Theatre-Five

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Theatre-Five (aka Theater-Five or Theatre 5) was a radio drama series, presented by ABC between 1964 and 1965. The series used an anthology format, presenting a number of short (20-minute) radio plays across a number of genres, a number of which reflected topical issues contemporary with its airing.

Contents

Writers for the show varied, as did actors, although a principal cast included George O. Petrie, Brett Morrison, Jackson Beck, Robert Dryden, Elliott Reid, Court Benson, Cliff Carpenter, and Bryna Raeburn. The show's 1965 run featured several well-known actors, including an early role for James Earl Jones (Incident on US 1), a pre- M*A*S*H Alan Alda (A Bad Day's Work), and Ed Begley (The Pigeon) three years after his Academy Award win. Another Theatre-Five actor was Romeo Muller, [1] who also wrote stories for the series [2] but who became best known for his work with Rankin/Bass Productions such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (TV special).

The ABC Radio Network Advance Program Schedule for January 1965 indicates Theatre 5 was fed to subscribing affiliates from 2:30 to 2:54 PM EST and again from 10:29 to 10:54 PM EST Monday through Friday.

Background

In the spring of 1964, ABC put Ed Byron in charge of the network's plan "for the restoration of top-grade radio drama". [3] At that time, Byron was an account executive in news program sales at NBC Television, but earlier in his career he had developed radio programs, including Mr. District Attorney . ABC's plan to restore drama to radio had begun more than a year before Byron was selected. A report in the trade publication Variety attributed the delay to "a shortage of writing talent the we felt would be up to projected standards." [3]

Sources

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References

  1. "Romeo Muller". www.rusc.com. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  2. "Plot Spot - Famous Authors on Radio". www.otrplotspot.com. Retrieved 2019-03-22.
  3. 1 2 "Ed Byron Helms ABC 'Operation Restoration' In Radio Drama Push". Variety. April 1, 1964. p. 64. Retrieved April 26, 2023.