Kraft Television Theatre
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Kraft Television Theatre was an American TV drama/anthology television program that began May 7, 1947 on NBC, airing at 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings until December of that year. In January 1948, it moved to 9pm on Wednesdays, continuing in that timeslot until 1958. Initially produced by the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, the live hour-long series offered television plays with new stories and new characters each week. [1]
Beginning October 1953, ABC also telecast Kraft Television Theatre, a separate series created to promote Kraft's new Cheez Whiz product, telecast on Thursday evenings at 9:30pm until January 1955.
A prestige show for NBC, it launched the careers of more than a few actors, directors and playwrights. Actors on the series included James Dean, Colleen Dewhurst, Anne Francis, Lee Grant, Helen Hayes, Jack Lemmon, Grace Kelly, Jack Klugman, Cloris Leachman, John Newland, Paul Newman, Leslie Nielsen, Anthony Perkins, Lee Remick, George C. Scott, Rod Steiger and Joanne Woodward. Announcers for the show were Ed Herlihy (1947-55) and Charles Stark (1955). [2]
Directors for the series included George Roy Hill, Fielder Cook and Sidney Lumet, and the many contributing writers included Rod Serling and JP Miller. Serling won an Emmy for scripting Patterns (1956), the best remembered episode of the series. The drama had such an impact that it made television history by staging a second live encore performance two weeks later and was developed as a feature film, also titled Patterns.
In April 1958, Kraft sold the rights to David Susskind's Talent Associates, which revamped the series as Kraft Mystery Theatre. Under that title, it continued until September 1958. [1] Between 1947 and 1958, the series presented more than 650 comedies and dramas.
