How Wide Is Broadway? : the Theatre Guild’S Radio and Television Productions in Post-World-War-Ii America
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ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: HOW WIDE IS BROADWAY? : THE THEATRE GUILD’S RADIO AND TELEVISION PRODUCTIONS IN POST-WORLD-WAR-II AMERICA Richard Kenneth Tharp, Doctor of Philosophy, 2010 Dissertation Directed by: Professor Heather S. Nathans Department of Theatre In the fall of 1947, the Theatre Guild, arguably the theatrical producing organization that had defined the American theatre aesthetic since its inception in 1918, splashed confidently and unhesitatingly into the barely-charted waters of the nascent medium of live television. The attempt seemed destined for success since the Guild had been producing a successful radio program for two years and was paired with NBC, the most successful of the early television networks. However, fourteen months later the Guild retired from television. It had failed in its ambitious plan to bring the sights, sounds of Broadway to every living room from coast to coast. I argue that the principal reason for its failure was artistic rather than commercial and that by 1948 the Guild’s various broadcasting ventures illustrate that the Theatre Guild, which had once defined itself as farsighted and experimental had in reality become nearsighted and stodgy. This dissertation explores the background of the Theatre Guild before it entered broadcasting, during the time it was developing its position as Broadway’s leading exponent of artistic plays and experimental theatre. It continues the story through the Guild’s production of The Theatre Guild on the Air, a weekly series of hour-long adaptations of stage plays that it began producing in 1945, and on to the Guild’s abortive first attempt at live television from 1947-1948. Finally, it documents the Guild’s efforts to return to television, which it ultimately did in 1953, although with a different purpose in mind and with a much more successful approach. HOW WIDE IS BROADWAY? : THE THEATRE GUILD’S RADIO AND TELEVISION PRODUCTIONS IN POST-WORLD-WAR-II AMERICA by Richard Kenneth Tharp Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2010 Advisory Committee: Professor Heather Nathans, Chair Professor Franklin J. Hildy Professor Faedra Carpenter Professor Karl Kippola Professor Nancy L. Struna ©Copyright by Richard Kenneth Tharp 2010 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people deserve my gratitude for the assistance on this project which I unknowingly began three decades ago. I would like to thank the staffs of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, the Motion Picture Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division of the Library of the Congress, and the Library of American Broadcasting and the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library at the University of Maryland. My special thanks go to Michael Henry and Judy Markowitz for their unending support and aid beyond the call of duty. Whenever I needed something, they were there for me. I would like to thank the members of my committee, especially Dr. Heather Nathans, whose encouragement, mentorship, and enthusiasm were a constant throughout the process. Thanks also go to my colleagues Carolyn Bain and Chrystyna Dail for their support and enthusiasm. Finally, none of this would have been possible without the boundless love and support from my wife Lauren and my children Andy, Tommy, and Miranda. All that follows, I dedicate to them with my most sincere gratitude ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments………………………………...………………………………………ii Introduction………………………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter 1: “To Produce Plays of Artistic Merit” – The Theatre Guild Develops an Aesthetic……………………………..…….13 Chapter 2: “Plays of Distinction and Performances of Quality” – The Theatre Guild on the Air…………………………………………………60 Chapter 3: “To Elevate Television from the Saloon to the Living Room.” – The Theatre Guild Enters Television………………………………….……112 Chapter 4: “The First Full-Scale Merger of Television and Theatre Arts”– The Great Television Experiment……………………………………..……159 Chapter 5: “Too Bad About Our T.V. Situation, But We Will Work Another Out” – The Theatre Guild in Limbo…………………………………………….….222 Epilogue: “… the new program seems certain to be one of the year’s major treats”– The United States Steel Hour……………………………………………….262 Conclusion………………………………………………………………….…………..268 Bibliography………………………………………………………………...