Cosmopolitan Theatre

*Cosmopolitan Theatre*
Cosmopolitan Theatre
Genre	Anthology
Directed by	David Pressman; Louis G. Cowan; David Crandall; Albert McCleery
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Producers	Louis G. Cowan; Sherman Marks; Albert McCleery
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	60 minutes
Production companies	DuMont Television Network; Louis G. Cowan Productions
Release
Original network	DuMont
Original release	October 2 –; December 25, 1951

Cosmopolitan Theatre is an American anthology series which aired on the DuMont Television Network from October 2, 1951 to December 25, 1951.[1]

Synopsis

The series consisted of live presentations of stories written for Cosmopolitan magazine, and was one of many TV series airing "tele-plays" at the time.[2]

Episode status

The program was broadcast live. If any episodes exist, they would be in the form of kinescope recordings.[3]

Episodes

Episode #	Episode title	Original airdate	Guest star(s)
1-1	"The Secret Front"	October 2, 1951	Marsha Hunt, Kurt Katch, and Lee Tracy[4]
1-2	"Be Just and Fear Not"	October 9, 1951	Joseph Schildkraut and June Walker[5]
1-3	"Incident in the Blizzard"	October 16, 1951	Betty Field and E. G. Marshall
1-4	"Reward, One Million"	October 23, 1951	Dennis Hoey and Beatrice Straight
1-5	"Mr. Pratt and the Triple Horror Bill "	October 30, 1951	Constance Dowling and Tom Ewell
1-6	"Last Concerto"	November 6, 1951	Lon Chaney Jr., Susan Douglas, and Ruth McDevitt
1-7	"I'll Be Right Home, Ma"	November 13, 1951	Charles Nolte
1-8	"The Tourist"	November 20, 1951	Peggy Allenby, John Boruff, and John Hoyt
1-9	"Time to Kill"	November 27, 1951	John Forsythe, Phyllis Love, and Torin Thatcher
1-10	"The Beautiful Time"	December 4, 1951	Joseph Buloff and Lili Darvas
1-11	"Mr. Whittle and the Morning Star"	December 11, 1951	Peggy Conklin and Bramwell Fletcher
1-12	"The Sighing Sounds"	December 18, 1951	Bethel Leslie and Gordon Mills
1-13	"One Red Rose for Christmas"	December 25, 1951	Jo Van Fleet

Production

Louis G. Cowan packaged Cosmopolitan Theatre; Sherman Marks was the producer and director.[6] Writers of episodes included Richard Macauley[4] and David Shaw.[5]

The show replaced Cavalcade of Bands[6] from 9 to 10 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesdays.[2] It originated from WABD and was carried live to 14 stations with 10 more showing it via kinescope.[6]

Critical response

In December 1951, critic John Crosby called Cosmopolitan Theatre "the Dumont network's most elaborate entry into the dramatic field".[7] He noted that restricting the show's content to stories from the magazine "places a rather severe limit not only on the range of material but also on the type of material open to this program."[7] He noted that the two forms of media differed greatly in the ways they affected audiences and ended the review with the comment, "TV has conditioned us to accept a much harder degree of reality than most slick fiction has ever attempted."[7]

References

McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present (4th ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. p. 182. ISBN 0-14-02-4916-8.
Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. (June 24, 2009). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. Random House Publishing Group. p. 288. ISBN 978-0-307-48320-1. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
Spigel, Lynn; Mann, Denise (1992). Private Screenings: Television and the Female Consumer. U of Minnesota Press. p. 273. ISBN 978-0-8166-2053-1. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
"Tuesday, October 2". Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index. September 29, 1951. p. 9. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
"Tuesday, October 9". Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index. October 5, 1951. p. 8. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
"This Week -- Network Debuts, Highlights, Changes". Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index. September 30, 1951. p. 2. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
Crosby, John (December 18, 1951). "Newspapers, Not Slicks, Best TV Material Source". Tampa Bay Times. p. 22. Retrieved June 20, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

Bibliography

David Weinstein, The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004) ISBN 1-59213-245-6

External links

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[tt-1] McNeil, Alex (1996). Total Television: the Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present (4th ed.). New York, New York: Penguin Books USA, Inc. p. 182. ISBN 0-14-02-4916-8.

[brooks-2] Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle F. (June 24, 2009). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. Random House Publishing Group. p. 288. ISBN 978-0-307-48320-1. Retrieved June 20, 2023.

[3] Spigel, Lynn; Mann, Denise (1992). Private Screenings: Television and the Female Consumer. U of Minnesota Press. p. 273. ISBN 978-0-8166-2053-1. Retrieved June 20, 2023.

[:0-4] "Tuesday, October 2". Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index. September 29, 1951. p. 9. Retrieved June 20, 2023.

[ross3-5] "Tuesday, October 9". Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index. October 5, 1951. p. 8. Retrieved June 20, 2023.

[ross2-6] "This Week -- Network Debuts, Highlights, Changes". Ross Reports on Television including The Television Index. September 30, 1951. p. 2. Retrieved June 20, 2023.

[tbt-7] Crosby, John (December 18, 1951). "Newspapers, Not Slicks, Best TV Material Source". Tampa Bay Times. p. 22. Retrieved June 20, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.