Mystery Hal Roach TV show. "The Actors' Hour" (1954)

[Darren]

Maybe I have been looking in the wrong places but I have a film print of an
hour long TV show called "The Actors' Hour."

Kodak date code is 1954. Main titles say this.

Hal Roach Presents...

Fay Bainter

in "The Actors' Hour"

with Onslow Stevens as her Guest Star

I bought this on eBay about two years ago because Lon Chaney Jr. was in it.
However, it is just a clip from OF MICE AND MEN.

I get stumped on identifying my silent nitrate at times but surprised that I
can't find anything on this show on the internet.

Would anyone know what I have here? IMDB.com is of no help. There are no
copyright record for this show at http://www.copyright.gov/records/

This show presents stage actors in several short stories. Most of the
acting is in the Grand Manner. Definately a TV show of its own time.

Here is a folder with frame closeups including some of the credits.
http://www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com/ebay/actors_playhouse/


Darren

[Perry Shields]

Onslow Stevens was quite a respected talent. He was a director at the Long
Beach Playhouse here in California in the 1930s. I believe he may have come
out of the Pasadena Playhouse, home to many, many actors. I thought he gave
a great performance as Dr. Edelmann in "House of Dracula."

Perry

Post by Darren
Maybe I have been looking in the wrong places but I have a film print of an
hour long TV show called "The Actors' Hour."
Kodak date code is 1954. Main titles say this.
Hal Roach Presents...
Fay Bainter
in "The Actors' Hour"
with Onslow Stevens as her Guest Star
I bought this on eBay about two years ago because Lon Chaney Jr. was in it.
However, it is just a clip from OF MICE AND MEN.
I get stumped on identifying my silent nitrate at times but surprised that I
can't find anything on this show on the internet.
Would anyone know what I have here? IMDB.com is of no help. There are no
copyright record for this show at http://www.copyright.gov/records/
This show presents stage actors in several short stories. Most of the
acting is in the Grand Manner. Definately a TV show of its own time.
Here is a folder with frame closeups including some of the credits.
http://www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com/ebay/actors_playhouse/
Darren

[Hal Erickson]

This "omnibus" program appears to be a couple of episodes of an unsold
anthology series, linked with highlights from OF MICE AND MEN and scenes
from a late-1940s half-hour film about Washington at Valley Forge. I don't
know the title of the last-named film, but I vividly remember seeing it
during an 8th grade history class over four decades ago, and being excited
when the name 'Hal Roach' popped up in the credits (even then I was a rabid
L&H fan). The Washington film could possibly have been made for in-class
educational purposes, or maybe it was one of those oddball shorts that Roach
was turning out for future TV play when he revitalized his studio after the
war.

Incidentally, Onslow Stevens was kept busy on the Hal Roach lot in the early
1950s as star of the Roland Reed-produced religious series THIS IS THE LIFE.
When this series became an anthology, reruns of the episodes starring
Stevens as the head of a middle-class household were rerun as THE FISHER
FAMILY.

--Hal E

Post by Perry Shields
Onslow Stevens was quite a respected talent. He was a director at the
Long Beach Playhouse here in California in the 1930s. I believe he may
have come out of the Pasadena Playhouse, home to many, many actors. I
thought he gave a great performance as Dr. Edelmann in "House of Dracula."
Perry

Post by Darren
Maybe I have been looking in the wrong places but I have a film print of an
hour long TV show called "The Actors' Hour."
Kodak date code is 1954. Main titles say this.
Hal Roach Presents...
Fay Bainter
in "The Actors' Hour"
with Onslow Stevens as her Guest Star
I bought this on eBay about two years ago because Lon Chaney Jr. was in it.
However, it is just a clip from OF MICE AND MEN.
I get stumped on identifying my silent nitrate at times but surprised that I
can't find anything on this show on the internet.
Would anyone know what I have here? IMDB.com is of no help. There are no
copyright record for this show at http://www.copyright.gov/records/
This show presents stage actors in several short stories. Most of the
acting is in the Grand Manner. Definately a TV show of its own time.
Here is a folder with frame closeups including some of the credits.
http://www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com/ebay/actors_playhouse/
Darren

[j***@joelibby.net]

Very interesting find! It's been a long time since I've seen HOUSE OF
DRACULA, but I do recall Stevens bringing some life to the film as the
unfortunate doc.

That kitchen set looks like the same one that was used for an episode
of LIFE WITH BUSTER KEATON. That could just be a similar-looking set,
or did I read somewhere that that show was also filmed at the Roach
Studios?'


Joe Libby
www.joelibby.net

[Hal Erickson]

Post by j***@joelibby.net
That kitchen set looks like the same one that was used for an episode
of LIFE WITH BUSTER KEATON. That could just be a similar-looking set,
or did I read somewhere that that show was also filmed at the Roach
Studios?'

I think the Keaton series was filmed at Nassour Studios. It was the Abbott
and Costello Show that was definitely filmed at Roach.

BTW, I recently got hold of a bunch of episode of the quasi-historical drama
series YOU ARE THERE, narrated by Walter Cronkite. Though the Roach Studios
didn't receiven on screen credit, much of the personnel (McClure Capps,
Sidney Van Keuren etc.) was the same, so it looks like the show used the
Roach facilities once it moved from New York (except in a few later
episodes, which seem to have been shot at 20th Century-Fox). This means that
Roach was
employing blacklisted writers, who famously used pseudonyms on YOU ARE
THERE. Good for him!

--Hal E

[Darren]

Hal,

All the segments, except for the OF MIC AND MEN scene were produced for the
show.

IIRC, most of the lead cast members appeared out of character with Fay
Bainter in the segment introductions.


Darren

[j***@joelibby.net]

Thanks for the clarification, Hal. Yeah, I must have been confusing
Buster's show with A&C's. So I guess the kitchen set just looks
similar to the one on Buster's show. But it does look verrry similar!

Joe L.

Post by Hal Erickson

Post by j***@joelibby.net
That kitchen set looks like the same one that was used for an episode
of LIFE WITH BUSTER KEATON. That could just be a similar-looking set,
or did I read somewhere that that show was also filmed at the Roach
Studios?'

I think the Keaton series was filmed at Nassour Studios. It was the Abbott
and Costello Show that was definitely filmed at Roach.

[Ray Faiola]

Roach did a lot of pilots in the 50's. I also have a print of ACTOR'S
HOUR. Another one I have is BOTSFORD'S BEANERY starring Don Barclay!

[b***@earthlink.net]

In 1980 a TV station in Massachusetts picked up a package called "Hal
Roach Presents," which turned out to be an omnibus series of half-
hour, stand-alone shows that were probably pilots (Jack Carson in
ARROYO, for example). I'm surprised the show was even in circulation
this late!