Matinee Theater
Season 3 Episode 32 - The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
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 3
Father Come Home
60 min
Villa of the Angels
60 min
A Tone of Time
60 min
Almost Any Man Will Do
60 min
Sing for Me
60 min
Run for the Money
60 min
Lest We Forget
60 min
The Glass Hill
60 min
Out of the Frying Pan
60 min
The Last Stop
60 min
The Weak and the Strong
60 min
Nine-Finger Jack
60 min
Elementals
60 min
Plummer in Paradise
60 min
Something About a Dollar
60 min
Return in Winter
60 min
Grandmama and Grandfather
60 min
Aesop and Rhodope
60 min
All Over the World
60 min
The Ransom of Sigmund Freud
60 min
Iris
60 min
Remember Me Kindly
60 min
The Embassy House
60 min
Witness to Murder
60 min
The Johnson House
60 min
Cadenza
60 min
Green Shores
60 min
A Question of Balance
60 min
Daniel Webster and the Sea Serpent
60 min
The Conversation Tables
60 min
Out of My Darkness
60 min
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
60 min
The Broom and the Groom
60 min
A Cloud for Jeni
60 min
The Consul
60 min
The Old Friend
60 min
Give Me a Wand
60 min
The Sure Thing
60 min
Dark of the Moon
60 min
The Giver and the Gift
60 min
No Time for Comedy
60 min
Gentleman of Fortune
60 min
The Gentleman Caller
60 min
Tender Leaves
60 min
In 25 Words or Less
60 min
Sara Crewe
60 min
Amahl and the Night Visitors
60 min
The Little Minister
60 min
Daughter of Kings
60 min
The Survival Kit
60 min
The House with the Golden Street
60 min
The Europeans
60 min
The Collected Letters of Mr. Sage
60 min
Two-Picture Deal
60 min
The Great Obstacle Courtship
60 min
A Chance to Die
60 min
Home on the Range
60 min
The Makropoulos Secret
60 min
More Than a Man
60 min
Something Stolen, Something New
60 min
Thunderbolt
60 min
Daisy Mayne
60 min
The Man Who Wanted to Hate
60 min
The Golden Fleecing
60 min
Forever and Ever
60 min
Decision
60 min
Solider's Boy
60 min
The Man with Pointed Toes
60 min
Love Out of Town
60 min
Cave-In
60 min
The Iceman
60 min
The Long, Long Laugh
60 min
Man Without a Country
60 min
The Odd Ones
60 min
Monsieur Beaucaire
60 min
Life Upon the Wicked Stage
60 min
Without Fear or Favor
60 min
The Third Person
60 min
Eden End
60 min
The 10th Muse
60 min
Goodbye on Thursday
60 min
Heart's Desire
60 min
Marriage of Convenience
60 min
The Suicide Club
60 min
The 65th Floor
60 min
The Hickory Heart
60 min
The Devil's Violin
60 min
Wednesday's Child
60 min
Vigilante
60 min
The Prophet Hosea
60 min
Mrs. Moonlight
60 min
With Love We Live
60 min
You and I
60 min
Career Angel
60 min
Contingent Fire
60 min
Anxious Night
60 min
On Approval
60 min
Dandy Dick
60 min
Hush, Mahala, Hush
60 min
O'Rourke's House
60 min
The Alleyway
60 min
The Vagabond
60 min
The Silver Spider
60 min
Design for Glory
60 min
The Inspector General
60 min
The Two Mrs. Carrolls
60 min
The Velvet Glove
60 min
Death Takes a Holiday
60 min
Man of the House
60 min
A Case of Fear
60 min
Walk in the Sky
60 min
The Canterville Ghost
60 min
Found Money
60 min
Washington Whispers Money
60 min
A Boy Grows Up
60 min
Phony Venus
60 min
Some Blessed People
60 min
The Quiet Street
60 min
The Quest of Quesnay
60 min
Angel Street
60 min
The Cause
60 min
Much Ado About Nothing, Part 1
60 min
Much Ado About Nothing, Part 2
60 min
Day of Discoveries
60 min
The Young and the Fair
60 min
The Riddle of Mary Murray
60 min
Button Button
60 min
The End of the Season
60 min
Look Out for John Tucker
60 min
The Road to Recovery
60 min
The Nightbird's Crying
60 min
The Story of Marcia Gordon
60 min
Town in Turmoil
60 min
Washington Square
60 min
Course for Collision
60 min
