Sham (play)

Last updated

Sham is a 1920 one-act stage play by Frank G. Tompkins. Described as A Social Satire, it was about a thief who is caught robbing a couple's home.

Contents

Plot

Consisting of four characters, the comedy is set in a room of a house in a wealthy area. A cultured thief is attempting to rob the house, after he has stolen fine art from other houses in the area, but he finds the objects in the house are of poor quality. The owners of the house, Clara and Charles, come home unexpectedly after supposedly being at the theatre (they were actually at a movie). The thief informs them that, if he does not steal something from them, they will be disgraced as people find out their home contains no real fine works.

Television adaptations

The play was adapted various times for early television. Three of these adaptations are documented.

A version aired live on 28 January 1945 on New York City station WABD, later part of the DuMont Television Network. Featuring Frieda Inescort, Melville Cooper, Harvey Stephens, and Charles Williams,[ citation needed ]

A version aired 7 February 1946 on Chicago station WBKB. Directed by Beulah Zachary, it featured Betty Babbock, Sid Breese and Joe Wilson. Reviewing the program, Billboard magazine said the acting was "not of top caliber" but felt the direction was good, also commenting on the "excellent camera angles". [1] This version aired live, and is also lost.

A version aired 13 December 1948 on NBC's live anthology series Chevrolet on Broadway . Featuring Edward Everett Horton, Natalie Schafer, and Howard St. John, it aired live and was probably kinescoped, but it is not known if the kinescope recording still exists.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Three Stooges</span> American slapstick comedy trio

The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short-subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical, farce, and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared over the act's run : Moe Howard and Larry Fine were mainstays throughout the ensemble's nearly 50-year run; the pivotal "third stooge" was played by Shemp Howard, Curly Howard, Shemp Howard again, Joe Besser, and "Curly Joe" DeRita.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kinescope</span> Early recording process for live television

Kinescope, shortened to kine, also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television programme on motion picture film, directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940s for the preservation, re-broadcasting and sale of television programmes before the introduction of quadruplex videotape, which from 1956 eventually superseded the use of kinescopes for all of these purposes. Kinescopes were the only practical way to preserve live television broadcasts prior to videotape.

<i>Whats My Line?</i> American panel game show

What's My Line? is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States, between 1950 and 1967, on CBS. The game show started in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panelists to question contestants in order to determine their occupation. The majority of the contestants were from the general public, but there was one weekly celebrity "mystery guest" for which the panelists were blindfolded. It is on the list of longest-running U.S. primetime network television game-shows. Originally moderated by John Charles Daly and most frequently with regular panelists Dorothy Kilgallen, Arlene Francis, and Bennett Cerf, What's My Line? won three Emmy Awards for "Best Quiz or Audience Participation Show" in 1952, 1953, and 1958 and the Golden Globe Awards for Best TV Show in 1962.

<i>Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House</i> 1948 film by H. C. Potter

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is a 1948 American comedy film directed by H. C. Potter, and starring Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and Melvyn Douglas. Written and produced by the team of Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, it was an adaptation of the 1946 novel of the same name written by Eric Hodgins and illustrated by William Steig.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis L. Sullivan</span> English actor

Francis Loftus Sullivan was an English film and stage actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendy Barrie</span> British-American actress (1912–1978)

Wendy Barrie was a British-American film and television actress.

<i>It Happened on 5th Avenue</i> 1947 film by Roy Del Ruth

It Happened on 5th Avenue is a 1947 American comedy film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Victor Moore, Ann Harding, Don DeFore, Charles Ruggles and Gale Storm. Herbert Clyde Lewis and Frederick Stephani were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story, losing to Valentine Davies for another Christmas-themed story, Miracle on 34th Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Goodwin</span> American radio announcer and actor (1910–1958)

William Nettles Goodwin, was for many years the announcer and a recurring character of the Burns and Allen radio program, and subsequently The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show on television from 1950–1951. Upon his departure, he was replaced by Harry von Zell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Coe</span> American film director

Frederick Hayden Hughs Coe was an American television producer and director most famous for The Goodyear Television Playhouse/The Philco Television Playhouse in 1948-1955 and Playhouse 90 from 1957 to 1959. Among the live TV dramas he produced were Marty and The Trip to Bountiful for Goodyear/Philco, Peter Pan for Producers' Showcase, and Days of Wine and Roses for Playhouse 90.

<i>The Chesterfield Supper Club</i>

The Chesterfield Supper Club is an NBC Radio musical variety program (1944–1950), which was also telecast by NBC Television (1948–1950).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paramount Television Network</span> Former American television network

The Paramount Television Network, Inc. was a venture by American film corporation Paramount Pictures to organize a television network in the late 1940s. The company built television stations KTLA in Los Angeles and WBKB in Chicago; it also invested $400,000 in the DuMont Television Network, which operated stations WABD in New York City, WTTG in Washington, D.C., and WDTV in Pittsburgh. Escalating disputes between Paramount and DuMont concerning breaches of contract, company control, and network competition erupted regularly between 1940 and 1956, and culminated in the dismantling of the DuMont Network. Television historian Timothy White called the clash between the two companies "one of the most unfortunate and dramatic episodes in the early history of the television industry."

<i>The Ruggles</i> Former ABC TV Series

The Ruggles is an early American family-oriented situation comedy series broadcast live on ABC. Episodes were recorded on kinescope, and some of them survive in the UCLA Film and Television Archive. The series began October 23, 1949 — a couple of weeks after the radio hit The Life of Riley had moved to television on NBC — and ended on June 19, 1952. The Ruggles was also one of the first shows to originate from Hollywood rather than New York City, where most radio programs had been produced. It aired in New York City via kinescope beginning November 3, 1949.

You Are an Artist is a television series, which first aired on NBC flagship station WNBT-TV in New York City and "a small network of stations on the East Coast" on May 13, 1946, and then continued on the NBC Television network until 1950.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lost television broadcast</span> History of missing television material

Lost television broadcasts are mostly those early television programs which cannot be accounted for in studio archives usually because of deliberate destruction or neglect.

Highway to the Stars was an early American live television soap opera, which was broadcast on New York City station WABD, flagship station of the DuMont Television Network, from August to October 1947, at which point it was replaced with Look Upon a Star, itself eventually replaced with Camera Headlines in January 1948.

Box for One is a live television play which has been presented three times, twice on British broadcaster BBC and once on Australian broadcaster ABC. It is a drama about a "spiv", and the entire 30-minute drama takes place in a London telephone box. It was written by Peter Brook.

A Dead Secret is a 1957 play by Rodney Ackland. It is a murder drama set in 1911 London and is based on the Seddon murder trial.

<i>In the Zone</i> (play) Stage play by Eugene ONeill

In the Zone is a 1917 stage play by Eugene O'Neill.

Amanda is an American music television program starring Amanda Randolph that debuted on the DuMont Television Network on November 1, 1948. The ending date for the show is unclear, but it still appears in a TV schedule from October 1949.

Let's Pop the Question was an American television series which aired from 1947 to 1948. While only aired on a single station, it is of some interest as an early example of a television game show. It aired on Philadelphia station WFIL-TV, and was a half-hour show. It is not known if it ever had a sponsor. George Cahan was the host of the "telephone quizzer". In the show, pictures of famous people were shown, and contestants at home tried to identify them. There were also local celebrity guests. It is unlikely that any episodes survive of the series, as only a very tiny handful of kinescopes exist of 1940s local programming

References

  1. Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 1955-03-26. ISSN   0006-2510.