Sun 12 Jun 2016
A TV Series Review by Michael Shonk: GEORGE SANDERS MYSTERY THEATRE (1957).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[19] Comments
by Michael Shonk
GEORGE SANDERS MYSTERY THEATRE (aka MYSTERY WRITERS THEATRE). NBC; June 22, 1957 to September 14, 1957. Screen Gems / Bischoff-Diamond Productions. Presented by George Sanders.
During the days of radio and early television the anthology series was very popular. There were a seemingly endless number of the genre from ALCOA PREMIERE to WAY OUT or better remembered from ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS to TWILIGHT ZONE. Virtually all had the same format: a famous actor or writer/producer of the show would talk directly to the audience introducing the story to follow. If an actor were the host, he or she would act in an occasional episode.
Most of the episodes of the majority of these anthologies were as forgettable as the series themselves. Yet occasionally an episode would hold a surprise. There are currently two episodes of GEORGE SANDERS MYSTERY THEATRE on YouTube. Each features a different series title and premise for the short-lived anthology.
“And The Birds Still Sing†is a forgotten adaptation of a Craig Rice short story featuring John J. Malone, with Malone forced to adopt the alias of Francis Parnell. This episode also featured the series original name MYSTERY WRITERS THEATRE and its original premise, to adapt the work of the members of Mystery Writers Association of America (“Billboard†December 3, 1955).
The Mystery Writers of America was and is a non-profit organization of writers. The group is best known for the Edgar Awards, but also helped its members’ work get adapted for radio (MYSTERY HALL OF FAME) and TV (THE WEB, CBS).
“And The Birds Still Sing.†(June 29, 1957) Teleplay by Gene Wang, based on a story by Craig Rice as published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Directed by Gerd Oswald. CAST: John Archer, Mae Clark, Tristram Coffin, and John Beradino. *** A femme fatale hires lawyer Francis Parnell for reasons unknown. When Parnell finds her murdered he is quick to find a new client and the killer.
I have not read the source material, a short story published in EQMM (December, 1952), but the Gene Wang adaptation captures Rice’s style well with an odd murder and odder characters and a twist at the end that is pure Malone.
Wang had experience with Malone as he wrote the best adaption of the character, the summer 1951 NBC radio series starring George Petrie as Malone. You can find my earlier review of the radio series here. (Follow the link.)
The episode’s host segment by George Sanders has its moments as he introduced not only the story but also the MWA club.
There is no doubt lawyer Francis Parnell was really Malone. Both being cocky, broke, cliché-quoting lawyers who spend their days in a local bar and are more interested in a paying client that they can get off than in justice.
Sadly, actor John Archer was the weakest part of the episode. He lacked the charm and comedic timing to make Malone the lovable anti-hero Rice created. As to be expected, the production values were low and left it all with a stagey feel.
Something happened during the series production. There were changes in the fourth episode “You Don’t Live Here.†Gone is the title card for the Mystery Writers of America along with any mention of the MWA and its club. In its place is the series title THE GEORGE SANDERS MYSTERY THEATRE, and the host segments shifted focus away from the MWA to George Sanders persona and the episode at hand, even with Sanders wandering around the story’s location rather than the MWA club. Gone also was an adaption of a MWA members’ work and in its place was a TV original story by relative unknown Eugene Francis. The series now – at least for this episode – was just another wanna-be ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS.
“You Don’t Live Here.†(July 13, 1957) Written by Eugene Francis. Produced and directed by Fletcher Markle. CAST: Marion Ross, Alex Gerry and Peter Thompson. *** Returning from a visit with her sick Mother a newlywed discovers her world gone – others now live in her home, her husband has vanished as if he never existed, and her landlord and neighbor claim they have never met her.
The problem with these GASLIGHT-like plots they are always too unnecessarily complex to be believable. The episode tries to keep us guessing who is telling the truth but with the thirty-minute time limit we never get to know the characters well enough to care.
The George Sanders bits are embarrassingly bad as he hams it up even beyond his usual excesses.
