Your Show Time

Your Show Time
GenreAnthology Drama
Written byWalter Doniger
Directed bySobey Martin
Presented byArthur Shields
Narrated byArthur Shields
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes26
Production
ProducersMarshall Grant
Stanley Rubin
Running time26 mins. (approx)
Original release
NetworkNBC Television
ReleaseJanuary 21 (1949-01-21) –
July 15, 1949 (1949-07-15)

Your Show Time is an American anthology drama series that debuted on NBC Television on the East Coast in September 1948[citation needed] and then on both the East and the West Coast, as a network show, on January 21, 1949.[1]

The show was produced by Marshall Grant/Realm Productions and was hosted by Arthur Shields.[1]

Production background

Filmed by Grant Productions at Hal Roach Studios, Your Show Time was American television's first dramatic series to be shot on film instead of being aired on live television or as a kinescope. The series Public Prosecutor was produced on film in 1947–48, for a planned September 1948 debut, but remained unaired until DuMont aired that series in 1951–52.[2]

Your Show Time is also notable for being the first series to win an Emmy Award.[3] The 1949 episode "The Necklace", produced by Stanley Rubin, won the Emmy Award as Outstanding Made For Television Movie.[4]

Synopsis

The show featured half-hour dramatizations of stories by renowned authors such as Guy de Maupassant, Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, Victor Hugo, Robert Louis Stevenson, Frank Stockton, and Mark Twain. Other episodes were adapted from chapters of novels, such as The Bishop's Experiment, an adaptation of the section featuring the bishop in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables with Leif Erickson as Jean Valjean. An adaptation of "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" marked one of the earliest known television appearances of Sherlock Holmes.

Cast

The show featured appearances by such actors as Julie Adams, Robert Alda, Evelyn Ankers, Morris Carnovsky, Melville Cooper, Reginald Denny, William Frawley, Eva Gabor, Hurd Hatfield, Hugo Haas, Sterling Holloway, Marjorie Lord, Alan Napier, Dan O'Herlihy, Eve Miller, Gene Reynolds, and Selena Royle.

Critical reception

A review of "The Diamond Necklace" episode in the trade publication Variety found it to be "not good television" and "a dull half-hour."[5] The review noted that a long commercial and a long introduction by the narrator took up almost five minutes before the first dialog was heard. In addition to that "deadly beginning", it said that the rest of the episode offered "little action".[5]

Sale

In January 1950 Jerry Fairbanks Inc. bought "full rights for television, films and allied media" for the 26 episodes of Your Show Time.[6]

Preservation status

At least nine episodes survive at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.[citation needed]

Episodes

Episode # Episode title Original airdate
1-1 "The Necklace" January 21, 1949
1-2 "The Sire de Maletroit's Door" January 28, 1949
1-3 "Mademoiselle Fifi" February 4, 1949
1-4 "The Mummy's Foot" February 11, 1949
1-5 "The Substitute" February 18, 1949
1-6 "The Invisible Wound" February 25, 1949
1-7 "Capture" March 4, 1949
1-8 "The Real Thing" March 11, 1949
1-9 "The Treasure of Franchard" March 18, 1949
1-10 "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" March 25, 1949
1-11 "The Tenor" April 1, 1949
1-12 "The Manchester Marriage" April 8, 1949
1-13 "The Lady, or the Tiger?" April 15, 1949
1-14 "A Confession on New Year's Eve" April 22, 1949
1-15 "The Mysterious Picture" April 29, 1949
1-16 "An Old, Old Story" May 6, 1949
1-17 "The Marquise" May 13, 1949
1-18 "The Million Pound Bank Note" May 20, 1949
1-19 "Birthday of the Infants" May 27, 1949
1-20 "Why Thomas Was Discharged" June 3, 1949
1-21 "The Bishop's Experiment" June 10, 1949
1-22 "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" June 17, 1949
1-23 "An Only Son" June 24, 1949
1-24 "Colonel Starbottle for the Plaintiff" July 1, 1949
1-25 "Cricket on the Hearth" July 8, 1949
1-26 "A Lodging for the Night" July 15, 1949

Awards

Year Award Result Category Notes
1950 Emmy Award Won Best Film Made for Television For episode "The Necklace"

See also

References

  1. ^ a b McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present (4th ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. p. 938. ISBN 0-14-02-4916-8.
  2. ^ Stanley Rubin, "A (Very) Personal History of the First Sponsored Film Series on National Television", E-Media Studies, vol. 1, issue 1 (2008). The filmed series Public Prosecutor was produced earlier, but broadcast on DuMont later.
  3. ^ The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. Ballantine Books. 2003. p. 1345. ISBN 0-345-45542-8.
  4. ^ "("Your Show Time" search results)". EMMYS. Television Academy. Archived from the original on 6 October 2017. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  5. ^ a b "Your Show Time". Variety. January 26, 1949. p. 36. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  6. ^ "Fairbanks acquires film series". Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index. January 29, 1950. p. 4. Retrieved June 24, 2022.