Playwrights '56, a.k.a. The Playwright Hour, is a 60-minute live American dramatic anthology series produced by Fred Coe for Showtime Productions. Twenty episodes aired on NBC from October 4, 1955, to June 19, 1956. It shared a Thursday time slot with Armstrong Circle Theatre.
Stars included Mary Astor, Ralph Bellamy, Joan Blondell, George Chandler, Robert Culp, Paul Douglas, Tom Ewell, Norman Fell, Nina Foch, John Forsythe, Lillian Gish, Alice Ghostley, Lee Grant, James Gregory, Louis Jean Heydt, Steven Hill, Vivi Janiss, Henry Jones, E. G. Marshall, John McGiver, Steve McQueen, Dina Merrill, Jack Mullaney, Paul Newman, Phyllis Kirk, Edmond O'Brien, J. Pat O'Malley, Nehemiah Persoff, Tom Poston, Peter Mark Richman, Janice Rule, Kim Stanley, Warren Stevens, Karl Swenson, Franchot Tone, Ethel Waters, James Whitmore, Estelle Winwood, Jane Wyatt, and Dick York.
Among its notable writers were Horton Foote, Gore Vidal, Tad Mosel, Arnold Schulman, and A. E. Hotchner. Directors included Arthur Penn, later renowned for Bonnie and Clyde, and Delbert Mann, the 1955 Academy Award winner for directing Marty.
The program was sponsored by Pontiac automobiles. When it was canceled, an article in the trade publication Billboard cited cost as a factor, noting that it "ran about $30,000 a week more than its more successful counterpart". Most of the episodes originated from WRCA-TV in Brooklyn, New York, with the rest coming from KRCA-TV's Hollywood studios. After the program's June 19, 1956, broadcast, it was replaced by The Kaiser Aluminum Hour.
Along with Producers' Showcase, Playwrights '56 shared the 1956 prime-time Emmy for Best Art Direction – Live Series.
+ Partial List of Episodes of Playwrights '56 Date Title Star(s) October 4, 1955 The Answer Nina Foch, Paul Douglas, Albert Dekker October 18, 1955 The Battler Dewey Martin, Phyllis Kirk, Paul Newman November 8, 1955 Snow Job Joan Blondell, James Gregory, Meg Bundy November 22, 1955 Daisy, Daisy Tom Ewell, Jane Wyatt December 6, 1955 The Sound and the Fury Lillian Gish, Ethel Waters, Janice Rule, and Franchot Tone. December 20, 1955 The Waiting Place Kim Stanley, Louis Jean Heydt, Louise Platt January 3, 1956 The Day the Trains Stopped Running Joseph Sweeney, Elizabeth Patterson, Mary Welch January 17, 1956 Lost Steven Hill January 31, 1956 This Business of Murder James Whitmore February 14, 1956 Return to Cassion John Forsythe, Kurt Kasznar, Dina Merrill February 28, 1956 Flight Kim Stanley March 27, 1956 The Undiscovered Country Cyril Ritchard, Nina Foch May 22, 1956 Keyhole E. G. Marshall, Lee Grant, Henry McNaughton May 8, 1956 You Sometimes Get Rich Larry Blyden, Georgiann Johnson June 19, 1956 Honor (final broadcast) Dick York, Ralph Bellamy, Leo G. Carroll, Carol Goodner
References
External links
Playwrights '56 at CVTA with list of episode