F O R D T H E A T E R
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1947 - 1949
First Show: 10-05-47 Last Show: 07-01-49
Number Shows: 78 (39 on NBC, 39 on CBS) Audition Show: none known
Series Description:
The FORD THEATER, sponsored by the Ford Motor Company, presented hour
long dramas first on NBC for one only season. The series moved to
CBS for its second and last season. There were 39 NBC and 39 CBS (not
verified).
The show initially received a bad review from the New York times for
bad script adaptation but was still highly rated for the actors'
performance and overall production. Initially, the show was supposed
to feature only original scripts, but had to forgo that plan due to
lack of quality material.
The first season relied in radio actors under the direction of George
Zachary. The series moved to CBS for the second season, using
Hollywood screen actors in the lead roles, supported by radio actors.
Fletcher Markle, who previously produced CBS's STUDIO ONE series,
became the producer for the second season.
The announcer was Nelson Case. The director was George Zachary. The
musical director was Cy Feuer.
Although a short series, it still has some of radio's best dramas.
Log Comments:
This show is not carried by many vendors or clubs. Information was
very sparse. This log was possible thanks to Radio Memories catalog
and Jarry Haendiges's log.
Shows in circulation are indicated by an asterisk in the "Available"
("A") column.
Chronological Log:
NBC: (Sundays 5:00 pm EST)
Date Num Title Stars A
-------- --- ------------------------------ ----------------------- -
10-05-47 1 "A Connecticut Yankee In King Karl Swenson, *
Arthur's Court" Mason Adams
by Mark Twain
10-12-47 2 "The Great McGinty"
10-19-47 3 "On Borrowed Time"
10-26-47 4 "A Coffin for Demetrics" Wendell Holmes
11-02-47 5 "Ah, Wilderness" *
11-09-47 6 "The Power and the Glory" Les Damon,
Vicki Vola
11-16-47 7 "Carmen Jones" Muriel Smith *
by Bizet
11-23-47 8 "George Washington Slept Here" Karl Swenson,
Claudia Morgan
11-30-47 9 "Dangerous Corner" Staats Cotsworth,
Anne Seymour,
Vicki Vola
12-07-47 10 "We Hold These Truths" Mason Adams,
Wendell Holmes
12-14-47 11 "Cimmarron" Gary Merrill,
Barbara Weeks
12-21-47 12 "The Man Who Played God" Santos Ortega, *
by Jules Eckerd Goodman Anne Seymour
12-28-47 13 "Father Dear Father" Edwin Jerome *
Frances Carden
01-04-48 14 "The Adventure of the Bad Boy" Santos Ortega, *
by Ellery Queen Hugh Marlowe
01-11-48 15 "Storm In A Tea Cup" Les Tremayne, *
Wendell Holmes
01-13-48 -- "Girl Crazy" (Rehearsal) Larry Douglas, *
Ted DeCorsia
01-18-48 16 "Girl Crazy" Larry Douglas, *
Ted DeCorsia
01-25-48 17 "Arsenic and Old Lace" Josephine Hull,
J. Adair
02-01-48 18 "The Green Pastures" Juano Hernabdez, *
by Marc Connelly Maurice Ellis
02-08-48 19 "Abe Lincoln of Illinois" Karl Swenson, *
Muriel Kirkland
02-15-48 20 "Abe Lincoln in Washington" Karl Swenson,
Muriel Kirkland
02-22-48 21 "The Bishop Misbehaves"
02-29-48 22 "The Count of Monte Cristo"
03-07-48 23 "Twentieth Century" Arnold Moss,
Barbara Weeks
03-14-48 24 "Autumn Crocus"
03-21-48 25 "It's A Gift" Cliff Carpenter, *
by Lee Bloomgarten Carl Eastman,
William Zuckert
03-28-48 26 "The Informer" Paul Douglas
Una O'Conner
04-04-48 27 "The Goose Hangs High"
04-11-48 28 "The Murder of Roger Ackryod" Harold Huber
by Agatha Christie
04-18-48 29 "The Silver Cord" Evelyn Varden, *
Barbara Weeks,
Les Tremayne,
Elaine Rost
04-25-48 30 "Personal Appearance" Anne Francis,
