The Billy Rose Show, aka Billy Rose's Playbill, is a 30-minute American dramatic anthology series produced by Jed Harris.[1] A total of twenty-five episodes aired on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) from October 3, 1950 to March 27, 1951. Billy Rose served as host.[1] Episodes were based on Rose's newspaper articles.[2]
Guest stars included Leo G. Carroll, Alfred Drake, Burgess Meredith, Otto Preminger, Tom Ewell, Lionel Stander, and Cloris Leachman. Among its directors was Daniel Petrie, later a prominent feature director. Writers included Paul Osborn, Edward Chodorov, and Ben Hecht.
The program was sponsored by Hudson Motor Car Company.[3]
A review in the trade publication Billboard praised the March 9, 1951, episode in which Judith Anderson portrayed an actress who lost her confidence after she appeared in two bad productions. Joe Csida wrote that the episode "demonstrated the force of video for this reviewer as did nothing he has ever seen before."[4] Csida commended the camera work, production, writing, and acting.