ABC Playhouse (aka ITV Television Playhouse?)

[didi-5]

Does anyone have information about this series? Lost Shows has it as ABC Playhouse, 1955-58, in a total of twenty shows, but IMDb links it to a wider series called ITV Television Playhouse. The DVD of Quay South calls it ITV Playhouse.

The following episodes appear to have survived (12 out of 20):

1955: The Rescue (with Richard Johnson, Noel Dryden, Thomas Heathcote)
1955: A Question of Fact (with John Neville, Joyce Carey, Carleton Hobbs)
1955: Frolic Wind (with Joyce Carey, Roger Livesey, Irene Browne)
1955: I Passed By Your Window (with Mervyn Johns, Marie Ney, John Arnatt)
1955: The Last Reunion (with Alfred Burke, Michael Gough, Eric Portman) - possibly released to DVD
1955: Quay South (with Peter Barkworth, Miriam Carlin, Roger Livesey) - definitely released to DVD
1955: The Golden Fleece (with Bernard Lee and Megs Jenkins)
1956: Skipper Next to God (with John Glen and Donald Houston)
1956: The Old Ladies (with Edith Evans)
1956: No Escape (with Joyce Carey and Miriam Karlin)
1956; The Lady Asks For Help (with Nora Swinburne, Clifford Evans and Stratford Johns)
1956: Teddy Gang (with Clifford Evans and Jennifer Browne)

I was given Quay South a while ago and while it is watchable it doesn't seem the obvious choice for release from the episodes surviving - so how did it come to be released?

And has anyone seen the other remaining instalments of this series, or know how they were originally billed on transmission?

[jaycad]

I have 'The Last Reunion'(1955)-I wasn't aware that it was part of a series,I presumed that it was a one-off drama.

[Arfur Teacake]

It may have been because the Associated British Corp initiated the series, but of course after that all the ITV contractors then started contributing to it?
Why some survive and not others could be down to a maverick called Harry Towers? He had the idea of making cheap movies by using television techniques (IE multi studio cameras mixed on a desk) to save time thus money.

To give the impression that they were not that cheap he ordered 'High Definition' electronic cameras from Pye which were capable of over a 1000 lines (as opposed to the 405 line standard at the time) - and then transfered to movie film. From what i hear (as i have never seen them) that content wise they were just so so and he had trouble selling them on the movie circuit - but then ITV came along with its insatiable appetite and some if not all found their way into the 'ITV Television Playhouse' (maybe bought by ABC?).

'Playhouse' ran for an hour while 'Play of the week' ran for 90 minutes...then of course you had Armchair Theatre,
Theatre 60-70 (running times), Drama 60-67 (years) , Armchair Thriller, Thirty minute theatre, Half hour story, all just on ITV alone.

[didi-5]

Thanks jay and Arfur - especially interesting to speculate on how all the different play series fit together. I know ABC owned material has some rights issues so it is possible that the 1 or 2 titles released have sneaked out fifty years after their broadcast in the US. Entirely possible.

Anything from the early years of UK (and US to some extent) television is fascinating to watch, and to hear of survivors from archive wipings always cheers me up a bit. Good to see big names in there as well showcasing some of their early work for the small screen.

[cornershop15]

Does anyone have information about this series? Lost Shows has it as ABC Playhouse, 1955-58, in a total of twenty shows, but IMDb links it to a wider series called ITV Television Playhouse.

All I've found, that's of any use, are TVTimes summaries (the earliest on my PDF discs) for two of the plays:

I Passed By Your Window', broadcast Saturday, 26th November 1955:

Main cast: Walter Mervyn Johns; Lillian Marie Ney; Margaret Ilona Ference

Walter Turnbull tells the police he was on his way to a cricket club meeting at the time of his wife's murder. But neither his sister-in-law, Lillian Harvey*, whom he claims to have seen on his way, nor her daughter, Margaret, remember seeing him.

Walter has a motive for killing, as Detective-Inspector Howard, in charge of the case, learns; his inquiries also disclose something which affects them all, especially Margaret.

*One for 'The Name's the Same' collection. London-born actress Lilian Harvey was a film star in Germany in the 1930s.

'Teddy Gang', transmitted Saturday 4th February 1956



No 'Play Bill'-type previews at this early stage in ITV's history and, apart from the titles, no details in the newspapers.