………….271 iii Introduction In October 1947, Variety announced that the upcoming television premiere of a partnership between Broadway’s Theatre Guild and television’s National Broadcasting Company would be “the biggest thing that’s happened on video since the World Series.”1 Radio Daily hailed the collaboration as the first major “tie-in between TV and the legitimate theatre.”2 Observers of the fledgling medium of television anticipated the possibility of being able to watch a Broadway production from the comfort of one’s living room.3 However, after a rocky first production, the television series lasted only eight months and broadcast seven plays. By December 1948, the collaboration had dissolved.4 The combination of a Broadway producer and a broadcasting network would seem to be a natural merging of organizations. By the fall of 1947, the Theatre Guild had earned a reputation as arguably Broadway’s most distinguished producer with a history spanning nearly thirty years. Similarly, NBC’s television division contained one of the industry’s most skilled production staffs with over fifteen years of experience, as well as 1 “NBC Splurges on 1st Theatre Guild Show; Seeks Sponsor for Others,” Variety, 29 October 1947, 29. 2 Radio Daily, 7 October 1947, 7. 3 For example, see Jack Gould, “News of the Radio,” New York Times, 7 October 1947, 54. 4 Jack Gould, New York Times, 16 November 1947, sec. II, 1. For dates of the individual programs which ran until 6 June 1948, see WNBT Master Program Logs, November 1947 to June 1948. National Broadcasting Company History Files, 1922-1986, Library of Congress Motion Picture and Television Division, Washington, DC. For notice of the dissolution, see Television Digest and FM Reports, 11 December 1948, 4. 1 the largest linked network of affiliate stations in the United States.5 Moreover, the Theatre Guild came into the venture with broadcasting experience of its own. Since September 1945, the Guild had been producing a weekly hour-long radio drama with moderate commercial and critical success.6 Yet the combined talents of these two entertainment heavyweights could not produce a successful blending of theatre and television. The promise of what might have been has since faded and exists as an obscure footnote in the histories of both television and theatre. I first encountered the Theatre Guild’s initial television venture nearly thirty years ago while researching early live television drama.7 What struck me as curious was that although the print media in 1947 hailed the program as a revolutionary development in television, in the early 1980s none of the standard works on television history mentioned it.8 Later while investigating the program in its relation to theatre history, I discovered 5 See Walter Pritchard Eaton, The Theatre Guild: The First Ten Years with Articles by The Directors (Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1929) for information on the Guild. For information on NBC’s stations, see Television Digest and FM Reports, 27 September 1947, 3-4. For information on NBC’s television history see William Hawes, American Television Drama: The Experimental Years (University, AL: The University of Alabama Press, 1986). 6 Martin Grams, Jr., Radio Drama: American Programs, 1932-1962 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2000), 505-513. For information on representative program content, see William Fitelson, ed., Theatre Guild on the Air (New York: Rinehart & Co., 1947). 7 Richard Tharp, “The Theatre Guild Television Playhouse,” RERUNS, The Magazine of Television History, June 1980, 5-7. 8 For example, see Arthur Shulman and Roger Youman, How Sweet It Was – Television: A Pictorial Commentary (New York: Bonanza Books, 1966) and Arthur Shulman and Roger Youman, The Television Years (New York: Popular Library, 1973). Although both works list notable television pioneers, neither mentions the Theatre Guild’s program. The groundbreaking work, Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory of Prime Time Network TV Shows 1946-Present, 1st ed. (New York: 2 the same lack of attention to not only the Guild’s work in television and radio, but an overall disinterest in the interaction between the New York theatrical community and radio and television in the 1930s and 1940s. However, my research brought to light a multitude of artistic and creative links the legitimate theatre in New York had with both radio and television. Even so, most comprehensive theatre histories either overlook these connections entirely, or refer to them only in the context of a competition for prospective audience members.9 It occurred to me that the Theatre Guild’s experience could become a lens through which one could explore the contribution of theatre to what became the dominant form of entertainment in the latter half of the twentieth century. Thus, while focusing on the Theatre Guild, I hoped to explore the types of interactions that took place between theatre Ballantine Books, 1979) does not mention the program either in the alphabetical series listing on in the “Prime Time Schedule: 1947” which shows NBC airing “various special presentations” during the Guild’s Sunday time slot.