''The Star and the Story'' is an American television

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 ...

which aired 1955–1956 in first-run syndication. A filmed half-hour series, episodes were approximately 25 minutes long, excluding commercials. Produced by Four Star Productions, it was similar in some respects to ''

Four Star Playhouse ''Four Star Playhouse'' is an American anthology series that ran from 1952 to 1956. Four Star Playhouse was owned by Four Star International. Its episodes ranged anywhere from surreal mysteries, such as "The Man on the Train", to light comedie ...

'' and '' Stage 7''.

Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics. Born and ra ...

was the host. With a new cast each week, the series featured a wide range of actors, often well-known character actors such as

Edmond O'Brien Eamon Joseph O'Brien (September 10, 1915 – May 9, 1985) was an American actor and film director. His career spanned almost 40 years, and he won one Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. O'Brien w ...

and occasionally emerging stars such as

Joanne Woodward Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an American actress. A star since the Golden Age of Hollywood, Woodward made her career breakthrough in the 1950s and earned esteem and respect playing complex women with a charact ...

. Notable directors included

Blake Edwards Blake Edwards (born William Blake Crump; July 26, 1922 – December 15, 2010) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Edwards began his career in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon began writing screenplays and radio s ...

and Robert Stevenson. O'Brien starred in the premiere episode, "The Stranger". It appears the series has entered the public domain; a number of episodes appear on budget public domain DVD releases.

Overseas syndication

During the late-1950s it was exported to Australia (as were ''Four Star Playhouse'', ''Stage 7'', '' Studio 57'', etc.) where it often aired under the title ''Whitehall Playhouse'' (combined with episodes of ''Studio 57''). With limited television budgets Australian broadcasters were unable to produce a weekly anthology series of their own during the 1950s (the monthly 1959–1960 series ''

Shell Presents ''Shell Presents'' was an early attempt at Australian television drama, being an umbrella title for several different productions. It debuted on 4 April 1959, and aired on ATN-7 and GTV-9, who split production of plays for the series between t ...

'' was the closest to such a series, along with standalone twice-monthly plays on ABC from 1957 to early 1960s), and as such several American anthology series were shown there, along with a few British anthology series and at least one Canadian anthology. Others shown included '' Ford Television Theatre'' (re-titled ''Kraft TV Theatre'', no relation to '' Kraft Television Theatre''), '' Short Short Dramas'' (re-titled ''Playhouse 15'') and ''

Science Fiction Theatre ''Science Fiction Theatre'' was an American science fiction anthology television series that was produced by Ivan Tors and Maurice Ziv and originally aired in syndication. It premiered on April 9, 1955 and ended on April 6, 1957, with a total of ...

''.

References

External links

''The Star and the Story'' at CVTA with episode list
archived at the

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

''The Star and the Story'' on IMDbEpisode ''Dark Stranger'' viewable on the Internet ArchiveEpisode ''Payment in Kind'' viewable on the Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Star and the Story, The 1955 American television series debuts 1956 American television series endings 1950s American anthology television series Black-and-white American television shows Television series by Four Star Television First-run syndicated television programs in the United States