Sun 1 Mar 2015
A TV Mystery Review: SCHLITZ PLAYHOUSE “Rabbit Foot.”
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[12] Comments
“RABBIT FOOT.” An episode of Schlitz Playhouse, CBS, 9 July 1954 (Season 3, Episode 45). Stephen McNally, Paul Langton, Harry Shannon. Screenplay: Lawrence L. Goldman. Director: Christian Nyby.
When the series went into syndication, the Schlitz had to go, so they called it Herald Playhouse, under which guise this episode ended up on a DVD of old television mysteries from Alpha Video.
What’s remarkable, something that I didn’t realize before, is that Schlitz Playhouse was on CBS for eight years, first at 60 minutes, then 30, then alternating with Lux Playhouse for its final season. If I added up the numbers correctly, there were nearly 350 episodes in all.
I wonder where that puts it in the ranking of longest-running anthology series? It’s a lot of different sets, different actors, and a brand new script from scratch every week. I know there had to be some comedies and straight dramas in the mix, but I imagine a good percentage of the episodes were crime-oriented, such as this one.
Everyone involved with this episode had long careers in movies and on TV, with the star, Stephen McNally, probably the most recognizable name today. But Harry Stanton has the almost unique distinction of being the only person involved in the making of both Citizen Kane and High Noon, being in the cast of each. (The other is William H. O’Brien, but he almost doesn’t count, since he was an uncredited member of the cast of each; in fact, almost his entire career was uncredited.)
I’ll leave you to check out the careers of the others in this particular cast. What caught my eye was the name of the scriptwriter, Lawrence L. Goldman, whose name came up on this blog as the author of Black Fire, one half of an Ace Double paperback that I reviewed here not too long ago.
I should say something about the story, which has only three sets, the couple of storefronts along the main street of a small southern town, inside the local police station, and a swamp somewhere outside of town, filled with bubbling quagmires and alligators, and when you see that at the beginning, I think you know immediately what the ending is going to be.
And you’d be right. A bedraggled stranger comes into town with a satchel of stolen bank loot, claiming to be a detective from a couple of towns over who has killed the real robber in the swamp. We the viewer sense something is wrong with the story right away, and with less than 30 minutes of running time, it doesn’t take the police chief and his second-in-command to catch on either. But they need proof, and by means of a lucky rabbit’s foot, prove it they do.
Not so lucky for the rabbit, of course. As the old saying goes, it never is.
March 3rd, 2015 at 4:03 pm
I haven’t had a lot of time to do the research, but one TV anthology series that might surpass SCHLITZ in terms of number of episodes is GE THEATER. IMDb says it was on for 10 years and 200 episodes, which doesn’t sound right, but then they go on to say Ronald Reagan hosted 261 of them, which sounds better.
I also have the feeling — more research needed — that Reagan did not begin as the host, so the total number of episodes may be significantly more than the 261 Reagan did.
LATER: From Wikipedia:
“The television version of the program, produced by MCA-TV/Revue, was broadcast every Sunday evening at 9:00pm, EST, beginning February 1, 1953, and ending May 27, 1962. Each of the estimated 209 television episodes was an adaptation of a novel, short story, play, film, or magazine fiction.”
But I think the 209 in this case refers to the number of existing shows.
March 3rd, 2015 at 4:52 pm
Nope. At least two series beat it in length.
MASTERPIECE THEATRE began on PBS in 1971. It has gotten name changes and split up since 2008, but even if you consider the current MASTERPIECE to be a different series the original lasted 37 years.
STUDIO ONE lasted from 1948 through 1958.
March 3rd, 2015 at 5:29 pm
According to IMDb (a qualification which should always be pointed out) there were 463 episodes of STUDIO ONE between 1948-1958, so Michael, you’re right about that, as always. I have never seen an episode of that series, I don’t know why, since it was on CBS, the local TV station when I was growing up. Maybe they preempted it for other programming, or I simply thought it was too “adult” for me. Perhaps something else a whole lot better was on opposite. An NBC station did start up a few years after the CBS station.
As for MASTERPIECE THEATER, with the long multi-part stories they showed, I’ve never thought of it as an anthology series, but of course it is.
March 3rd, 2015 at 5:50 pm
Okay, here is one someone may know the answer to, what was the last anthology series on network television (or at least up to now). My guess would be a Twilight Zone revival, but I don’t know if that is accurate.
March 3rd, 2015 at 6:13 pm
From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthology_series
I think all of the ones below are SF or horror. I hope I didn’t do this too fast. Did I miss any other recent ones?
