The 20th Century Fox Hour

Last updated
The 20th Century Fox Hour
Ed Wynn Kathleen Crowley Great American Hoax.jpg
Ed Wynn and Kathleen Crowley in "The Great American Hoax"
Genre Anthology
Presented by
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes37
Production
Running time4850 minutes
Production company TCF Television Productions
Original release
Network CBS
ReleaseOctober 5, 1955 (1955-10-05) 
June 12, 1957 (1957-06-12)

The 20th Century Fox Hour is an American drama anthology series televised in the United States on CBS from 1955 to 1957. Some of the shows in this series were restored, remastered and shown on the Fox Movie Channel in 2002 under the title Hour of Stars (its title when the series was originally syndicated after 1957). The season one episode Overnight Haul, starring Richard Conte and Lizabeth Scott, was released in Australia as a feature film.

Contents

Characters and stories

Presenting both originals and remakes, The 20th Century Fox Hour was telecast on Wednesday nights at 10pm, alternating each week with The U.S. Steel Hour . Many of the programs were shortened versions of classic 20th Century Fox films, remade with a far lower budget than the originals. Films receiving this treatment included The Ox-Bow Incident , The Late George Apley and Miracle on 34th Street . Some were retitled; Man on the Ledge was a remake of Fourteen Hours (1951).

Guest stars

Guest stars on the series included Bette Davis, Joan Fontaine, Gary Merrill, Thomas Mitchell and Teresa Wright. Steve McQueen made an appearance before he became a major star. Child actor Johnny Washbrook appeared three times on the series while he was also in the lead role of the Western series, My Friend Flicka . Judson Pratt appeared as MacIntyre in the 1956 episode, "The Moneymaker". Child actress Beverly Washburn appeared as Ruthie in "The Hefferan Family" (1956) and as the character Kate as a girl in "Men in Her Life" (1957).

Following his Philco Television Playhouse years, Paddy Chayefsky's The Great American Hoax, starring Ed Wynn, was seen May 15, 1957 during the second season. This script was actually a rewrite of his earlier Fox film, As Young as You Feel (1951) with Monty Woolley and Marilyn Monroe. Lizabeth Scott appeared in the season one episode Overnight Haul. The episode was later released in Australia as a feature film, after her final starring role in 1957's Loving You and many of the films in the series were released in the UK as supporting films in the late 1950s.

Episodes

Season 1

Episode #TitleOriginal AirdateGuest Star
1"Cavalcade"October 5, 1955 Michael Wilding, Merle Oberon, Carolyn Jones [1]
2"Laura"October 19, 1955 Dana Wynter, George Sanders, Robert Stack
3"The Ox-Bow Incident"November 2, 1955 Robert Wagner, Raymond Burr
4"The Late George Apley"November 16, 1955 Raymond Massey, Joanne Woodward
5"Christopher Bean"November 30, 1955 Mildred Natwick, Allyn Joslyn
6"The Miracle on 34th Street" [2] December 14, 1955 Thomas Mitchell, Teresa Wright, Sandy Descher
7"Man on the Ledge"December 28, 1955 Cameron Mitchell, Richard Collier, Joey Ray
8"Yacht on the High Sea"January 11, 1956 Gary Merrill, Nina Foch
9"One Life"January 25, 1956 Dane Clark, Audrey Totter
10"Crack-Up"February 8, 1956 Bette Davis, Gary Merrill, Virginia Grey, John M. Pickard
11"In Times Like These"February 22, 1956 Macdonald Carey, Fay Wray
12"Deception"March 7, 1956 Linda Darnell, Alan Napier
13"Gun in His Hand"April 4, 1956 Debra Paget, Robert Wagner
14"Mr. Belvedere"April 18, 1956 Reginald Gardiner, Eddie Bracken, Zasu Pitts
15"Broken Arrow"May 2, 1956 John Lupton, Roy Roberts
16"Overnight Haul"May 16, 1956 Lizabeth Scott, Robert Foulk, Forrest Lewis
17"The Empty Room"May 30, 1956 Alan Napier, Victoria Ward
18"The Hefferan Family"June 6, 1956 Carolyn Jones, Mark Damon

