The Bigelow Theatre
Kent Taylor and Marjorie Reynolds in "A Case of Marriage" in October 1951.
Also known asBigelow-Sanford Theater
Hollywood Half Hour
Marquee Theater
GenreAnthology
Created byJerry Fairbanks
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes27 (CBS)
15 (DuMont)
Production
Camera setupSingle-camera
Running time25 mins.
Original release
NetworkCBS (1950-1951)
DuMont (1951)
ReleaseDecember 10, 1950 (1950-12-10) –
December 27, 1951 (1951-12-27)

The Bigelow Theatre (also known as Bigelow-Sanford Theater and as Hollywood Half Hour and Marquee Theater in syndication) is an American anthology series originally broadcast on CBS Television and on the DuMont Television Network.

This series is not to be confused with the similarly named The Bigelow Show, a musical variety program which aired on NBC and CBS in the late 1940s.

The series was sponsored by the Bigelow-Sanford Carpet Company.[1]

Broadcast history

The series aired on CBS on Sunday nights at 6pm EST from December 10, 1950, to June 3, 1951. There were no regularly featured actors on The Bigelow Theatre, but guest stars included James Dean, George C. Scott, Raymond Burr, Cesar Romero, Lloyd Bridges, Martin Milner, Gig Young, Ann Dvorak, Ruth Warrick, Gale Storm, and Chico Marx.[2]

After the series ended on CBS because the network was unable to get enough stations to carry it,[3] the show was retitled The Bigelow-Sanford Theatre and aired on DuMont on Thursdays at 10pm EST from September 6 through December 27, 1951.[4] There were 27 episodes on CBS, and 15 on DuMont, however, some of the DuMont episodes were reruns of the CBS series.

Seventeen filmed episodes of the program were leased and run after having been shown originally on The Silver Theatre.[5]

Episode status

Nine episodes are held by the UCLA Film and Television Archive, at least two of which (October 4 and the December 27 finale) aired on DuMont.[6][7][8]

One CBS episode from February 11, 1951, "Agent From Scotland Yard", is held by the Library of Congress in the J. Fred MacDonald collection.

Partial List of Episodes of The Bigelow Theatre
DateEpisodeActor(s)
May 23, 1951"Charming Billy"Spring Byington, Mary Anderson.[9]
November 15, 1951"A Woman's Privilege"Don DeFore, John Howard, Greta Granstedt[10]
December 20, 1951"Agent from Scotland Yard"Lynn Bari, Patric Knowles, Alan Mowbray[11]
December 27, 1951"Always a Bridesmaid"DeFore, Audrey Long[12]

Production

The Bigelow Theatre was filmed in Los Angeles at Jerry Fairbanks's studios. Production of episodes used multiple cameras that were "directed and monitored by a control room staff" as was done with live TV, but the cameras' output was recorded on film.[13]

Critical response

Jack Gould, reviewing the premiere episode in The New York Times, deemed it "acceptable".[14] He complimented the work of the actors, led by Victor Jory, and wrote, "the work held interest and did not try to do too much in the limited time."[14] The review's major complaint was about the use of film for the episode, "which was hard to watch in comparison with the quality of the average 'live' show."[14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Radio and Television Notes". The New York Times. November 18, 1950. p. 18. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  2. ↑ Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (1964). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows (3rd ed.). New York: Ballantine. ISBN 0-345-31864-1.
  3. ↑ "'Bigelow Theatre' in Shift to DuMont" (PDF). Variety. April 15, 1951. p. 27. Retrieved September 27, 2023.
  4. ↑ McNeil, Alex (1980). Total Television (4th ed.). New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-024916-8.
  5. ↑ "Reissues of 'Silver' Show To Pay Talent". Billboard. September 30, 1950. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  6. ↑ http://cinema.library.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=3&ti=1,3&Search%5FArg=Bigelow%20theatre&SL=None&Search%5FCode=GKEY%5E&CNT=50&PID=Y7jLc4HUo4OFYiPgvjkzF4hiTyVKg&SEQ=20120708055943&SID=3%5B%5D
  7. ↑ http://cinema.library.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=8&ti=1,8&Search%5FArg=Bigelow%20theatre&SL=None&Search%5FCode=GKEY%5E&CNT=50&PID=Y7jLc4HUo4OFYiPgvjkzF4hiTyVKg&SEQ=20120708055943&SID=3%5B%5D
  8. ↑ "UCLA Library Catalog - Titles". cinema.library.ucla.edu. Archived from the original on 11 December 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  9. ↑ Stretch, Bud (May 28, 1951). "Air Waves". Courier-Post. p. 21. Retrieved May 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ Stretch, Bud (November 15, 1991). "Air Waves". Courier-Post. New Jersey, Camden. p. 13 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ Stretch, Bud (December 20, 1951). "Air Waves". Courier-Post. New Jersey, Camden. p. 42. Retrieved September 27, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ Stretch, Bud (December 27, 1951). "Air Waves". Courier-Post. New Jersey, Camden. p. 15. Retrieved September 27, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ Hawes, William (November 16, 2015). Live Television Drama, 1946-1951. McFarland. pp. 110–111. ISBN 978-1-4766-0849-5. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  14. 1 2 3 Gould, Jack (December 11, 1950). "Radio and TV in Review". The New York Times. p. 36. Retrieved May 3, 2023.

Bibliography

  • David Weinstein, The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004) ISBN 1-59213-245-6
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