Matinee Theater
Season 2 Episode 138 - The Sport
Matinee Theater is an American anthology series that aired on NBC during the Golden Age of Television, from 1955 to 1958. The series, which ran daily in the afternoon, was frequently live. It was produced by Albert McCleery, Darrell Ross, George Cahan and Frank Price with executive producer George Lowther. McCleery had previously produced the live series Cameo Theatre which introduced to television the concept of theater-in-the-round, TV plays staged with minimal sets. Jim Buckley of the Pewter Plough Playhouse recalled: When Al McCleery got back to the States, he originated a most ambitious theatrical TV series for NBC called Matinee Theater: to televise five different stage plays per week live, airing around noon in order to promote color TV to the American housewife as she labored over her ironing. Al was the producer. He hired five directors and five art directors. Richard Bennett, one of our first early presidents of the Pewter Plough Corporation, was one of the directors and I was one of the art directors and, as soon as we were through televising one play, we had lunch and then met to plan next week’s show. That was over 50 years ago, and I’m trying to think; I believe the TV art director is his own set decorator —yes, of course! It had to be, since one of McCleery’s chief claims to favor with the producers was his elimination of the setting per se and simply decorating the scene with a minimum of props. It took a bit of ingenuity.
Episodes in Season 2
The House Off Fifth Avenue
60 min
Yankee Doodler
60 min
The Pink Hippopotamus
60 min
September Tide
60 min
Are You Listening?
60 min
Ladies' Maid Bell
60 min
100 Red Convertibles
60 min
The Ivy Curtain
60 min
The Gramercy Ghost
60 min
Lovers
60 min
Reach for the Stars
60 min
I Like It Here
60 min
A Question of Balance
60 min
The Marriage Royal
60 min
Mad Money
60 min
A Letter from Johnny Brock
60 min
Uncle Harry
60 min
At Mrs. Leland's
60 min
The House Next Door
60 min
Alumni Reunion
60 min
Sound of Fear
60 min
Late Date
60 min
Pride and Prejudice
60 min
Pearls of Sheba
60 min
The Stamp Caddy
60 min
The Egotist
60 min
The Family Man
60 min
Sight Unseen
60 min
The Eye of the Storm
60 min
The Man in the Seven League Boots
60 min
The Woman Across the Hall
60 min
And Then There Were Three
60 min
Shake the Stars Down
60 min
Horse Power
60 min
Without Sanction
60 min
The Outing
60 min
Thank You, Edmondo
60 min
The Tell-Tale Heart
60 min
Strangers on a Honeymoon
60 min
A Dram of Poison
60 min
The Shining Hour
60 min
Love, Marriage and Five Thousand Dollars
60 min
Step Into Darkness
60 min
Candle in the Dark
60 min
Savrola
60 min
Table Set at Night
60 min
Madame de Treymes
60 min
The People vs. John Tarr
60 min
The Location of Roycemore College
60 min
Dracula
60 min
Julie
60 min
The Empty Nest
60 min
Spare Your Pity
60 min
The Last Leaf
60 min
Therese
60 min
Julie
60 min
Refugee
60 min
Jenny Kissed Me
60 min
Miracle at Carville
60 min
The Upper Hand
60 min
Love is a Locksmith
60 min
Captain Brassbound's Conversion
60 min
The Wisp End
60 min
Prominent Citizens
60 min
Head of the Family
60 min
Password
60 min
Late Love
60 min
Eugenie Grandet
60 min
Cold Christmas
60 min
Little Women
60 min
For Sweetheart, Wife or Mother
60 min
Smilin' Through
60 min
Strong Medicine
60 min
Everything's Relative
60 min
Miss Morissa
60 min
The Scandalous Priest
60 min
Dark Victory
60 min
The Lonely Look
60 min
The Sudden Truth
60 min
The Man in the Half-Moon
60 min
The Hex
60 min
If This Be Error
60 min
On the Trail of the Kingsfield
60 min
Here We Are
60 min
Arms and the Man
60 min
Home is the Hunted
60 min
Madam Ada
60 min
Night Train
60 min
This Language
60 min
The 13th Crypt
60 min
Mr. Pirn Passes By
