''Hollywood Star Playhouse'' is a

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 tr ...

dramatic

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 dif ...

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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It was broadcast April 24, 1950-February 15, 1953, appearing 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 ...

, ABC and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

over that span.

Format

As the name implies, ''Hollywood Star Playhouse'' featured movie stars, as did a number of other

old-time radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the earl ...

programs. A news brief announcing the premiere broadcast noted that the program would feature "a different top screen personality each week in original stories of mystery and adventure by leading Hollywood writers." Those stories were what distinguished this program from others, according to radio historian John Dunning. He wrote that the stories were "tense, original suspense plays well suited for the half-hour." Writers usually created scripts for specific stars. One story, '' The Six Shooter'', broadcast April 13, 1952, starred Stewart and later was turned into a series by that same name in which Stewart starred.

Characters and cast

By its nature, ''Hollywood Star Playhouse'' had no regular cast. Different movie stars of the era, such as

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality ...

Deborah Kerr Deborah Jane Trimmer CBE (30 September 192116 October 2007), known professionally as Deborah Kerr (), was a British actress. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress. During her international film career, Kerr won a ...

and

Victor Mature Victor John Mature (January 29, 1913 – August 4, 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actor who was a leading man in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. His best known film roles include '' One Million B.C.'' (1940), '' My Darli ...

were featured each week. The program was the venue for the radio debuts of

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...

, Tony Curtis and

Charlton Heston Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923April 5, 2008) was an American actor and political activist. As a Hollywood star, he appeared in almost 100 films over the course of 60 years. He played Moses in the epic film ''The Ten ...

. Casts were rounded out by radio actors such as

Wendell Niles Wendell Niles (December 29, 1904 – March 28, 1994) was an announcer during the American golden age of radio and later in television. Early years Niles was born in Livingston, Montana and grew up there. He attended New York University and ...

William Conrad William Conrad (born John William Cann Jr., September 27, 1920 – February 11, 1994) was an American actor, producer, and director whose entertainment career spanned five decades in radio, film, and television, peaking in popularity when he s ...

Betty Lou Gerson Betty Lou Gerson (April 20, 1914 – January 12, 1999) was an American actress, predominantly active in radio but also in film and television and as a voice actress. She is best known as the original voice of Cruella de Vil from the Disney anima ...

and

Harry Bartell Harry Alfred Bartell (November 29, 1913 – February 26, 2004)Aaker, Everett (2006). ''Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . p. 34. was an American actor and announcer in radio, television and film. Wit ...

. The one consistent voice from week to week was the host-narrator.

Herbert Rawlinson Herbert Banemann Rawlinson (15 November 1885 – 12 July 1953) was an English-born stage, film, radio, and television actor. A leading man during Hollywood's silent film era, Rawlinson transitioned to character roles after the advent of sound f ...

originally filled that role, followed by Orval Anderson.

Jeff Alexander Jeff Alexander (born Myer Goodhue Alexander; July 2, 1910 – December 23, 1989) was an American conductor, arranger, and composer of film, radio and television scores. Early years Born in Seattle, Washington, Alexander began performing in hi ...

was the first orchestra leader for the program. Basil Adlam later had that role.Dunning, John. (1976). ''Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 1925-1976''. Prentice-Hall, Inc. . P. 284.

Broadcast history

As indicated in the table below, ''Hollywood Star Playhouse'' ran on three networks during its almost three years on radio, with two sponsors during that span. Although many radio programs took the summer off, with replacement programs filling their time slot, ''Hollywood Star Playhouse'' continued. An account executive at the advertising agency that handled the program said, "Our agency believes the huge amount of out-of-home listening in car radios and other secondary sets makes radio an excellent buy during the warm weather season." The period of sponsorship by Bakers of America -- an umbrella group comprising the American Bakers' Association, The Bakers of America and Quality Bakers of America -- produced an unusual situation with regard to commercials. ''Sponsor'' magazine reported that Bakers of America asked local bakers not to buy commercial time adjacent to ''Hollywood Star Playhouses time slot in order to emphasize the industry as a whole. A news brief in the magazine called that decision " ique among institutional air efforts," adding that normally local advertisers bought time in station breaks or immediately before or after a program "to capitalize simultaneously" with the national advertising. That request came in sharp contrast to a comment made earlier by the director of Bakers of America. The January 28 issue of ''Sponsor'' reported that Walter H. Hopkins, the organization's director, "said radio presented tremendous opportunity for local tie-ins by bakers."

Adaptation

A version of ''Hollywood Star Playhouse'' was available via syndication for television stations. It was included ("over 400 half hours") among a number of programs available from

MCA MCA may refer to: Astronomy * Mars-crossing asteroid, an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars Aviation * Minimum crossing altitude, a minimum obstacle crossing altitude for fixes on published airways * Medium Combat Aircraft, a 5th gen ...

in an eight-page ad in the trade magazine

Broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began wi ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Logs

''Hollywood Star Playhouse'' episodic log from Audio Classics Archive''Hollywood Star Playhouse'' episodic log from RadioGOLDINdex
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Streaming audio

18 episodes of ''Hollywood Star Playhouse'' from Internet Archive18 episodes of ''Hollywood Star Playhouse'' from Old Time Radio Researchers Group
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Scripts

Script for "The Tenth Planet," as produced on ''Hollywood Star Playhouse''
1950s American radio programs American radio dramas CBS Radio programs ABC radio programs NBC radio programs Anthology radio series 1950 radio programme debuts 1953 radio programme endings