Fireside Theatre

Fireside Theatre
Fireside Theatre Logo
Also known as	''Jane Wyman Presents The Jane Wyman Show''
Genre	Anthology drama
Written by	Rod Serling Blake Edwards Ray Bradbury Gene Roddenberry Cornell Woolrich Aaron Spelling
Directed by	Fred Coe Blake Edwards Gordon Duff Robert Florey John Ford Sidney Lanfield Ozzie Nelson Robert Stevenson (director) Jacques Tourneur
Presented by	Frank Wisbar (1952-1953) Gene Raymond (1953-1955) Jane Wyman (1955-1958)
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	268 (list of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Jack Bernhard John Houseman John Reinhardt Frank Wisbar
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	48 mins.
Production company(s)	General Television Enterprises Hal Roach Studios Lewman Productions/Revue Studios (1955-58)
Release
Picture format	Black-and-white
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	April 5, 1949 – May 22, 1958

Fireside Theatre, aka Jane Wyman Presents, is an American anthology drama series that ran on NBC from 1949 to 1958, and was the first successful filmed series on American television. Stories were low budget and often based on public domain stories or written by freelance writers such as Rod Serling. While it was panned by critics, it remained in the top ten most popular shows for most of its run. It predated the other major pioneer of filmed TV in America, I Love Lucy, by two years.

Overview

From 1952 to 1958, the program was presented by a host. This role was first filled by Frank Wisbar (1952–1953), then by Gene Raymond (1953–1955), and finally by the person most associated with the series in the public mind, Jane Wyman (1955–1958). When episodes of this program were rerun on ABC during the summer of 1963, it was under the title Jane Wyman Presents; during the period first-run episodes were hosted by Wyman it was sometimes known as The Jane Wyman Show.

One of Fireside Theatre's most notable offerings was a 1951 condensed version of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, featuring Ralph Richardson as Ebenezer Scrooge for the first and only time on American television.^[1] He later recreated the role on a spoken word Caedmon Records LP album, with Paul Scofield as narrator. It has since been released on CD.^[2]

The otherwise-unrelated comedy troupe The Firesign Theatre based their name on this series. The Doubleday Book Club also ran a playscripts club called The Fireside Theatre.

Episodes

Guest stars

Claude Akins Keith Andes John Archer Barry Atwater Phyllis Avery Parley Baer Gene Barry Frances Bavier William Bendix Richard Beymer Whit Bissell Gloria Blondell Neville Brand Frank Cady Rod Cameron Macdonald Carey Jack Carson Jeannie Carson Anthony Caruso George Chandler Dane Clark Gary Clarke Imogene Coca Hans Conried Jeanne Cooper Robert O. Cornthwaite Joseph Cotten Linda Darnell John Dehner Reginald Denny Francis De Sales Lawrence Dobkin John Doucette Paul Douglas Stephen Dunne Dan Duryea Vince Edwards Jack Elam Richard Erdman Felicia Farr William Fawcett Frank Ferguson Joe Flynn Bruce Gordon Dabbs Greer Virginia Gregg Virginia Grey Kevin Hagen Don Haggerty Charles Herbert Louis Jean Heydt William Hopper Vivi Janiss Carolyn Jones Henry Jones

Gail Kobe Jack Kruschen Fernando Lamas Charles Lane John Larch Peter Lawford Peter Leeds Yvonne Lime Betty Lynn Hugh Marlowe Lee Marvin Mercedes McCambridge Jayne Meadows Ralph Meeker Gary Merrill George Montgomery Jeff Morrow Don Murray Burt Mustin Jeanette Nolan Margaret O'Brien Doris Packer Larry Pennell Vincent Price Maudie Prickett Ainslie Pryor Stuart Randall Gilman Rankin Lydia Reed Addison Richards Peter Mark Richman Roy Roberts Gilbert Roland Ruth Roman Herbert Rudley Roberta Shore Everett Sloane Arthur Space Aaron Spelling Jan Sterling Craig Stevens Karl Swenson Nita Talbot Gloria Talbott Tom Tryon Ann Tyrrell Minerva Urecal Herb Vigran Beverly Washburn Jesse White Frank Wilcox Cara Williams Marie Windsor Fay Wray Keenan Wynn

Reception

Fireside Theatre became a hit for NBC, always in the Top 30 shows at the end of each TV season. In the 1956-1957 season, its ratings slumped and decreased in the ratings. It was not in the Top 30 Ratings in the 1956-1957 TV season and never again regained its top spot.

Billboard magazine praised an episode titled "The Lottery", saying that the cast "all turned in taut, exciting performances to make Lottery a real winner".^[3] Unlike most episodes of the series, this episode aired live.

In 1954, Billboard voted it fourth-best filmed network drama series, ahead of the more fondly remembered General Electric Theater; however, Billboard's list excluded "mystery" shows (which was a separate list topped by Dragnet).^[4]

Ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Fireside Theatre on NBC (Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps).

Season	TV season	Ranking	Viewers (in millions)
2nd	1950–1951	#2	5.365
3rd	1951–1952	#7	6.594
4th	1952–1953	#10	8.282
5th	1953–1954	#9	9.464
6th	1954–1955	#20	9.547
7th	1955–1956	#24	10.121

References

1. IMBD:Fireside Theater
2. Amazon: Fireside Theater.
3. The Billboard, 1 Sep 1951. Page 3.
4. The Billboard, 31 Jul 1954. Page 14.

• Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows

External links

• Fireside Theatre at CVTA with episode list
• Fireside Theatre at the Internet Movie Database
• Fireside Theatre at TV.com
• Fireside Theatre at the Museum of Broadcast Communications