The series has an interesting backstory. According to “Billboard†(July 14, 1956), NBC had bought MYSTERY WRITERS THEATRE from Screen Gems with plans to air the series later. “Broadcasting†(August 13, 1956) noted NBC did not plan to air the series in the fall of 1956-57 season but instead hold the series called GEORGE SANDERS SHOW for the 1957-58 season.
From “Broadcasting†(September 17, 1956), NBC buys Screen Gems series GEORGE SANDERS MYSTERY THEATRE, but only after Screen Gems agreed to share the profit from the series with the network. NBC would get 25% of the profits from the airing of the series in the U.S. and Canada as well as a rerun share.
This was a time when the networks sold time slots to advertising agencies and sponsors. “Broadcasting†(May 13, 1957) reported Pabst (beer) bought thirteen weeks of GEORGE SANDERS THEATRE to run during the summer on Saturday at 9pm- 9:30pm.
But this could only last for thirteen weeks as NBC had sold the time slot (Saturday at 9pm) for the fall to ad agency Liggett & Myers for sponsors Chesterfield (cigarettes) and Max Factor of Hollywood for the TV series PANIC.
So what happened to the MWA during this series? The episode indexes available for this series show the series was a mix of adaptations and originals.
“Broadcasting†(April 30, 1956) mentioned an episode of MYSTERY WRITERS THEATRE was shown to four hundred MWA members and their guests during the Edgar Allan Poe Awards on April 19, 1956. This means at least one episode was done before the anthology series was bought by NBC in July 1956 and not aired until June 1957. Could the MWA episodes been shot in summer of 1956 and the original stories episodes shot later when it was known NBC wanted it only as a replacement series?
Why was Malone’s name changed for “And The Birds Still Sing� ABC had the TV rights for Malone for the 1951-52 TV series but apparently did not keep them after cancelling THE AMAZING MR. MALONE. The series last episode aired March 10, 1952.
BONUS RESEARCH – CRAIG RICE THEATRE:
“Billboard†(June 26, 1952) reported CRAIG RICE THEATRE planned to go into production in August 1952 for Eagle-Lion Studio in Hollywood. Tony London would produce the half-hour series based on the work of Craig Rice. Sam Neuman would adapt the stories and direct. July 14, 1952 “Broadcasting†magazine added Tony London (FRANK MERRIWELL) had acquired the TV-Film rights to 352 story properties by Craig Rice. “Billboard†(September 6, 1952) listed CRAIG RICE THEATRE available for syndication but no pilot had yet been filmed.
Skip ahead to 1954, “Billboard†(September 27, 1954) CRAIG RICE was still a possible project with Tony London still the producer and Sam Neuman adapting Rice’s work as well as directing. Now McCadden Production (George Burns and Gracie Allen company) was behind the proposed series. The December 18, 1954 “Billboard†quoted producer Tony London’s complaints about the difficulty with finding a willing female star to host CRAIG RICE THEATRE.
“Billboard†(April 9, 1955) reported ABC-TV president Robert Kintner had discussions with producer Tony London and writer Sam Neuman about the CRAIG RICE series.
August 1, 1955 “Broadcasting†Ziv-TV plan to produce CRAIG RICE THEATRE but have yet to assign any writers. “Billboard†January 14, 1956 the CRAIG RICE THEATRE is on Ziv-TV production schedule to begin filming in late February or March and currently casting for the female host/lead. “Billboard†(April 7, 1956) Ziv-TV is still trying to sell CRAIG RICE THEATRE for the fall, but still have not found the female/host lead (“Billboard†January 14, 1956). April 7, 1956 “Billboard†has the last mention of CRAIG RICE THEATRE. Ziv-TV hopes to have it ready for the fall but there is no pilot or host/star attached. Tony London remains the project’s producer.
It is unlikely CRAIG RICE THEATRE ever got beyond planning, unable to ever find the right female star willing to host the series. But the TV rights to her writing seems to have been tied up in the Tony London project from 1952 through at least the fall of 1956 and that could have forced Malone to use his Parnell alias in “And The Birds Still Sing.â€
June 12th, 2016 at 2:39 pm
The whole rights tie up has kept many a good writers work off the screen and even out of print in some cases. There is a long list of works and writers who have been tied up by legal matters.
