Producers' Showcase (TV Series)

Live 90 minute productions were aired under this title every fourth Monday on NBC for three seasons. The productions were lavish and included many memorable performances by top stars. Peter Pan was presented on this series on March 7, 1955 with Mary Martin and Cyril Ritchard in the lead roles. So popular was this family show that it was repeated live on the same series less than a year later, January 9, 1956 with Martin and Ritchard repeating their roles. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall made their TV dramatic debuts in an adaptation of The Petrified Forest which also starred Henry Fonda. Thornton Wilder's Our Town had been adapted for television on Robert Montgomery Presents in 1950, but the musical version of the play that aired on Producers Showcase in 1955 is the best remembered TV version of this classic. It starred Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint, with Frank Sinatra as the stage manager! singing most of the songs, including "Love and Marriage" which became a big hit for Sinatra. The range of material was vast, Margot Fonteyn and Michael Somes starred in two ballets, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. Romeo and Juliet was presented with Claire Bloom, Paul Rogers and John Neville heading the cast. Frederic March, Claire Trevor and Geraldine Fitzgerald starred in an adaptation of Dodsworth. The most unusual telecast in the series, because of its contrast to the general tone of the show, was probably the premiere of Wide Wide World which enabled the audience to see live entertainment from three countries, the United States, Canada, and Mexico, on the same show, it was the first inter-American telecast in the history of television. Producer's Showcase won an Emmy in 1955 as Show of the Year and Fred Coe won as the Producer of the year for Producer's Showcase.