Cosmopolitan Theatre
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Cosmopolitan Theatre is an American anthology series which aired on the DuMont Television Network from October 2, 1951, to December 25, 1951. The combined drug companies that sponsored the series not only canceled it but relinquished the time slot, citing budgetary problems. The trade publication Variety reported that the show had "some hefty ratings" and was "one of the more qualitative" programs on DuMont.
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.
Episode status
The program was broadcast live. If any episodes exist, they would be in the form of kinescope recordings.
Episodes
| Episode # | Episode title | Original airdate | Guest star(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-1 | "The Secret Front" | October 2, 1951 | Marsha Hunt, Kurt Katch, and Lee Tracy |
| 1-2 | "Be Just and Fear Not" | October 9, 1951 | Joseph Schildkraut and June Walker |
| 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. Writers of episodes included Richard Macauley and David Shaw.
The show replaced Cavalcade of Bands from 9 to 10 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesdays. It originated from WABD and was carried live to 14 stations with 10 more showing it via kinescope.
Critical response
In December 1951, critic John Crosby called Cosmopolitan Theatre "the Dumont network's most elaborate entry into the dramatic field". 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." 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."
See also
- List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network
- List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts
- 1951-52 United States network television schedule
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
- at IMDb