Family Theater
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Family Theater was an old-time radio show which aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System in the United States from February 13, 1947 to September 11, 1957.
The show was produced by Family Theater Productions, a film and radio studio extension of the Family Rosary Crusade founded by the Holy Cross Priest, Father Patrick Peyton, CSC, as a way to promote family prayer. The motto of the these Holy Cross Family Ministries is, "The family that prays together, stays together."
The program had no commercial sponsor, yet Fr. Peyton, CSC arranged for many of Hollywood's stars in film and radio at the time to appear. In its ten-year run, famous actors and actresses such as Jimmy Stewart, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Raymond Burr, Jane Wyatt, Charlton Heston, Bing Crosby, Jack Benny, Gene Kelly and Chuck Connors all appeared as announcers, narrators or stars.
In total, 540 episodes were produced. The program featured not only religious stories, but half-hour adaptations of literary works such as A Tale of Two Cities, Moby Dick and Don Quixote.
In 1951, while the radio version was still on the air, Family Theater moved to television, with the title re-spelled as Family Theatre. On TV, it was extended to one hour. Father Peyton also hosted the TV version, which ran for seven years. One of their episodes was called Hill Number One, famous for featuring an early appearance by James Dean (as John the Apostle - not John the Baptist, as is commonly thought). It combined a World War II story with the story of the Crucifixion of Christ, and has recently been released on DVD.
