THE BEST OF BROADWAY (1954-1955) – Balladeer’s Blog’s latest look at a Forgotten Television item deals with The Best of Broadway. The color program aired on CBS once per month and its failure to last more than one season may be explained by the fact that the other three weeks the program that aired in its time slot was … Pabst Blue Ribbon Bouts.
I’m certainly not denying that there very well might have been some crossover audience between boxing and Broadway but I imagine some viewers who caught and loved a Best of Broadway episode eagerly tuned in the following week, saw beer-sponsored boxing and just assumed the Broadway program had been canceled or was just a one-off special.
At any rate, this series presented one-hour adaptations of assorted Broadway productions and was filmed with a studio audience.
THE EPISODES:
THE ROYAL FAMILY (September 15th, 1954) – From the Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman comedy The Royal Family of Broadway. Paul Nickell directed this depiction of a Barrymore-esque thespian dynasty and the chaos that results when the family matriarch is outraged to learn that her daughter and granddaughter are considering leaving their stage careers behind for marriage.
CAST: Helen Hayes, Fredric March, Claudette Colbert, Charles Coburn and Nancy Olson Continue reading
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