In film it tends to be the musical rights that mess everything up.
Thanks for this, always worthwhile to find a new Rice adaptation I didn’t know about.
June 12th, 2016 at 3:55 pm
“And The Birds Still Sing†(1952) is a short story found in Rice’s collection THE NAME IS MALONE. It’s a good work.
Gerd Oswald is an excellent director. He’s the son of Richard Oswald, whose ISLE OF MISSING MEN was just reviewed here.
Thank you for telling us about this!
I’ll be watching it soon.
June 12th, 2016 at 6:57 pm
I remember this from its original airings in the summer of 1957 – and it was always called The George Sanders Mystery Theatre.
The template here was obviously Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Sanders’s openings were heavy on dark humor – in the first show, Sanders is shown hanging some poor schlub, which gives you some idea of the “humor” involved.
(That I still remember this nearly 60 years afterwards – no, let’s let that lie …)
I dug out my TV GUIDES for the summer of ’57; the episode that ran on June 29 (the second episode) was “Broker’s Special”, based on a story by Stanley Ellin and starring George Sanders.
I have a particular reason for remembering this one: George Sanders’s character was killed at the end of the episode, but rose from the stretcher at the finish to introduce the final commercial (I was 6 at the time; you can guess my reaction).
My GUIDES have “And The Birds Still Sing” airing on August 3.
I don’t happen to have the issue for July 13; “You Don’t Live Here” is shown as airing in early September, but that may have been a rerun – the next Saturday, “Broker’s Special” was repeated, ending the run of the series.
By the way, Sanders was replaced by two alternating music-variety shows, Club Oasis (this was Chesterfield’s menthol brand) and The Polly Bergen Show I’d guess that this was Max Factor’s show).
Panic!, which had been a midseason replacement, was held to midseason, at which point its title was changed to No Warning!
Educated guess:
Mystery Writers Theatre was the pilot, made in ’56.
When NBC picked it up and put it on the shelf, they gave the word to Screen Gems to promote Sanders (still a movie name at the time) and soft-pedal the MWA connection.
Extra Added Guess:
When “And The Birds Still Sing” aired midway in the GSMT run, Screen Gems likely reshot the opening into a Sanders comedy bit, to conform with the rest of the series.
Yet Another Guess:
Why did Screen Gems hang on to the MWT opening?
You’ll note that Sanders is sipping a beer, but being careful not to mention a brand name.
Perhaps Screen Gems was hoping for a syndication sale, maybe accompanied by an order for new shows; regional breweries were among the major sponsors of syndicated programs back then (Sea Hunt was a prime example), and a MWT revival would have Sanders introducing every episode with an ice-cold brewski in his elegant grip.
Don’t know this for sure, just following the clues …
June 12th, 2016 at 7:39 pm
1. David, because so much of early TV was done my independent producers often the rights are as messed us as who owns the rights to many books.
It is so sad that copyright law is meant to protect the artist has too often lead to the artist’s work being forgotten.
June 12th, 2016 at 7:45 pm
2. Mike Grost, thanks for the tip to where to find the Rice short story. I need to read that.
I hope you let us know how close the TV version followed Rice’s story if you can find the time.
Gerd Oswald is best remember today for two STAR TREK episodes he did.
June 12th, 2016 at 7:50 pm
“352 story properties by Craig Rice”
Certainly these weren’t all published works, were they?
June 12th, 2016 at 8:20 pm
#. Mike Doran, the dates I used are from IMDb and Wikipedia but I doubted them.
I tend to agree with you that it was called THE GEORGE SANDERS MYSTERY THEATRE from the time it aired in 1957. Both Billboard and Broadcasting called the series both titles at one time or another. I think the title MYSTERY WRITERS THEATRE was the original title. I wonder if “And The Birds Still Sing” was the episode shown at the Edgar Awards in ’56. I also wonder if when NBC took 25% of the profit MWA dropped out and the money for scripts was not enough for the MWA members.
