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Overview

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.

Series Cast

  1. John Conte as Host

    John Conte

    Host

    579 Episodes

  2. Johnny Crawford as

    Johnny Crawford

    11 Episodes

  3. John Hoyt as

    John Hoyt

    9 Episodes

  4. Peter Hansen as

    Peter Hansen

    8 Episodes

  5. Patrick Macnee as

    Patrick Macnee

    6 Episodes

  6. Peggy McCay as

    Peggy McCay

    6 Episodes

  7. Zsa Zsa Gabor as

    Zsa Zsa Gabor

    5 Episodes

  8. John Abbott as

    John Abbott

    5 Episodes

  9. Irene Hervey as

    Irene Hervey

    5 Episodes

  10. View More

Full Cast & Crew

Last Season

Season 3

1957 • 135 Episodes

Season 3 of Matinee Theater premiered on October 15, 1957.

Course for Collision

(3x135, June 13, 1958) Season Finale

View All Seasons

Matinee Theater

Facts

Status Ended

Network

  • See more TV shows from NBC...

Type Scripted

Original Language English

Keywords

Content Score 

53

Still needs a little work.

Looks like we're missing the following data in en-US or en-US...

  • Created by credit
  • Regular cast members (4 or more)
  • Backdrop
  • Video

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