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.

Matinee Theater

United States

Albania

Algeria

Andorra

Angola

Antigua and Barbuda

Argentina

Australia

Austria

Azerbaijan

Bahamas

Bahrain

Barbados

Belarus

Belgium

Belize

Bermuda

Bolivia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Brazil

Bulgaria

Burkina Faso

Cameroon

Canada

Cape Verde

Chad

Chile

Colombia

Congo

Costa Rica

Cote D'Ivoire

Croatia

Cuba

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Denmark

Dominican Republic

Ecuador

Egypt

El Salvador

Equatorial Guinea

Estonia

Fiji

Finland

France

French Guiana

French Polynesia

Germany

Ghana

Gibraltar

Greece

Guatemala

Guyana

Holy See

Honduras

Hong Kong

Hungary

Iceland

India

Indonesia

Iraq

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Jamaica

Japan

Jordan

Kenya

Kosovo

Kuwait

Latvia

Lebanon

Libyan Arab Jamahiriya

Liechtenstein

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Macedonia

Madagascar

Malawi

Malaysia

Mali

Malta

Mauritius

Mexico

Moldova

Monaco

Montenegro

Morocco

Mozambique

Netherlands

New Zealand

Nicaragua

Niger

Nigeria

Norway

Oman

Pakistan

Palestinian Territory

Panama

Papua New Guinea

tv/matinee-theater-1955

Matinee Theater

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