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Betty Crocker Star Matinee is an American television anthology hosted by Adelaide Hawley under the General Mills persona of Betty Crocker. [1] The program was aired from November 3, 1951, through April 26, 1952, [2] on the American Broadcasting Company. [3]
Adelaide Hawley portrayed the iconic Crocker in the series. [4] Notable guest stars included Uta Hagen, [5] Dane Clark [6] Constance Bennett, [7] Zachary Scott, [8] Miriam Hopkins, [9] Albert Dekker, [10] Roland Young, [11] Audrey Hepburn, David Niven, Veronica Lake, Basil Rathbone, June Lockhart, Raymond Massey, Thomas Mitchell, Teresa Wright, Celeste Holm, and Robert Cummings.
The program was initially broadcast from noon to 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturdays. The format consisted of "a dramatic excerpt, a recipe, and a female personality". [3] Beginning March 1, 1952, it was moved to 11:30 to noon on Saturdays, replacing A Date with Judy . [12]
Plays from which excerpts were performed include The Late Christopher Bean , featuring Thomas Mitchell, [3] Eastward in Eden with Constance Bennett, [7] [13] and Mary Rose , starring Teresa Wright. [14]
José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón was a Puerto Rican actor and director of stage, film and television. He was one of the most celebrated and esteemed Hispanic American actors—or, indeed, actors of any ethnicity—during his lifetime and after, with a career spanning nearly 60 years between 1935 and 1992. He achieved prominence for his portrayal of Cyrano de Bergerac in the play of the same name, which earned him the inaugural Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1947. He reprised the role in a 1950 film version and won an Academy Award for Best Actor, making him the first Hispanic actor and the first Puerto Rican-born to win an Academy Award.
Gisèle MacKenzie was a Canadian-American singer, actress, and commercial spokesperson, best known for her performances on the US television program Your Hit Parade.
Betty Crocker is a brand and fictional character used in advertising campaigns for food and recipes. The character was created by the Washburn-Crosby Company in 1921 to give a personalized response to consumer product questions. In 1954, General Mills introduced the red spoon logo with her signature, placing it on Gold Medal flour, Bisquick, and cake-mix packages. A portrait of Betty Crocker appears on printed advertisements, product packaging, and cookbooks.
Uta Thyra Hagen was a German-American actress and theatre practitioner. She originated the role of Martha in the 1962 Broadway premiere of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, who called her "a profoundly truthful actress." Because Hagen was on the Hollywood blacklist, in part because of her association with Paul Robeson, her film opportunities dwindled and she focused her career on New York theatre.
Armstrong Circle Theatre is an American anthology drama television series which ran from June 6, 1950, to June 25, 1957, on NBC, and from October 2, 1957, to August 28, 1963, on CBS. It alternated weekly with The U.S. Steel Hour. It finished in the Nielsen ratings at number 19 for the 1950–51 season and number 24 for 1951–52. The principal sponsor was Armstrong World Industries.
Fernando Álvaro Lamas y de Santos was an Argentine-American actor and director, and the father of actor Lorenzo Lamas.
Zachary Scott was an American actor who was known for his roles as villains and "mystery men".
Richard McCord Long, also known as Dick Long, was an American actor best known for his leading roles in three ABC television series, The Big Valley, Nanny and the Professor, and Bourbon Street Beat. He was also a series regular on ABC's 77 Sunset Strip during the 1961–1962 season.
Gig Young was an American stage, film, and television actor.
Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings was an American film and television actor who appeared in roles in comedy films such as The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) and Princess O'Rourke (1943), and in dramatic films, especially two of Alfred Hitchcock's thrillers, Saboteur (1942) and Dial M for Murder (1954). He received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Single Performance in 1955. On February 8, 1960, he received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the motion picture and television industries, at 6816 Hollywood Boulevard and 1718 Vine Street. He used the stage name Robert Cummings from mid-1935 until the end of 1954 and was credited as Bob Cummings from 1955 until his death.
William Brian de Lacy Aherne was an English actor of stage, screen, radio and television, who enjoyed a long and varied career in Britain and the United States.
Robert Montgomery Presents is an American drama television series which was produced by NBC from January 30, 1950, until June 24, 1957. The live show had several sponsors during its eight-year run, and the title was altered to feature the sponsor, usually Lucky Strike cigarettes, for example, Robert Montgomery Presents Your Lucky Strike Theater, ....The Johnson's Wax Program, and so on.
Jeff Richards was an American minor league baseball player with the Portland Beavers, who later became an actor. He was sometimes credited as Dick Taylor and Richard Taylor.
Robert Sterling was an American actor. He was best known for starring in the television series Topper (1953–1955).
Marjorie Husted was an American home economist and businesswoman who worked for General Mills and was responsible for the success and fame of the brand character Betty Crocker. Husted wrote Betty Crocker's radio scripts and was her radio voice for a time.
Harry F. Gerguson, known as Michael Romanoff, was a Hollywood restaurateur, con man and actor born in Lithuania. He is perhaps best remembered as the owner of the now-defunct Romanoff's, a Beverly Hills restaurant popular with Hollywood stars in the 1940s and 1950s.
George Wells was an American screenwriter and producer, best known for making light comedies and musicals for MGM.
Adelaide Hawley Cumming was an American broadcaster whose career spanned three decades. Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, she was educated in New York, where she studied music at the University of Rochester, intending to work in opera. She became a music teacher instead, teaching in Alabama, and later a singer on the vaudeville circuit. In 1935, she began her long career in radio and later television, becoming widely known for shows like "The Woman Reporter", "Woman's Page of the Air", and "News of the Day" on NBC and CBS. From 1950 to 1964, she appeared in her final role as "Betty Crocker" for General Mills, making her one of the most recognizable women in America at the time. After her career in broadcasting and entertainment, she went back to school and earned her PhD in speech education in 1967 at 62 years old, teaching English as a second language until her death at the age of 93.
The Nash Airflyte Theater is an American dramatic anthology television series that was broadcast from September 21, 1950, through March 15, 1951, on CBS on Thursday evenings. It originated from WCBS-TV in New York City at 10:30 p.m. The show was sponsored by the Nash Motor Co.; the Nash Airflyte was an automobile model produced by the company.
Two Girls Named Smith is an American television situation comedy that was broadcast on ABC from January 20, 1951, through October 13, 1951.
(7)—Betty Crocker Star Matinee: David Niven, Uta Hagen, Guests.
(7)—Betty Crocker Star Matinee: Dane Clark, Guest.
(7)—Betty Crocker Star Matinee: Zachary Scott, Niva Patterson, Guests.
(7)—Betty Crocker Star Matinee: Miriam Hopkins, Maria Rubenstein, Guests.
(7)—Betty Crocker Star Matinee: June Lockhart, Albert Dekker, Guests.
(7)—Betty Crocker Star Matinee: Roland Young, Claire McCardell, Guests.