Season 2

Episode #TitleOriginal AirdateNotable Guest Stars
1"Child of the Regiment"October 3, 1956Louise Arthur, Paul Birch
2"Stranger in the Night"October 17, 1956 Joan Fontaine, Tom Conway
3"The Moneymaker"October 31, 1956James Burke, Judson Pratt, Spring Byington
4"Smoke Jumpers"November 14, 1956 Robert Armstrong, Robert Bray
5"The Last Patriarch"November 28, 1956 John Cassavetes, Virginia Leith
6"Men Against Speed "December 12, 1956 Mona Freeman, Farley Granger
7"Operation Cicero"December 26, 1956 Ricardo Montalbán, Leon Askin, Romney Brent
8"End of a Gun"January 9, 1957 John Drew Barrymore, Lyle Bettger
9"False Witness"January 23, 1957 Fred MacMurray, Claude Akins, Morris Ankrum
10"Springfield Incident"February 6, 1957 Walter Coy as Stephen A. Douglas, Tom Tryon, Lloyd Corrigan, Alan Hale, Jr.
11"Man of the Law"February 20, 1957 Denver Pyle, Marsha Hunt
12"City in Flames"March 6, 1957 Jack Albertson, Anne Jeffreys, Kevin McCarthy
13"Deadline Decision"March 20, 1957 Charles Bickford, Whit Bissell
14"The Still Trumpet"April 3, 1957Douglas Dick, James Griffith
15"Men in Her Life"April 17, 1957 Parley Baer, Sheila Bromley
16 "Deep Water" May 1, 1957 Richard Arlen, Steve McQueen
17"The Great American Hoax"May 15, 1957 Ed Wynn, Jerry Paris
18"Threat to a Happy Ending"May 29, 1957 Mabel Albertson, William Bendix, Jean Byron
19"The Marriage Broker" (Series Finale)June 12, 1957 Ellen Corby, Parley Baer, Kipp Hamilton

Production

General Electric sponsored the program until February 6, 1957, when Revlon became the sponsor. [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Miracle on 34th Street</i> 1947 film by George Seaton

Miracle on 34th Street is a 1947 American Christmas comedy-drama film released by 20th Century-Fox, written and directed by George Seaton and based on a story by Valentine Davies. It stars Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood, and Edmund Gwenn. The story takes place between Thanksgiving and Christmas in New York City, and focuses on the effect of a department store Santa Claus who claims to be the real Santa. The film has become a perennial Christmas favorite.

<i>The $64,000 Question</i> American game show

The $64,000 Question was an American game show broadcast in primetime on CBS-TV from 1955 to 1958, which became embroiled in the 1950s quiz show scandals. Contestants answered general knowledge questions, earning money which doubled as the questions became more difficult. The final question had a top prize of $64,000, hence the "$64,000 Question" in the show's title.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sebastian Cabot (actor)</span> English actor (1918–1977)

Charles Sebastian Thomas Cabot was a British actor. He is best remembered as the gentleman's gentleman, Giles French, opposite Brian Keith's character, William "Uncle Bill" Davis, in the CBS-TV sitcom Family Affair (1966–1971). He was also known for playing the Wazir in the film Kismet (1955) and Dr. Carl Hyatt in the CBS-TV series Checkmate (1960–1962).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Jaeckel</span> American actor (1926–1997)

Richard Jaeckel was an American actor of film and television. Jaeckel became a well-known character actor in his career, which spanned six decades. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor with his role in the 1971 adaptation of Ken Kesey's Sometimes a Great Notion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macdonald Carey</span> American actor

Edward Macdonald Carey was an American actor, best known for his role as the patriarch Dr. Tom Horton on NBC's soap opera Days of Our Lives. For almost three decades, he was the show's central cast member.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Boone</span> American actor (1917–1981)

Richard Allen Boone was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns, including his starring role in the television series Have Gun – Will Travel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rory Calhoun</span> American actor (1922–1999)

