Shower of Stars | |
---|---|
Also known as | Chrysler Shower of Stars |
Genre | Variety |
Presented by | William Lundigan |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 4 |
Production | |
Camera setup | Multi-camera |
Running time | 48 mins. |
Production company | Desilu Productions |
Original release | |
Network | CBS |
Release | September 30, 1954 – April 1, 1958 |
Shower of Stars (also known as Chrysler Shower of Stars) is an American anthology variety television series broadcast live in the United States from 1954 to 1958 by CBS. [1] The series was broadcast in color which was a departure from the usual CBS programming practices of the 1950s.
Shower of Stars is typically composed of musical comedy revues with an occasional straight play. It was shown on approximately a monthly basis during its run (1954-1958), and was designed to contrast with the heavy dramatic content of the program with which it shared its timeslot, Climax! Both programs were sponsored by Chrysler Corporation, and both were hosted by William Lundigan.
Famous entertainers of the era who appeared multiple times on Shower of Stars included Jack Benny, Bob Crosby, Betty Grable, Van Johnson, Shirley MacLaine, Fredric March, Frankie Laine, Ethel Merman, Basil Rathbone, Red Skelton, Mario Lanza, Ed Wynn and Liberace. March and Rathbone starred as Ebenezer Scrooge and Jacob Marley, respectively, in a 1954 musical adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol , with songs by Bernard Herrmann and Maxwell Anderson. This was the first musical version of the story to be televised, and the first in color. [2] Rathbone would go on to play Scrooge himself, in another TV musical adaptation of the story, the 1956 version of The Stingiest Man in Town. [2] (Rathbone would again play Scrooge in a 1958 non-musical British half-hour television version of the story, with Fredric March as narrator.) The most frequently-appearing artist, however, was Jack Benny, who appeared in one role or another in a majority of the program's broadcasts.
Year | Result | Award | Category | Recipient | Episode |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1955 | Nominated | Emmy Award | Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Variety Program | Gordon Jenkins | - |
Nominated | Emmy Award | Best Original Music Composed for TV | Bernard Herrmann | "A Christmas Carol" | |
Nominated | Emmy Award | Best Individual Program of the Year | - | "A Christmas Carol" | |
Nominated | Emmy Award | Best Art Direction of a Live Show | Robert Tyler Lee | - | |
Nominated | Emmy Award | Best Actor in a Single Performance | Fredric March | "A Christmas Carol" | |
Won | Emmy Award | Best Art Direction of a Filmed Show | Ralph Berger & Albert M. Pyke | "A Christmas Carol" | |
1956 | Nominated | Emmy Award | Best Variety Series | - | - |
The extant episodes of Shower of Stars have survived only in black-and-white kinescopes of the original color broadcasts, which have been lost. The episodes carry no copyright notice and are thus in the public domain in the United States. The Internet Archive holds seven episodes in its collection. [3]
Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol is a 1962 animated musical holiday television special produced by UPA. It is an adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol, and it features UPA's character Mr. Magoo as Ebenezer Scrooge. The special first aired on December 18, 1962, on NBC and was the first animated Christmas special to be produced specifically for television.
The year 1957 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events during 1957.
Mickey's Christmas Carol is a 1983 American animated Christmas fantasy featurette directed and produced by Burny Mattinson. The cartoon is an adaptation of Charles Dickens's 1843 novella A Christmas Carol, and stars Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer Scrooge. Many other Disney characters, primarily from the Mickey Mouse universe, as well as Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio (1940), and characters from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) and Robin Hood (1973), were cast throughout the film. The featurette was produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution on December 16, 1983, with the re-issue of The Rescuers (1977). In the United States, it was first aired on television on NBC, on December 10, 1984.
The Muppet Christmas Carol is a 1992 American Christmas musical film directed by Brian Henson, and the fourth theatrical film featuring the Muppets. Adapted from the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens with a screenplay written by Jerry Juhl, the film takes artistic license to suit the aesthetic of the Muppets, and follows Dickens' original story closely.
Scrooge is a 1951 British Christmas fantasy drama film and an adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol (1843). It stars Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge, and was produced and directed by Brian Desmond Hurst, with a screenplay by Noel Langley. It also features Michael Hordern, Kathleen Harrison, George Cole, Hermione Baddeley, Mervyn Johns, Clifford Mollison, Jack Warner, Ernest Thesiger and Patrick Macnee. Peter Bull narrates portions of Charles Dickens's words at the beginning and end of the film, and appears on-screen as a businessman.