Rod Serling’s Lost Classics (CBS, 1994)
Night Visions (Fox, 2001)
Masters of Science Fiction (ABC, 2007)
Fear Itself (NBC, 2008)
March 3rd, 2015 at 7:07 pm
It depends on how you define anthology series. Cinemax has FEMME FATALES that first aired in 2011.
But the new form of anthology series has each season rather than episode have its own story, location, cast, etc. There is FXX AMERICAN HORROR SHOW and FARGO. HBO has TRUE DETECTIVE.
As for the Big 4 I’d have to look harder. But CBS reality series UNDERCOVER BOSS would qualify.
March 3rd, 2015 at 7:18 pm
A lot of STUDIO ONE is on DVD.
My favorite episodes:
6-29-49 JUNE MOON Scr: Gerald Goode D: Walter Hart based on play by by Ring Lardner & George S. Kaufman
8-17-53 SENTENCE OF DEATH Scr: Adrian Spies D; Matt Harlib based on the 1948 short story by Thomas Walsh
11-30-53 CONFESSIONS OF A NERVOUS MAN W: Georg Axelrod D: Paul Nickell
5-31-54 THE DEATH AND LIFE OF LARRY BENSON W: Reginald Rose D: Paul Nickell
9-20-54 TWELVE ANGRY MEN W: Reginald Rose D: Franklin J. Schaffner
11-8-54 AN ALMANAC OF LIBERTY W: Reginald Rose D: Paul Nickell
5- 2-55 SUMMER PAVILION W: Gore Vidal D: Paul Nickell
1- 2-56 DINO W: Reginald Rose D: Paul Nickell
2-25, 3-4-57 THE DEFENDER W: Reginald Rose D: Robert Mulligan
March 3rd, 2015 at 7:27 pm
AN ALMANAC OF LIBERTY is an unpretentious looking TV play: 20 people having a 45 minute discussion in a single room.
It is one of the most gripping works I have ever seen.
March 3rd, 2015 at 8:26 pm
Thanks, Mike. As a teenager or younger at the time, these wouldn’t have appealed to me at all, even if they were on where or when I could see them. Definitely serious material meant for adults. I’ve just purchased a set of STUDIO ONE shows from a seller on Amazon.
March 4th, 2015 at 1:20 am
Michael,
By anthology I meant strictly the once Big Four and strictly fictional anthologies with no continuing cast other than a host. There are certainly a number of them on cable ranging from late nite fair like FEMME FATALES to FX AMERICAN HORROR with a largely revolving cast doing a new serial each season.
But for clarity I mean primetime, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW that are still broadcast free in local areas and not cable or sat dependent. The only one I can think of off hand was the Forrest Whitaker hosted short lived TWILIGHT ZONE revival.
I;m talking strictly about series like those mentioned above. KRAFT, FOUR STAR, DICK POWELL,OUTER LIMITS, TZ, BORIS KARLOFF’S THRILLER, CLIMAX, SUSPENSE, PLAYHOUSE 90, and so on.
In a sense even some series with revolving characters were anthology to the extent each episode was about the individuals in the story and not the series regulars. Most of the FBI episodes were like that with most of the hour devoted to the criminal guest star they were pursuing and Zimbalist and Reynolds only appearing for continuity.
March 4th, 2015 at 1:47 am
David,
I missed that TWILIGHT ZONE reboot in my Comment #5. Unfortunately it was included in Wikipedia’s umbrella listing for TWZ and all its offspring, and I didn’t check into it far enough.
In any case, the one you’re asking about, the one that Forrest Whitaker hosted was on UPN in 2002:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twilight_Zone_%282002_TV_series%29
March 4th, 2015 at 8:30 pm
10. David, I believe the last anthology to air on the Big Four was FEAR ITSELF (NBC June-July 2008).
The late 1980s was the last time the form was common on the major networks. This was before cable and a burst in syndication. Both were fond of horror/sf anthologies and cable offered the horror series more freedom to get as graphic as EC comic books from the 50s.
Even the 2002 TWILIGHT ZONE aired on cable (UPN).
The major networks did not abandon the form but LIFESTORIES (NBC, 1990) may have been the last to feature fiction (medical drama). Then reality programs hit and every network had its version of an anthology docudrama featuring reenactments.
Problems facing the Big 4 with anthologies included cost, high failure rate, even higher failure to reach enough episodes for syndication, and the need for 22-26 episodes a season (versus cable 8-13 episodes).
But the business model for all TV networks are changing. TV networks were created to distribute shows to the masses. But as the audience and the programs they want get closer the need for the middle man is fading.
Today, the Big 4 have its own production studios, its own cable networks, and finding the streaming business is hurting the syndication business as it is hurting DVDs. The anthology series continues to offer cable a better chance for success than it does the free TV networks.