Rory Calhoun was an American film and television actor. He starred in numerous Westerns in the 1950s and 1960s, and appeared in supporting roles in films such as How to Marry a Millionaire (1953).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Barry</span> American actor (1919–2009)

Gene Barry was an American stage, screen, and television actor and singer. Barry is best remembered for his leading roles in the films The Atomic City (1952) and The War of The Worlds (1953) and for his portrayal of the title characters in the TV series Bat Masterson and Burke's Law, among many roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lizabeth Scott</span> American actress and singer (1922–2015)

Lizabeth Virginia Scott was an American actress, singer and model for the Walter Thornton Model Agency, known for her "smoky voice" and being "the most beautiful face of film noir during the 1940s and 1950s". After understudying the role of Sabina in the original Broadway and Boston stage productions of The Skin of Our Teeth, she emerged in such films as The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), Dead Reckoning (1947), Desert Fury (1947), and Too Late for Tears (1949). Of her 22 films, she was the leading lady in all but three. In addition to stage and radio, she appeared on television from the late 1940s to early 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Payne (actor)</span> American actor (1912–1989)

John Howard Payne was an American film actor who is mainly remembered from film noir crime stories and 20th Century Fox musical films, and for his leading roles in Miracle on 34th Street and the NBC Western television series The Restless Gun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dale Robertson</span> American actor (1923–2013)

Dayle Lymoine Robertson was an American actor best known for his starring roles on television. He played the roving investigator Jim Hardie in the television series Tales of Wells Fargo and railroad owner Ben Calhoun in Iron Horse. He often was presented as a deceptively thoughtful but modest Western hero. From 1968 to 1970, Robertson was the fourth and final host of the anthology series Death Valley Days. Described by Time magazine in 1959 as "probably the best horseman on television", for most of his career, Robertson played in western films and television shows—well over 60 titles in all.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Everett Sloane</span> American actor (1909–1965)

Everett H. Sloane was an American character actor who worked in radio, theatre, films, and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheree North</span> American actress, dancer, and singer (1932–2005)

Sheree North was an American actress, dancer, and singer, known for being one of 20th Century-Fox's intended successors to Marilyn Monroe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Hoyt</span> American actor

John Hoyt was an American actor. He began his acting career on Broadway, later appearing in numerous films and television series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthology series</span> Form of broadcast entertainment

An anthology series is a written series, radio, television, film, or video game series that presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a different cast in each episode, but several series in the past, such as Four Star Playhouse, employed a permanent troupe of character actors who would appear in a different drama each week. Some anthology series, such as Studio One, began on radio and then expanded to television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merry Anders</span> American actress (1934–2012)

Merry Anders was an American actress who appeared in a number of television programs and films from the 1950s until her retirement from the screen in 1972.

<i>Schlitz Playhouse of Stars</i> US television series 1951-1959

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company. The title was shortened to Schlitz Playhouse beginning with the fall 1957 season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Pickard (American actor)</span> American actor (1913–1993)

John M. Pickard was an American actor who appeared primarily in television westerns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Manulis</span> American film, television and theatre producer

Martin Ellyot Manulis was an American television, film, and theatre producer. Manulis was best known for his work in the 1950s producing the CBS Television programs Suspense, Studio One Summer Theatre, Climax!, The Best of Broadway and Playhouse 90. He was the sole producer of the award-winning drama series, Playhouse 90, during its first two seasons from 1956 to 1958.

Miracle on 34th Street is a popular 1947 film with Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn.

References

  1. "GEORGE SANDERS TO BE VIDEO HOST / Cast as Narrator of Filmed Series, 'The Ringmaster.' Built on Circus Stories", The New York Times (September 1, 1955, p.46) Retrieved February 12, 2019
  2. A film clip "The Miracle on 34th Street" is available for viewing at the Internet Archive
  3. "GE's '20th Hour' Axing; Revlon In". Variety. January 23, 1957. p. 20. Retrieved May 26, 2023.