Gary Merrill
05-02-48 31 "Alice Adams"
05-09-48 32 "The Front Page" Everett Sloane, *
Ed Begley
05-16-48 33 "Counselor At Law" Les Tremayne, *
Lauren Gilbert
05-23-48 34 "A Star Is Born" Earle Ross, *
James Meighan
05-30-48 35 "Laura" Virginia Gilmore, *
John J. Larkin
06-06-48 36 "Michael and Mary" Luther Adler *
06-13-48 37 "My Sister Eileen" Shirley Booth, *
Virginia Gilmore
06-20-48 38 "The Late Christopher Bean" Barbara Weeks *
06-27-48 39 "Arrowsmith" Lauren Gilbert *
by Sinclair Lewis
CBS: (Fridays)
Date Num Title Stars A
-------- --- ------------------------------ ----------------------- -
10-08-48 1 "Madame Bovary" Claude Rains, *
Marlene Dietrich,
Van Heflin
10-15-48 2 "Double Indemnity" Burt Lancaster, *
Joan Bennett
10-22-48 3 "Tom, Dick and Harry" Lucille Ball,
Eddie Albert
10-29-48 4 "Of Human Bondage" Ray Milland, *
Joan Loring
11-05-48 5 "The Damask Cheek" Dorothy McGuire
11-12-48 6 "Camille" Ingrid Bergman
11-19-48 7 "The Male Animal" Eddie Albert,
B. Bel Geddes
11-26-48 8 "Secret Agent" Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
12-03-48 9 "The Big Street" Lucille Ball,
John Garfield
12-10-48 10 "Page Miss Glory" Joan Blondell,
MacDonald Carey
12-17-48 11 "The Gentle People" Gene Kelly
12-24-48 12 "Pilgrim's Inn" Geraldine Fitzegerald
12-31-48 13 "Becky Sharp" Miriam Hopkins
01-07-49 14 "Talk of the Town" Ronald Colman,
Jean Arthur
01-14-49 15 "Boomerang" Dana Andrews
01-21-49 16 "Anna Christie" Ingrid Bergman, *
B. Crawford
01-28-49 17 "Woman in the Window" Edward G. Robinson,
Linda Darnell
02-04-49 18 "No Time For Love" C. Colbert,
E. Albert,
Vincent Price
02-11-49 19 "The Awful Truth" Bob Hope
02-18-49 20 "Shadow of a Doubt" Ray Milland,
Anne Blythe
02-25-49 21 "The Palm Beach Story" Anne Baxter,
MacDonald Carey
03-04-49 22 "The Horn Blows At Midnight" Jack Benny *
Claude Rains
03-11-49 23 "Welcome Stranger" Bing Crosby,
Anne Blythe,
B. Firzgerald
03-18-49 24 "Holy Matrimony" Charles Laughton
03-25-49 25 "The Show-Off" Dan Dailey
04-01-49 26 "Wuthering Heights" Montgomery Clift *
by Emily Bronte Joan Lorring,
Hester Sondergaard,
Hedley Rennie,
04-08-49 27 "Lightnin'" Walter Huston
04-15-49 28 "Elmer the Great" Paul Douglas
04-22-49 29 "Skylark" Bette Davis
04-29-49 30 "Intermezzo" Fredric March
05-06-49 31 "Ladies in Retirement" Ida Lupino
05-13-49 32 "Alice Adams" Dorothy McGuire
05-20-49 33 "Crime Without Passion" Claude Rains,
Margo
05-27-49 34 "To Mary With Love" Burgess Meredith
06-03-49 35 "Haunted Honeymoon" D. Fairbanks, Jr.
06-10-49 36 "Craig's Wife" Ruth Hussey
06-17-49 37 "Peg O' My Heart" Anne Blyth
06-24-49 38 "A Farewell to Arms" Helen Hayes *
07-01-49 39 "Cluny Brown"
Alphabetical Listing:
Title Date Net Num
-------------------------------------------- -------- --- ---
Abe Lincoln in Washington 48-02-15 NBC 20
Abe Lincoln of Illinois 48-02-08 NBC 19
Adventure of the Bad Boy, The 48-01-04 NBC 14
Ah, Wilderness 47-11-02 NBC 5
Alice Adams 48-05-02 NBC 31
Alice Adams 49-05-13 CBS 32
Anna Christie 49-01-21 CBS 16
Arrowsmith 48-06-27 NBC 39
Arsenic and Old Lace 48-01-25 NBC 17
Autumn Crocus 48-03-14 NBC 24
Awful Truth, The 49-02-11 CBS 19
Becky Sharp 48-12-31 CBS 13
Big Street, The 48-12-03 CBS 9
Bishop Misbehaves, The 48-02-22 NBC 21
Boomerang 49-01-14 CBS 15
Camille 48-11-12 CBS 6
Carmen Jones 47-11-16 NBC 7
Cimmarron 47-12-14 NBC 11
Cluny Brown 49-07-01 CBS 39
Coffin for Demetrics, A 47-10-26 NBC 4
Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court, A 47-10-05 NBC 1
