Four Star Playhouse was an old time radio dramatic anthology series. The 30-minute program was broadcast on NBC beginning in July 1949 and was sustaining. It lasted only three months.
Four Star Playhouse was one of "at least 10" new programs developed for that summer by NBC's [West] Coast programming department. A story in the July 2, 1949, issue of The Billboard reported that NBC "is now keyed to the recent programming drive, launched to offset Columbia Broadcasting System's (CBS) talent raids, and is anxious to use summer hiatus periods to develop shows worthy of fall bankrolling. Hence, the new raft of airers will not be treated as fill-in shows, but produced with an eye to long-term web tenancy." The trade publication Variety called Four Star Playhouse "NBC's answer to CBS' Family Hour of Stars".
Radio historian John Dunning put the production surge in context:The Four Star Playhouse was a 1949 NBC effort ... quickly put together as part of the network's barrage against CBS. During the previous summer, CBS had raided the top of NBC's comedy line, luring Jack Benny, Amos 'n' Andy, and others into a network jump. NBC's reaction was almost frantic: a battery of new shows like this one, featuring glamor and lots of big names.Dunning, John. (1976). Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 1925-1976. Prentice-Hall, Inc. . P. 215. Other NBC shows developed as a part of that effort included Hollywood Calling, Screen Directors Playhouse, Dragnet, Richard Diamond and The Trouble with the Truitts.
Despite the star power of the show's four featured artists, Dunning noted, "the new NBC lineup just couldn't compete against the old, which CBS stacked into the same time slots on Sunday. Most of the new shows vanished from the air within months, and the Four Star Playhouse was one of them." Three years after Four Star Playhouse'''s demise on radio, the same format was used -- with different stars -- for a TV version that ran for four years. See Four Star Playhouse.
Format and Cast The show's title came from the fact that it was built around "four major film stars, each of whom was featured in turn in the weekly presentations." They were Fred MacMurray, Loretta Young, Rosalind Russell and Robert Cummings.Reinehr, Robert C. & Swartz, Jon D. (2008). Historical Dictionary of Old-Time Radio. Scarecrow Press, Inc. . P. 102. As an anthology series, Four Star Playhouse did not have a standard cast. However, many radio actors and actresses of that time appeared in episodes. They included Elliot Lewis, Shirley Mitchell, Paul Frees, Ross Taylor, Will Wright, Lurene Tuttle, William Conrad, Wilms Herbert, Lawrence Dobkin, Betty Moran, Frank Lovejoy, George Neise, Janet Waldo, Jeanne Bates, Joe DuVal, Willard Waterman, Jack Edwards, Mary Jane Croft, Frank Nelson, Charles Seel, Herb Butterfield, Jeff Chandler, Shepard Menken, Dan O'Herlihy and Ken Christy. Frank Barton was the announcer. Episodes were adapted by writer Milton Geiger from short stories in Cosmopolitan'' magazine.
Episodes The series' entire run consisted of 12 episodes. Their dates, titles and stars were as follows: Date Title Star July 3, 1949 Welcome to Our City Rosalind Russell July 10, 1949 Another Day, Another Dollar Ninety-Eight Fred MacMurray July 17, 1949 A Legend for Spring Brides Loretta Young July 24, 1949 Third Girl From The Right Robert Cummings July 31, 1949 From an Admirer Rosalind Russell August 7, 1949 The Life and Death of George Wilson Fred MacMurray August 14, 1949 The Hunted Robert Cummings August 21, 1949 The Incredible Anna Lee Rosalind Russell August 28, 1949 Cory Fred MacMurray September 4, 1949 Surprise For The Professor Robert Cummings September 11, 1949 Paradise U S A Rosalind Russell September 18, 1949 Once Upon a Horse Loretta Young
References
External links Four Star Playhouse at the Digital Deli Four Star Playhouse at the Internet Archive Best Plays and Four Star Playhouse at the Internet Archive Four Star Playhouse at Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs