Playwrights '56, a.k.a. The Playwright Hour, is a 60-minute live American dramatic anthology series produced by Fred Coe for Showtime Productions. Twenty episodes aired on NBC from October 4, 1955, to June 19, 1956. It shared a Thursday time slot with Armstrong Circle Theatre.[1]
Stars included Mary Astor, Ralph Bellamy, Joan Blondell, George Chandler, Robert Culp, Paul Douglas, Tom Ewell, Norman Fell, Nina Foch, John Forsythe, Lillian Gish, Alice Ghostley, Lee Grant, James Gregory, Louis Jean Heydt, Steven Hill, Vivi Janiss, Henry Jones, E. G. Marshall, John McGiver, Steve McQueen, Dina Merrill, Jack Mullaney, Paul Newman, Phyllis Kirk, Edmond O'Brien, J. Pat O'Malley, Nehemiah Persoff, Tom Poston, Peter Mark Richman, Janice Rule, Kim Stanley, Warren Stevens, Karl Swenson, Franchot Tone, Ethel Waters, James Whitmore, Estelle Winwood, Jane Wyatt, and Dick York.
Among its notable writers were Horton Foote, Gore Vidal, Tad Mosel, Arnold Schulman, and A. E. Hotchner. Directors included Arthur Penn, later renowned for Bonnie and Clyde, and Delbert Mann, the 1955 Academy Award winner for directing Marty.
The program was sponsored by Pontiac automobiles.[2] When it was canceled, an article in the trade publication Billboard cited cost as a factor, noting that it "ran about $30,000 a week more than its more successful counterpart".[3] Most of the episodes originated from WRCA-TV[4] in Brooklyn, New York, with the rest coming from KRCA-TV's[4] Hollywood studios.[5] After the program's June 19, 1956, broadcast, it was replaced by The Kaiser Aluminum Hour.[6]
Along with Producers' Showcase, Playwrights '56 shared the 1956 prime-time Emmy for Best Art Direction -Live Series.[7]
| Date | Title | Star(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 4, 1955 | The Answer | ||
| October 18, 1955 | The Battler | Dewey Martin, Phyllis Kirk, Paul Newman[8] | |
| November 8, 1955 | Snow Job | Joan Blondell, James Gregory, Meg Bundy[9] | |
| November 22, 1955 | Daisy, Daisy | Tom Ewell, Jane Wyatt[10] | |
| December 6, 1955 | The Sound and the Fury | Lillian Gish, Ethel Waters, Janice Rule, and Franchot Tone.[11] | |
| December 20, 1955 | The Waiting Place | Kim Stanley, Louis Jean Heydt, Louise Platt[12] | |
| January 3, 1956 | The Day the Trains Stopped Running | Joseph Sweeney, Elizabeth Patterson, Mary Welch[13] | |
| January 17, 1956 | Lost | Steven Hill | |
| January 31, 1956 | This Business of Murder | James Whitmore[14] | |
| February 14, 1956 | Return to Cassion | John Forsythe, Kurt Kasznar, Dina Merrill[15] | |
| February 28, 1956 | Flight | Kim Stanley | |
| March 27, 1956 | The Undiscovered Country | Cyril Ritchard, Nina Foch[16] | |
| May 22, 1956 | Keyhole | E. G. Marshall, Lee Grant, Henry McNaughton[17] | |
| May 8, 1956 | You Sometimes Get Rich | Larry Blyden, Georgiann Johnson[18] | |
| June 19, 1956 | Honor (final broadcast) | Dick York, Ralph Bellamy, Leo G. Carroll, Carol Goodner[19] |