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| Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? | |
| Posted by: Teacher64 06:03 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| Much of that theater that was broadcast on TV in the early days still exists. You can watch a lot of it at the Paley Media Center. Helen Hayes (the First Lady of the American Stage) in "The Skin of Our Teeth", "Arsenic and Old Lace", "Mrs. McThing" (just shortly after it closed on Broadway), "Mary of Scotland", and "Victor Regina" (a role she had played on the stage). And let's compare Hayes in "Regina" to the great Julie Harris in the same role, also done for TV. Harris also did TV productions of "The Heiress", Nora in "A Doll's House", and as Joan of Arc in "The Lark". It was filmed for TV. "Harvey" (with Art Carney or Jimmy Stewart, take your pick), "The Member of the Wedding", "All the Way Home" all famous plays that were done on TV back in 50s, You want musicals? How about Robert Goulet as Billy Bigelow in "Carousel"? How about "Anything Goes" with Ethel Merman, "Annie Get Your Gun" with Mary Martin and John Raitt, "Bloomer Girl", "High Button Shoes" with Nanette Fabray recreating her Broadway role, "Brigadoon" with Goulet, Sally Ann Howes, and Peter Falk, "Kiss Me Kate" with Alfred Drake, "Wonderful Town" with Rosalind Russell, "Meet Me in St. Louis", "Kismet" and "Damn Yankees"? No, these are not movies, these were specially filmed TV productions. The Lincoln Center archives were never meant for Broadcast, but these were. These were made for presentation on TV so why not dig them out now, clear up the rights and present these? |
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| re: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? | |
| Posted by: PlayStu (playbilstu@aol.com) 09:51 am EDT 06/29/20 | |
| In reply to: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? - Teacher64 06:03 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| How about clips from the Tony's ? I tape all Tony shows from 1984 on. In sure more people would love to tune in. Come on PBS. If Lincoln Center is in need of donations why don't they televise their theatre archives? | |
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| Recent Chicago Tribune article: 'Ed Sullivan Show' videos finally hit the web | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 07:36 am EDT 06/29/20 | |
| In reply to: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? - Teacher64 06:03 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| An article with this title appeared in the Chicago Tribune last week. Not much specificity other than statements by the president and the CEO of Universal Music Entertainment that thousands of clips featuring performances from Broadway shows and opera will become available over the next 3 years. Does anyone here know more about this? | |
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| re: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? | |
| Posted by: JDKlain 08:57 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
| In reply to: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? - Teacher64 06:03 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| Both E1 Entertainment ("What Makes Sammy Run?" and "Evening Primrose" and a boxed set of Studio One dramas )and VAI ("One Touch of Venus," "Bloomer Girl," "Peter Pan," "Annie Get Your Gun," "Desert Song") did clear the rights and put several of the TV classic out commercially on DVD. They are not big sellers and it takes a great deal of effort. I have been involved with helping the companies put them out, but E1 stopped releasing classic TV). I have also worked with TCM which aired the "lost" "Glass Menagerie" with Shirley Booth from 1966 and DuPont Show of the Month: "Wuthering Heights" (with Richard Burton and Rosemary Harris). It is time consuming, sometimes expensive and as I said the audience isn't so large. By the way, most of the programs listed above were aired live and preserved in black and white on kinescope ("Damn Yankees" and the Goulet musicals were on tape) |
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| re: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? | |
| Posted by: Pokernight 08:08 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
| In reply to: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? - Teacher64 06:03 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| I'd like to add all those wonderful "David Susskind Presents" that I watched on channel 13 in New York as a young adult. | |
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| re: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? | |
| Last Edit: writerkev 05:50 am EDT 06/29/20 | |
| Posted by: writerkev 05:49 am EDT 06/29/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? - Pokernight 08:08 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| For anyone who subscribes to BroadwayHD, may of these old shows are available. Lee J. Cobb and Mildred Dunnock in “Death of a Salesman,” Robards and Dewhurst in “A Moon for the Misbegotten” and many more... | |
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| re: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? | |
| Posted by: showtunetrivia 01:08 pm EDT 06/29/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? - writerkev 05:49 am EDT 06/29/20 | |
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| Yes, Broadway HD has most of the titles in the Broadway Theatre Archives series, featuring plays (and a few musicals) that aired on different PBS programs from 1960-1990, originally released on VHS and DVD by Kultur International. They also have some of the BBC-Time Life Shakespeare, some Globe and Stratford Festival broadcasts, too. My trouble with Broadway HD is I have nearly every title they offer, and the ones I don’t have, I’m not excited enough to want. Laura, who still owes the Plumbers of Doom way too much money...and still has the holes in her house, nearly two months later... |
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| re: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? | |
| Posted by: larry13 06:16 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
| In reply to: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? - Teacher64 06:03 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| I'm with you on all of this. I fear, however, that'clear up the rights" would be a mighty big proposition. I'd add to the Julie Harris list the "Anastasia" with Lynn Fontanne in her very last performance. And "All the Way Home" didn't open on B'way. until 1960, so the TV versions weren't done until the '70s and '80s, not that I wouldn't want to see those. |
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| re: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 08:11 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? - larry13 06:16 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| "I fear, however, that 'clear up the rights' would be a mighty big proposition." Yes, that was my thought as well. |
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| re: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 08:37 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? - Michael_Portantiere 08:11 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| My thought, too, yet some of them turned up on cable in the '80s, '90s and early 2000s. | |
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| re: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 09:50 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? - AlanScott 08:37 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| "My thought, too, yet some of them turned up on cable in the '80s, '90s and early 2000s." Yes, of course. I've often wondered if the rights are just much easier to secure for some shows than others, and why that would be. Or maybe it's just that some people put in the effort to clear the rights for certain shows, and in other cases people just didn't think it was worth the effort for the presumably small amount of money they would make through video sales of shows like that. |
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| re: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? | |
| Posted by: ryhog 10:56 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? - Michael_Portantiere 09:50 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| I think there are several answers, but one is that there is a cost (both in dollars and effort) and it may not be worthwhile financially for shows of limited appeal beyond these walls. It is also true that some people make things harder than others. On a side note, I was talking to someone the other day who observed that it seemed like the era of free stuff is starting to subside, not just for rights but also talent. As work starts to crank up, we will probably see less and less inclination, and we will also see smaller audiences and smaller donations etc etc. It was nice while it lasted, and it served many valuable purposes, but "sunrise doesn't last all morning, a cloudburst doesn't last all day ... all things must pass." :-) |
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| re: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? | |
| Last Edit: PlayWiz 06:31 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
| Posted by: PlayWiz 06:26 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? - larry13 06:16 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| I'd love to see it, especially on something like Turner Classic Movies, PBS (more than they occasionally have done) or other kind of alternative channel. I don't think network tv or some other stations, a lot of whose viewers attend Marvel and superhero films being churned out nowadays, might want to hunker down for a few hours with the likes of Julie Harris or Lynn Fontanne, unfortunately. I don't even know, outside of holiday time, how well Mary Martin in "Peter Pan" might go over, though perhaps their parents or grandparents might encourage viewing it to their progeny. | |
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| re: Mary Martin in "Peter Pan" | |
| Posted by: Dale 07:21 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
| In reply to: re: Why not rebroadcast some of the great theater on TV from the 50s and 60s? - PlayWiz 06:26 pm EDT 06/28/20 | |
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| That program didn't have ad breaks every ten minutes last the last "Peter Pan" on NBC. A half hour show like "The Big Bang Theory" runs 21 minute or so and we end up with almost ten minute of commercials. | |
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