General Electric Theater
General Electric Theater | |
---|---|
Genre | Anthology series |
Presented by | Ronald Reagan |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 10 |
No. of episodes | 302 |
Production | |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production company | Revue Studios |
Original release | |
Network | CBS |
Release | February 1, 1953 June 3, 1962 | –
General Electric Theater was an American
Radio
After an audition show on January 18, 1953, titled The Token, with Dana Andrews, the radio series, a summer replacement for The Bing Crosby Program, debuted on CBS on July 9, 1953, with Ronald Colman in an episode based on Random Harvest. With such guest stars as Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Van Johnson, Jane Wyman, William Holden, Alan Young, Dorothy McGuire, John Hodiak, Ann Blyth, James Mason, Joan Fontaine, and Judy Garland the series continued until October 1, 1953. Jaime del Valle produced and directed the show. Ken Carpenter was the host and announcer. Wilbur Hatch supplied the music.
Also known as G.E. Stereo Theater, the program "was the first network radio series to be broadcast on FM in stereo."[1]
Television
The television version of the program, produced by
On September 26, 1954, Ronald Reagan debuted as the only host of the program. GE added a host to provide continuity in the anthology format. The show's
Reagan's contract with GE also entailed work as a
Television guest stars
Among the guest stars on the anthology were:
- Bud Abbott
- Edie Adams
- Nick Adams
- Claude Akins
- Eddie Albert
- Leon Ames
- Edward Andrews
- Fred Astaire
- Phyllis Avery
- Parley Baer
- Raymond Bailey
- Patricia Barry
- Anne Baxter
- Fred Beir
- Bea Benaderet
- Jack Benny
- Whit Bissell
- Joan Blondell
- Ray Bolger
- Ward Bond
- Scott Brady
- Neville Brand
- Ernest Borgnine
- Stephen Boyd
- Diane Brewster
- Charles Bronson
- Sally Brophy
- Edgar Buchanan
- Terry Burnham (3 appearances)[5][6][7]
- Michael Burns
- Francis X. Bushman
- Red Buttons
- Macdonald Carey
- Jack Carson
- Jack Cassidy
- Gower Champion
- Marge Champion
- George Chandler
- Lon Chaney Jr.
- Phyllis Coates
- Lee J. Cobb
- Claudette Colbert
- Ronald Colman
- Chuck Connors
- Richard Conte
- Russ Conway
- Ellen Corby
- Lou Costello
- Joseph Cotten
- Jerome Cowan
- Bob Crane
- Joan Crawford
- Hume Cronyn
- Tony Curtis
- Bette Davis
- Sammy Davis Jr.
- Jim Davis (actor)
- James Dean
- Richard Denning
- Elinor Donahue
- Ann Doran
- Dan Duryea
- John Ericson
- Bill Erwin
- Richard Eyer
- William Fawcett
- Frank Ferguson
- Nina Foch
- Joan Fontaine
- Eduard Franz
- Eva Gabor
- Zsa Zsa Gabor
- Judy Garland
- Greer Garson
- Anthony George
- George Gobel
- Billy Gray
- Virginia Gregg
- Virginia Grey
- Kevin Hagen
- Alan Hale Jr.
- Brooke Hayward
- Barbara Hale
- Darryl Hickman
- Ed Hinton
- Dennis Holmes
- Skip Homeier
- Ron Howard
- Gary Hunley
- Kim Hunter
- Burl Ives
- Victor Jory
- Allyn Joslyn
- Louis Jourdan
- Boris Karloff
- Joseph Kearns
- Ricky Kelman
- Stan Kenton
- Ernie Kovacs
- Otto Kruger
- Nancy Kulp
- Alan Ladd
- Michael Landon
- Joi Lansing
- Keith Larsen
- Charles Laughton
- Piper Laurie
- Cloris Leachman
- Art Linkletter
- Myrna Loy
- Dayton Lummis
- Carol Lynley
- Dorothy Malone
- Flip Mark
- Strother Martin
- Scott Marlowe
- Nora Marlowe
- E. G. Marshall
- Lee Marvin (record 7 appearances)
- Chico Marx
- Groucho Marx
- Harpo Marx
- Raymond Massey
- Walter Matthau
- Tyler MacDuff
- Gisele MacKenzie
- Fred MacMurray
- George Macready
- Kevin McCarthy
- John McIntire
- Eve McVeagh
- Patrick McVey
- Tyler McVey
- Joyce Meadows
- Burgess Meredith
- Gary Merrill
- Robert Middleton
- Vera Miles
- Ray Milland
- Ewing Mitchell
- George Montgomery
- Rita Moreno
- Dennis Morgan
- Read Morgan
- Audie Murphy
- Burt Mustin
- Leslie Nielsen
- Lloyd Nolan
- Dan O'Herlihy
- J. Pat O'Malley
- Geraldine Page
- Barbara Parkins
- Neva Patterson
- John Payne
- Larry Pennell
- Suzanne Pleshette
- Judson Pratt
- Vincent Price
- Nancy Davis Reagan
- Jason Robards Sr.
