''The Motorola Television Hour'' is an hour-long

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a differ ...

which alternated bi-weekly with ''

The United States Steel Hour ''The United States Steel Hour'' is an anthology series which brought hour long dramas to television from 1953 to 1963. The television series and the radio program that preceded it were both sponsored by the U.S. Steel, United States Steel Corpor ...

'' on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. The show premiered on November 3, 1953, and was last aired on June 1, 1954. It was produced by

Herbert Brodkin Herbert Brodkin (November 9, 1912 – October 29, 1990) was an American producer and director of film and television. Brodkin was best known as the producer of the television shows '' Playhouse 90'', '' The Defenders'', the miniseries ''Holo ...

and sponsored by

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...

. Writers included Neil Simon,

Rod Serling Rodman Edward Serling (December 25, 1924 – June 28, 1975) was an American screenwriter, playwright, television producer, and narrator/on-screen host, best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his anthology television series ' ...

, and William McCleery. Its directors were

Daniel Petrie Daniel Mannix Petrie (November 26, 1920 – August 22, 2004) was a Canadian film director, film, television director, television, and stage director who worked in Canada, Hollywood, and the United Kingdom; known for directing grounded human dram ...

, Ralph Nelson, and Don Richardson. The series aired live from New York City

Episode list

Notable guest actors

Actors appearing on the series included: * Eddie Albert *

Jackie Cooper John Cooper Jr. (September 15, 1922 – May 3, 2011) was an American actor, television director, producer, and executive, known universally as Jackie Cooper. He was a child actor who made the transition to an adult career. Cooper was the first ...

Hume Cronyn Hume Blake Cronyn Jr. OC (July 18, 1911 – June 15, 2003) was a Canadian-American actor and writer. Early life Cronyn, one of five children, was born in London, Ontario, Canada. His father, Hume Blake Cronyn, Sr., was a businessman and ...

* Cedric Hardwicke *

Helen Hayes Helen Hayes MacArthur ( Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have w ...

* Oscar Homolka * Brian Keith *

Lisa Kirk Lisa Kirk (born Elsie Kirk, February 25, 1925 – November 11, 1990) was an American actress and singer noted for her comic talents and rich contralto (her voice was called a husky alto). Career Born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, she was raise ...

* Lee Marvin *

Walter Matthau Walter Matthau (; born Walter John Matthow; October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor, comedian and film director. He is best known for his film roles in '' A Face in the Crowd'' (1957), ''King Creole'' (1958) and as a coach of a ...

Jack Palance Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk ( uk, Володимир Палагню́к); February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American actor known for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all fo ...

* Roberta Peters * John Raitt *

Tony Randall Anthony Leonard Randall (born Aryeh Leonard Rosenberg; February 26, 1920 – May 17, 2004) was an American actor. He is best known for portraying the role of Felix Unger in a television adaptation of the 1965 play ''The Odd Couple'' by Neil Sim ...

Basil Rathbone Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume ...

Maria Riva Maria Elisabeth Riva (née Sieber; born December 13, 1924) is a German-born American former actress. She worked on television at CBS in the 1950s, becoming one of the first stars of early kinescope-era television. She is the daughter of actress ...

* Phyllis Thaxter *

Christopher Walken Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. Prolific in film, television and on stage, Walken is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Awar ...

Jane Wyatt Jane Waddington Wyatt ( ; August 12, 1910 – October 20, 2006) was an American actress. She starred in a number of Hollywood films, such as Frank Capra's ''Lost Horizon'', but is likely best known for her role as the housewife and mother Marg ...

References

External links

*' *
''The Motorola Television Hour'' ''Atomic Attack''
on

Archive.org The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

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''The Motorola Television Hour at CVTA with list of episodes''
1950s American anthology television series 1953 American television series debuts 1954 American television series endings American Broadcasting Company original programming Black-and-white American television shows English-language television shows American live television series {{US-tv-prog-stub