''The Cresta Blanca Hollywood Players'' (often referred to as just ''Hollywood Players'') was a
dramatic anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors.
In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...
[Reinehr, Robert C. and Swartz, Jon D. (2008). ''The A to Z of Old-Time Radio''. Scarecrow Press, Inc. . p. 126.] series on
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. It was broadcast on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
September 3, 1946 – February 26, 1947.
Format
Material presented on the show came from "hit movies, stage successes, best-seller novels and short stories, with each star selecting something in which he or she had appeared or wanted to appear."
Productions included "Golden Boy," "Elizabeth the Queen," "Fifth Avenue Girl"
[ and "Rebecca."
Except for the selection of material by stars, ''Hollywood Players format was much like that of a number of other radio programs of its time. A 1946 article in the trade publication ]Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
quoted one advertising agency person who included ''Hollywood Players'' among a group of "more would-be ''Lux Radio Theaters'' than ever." Radio historian John Dunning wrote, "The series might have had a longer run but for the glut of similar Hollywood shows then on the networks."[
]
Personnel
''Hollywood Players'' had a repertory
A repertory theatre is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation.
United Kingdom
Annie Horniman founded the first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawing ...
structure. Movie stars Claudette Colbert
Claudette Colbert ( ; born Émilie Claudette Chauchoin; September 13, 1903July 30, 1996) was an American actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of talking pictures ...
, Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...
, Joan Fontaine
Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was a British-American actress who is best known for her starring roles in Hollywood films during the "Golden Age". Fontaine appeared ...
, John Garfield
John Garfield (born Jacob Julius Garfinkle, March 4, 1913 – May 21, 1952) was an American actor who played brooding, rebellious, working-class characters. He grew up in poverty in New York City. In the early 1930s, he became a member of ...
, Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard (born Marion Levy; June 3, 1910 – April 23, 1990) was an American actress notable for her film career in the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Born in Manhattan and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Goddard initially began her career a ...
, Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American actor, dancer, singer, filmmaker, and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessibl ...
and Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood ...
were featured, with each appearing several times over the program's weeks on the air. The group was promoted as "the greatest galaxy of star names as program regulars in radio history."[
Guest stars included ]Lynn Bari
Lynn Bari (born Marjorie Schuyler Fisher, December 18, 1919 – November 20, 1989) was a film actress who specialized in playing sultry, statuesque man-killers in roughly 150 films for 20th Century Fox, from the early 1930s through the 1940s.
...
, Barry Sullivan Barry Sullivan may refer to:
*Barry Sullivan (American actor) (1912–1994), US film and Broadway actor
*Barry Sullivan (stage actor) (1821–1891), Irish born stage actor active in Britain and Australia
*Barry Sullivan (lawyer), Chicago lawyer and ...
and Janet Leigh
Jeanette Helen Morrison (July 6, 1927 – October 3, 2004), known professionally as Janet Leigh, was an American actress, singer, dancer, and author. Her career spanned over five decades. Raised in Stockton, California, by working-class parents, ...
, who first appeared on radio[Dunning, John. (1976). ''Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 1925–1976''. Prentice-Hall, Inc. . pp. 283–84.] at age 19 in ''Hollywood Players production "All Through the House," December 24, 1946.
Frank Bingman was the show's announcer, and Don Clark was the director. Bernard Katz led the orchestra.
See also
*'' Academy Award Theater''
*''Author's Playhouse
''Author's Playhouse'' is an anthology radio drama series created by Wynn Wright, that aired on Mutual in 1940–1941,Terrace, Vincent (1999). ''Radio Programs, 1924–1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . p. 31. ...
''
*''Brownstone Theater
''Brownstone Theater'' is an old-time radio dramatic anthology series in the United States. It was broadcast on the Mutual Broadcasting System February 21, 1945 – September 23, 1945.
Format
''Brownstone Theater'' featured adaptations of stories ...
''
*'' The Campbell Playhouse''
*''Cavalcade of America
''Cavalcade of America'' is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented musicals, such as an adaptation of ''Show Boat'', and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially ...
''
*''CBS Radio Workshop
''The CBS Radio Workshop'' was an experimental dramatic radio anthology series that aired on CBS from January 27, 1956, until September 22, 1957. Subtitled “radio’s distinguished series to man’s imagination,” it was a revival of the earlie ...
''
*''Ford Theatre
''Ford Theatre'', spelled ''Ford Theater'' for the original radio version and known, in full, as ''The Ford Television Theatre'' for the TV version, is a radio and television anthology series broadcast in the United States in the 1940s and 1950 ...
''
*''General Electric Theater
''General Electric Theater'' was an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.
Radio
After an audition show ...
''
*'' Hollywood Playhouse''
*''Hollywood Star Playhouse
''Hollywood Star Playhouse'' is a radio dramatic anthology series in the United States. It was broadcast April 24, 1950-February 15, 1953, appearing on CBS, ABC and NBC over that span.
Format
As the name implies, ''Hollywood Star Playhouse'' fe ...
''
*'' Hollywood Star Time''
*''Lux Radio Theatre
''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of American Broadcasting Company ...
''
*''The Mercury Theatre on the Air
''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' is a radio series of live radio dramas created and hosted by Orson Welles. The weekly hour-long show presented classic literary works performed by Welles's celebrated Mercury Theatre repertory company, with mus ...
''
*''The Screen Guild Theater
''The Screen Guild Theater'' is a radio anthology series broadcast from 1939 until 1952 during the Golden Age of Radio. Leading Hollywood stars performed adaptations of popular motion pictures. Originating on CBS Radio, it aired under several dif ...
''
*''Screen Director's Playhouse
''Screen Directors Playhouse'' (sometimes written as ''Screen Directors' Playhouse'') is an American radio and television anthology series which brought leading Hollywood actors to the NBC microphones beginning in 1949. The radio program broadcas ...
''
References
External links
Four online streaming episodes of ''Hollywood Players'' from Old Time Radio Researchers Group library
* ttp://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-Hollywood-Players.html Episodic log (and more) of ''Cresta Blanca's Hollywood Players'' from The Digital Deli Too
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cresta Blanca Hollywood Players, The
1940s American radio programs
American radio dramas
CBS Radio programs
Anthology radio series