60 min
Anything for a Laugh
60 min
Realms of Gold
60 min
Deacon of Oak Ridge
60 min
Accent on Youth
60 min
Three Kids
60 min
Frankenstein
60 min
The Most Dangerous Man
60 min
One
60 min
The Importance of Being Earnest
60 min
The Brat's House
60 min
Mr. Todd
60 min
A Case of Pure Fiction
60 min
The Master Builder
60 min
The Others
60 min
The Remarkable Mr. Jerome
60 min
Bobbie
60 min
The Hickory Limb
60 min
The Bridge
60 min
The Serpent's Tooth
60 min
Voyage to Mandok
60 min
The Day Before the Wedding
60 min
Queen of Spades
60 min
Shadow and Substance
60 min
You Touched Me
60 min
The Hemlock Cup
60 min
Papa's Wife
60 min
The Prizewinner
60 min
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
60 min
Yesterday's Magic
60 min
Tongue of Silver
60 min
Peaceable Kingdom
60 min
The 19th Hole
60 min
Wedding in the Family
60 min
The Ways of Courage
60 min
Journey Into Darkness
60 min
Barricade at the Big Black
60 min
The Vicarious Years
60 min
The First Year
60 min
End of the Rope
60 min
We Won't Be Any Trouble
60 min
The Daughter of Mata Hari
60 min
Talk You of Killing
60 min
The Pursuit of Happiness
60 min
Wuthering Heights [restaged]
60 min
Long Distance
60 min
The Point of Cleaning
60 min
The Sport
60 min
The Flashing Stream
60 min
Thread That Runs So True
60 min
Jamie Picks a Wife
60 min
Blind Man's Bluff
60 min
The Story of Joseph
60 min
Pushover
60 min
Ashes in the Wind
60 min
A Hat, a Coat, a Glove
60 min
The Professional
60 min
Guardians of the Temple
60 min
The Short Safari of B'wana Ben
60 min
Church on Monday
60 min
The Gioconda Smile
60 min
Show of Strength
60 min
Make Believe Affair
60 min
Hymn to the Dedicated
60 min
Thursday's Child
60 min
Big-Hearted Herbert
60 min
The Embattled Maiden
60 min
The Middle-Aged Freshman
60 min
Best Friend in Town
60 min
Jane Eyre
60 min
Starmaster
60 min
Aftermath
60 min
Guest at the Embassy
60 min
Second-Hand Lover
60 min
The Avenging of Anne Leete
60 min
The Lonesome Husband
60 min
Puzzle in the Stars
60 min
The Gwendolyn Harleth Story
60 min
The Girls Named Almaya
60 min
The Dream That Was Fixed
60 min
A Growing Wonder
60 min
Bachelor Father
60 min
The Golden Door
60 min
Rain in the Morning
60 min
Eye of the Storm
60 min
Rich Man, Poor Man
60 min
The Party Dress
60 min
White-Headed Boy
60 min
Liza
60 min
Pigeons and People
60 min
Things Hoped For
60 min
Mr. Wendigo
60 min
Stopover
60 min
A Light in the Sky
60 min
The Charmer
60 min
The Brief Candle
60 min
Too Much Johnson
60 min
Money in the Bank
60 min
Trouble Traine
60 min
The Last Voyage
60 min
The Price of Scandal
60 min
But When She Was Bad
60 min
The Fable of Harry
60 min
Portrait in Mini
60 min
The Cask of Amontillado
60 min
The Richest Man in the World
60 min
The Last Hour
60 min
The First Captain
60 min
Shuttered Hearts
60 min
One for All
60 min
Call It a Day
60 min
Ann Veronica
60 min
Boys Will Be Men
60 min
The Forbidden Search
60 min
The Fawn with Crooked Teeth
60 min
The Rose Bush
60 min
Finley's Fan Club
60 min
Laugh a Little Tear
60 min
The Invisible Man
60 min
Where Angels Fear
60 min
First Love
60 min
The Last Survivors
60 min
Time for Action
60 min
Haven's End
60 min
Heed the Falling Sparrow
60 min
The President's Child Bride
60 min
Now or Never
60 min
Awakening
60 min
Angel Face
60 min
The Star Sapphire
60 min
Women Have Ways
60 min
Jewel Boy
60 min
Molly Morgan
60 min
Woman Alone
60 min
Among Strangers
60 min
The Adjustable Mr. Willing
60 min
Freedom Comes Later
60 min
In the Fog
60 min
Son of 37 Fathers
60 min
Hand Me Down
60 min
Emma
60 min
Personal Equation
60 min
Night Cry
60 min
The Mysterious Disappearance
60 min
The Impersonal Touch
60 min
The Story of Sarah
60 min
The Waiting Swan
60 min
One Mummy Too Many
60 min
Hearthstones
60 min
The Reluctant Heiress
60 min