- Ruth Roman
- George Sanders
- Karen Sharpe
- Robert F. Simon
- Dean Stockwell
- Everett Sloane
- Stella Stevens
- Jimmy Stewart
- Nick Stewart
- Olive Sturgess
- Hope Summers
- Gloria Talbott
- Rod Taylor
- Phyllis Thaxter
- Gene Tierney
- Audrey Totter
- Harry Townes
- Claire Trevor
- Lurene Tuttle
- Gary Vinson
- Beverly Washburn
- David Wayne
- Christine White
- Jesse White
- Cornel Wilde
- Rhys Williams
- Natalie Wood
- Fay Wray
- Will Wright
- Jane Wyman
- Ed Wynn
- Keenan Wynn
Reagan fired by General Electric
From Reagan: The Life, H.W. Brands, Anchor Books, New York 2015
Page 124–125: Reagan's jeremiads against encroaching government cited the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) as a case in point – until he got wind that TVA executives were listening and wondering to General Electric's boss, Ralph Cordiner, why they shouldn't shift their purchases to a more appreciative company. Cordiner said he wouldn't censor Reagan – a move that caused Reagan to censor himself. Reagan recalled saying: “Mr Cordiner, what would you say if I could make my speech just as effectively without mentioning TVA?” [He also recalled the response:] “Well, it would make my job easier.” Reagan concluded the story “Dropping TVA from my speech was no problem.” [This quote is taken directly from Where's the Rest of Me?, Ronald Reagan with Richard G. Hublen, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, New York, 1965, pp. 269–270]
Page 131: In 1961, the Justice Department launched a probe into price-fixing in the electrical equipment industry. General Electric was a prime target. Corporate management decided prudence lay in avoiding anything that raised the company's profile needlessly. Reagan's attacks on big government did just that. .... The company offered to keep him on pitching commercial products if he would stop talking politics. ...He decided the reduced stage was too small.
From An American Life, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1990, page 137: “In 1962, there was a change in management at General Electric that brought an end to my satisfying eight-year relationship with the company. Ralph Cordiner was retiring and the new management asked me, in addition to continuing as host of the GE Theater, to go on the road and become a pitchman for General Electric products – in other words, become a salesman. I told them that after developing such a following by speaking out about the issues I believed in, I wasn't going to go out and peddle toasters.
From When Character was King, Peggy Noonan, Penguin, New York, 2001, page 84:, New management asked him to stay on....but go on the road and pitch GE products. They insisted. He said no. They cancelled.
Following General Electric Theater's cancellation in 1962, the series was replaced in the same time slot by the short-lived GE-sponsored GE True, hosted by Jack Webb.
On March 17, 2010, General Electric presented Reagan's widow Nancy Davis Reagan with video copies of 208 episodes of General Electric Theater, to be donated to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.[9]
On April 20, 2010, a "lost" live episode of General Electric Theater – "The Dark, Dark Hours", which originally aired on December 12, 1954 – was uncovered by NBC writer Wayne Federman, who was working on a television retrospective for the Reagan Centennial Celebration.[10] The episode was noteworthy because it teamed Ronald Reagan with James Dean. Highlights were broadcast on the CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, and Good Morning America.
Directors
- "The Martyr", directed by Jacques Tourneur (1956) (25 min)
- "Into the Night", directed by Jacques Tourneur (1955) (25 min)
- "Aftermath", directed by Jacques Tourneur (1960) (25 min)
- "Star Witness: The Lili Parrish Story", directed by Jacques Tourneur (1961) (25 min)
References
- ISBN 978-0-7864-4513-4. p. 128.
- ^ "Television Obscurities – Another General Electric Theater Episode Found". 21 April 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-08-29.
- ^ "ClassicTVguide.com: TV Ratings". classictvguide.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
- ISBN 9780786744152.
- ^ "Comedy of a Reluctant Hangman". The Port Huron Times Herald. October 24, 1959. p. 20. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
- ^ "Jane Wyatt to Star on GE Theater". Progress-Bulletin. March 21, 1961. p. 8. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
- ^ "Irene Dunne Takes Political Role on GE Theater". Jefferson City Post-Tribune. p. 19. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
- ^ Michael Reagan (February 4, 2011). "Ronald Reagan's Son Remembers The Day When GE Fired His Dad". investors.com. Archived from the original on January 26, 2013. Retrieved February 5, 2011.
- ^ "Associated Press via Yahoo News (March 17, 2010)". yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 23 March 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
- ^ "Rare Film of Ronald Reagan, James Dean Unearthed". cbsnews.com. Archived from the original on 8 May 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
Further reading
- William L. Bird Jr. "Better Living": Advertising, Media, and the New Vocabulary of Business Leadership, 1935–1955. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1999.[ISBN missing]
External links
- General Electric Theater at IMDb
- Article on GE Theater from the Museum of Broadcast Communications
- Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs: General Electric Theater
- General Electric Theater, Museum of Broadcast Communications
- Company Voice Advertising, Museum of Broadcast Communications Archived 2010-12-04 at the Wayback Machine
- General Electric Theater at CVTA