Matinee Theater (1955)

1h
Running Time

3
Seasons

574
Episodes

October 31, 1955
Release Date

TV
IMDb ratings
7.5
Matinee Theater

Matinee Theater (1955)

1h
Running Time

3
Seasons

574
Episodes

October 31, 1955
Release Date

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External Links & Social Media
Network & Production Companies
NBC
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Plot.

Matinee Theater is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of Television, from 1955 to 1958. The series, which ran daily in the afternoon, was frequently live. It was produced by Albert McCleery, Darrell Ross, George Cahan and Frank Price with executive producer George Lowther. McCleery had previously produced the live series Cameo Theatre which introduced to television the concept of theater-in-the-round, TV plays staged with minimal sets. Jim Buckley of the Pewter Plough Playhouse recalled: When Al McCleery got back to the States, he originated a most ambitious theatrical TV series for NBC called Matinee Theater: to televise five different stage plays per week live, airing around noon in order to promote color TV to the American housewife as she labored over her ironing. Al was the producer. He hired five directors and five art directors. Richard Bennett, one of our first early presidents of the Pewter Plough Corporation, was one of the directors and I was one of the art directors and, as soon as we were through televising one play, we had lunch and then met to plan next week’s show. That was over 50 years ago, and I’m trying to think; I believe the TV art director is his own set decorator —yes, of course! It had to be, since one of McCleery’s chief claims to favor with the producers was his elimination of the setting per se and simply decorating the scene with a minimum of props. It took a bit of ingenuity.

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Cast & Crew.

Details.

Release Date
October 31, 1955

Status
Ended

Seasons
3

Episodes
574

Running Time
1h

Genres

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Wiki.

Matinee Theater is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of Television, from October 31, 1955, to June 27, 1958. Its name is often seen as Matinee Theatre.

The series, which ran daily from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Time, was usually broadcast live and most of the time in color. Its live dramas were presented with minimal sets and costumes. It was the first daily hour-long dramatic series on television.When it was broadcast, Matinee Theater was the most heavily promoted regularly scheduled daytime program on U.S. television. Along with NBC's Home, the show was part of the network's effort to "provide quality 'adult' entertainment" in daytime programming.In its second season, the program had an audience of 7 million daily viewers.The series ended in 1958 due to its high budget; much higher than any other daytime program in television. In 1956, the program's budget was "about $73,000" to produce five episodes per week. A few of the later episodes were preserved on color film for later rerun syndication under different titles. The scripts of the series' episodes are archived at the University of California, Los Angeles. Several episodes are preserved at the UCLA Film & Television Archive, The Paley Center, and the Library of Congress.

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