A Christmas Carol is a 1938 American drama film adaptation of Charles Dickens's 1843 novella of the same name, starring Reginald Owen as Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who learns the error of his ways on Christmas Eve after visitations by three spirits. The film was directed by Edwin L. Marin from a script by Hugo Butler.
Jacob Marley is a fictional character in Charles Dickens's 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. Marley has been dead for seven years, and was a former business partner of the miser Ebenezer Scrooge, the novella's protagonist. On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by Marley's ghost, who wanders the Earth entwined by heavy chains and money boxes forged during a lifetime of greed and selfishness. Marley tells Scrooge that he has a single chance of redemption to avoid the same fate: he will be visited by three spirits, in the hope that he will mend his ways; otherwise, he will be cursed to carry much heavier chains of his own.
Dennis Day was an American actor, comedian and singer. He was of Irish descent.
A Christmas Carol is a British-American animated adaptation of Charles Dickens's 1843 novella. The film was broadcast on U.S. television by ABC on December 21, 1971, and released theatrically soon after. In 1972, it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. The film notably has Alastair Sim and Michael Hordern reprising their respective roles as Ebenezer Scrooge and Marley's ghost.
A Christmas Carol is a 1984 Christmas fantasy television film adapted from Charles Dickens' novella A Christmas Carol (1843). The film was directed by Clive Donner, who was an editor of the 1951 film Scrooge, and stars George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge. It also features Frank Finlay as Marley's ghost, David Warner as Bob Cratchit, Susannah York as Mrs. Cratchit, Angela Pleasence as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Edward Woodward as the Ghost of Christmas Present and Roger Rees as Scrooge's nephew Fred; Rees also narrates portions of Charles Dickens' words at the beginning and end of the film. It was filmed in the historic medieval county town of Shrewsbury in Shropshire.
A Christmas Carol: The Musical is a 2004 American musical television film based on the 1994 stage musical by Alan Menken and Lynn Ahrens inspired by the 1843 novella of the same name by Charles Dickens.
A Christmas Carol is an 1843 novella by Charles Dickens.
Tiny Tim Cratchit is a fictional character from the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Although seen only briefly, he is a major character, and serves as an important symbol of the consequences of the protagonist's choices.
The Alcoa Hour is an American anthology television series sponsored by the Alcoa Corporation that aired live on NBC from October 16, 1955, to September 22, 1957.
Rich Little's Christmas Carol, broadcast in Canada as A Christmas Carol, is a TV special that premiered on CBC Television in December 1978, and in the United States on Home Box Office (HBO) on December 16, 1979. The special won an International Emmy Award and a Rose d'Or award. It was produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1978. It starred Rich Little in a one-man performance with impersonations of his characters playing the parts in Charles Dickens' famous 1843 holiday story, A Christmas Carol. Little played the following celebrities:
A Christmas Carol, the 1843 novella by Charles Dickens (1812–1870), is one of the English author's best-known works. It is the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a greedy miser who hates Christmas but who is transformed into a caring, kindly person through the visitations of four ghosts. The classic work has been dramatised and adapted countless times for virtually every medium and performance genre, and new versions appear regularly.
Scrooge is a 1935 British Christmas fantasy film directed by Henry Edwards and starring Seymour Hicks, Donald Calthrop and Robert Cochran. The film was released by Twickenham Film Studios and has since entered the public domain. It was the first sound film of feature length to adapt the Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol, and it was the second cinematic adaptation of the story to use sound, following a now-lost 1928 short subject adaptation of the story. Hicks stars as Ebenezer Scrooge, a miser who hates Christmas and is visited by a succession of ghosts on Christmas Eve. Hicks had previously played the role of Scrooge on the stage regularly, starting in 1901, and in a 1913 British silent film version.
"A Christmas Carol" is the December 23, 1954 episode of the hour-long American television anthology variety series, Shower of Stars. The episode is an adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella of the same name.
A Christmas Carol is a 2019 British dark fantasy drama television miniseries based on the 1843 novella by Charles Dickens. The three-part series is written by Steven Knight with Tom Hardy and Ridley Scott among the executive producers. It began airing on BBC One in the UK on 22 December 2019 and concluded two days later on 24 December 2019. Prior to this, it aired in the US on FX on 19 December 2019, with all three episodes shown consecutively as a single television film.