| Schlitz Playhouse of Stars | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Anthology |
| Composer(s) | Melvyn Lenard Paul Dunlap Stanley Wilson |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Nat Holt |
| Producer(s) | William Self Frank P. Rosenberg Jules Bricken |
| Editor(s) | Joseph Gluck Richard Belding Sam Gold George Amy Robert B. Warwick, Jr. |
| Location(s) | Revue Studios |
| Cinematography | George T. Clemens Russell Harlan |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Meridian Productions Revue Studios |
| Distributor | CBS Television Mill Creek Entertainment Studios USA Television |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS Television |
| Picture format | Black-and-white |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original run | October 5, 1951 – July 31, 1959 |
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, is a weekly CBS anthology television series, was telecast on Friday nights from 1951 until 1959. Offering both comedies and drama, the series was sponsored by Schlitz beer. The title was shortened to Schlitz Playhouse, beginning with the fall 1957 season.
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Initially, the show was broadcast live, but starting in the summer of 1953, some episodes were filmed in advance. Beginning with the 1956-57 season, all of the shows were filmed.
Between October 1951 and March 1952, the hour-long show was shown at 9pm. In April 1952, the running time was reduced from an hour to 30 minutes. The series moved to 9:30pm in the 1955 fall season.
Two episodes served as pilots for later NBC series: The Restless Gun with John Payne (March 29, 1957 pilot) and Tales of Wells Fargo with Dale Robertson. The Restless Gun pilot was based on the radio series The Six Shooter, and Payne's character had the same name, Britt Ponset, as the radio character; that name was changed to Vint Bonner when the actual series began.
For the 1958-59 season, the series alternated weeks with the Lux Playhouse.
Guest stars included the child actress Beverly Washburn, later on The New Loretta Young Show, who appeared in "The Closed Door" (1953) and "One Left Over" (1957).
Child actor Michael Winkelman, later of The Real McCoys, also appeared twice, as Joey Harlow in the 1955 episode "Fast Break" and as Jimmy Quinlin in the 1956 segment "Weapon of Courage."[1]
Dayton Lummis appeared as editor Cartwright in "The Last Pilot Schooner" and as Arthur Healy in "Ambitious Cop" (both 1955). Tyler MacDuff made his television debut in the 1954 episode "At the Natchez Inn". Phyllis Avery appeared six times, including the episodes "The Girl Who Scared Men Off" and "Bluebeard's Seventh Wife". Walter Coy appeared four times, including the role of Paul Hunter in "Fool Proof" in 1956.
In 1958 Paul Monash won an Emmy Award for Best Teleplay Writing - One Hour or Less for the episode The Lonely Wizard.[2]
Episodes of the series were rerun during the summer months under several titles. In 1958, repeats aired for two months as Adorn Playhouse. In 1960 and 1961, the summer reruns aired as Adventure Theater.[3]
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