voices =
| narrated =
| theme_music_composer =
| opentheme =
| endtheme =
| composer =
| country = United States
| language = English
| num_seasons = 7
| num_episodes = 336
| list_episodes =
| executive_producer =
| producer =
| editor =
| location =
| cinematography =
| runtime = 24–25 mins. (1950–1954)
47–50 mins. (1954–1957)
| channel = CBS (1950–1954)
NBC (1954–1957)
| first_aired = {{start date|1950|10|02}}
| last_aired = {{end date|1957|09|12}}
| related = Lux Radio Theater
Lux Playhouse
}}
Lux Video Theatre is an American television anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1957. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays.
Overview
The Lux Video Theatre was a spin-off from the successful Lux Radio Theater series broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934–1935) and CBS (1935–1955).
Lux Video Theatre began as a live 30-minute Monday evening CBS series on October 2, 1950, switching to Thursday nights during August, 1951.{{cite book|url=http://www.otrr.org/FILES/Magz_pdf/Radio%20TV%20Mirror/Radio%20and%20Television%20Mirror%205110.pdf|title=Lux Video Theatre|publisher=Radio-TV Mirror|date=October 1951|pages=46–49|access-date=29 January 2012}} (PDF) In September 1953, the show relocated from New York to Hollywood. On August 26, 1954, it debuted on NBC as an hour-long show on Thursday nights, telecast until September 12, 1957. With the introduction of the one-hour format and the move to Hollywood, abridged versions of popular films were often used as the basis for shows.
To introduce each act and interview the stars at the conclusion, NBC added a series of regular hosts: James Mason{{cite journal|last1=Becker|first1=Christine|title=Televising Film Stardom in the 1950s|journal=Framework|date=October 1, 2005|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1P3-1001342431}}{{dead link|date=July 2021}} (1954–55), Otto Kruger (1955–56), Gordon MacRae (1956–57) and Ken Carpenter (1955–1957). Kruger recalled:
:All I do is come up and tell the people who I am and what we're up to. I don't have a single thing to do with producing, directing or casting the show. Yet I get letters every week complimenting me on my production, my directing, my casting, even my script adaptations.[https://books.google.com/books?id=I3kfjXHm1CwC&dq=%22lux+video%22&pg=PA108 Becker, Christine. It's the Pictures That Got Small: Hollywood Film Stars on 1950s Television. Wesleyan University Press, 2009.]
New episodes were broadcast during the summer as the Summer Video Theatre. In 1957–58, Lux shifted sponsorship to a half-hour musical variety show, The Lux Show Starring Rosemary Clooney.
For the 1958–59 season, the dramatic series was brought back with a new name, Lux Playhouse. The new series alternated weeks with Schlitz Playhouse. Those broadcasts began on October 3, 1958, and ended on September 18, 1959.{{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=24 June 2009 |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-48320-1 |page=823 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&dq=%22Lux+Video+Theatre%22&pg=PA823 |access-date=November 4, 2021 |language=en}}
The series finished in the Nielsen ratings at #30 in the 1950–51 season and #25 in 1955–56.{{cite web|url=https://classictvguide.com/tvratings/index.htm|title=ClassicTVguide.com: TV Ratings}}
Episodes
Notable guest stars
File:Lux Video Theatre rehearsal 1951.jpg, Pat Gaye, Anna Lee, and script girl Audrey Peters]]
Among those cast in the productions were:
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
- Julie Adams
- Mary Astor
- Anne Bancroft
- William Bendix
- Joan Blondell
- Ann Blyth
- Richard Boone
- Ernest Borgnine
- Eddie Bracken
- Scott Brady
- Walter Brennan
- Barbara Britton
- Charles Bronson
- Raymond Burr
- Hoagy Carmichael
- Art Carney
- Jack Carson
- Rosemary Clooney
- Lee J. Cobb
- Charles Coburn
- Nat 'King' Cole
- Jackie Cooper
- Broderick Crawford
- Bing Crosby
- Robert Cummings
- Arlene Dahl
- Laraine Day
- James Dean
- John Derek
- Melvyn Douglas
- Paul Douglas
- Joanne Dru
- Nelson Eddy
- Bill Erwin
- Barry Fitzgerald
- Nina Foch
- Janet Gaynor
- Bonita Granville
- Coleen Gray
- Eileen Heckart
- Van Heflin
- Charlton Heston
- William Holden
- Celeste Holm
- Bob Hope
- Miriam Hopkins
- Dennis Hopper
- Rock Hudson
- Dean Jagger
- David Janssen
- Shirley Jones
- Boris Karloff
- Buster Keaton
- Grace Kelly
- Veronica Lake
- Burt Lancaster
- Angela Lansbury
- Cloris Leachman
- Jack Lemmon
- Gene Lockhart
- June Lockhart
- Jack Lord
- Peter Lorre
- Dayton Lummis
- Jeanette MacDonald
- Fred MacMurray
- Dorothy Malone
- Herbert Marshall
- Fredric March
- James Mason
- Raymond Massey
- Carole Mathews
- Walter Matthau
- Mercedes McCambridge
- Roddy McDowell
- Dorothy McGuire
- Butterfly McQueen
- Sal Mineo
- Vera Miles
- Thomas Mitchell (actor)
- Felicia Montealegre Bernstein
- Rita Moreno
- Dennis Morgan
- Audie Murphy
- Don Murray (actor)
- Kim Novak
- Margaret O'Brien
- Maureen O'Hara
- Maureen O'Sullivan
- Geraldine Page
- Lilli Palmer
- Dick Powell
- Robert Preston (actor)
- Vincent Price
- Luise Rainer
- Edward G. Robinson
- Basil Rathbone
- Ronald Reagan
- Thelma Ritter
- Lizabeth Scott
- Karen Sharpe
- Ann Sheridan
- Sylvia Sidney
- Alexis Smith
- Karen Steele
- Rod Steiger
- Jan Sterling
- Robert Sterling
- Rod Taylor
- Phyllis Thaxter
- Franchot Tone
- Claire Trevor
- Roland Young
- Beverly Washburn
- James Whitmore
- Esther Williams
- Natalie Wood
- Joanne Woodward
- Teresa Wright
{{div col end}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|id=0042123|title=Lux Video Theatre}}
- {{IMDb title|id=0050034|title=Lux Playhouse}}
- [http://ctva.biz/US/Anthology/LuxVideoTheatre.htm Lux Video Theatre at CVTA]
{{Portal bar|Television|1950s}}
Category:1950 American television series debuts
Category:1957 American television series endings
Category:1950s American anthology television series
Category:American live television series
Category:CBS television dramas
Category:NBC television dramas
Category:Television series based on radio series