Fireside Theatre

Fireside Theatre
	Fireside Theatre Logo
Also known as	Jane Wyman Presents; The Jane Wyman Show;
Genre	Anthology drama
Written by	Rod Serling; Blake Edwards; Ray Bradbury; Gene Roddenberry; Cornell Woolrich; Aaron Spelling;
Directed by	Fred Coe; Blake Edwards; Gordon Duff; Robert Florey; John Ford; Sidney Lanfield; Ozzie Nelson; Robert Stevenson; Jacques Tourneur;
Presented by	Frank Wisbar (1952–53); Gene Raymond (1953–55); Jane Wyman (1955–58);
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	268 (list of episodes)
Production
Producers	Jack Bernhard; John Houseman; John Reinhardt; Frank Wisbar;
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	48 mins
Production companies	General Television Enterprises; Hal Roach Studios; Lewman Productions/Revue Studios (1955–58);
Release
Original network	NBC
Picture format	Black-and-white
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	April 5, 1949 –; May 22, 1958

Fireside Theatre, a.k.a. Jane Wyman Presents, is an American anthology drama series that ran on NBC from 1949 to 1958, and was the first successful filmed series on American television. Productions were low budget and often based on public domain stories or written by freelance writers such as Rod Serling. While it was panned by critics, it remained in the top ten most popular shows for most of its run. It predated the other major pioneer of filmed TV in America, I Love Lucy, by two years. Jacques Tourneur has directed in 1956 three episodes, A Hero Return, Kirsti, and The Mirror.

Overview

Director Sidney Lanfield and Jane Wyman on the set of Fireside Theatre (1955)

Fireside Theatre was created by Frank Wisbar, who also wrote and directed many episodes.[1] From 1952 to 1958, the program was presented by a host. This role was first filled by Wisbar (1952–1953), then by Gene Raymond (1953–1955), and finally by the person most associated with the series in the public mind, Jane Wyman (1955–1958). When episodes of this program were rerun on ABC during the summer of 1963, it was under the title Jane Wyman Presents; during the period first-run episodes were hosted by Wyman it was sometimes known as The Jane Wyman Show.

One of Fireside Theatre's most notable offerings was a 1951 condensed version of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, featuring Ralph Richardson as Ebenezer Scrooge for the only time on American television. He later recreated the role on a spoken word Caedmon Records LP album, with Paul Scofield as narrator. It has since been released on CD.[2]

The Doubleday Book Club also ran a playscripts club called The Fireside Theatre.

Episodes

Season		Episodes	Originally aired
Season		Episodes	First aired	Last aired
	1	12	April 5, 1949	June 28, 1949
	2	41	September 6, 1949	June 27, 1950
	3	46	August 29, 1950	August 21, 1951
	4	44	August 28, 1951	June 24, 1952
	5	39	September 30, 1952	June 30, 1953
	6	44	September 1, 1953	June 29, 1954
	7	43	September 7, 1954	June 28, 1955

Cast

As an anthology series, Fireside Theatre had no regular cast, just a series of guest stars:

Reception

Critical response

Billboard magazine praised an episode titled "The Lottery", saying that the cast "all turned in taut, exciting performances to make Lottery a real winner".[3] Unlike most episodes of the series, this episode aired live.

In 1954, Billboard voted it fourth-best filmed network drama series, ahead of the more fondly remembered General Electric Theater; however, Billboard's list excluded "mystery" shows (which was a separate list topped by Dragnet).[4]

Ratings

Fireside Theatre became a hit for NBC, always in the Top 30 shows at the end of each TV season, until the 1956–1957 season, when its ratings slumped. After this, it never again regained its top spot.

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Fireside Theatre on NBC. (Note: In the United States, each network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.)

Season	TV season	Ranking	Viewers (in millions)
2nd	1950–1951	#2	5.365
3rd	1951–1952	#7	6.594
4th	1952–1953	#10	8.282
5th	1953–1954	#9	9.464
6th	1954–1955	#20	9.547
7th	1955–1956	#24	10.121

References

Dick, Bernard F. (2014). The President's Ladies: Jane Wyman and Nancy Davis. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 222–226. ISBN 978-1-61703-980-5. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
Amazon: Fireside Theater.
The Billboard, 1 Sep 1951. Page 3.
The Billboard, 31 Jul 1954. Page 14.

Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows

External links

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[pl-1] Dick, Bernard F. (2014). The President's Ladies: Jane Wyman and Nancy Davis. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 222–226. ISBN 978-1-61703-980-5. Retrieved February 12, 2020.

[2] Amazon: Fireside Theater.

[3] The Billboard, 1 Sep 1951. Page 3.

[4] The Billboard, 31 Jul 1954. Page 14.