As for Sanders bits, the Rice episode was set inside the club for MWA. Sanders keep repeating the organization’s name. He was eating at the MWA club, he was visiting the club museum and library where the writers came to meet other writers. While in the other story the MWA was not mentioned.
Remember Orson Welles radio series BLACK MUSEUM? He tour the museum of Scotland Yard’s collection of objects involved in weird murder cases. When I watched Sanders in the host bits for the Rice episode I thought of that, the other without MWA reminded me of Hitchcock shows.
I hope someday more episodes turn up – for curiosity sake rather than the possibility of quality entertainment – it might give a clue to how much involvement Mystery Writers of America had with this series.
Another problem TV researchers faced with early TV was the syndication of TV shorts not connected to any series or local stations recutting episodes from one anthology to another series. I have found a few on YouTube with the wrong series title or no series title at all. Example:
CRIMEFIGHTER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUjD-4FhwYQ
Is it an unsold pilot? Part of YOUR JEWELER’S SHOWCASE?
June 12th, 2016 at 8:32 pm
6. Jerry, I thought that exact thing. It is the figure Broadcasting printed. It is probably a typo. I don’t think Rice wrote that many stories even including unpublished stories. I don’t think she owned any of the radio adaptations or films. I left the number in to illustrate London most likely owned the TV rights to all her work.
BTW, TV-Film rights do not mean movies and TV. TV-Film in that era referred to TV shows filmed, usually for syndication as many of the networks programs were done live.
June 12th, 2016 at 11:05 pm
Don’t know if she was considered, but I would’ve voted for Joan Blondell for the “Craig Rice Theatre” hosting gig. She had started doing a fair amount of TV around that time.
June 12th, 2016 at 11:54 pm
Gary R. nice choice. Considering the number of women that hosted an anthology series including Barbara Stanwyck, Jane Wyman, and June Allyson. I am not sure what was the problem.
June 13th, 2016 at 3:09 am
I just watched “And The Birds Still Sing”.
It does not take place at the “Mystery Writers Club”.
Only George Sanders’s opener, commercial intro/outro, and tag scenes do, and Sanders and the Club do not appear in the story proper.
There, we start in a cocktail bar in Los Angeles, and spend the rest of the time in the characters’s apartments.
Any and all of the Sanders scenes could easily be dropped or replaced as future use dictated.
Most likely: this was the pilot, with changes made after the act to conform with the new Sanders-centric format.
In my world, Gerd Oswald’s best known credits are many episodes of The Outer Limits.
I freely admit that I’ve never been a Trekkie, Trekker, or Trekkeur.
So what is it about Star Trek that makes a single credit thereon outrank an entire career?
Don’t get it … probably never will …
June 13th, 2016 at 9:06 am
11. Mike Doran, sorry if I wasn’t clear. I meant the difference in the host segments. Rice version host segments takes place in the MWA club. The story does not have Sanders in it and has a different location. I wonder how close was Wang’s adaptation to Rice’s original story.
Oswald did two episodes of STAR TREK. Ask anyone if they have heard of STAR TREK and few will say no. STAR TREK still lives OUTER LIMITS fades. I am not saying what his best work was and OUTER LIMITS is a meaningful part of his credits. Then so is A KISS BEFORE DYING, AGENT FROM H.A.R.M., IT TAKES A THIEF and PERRY MASON.
I should have included more than one title in Oswald’s best known for. I wonder what his obit lead with.
June 13th, 2016 at 9:12 am
Let me rewrite my second sentence in 12.
I meant the difference between the two episodes host segments, one featured the MWA while the other focused on Sanders.
I wonder if the adapted segments featured MWA and the originals teleplays featured Sanders.
June 13th, 2016 at 11:15 am
#13:
The episode I cited way above, “Broker’s Special”, is the only one I can recall offhand in which George Sanders starred.
The original author was Stanley Ellin, who was MWA all the way.
This was most likely one of the earliest productions to go on the board, when the MWA connection was still being emphasized.
This would still be 1956, a year before the Sanders show got on the air. Assuming two separate production cycles a year apart, the MWA dropping out would have occurred right in between; any MWA references would have been reshot to emphasize Sanders (don’t know this for sure; Sony, the current owner of Columbia/Screen Gems library, please respond).