Counselor At Law 48-05-16 NBC 33
Count of Monte Cristo, The 48-02-29 NBC 22
Craig's Wife 49-06-10 CBS 36
Crime Without Passion 49-05-20 CBS 33
Damask Cheek, The 48-11-05 CBS 5
Dangerous Corner 47-11-30 NBC 9
Double Indemnity 48-10-15 CBS 2
Elmer the Great 49-04-15 CBS 28
Farewell to Arms, A 49-06-24 CBS 38
Father Dear Father 47-12-28 NBC 13
Front Page, The 48-05-09 NBC 32
Gentle People, The 48-12-17 CBS 11
George Washington Slept Here 47-11-23 NBC 8
Girl Crazy 48-01-18 NBC 16
Girl Crazy (Rehearsal) 48-01-13 NBC --
Goose Hangs High, The 48-04-04 NBC 27
Great McGinty, The 47-10-12 NBC 2
Green Pastures, The 48-02-01 NBC 18
Haunted Honeymoon 49-06-03 CBS 35
Holy Matrimony 49-03-18 CBS 24
Horn Blows At Midnight, The 49-03-04 CBS 22
Informer, The 48-03-28 NBC 26
Intermezzo 49-04-29 CBS 30
It's A Gift 48-03-21 NBC 25
Ladies in Retirement 49-05-06 CBS 31
Late Christopher Bean, The 48-06-20 NBC 38
Laura 48-05-30 NBC 35
Lightnin' 49-04-08 CBS 27
Madame Bovary 48-10-08 CBS 1
Male Animal, The 48-11-19 CBS 7
Man Who Played God, The 47-12-21 NBC 12
Michael and Mary 48-06-06 NBC 36
Murder of Roger Ackryod, The 48-04-11 NBC 28
My Sister Eileen 48-06-13 NBC 37
No Time For Love 49-02-04 CBS 18
Of Human Bondage 48-10-29 CBS 4
On Borrowed Time 47-10-19 NBC 3
Page Miss Glory 48-12-10 CBS 10
Palm Beach Story, The 49-02-25 CBS 21
Peg O' My Heart 49-06-17 CBS 37
Personal Appearance 48-04-25 NBC 30
Pilgrim's Inn 48-12-24 CBS 12
Power and the Glory, The 47-11-09 NBC 6
Secret Agent 48-11-26 CBS 8
Shadow of a Doubt 49-02-18 CBS 20
Show-Off, The 49-03-25 CBS 25
Silver Cord, The 48-04-18 NBC 29
Skylark 49-04-22 CBS 29
Star Is Born, A 48-05-23 NBC 34
Storm In A Tea Cup 48-01-11 NBC 15
Talk of the Town 49-01-07 CBS 14
To Mary With Love 49-05-27 CBS 34
Tom, Dick and Harry 48-10-22 CBS 3
Twentieth Century 48-03-07 NBC 23
We Hold These Truths 47-12-07 NBC 10
Welcome Stranger 49-03-11 CBS 23
Woman in the Window 49-01-28 CBS 17
Wuthering Heights 49-04-01 CBS 26
References:
* "The Ultimate History of Network Radio Programming and Guide To All
Circulating Shows", by Jay Hickerson, Box 4321, Hamden, CT 06514
* OTR club and vendor catalogs or web sites:
* Radio Memories, Ted Davenport, 1600 Wewoka St., North Little Rock,
AR 72116
* Edward J. Carr, 216 Shaner Street, Boyertown, PA 19512
* Radio Historical Association of Colorado, PO Box 1908, Englewood,
CO 80150
* Radio Showcase, Steve Kelez, PO Box 4357, Santa Rosa, CA 95402
* Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety And Comedy,
PO Box 7177, Van Nuys, CA 91409-7177
* University of Memphis Radio Program Archive, Microforms Dept.,
McWherter Library, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152
* North American Radio Archives, 134 Vincewood Dr., Nicolasville, KY
40356
* 'Hello Again, Radio', 10280 Gunpowder Rd., Florence, KY 41042
* Jerry Haendiges Productions, Jerry Haendiges, 13808 Sunset Dr.,
Whittier, CA 90602
Other Logs or Books:
* FORD THEATER log, Jerry Haendiges Productions, 13808 Sunset Dr.,
Whittier, CA 90602 (http://www.otrsite.com)
Last Update: May 20, 2004
This log is informational only. It does not imply that I or my
references have these shows for trade or sale. The shows may still
be protected under copyright law and should be obtained only from
authorized dealers.
The log may be freely reproduced and published on a no-profit basis.
Please send error corrections or additional information to Frank M.
Passage, 109 Elmwood Road, Verona, NJ 07044 (email: wb2ntp@arrl.net).