One side note:
In watching the credit crawls for the two shows, I got a distinct feeling of deja vu.
Many of the names thereon were the same ones who worked on the final groups of Three Stooges two-reelers, the last gasp of Columbia’s short subject department.
Plainly, when Columbia established Screen Gems as its TV arm, the shorts department became the employment pool for all product.
Or so it would appear …
June 13th, 2016 at 2:19 pm
14. Mike Doran, I agree.
I always have left over bits of research. And this one was no different.
MWA was a non-profit organization that paid its bills with sales of members’ works to radio and TV as well as publishing collections of members’ work. Another one of the series it did this for was the anthology THE WEB (CBS, 1950-54; NBC, 1957). I think THE WEB was Screen Gems or at least Goodson/Todman Production that worked with Screen Gems.
Here is the episode index from most often right database I know TV TANGO:
GEORGE SANDERS MYSTERY THEATRE NBC Sat. 9-9:30pm
The Man In the Elevator (6/22/57)
And the Birds Still Sing (6/29)
The Call (7/6)
You Don’t Live Here (7/13)
Last Will & Testament (7/20)
The Liar (7/27)
Broker’s Special (S/3)
Try It My Way (8/10)
Round Trip (8/17)
Love Has No Alibi (8/24)
The Night I Died (8/31)
Morning Boat To Africa (9/7)
The People Vs Anne Tobin (9/14)
Replaced by POLLY BERGEN SHOW.
The episode index matched Wikipedia and IMBd which means little since each can copy another’s work.
Mike, hope you have the time to list the episodes with TV Guide dates. Could Chicago have shown the series in different order?
YouTube and its little surprises like this is my second favorite place on the internet. For the first scroll up.
June 13th, 2016 at 7:19 pm
WNBQ, channel 5, was (and still is) an owned-and-operated station of the NBC Network; it would not have broken the net’s broadcast order.
That said, here’s what my Chicago TV GUIDES say aired on The George Sanders Mystery Theatre on channels 5 (Chicago), 4 (Milwaukee), 39 (Rockford), and 46 (South Bend IN) (caveat; I’m missing a couple of issues):
June 22: “Man In The Elevator”
June 29: “Broker’s Special”
July 6: “The Call”
July 13: missing issue
July 20: “Last Will And Testament”
July 27: “The Liar”
August 3: “And the Birds Still Sing”
August 10: “Try It My Way”
August 17: “Round Trip”
August 24: ” Love Has No Alibi”
August 31: “The Night I Died”
September 7: “You Don’t Live Here”
September 14: “Broker’s Special”, repeat.
Those last two shows you have – no mention.
I do definitely recall that “Broker’s Special” was the second episode to air.
All else – who knows?
That missing issue, July 13-19 – I was sure I had it, but I haven’t been able to find it in my piles.
Gail Davis (Annie Oakley) is on the cover, if that helps anybody else to turn it up.
June 13th, 2016 at 10:15 pm
Thanks, Mike. It is unlikely the TV Guide of the week would be wrong that many times, once maybe for unexpected schedule change, but not that often.
I wish I could access the TV sections of old LA Times or NY Times. Both would provide the best possible answers. Chicago would be helpful -especially with the regional market information – but Hollywood and New York were the center of the behind the scenes business. The Chicago Tribune is on line but the search engine is near worthless. Newspaper.com lacks the papers that would have the most accurate info. And many local papers did not cover television in the early days seeing TV as competition.
Episode indexes are too often fictional or absent. I wish one database or TV library such as the Paley or UCLA would add the TV logs of the past to its place and make that information available, maybe even on the internet.
November 30th, 2017 at 10:23 pm
The short story “And the Birds Still Sing” can also be found in the anthology ELLERY QUEEN’S LETHAL BLACK BOOK, Dell 2261, 1965.
December 1st, 2017 at 4:26 am
Thanks, I’ll keep an eye out for it.
Happy to see the episode is still viewable.
Bill Kelly have your read the short story? How close is it to the TV adaptation?