''Vacation Playhouse'' is an American anthology television series that was broadcast during the summer months 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 ...

from July 22, 1963, to August 21, 1967.

Premise

''Vacation Playhouse'' premiered on July 22, 1963, on

. The show aired as a summer replacement for CBS's

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

The Lucy Show ''The Lucy Show'' is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from 1962 to 1968. It was Lucille Ball's follow-up to '' I Love Lucy''. A significant change in cast and premise for the fourth season (1965–1966) divides the program into two distin ...

.'' A voiceover introduced each episode with "While Lucy's on vacation . . . it's ''Vacation Playhouse''". The series was a showcase for previously unaired unsold television pilot films. When it replaced ''The Lucy Show'' in 1963, 1964, 1966, and 1967, its episodes were comedies. In 1965, it replaced '' Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.'' with episodes of drama and adventure. The final episode aired Monday, August 21, 1967 after four years and five seasons.

Production notes

The series was directed by actors Don Taylor, and

Richard Crenna Richard Donald Crenna (November 30, 1926 – January 17, 2003) was an American film, television and radio actor. Crenna starred in such motion pictures as ''The Sand Pebbles'', ''Wait Until Dark'', ''Un Flic'', ''Body Heat'', the first three ' ...

and television producer/director Jack Donohue. The series was produced by producers

Hal Kanter Hal Kanter (December 18, 1918 – November 6, 2011) was a writer, producer and director, principally for comedy actors such as Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, and Elvis Presley (in '' Loving You'' and ''Blue Hawaii''), for both feature films and televis ...

, Arthur Julian and Donohue. The series was filmed alternatively between the

Desilu Studios The Culver Studios is a movie studio in Culver City, California. Originally created by silent movie pioneer Thomas H. Ince, classics from Hollywood's Golden Age were filmed there. It is currently owned by Hackman Capital Partners, which completel ...

and

Television City Television City, alternatively CBS Television City, is an American television studio complex located in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles at 7800 Beverly Boulevard, at the corner of Fairfax Avenue. Designed by architect William Pereira and C ...

. The series was also produced with the association of Bing Crosby Productions,

Desilu Productions Desilu Productions () was an American television production company founded and co-owned by husband and wife Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. The company is best known for shows such as ''I Love Lucy'', ''The Lucy Show'', ''Mannix'', ''The Untouchabl ...

Four Star Television Four Star Television, also called Four Star International, was an American television production company. Founded in 1952 as Four Star Productions by prominent Hollywood actors Dick Powell, David Niven, Charles Boyer, and Joel McCrea, it was insp ...

, and

Universal Television Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a prede ...

Broadcast history

Vacation Playhouse aired on Mondays from 8:30-9PM during its first and second seasons. During its third season, (1965), the series aired on Friday nights from 9:30-10PM. It returned to its previous time slot on Monday nights in 1966 and for a final run in the summer of 1967.

Episodes

Season 1

*''A Love Affair Just for Three'' – July 22, 1963 *''Three Wishes'' – July 29, 1963 *''

Hide and Seek Hide-and-seek (sometimes known as hide-and-go-seek) is a popular children's game in which at least two players (usually at least three) conceal themselves in a set environment, to be found by one or more seekers. The game is played by one chose ...

'' – August 5, 1963 *''Mickey and the Contessa'' – August 12, 1963 *''The Big Brain'' – August 19, 1963 *''

Swingin' Together ''Swingin' Together'' is a 30-minute unsold television pilot co-produced by Desilu Productions and Ludlow Productions. The proposed musical comedy series stars Bobby Rydell as the leader of a rock band called Bobby Day and the Four Knights, who tr ...

'' – August 26, 1963 *''All About Barbara'' – September 2, 1963 *''Hooray for Love'' – September 9, 1963 *''Come a-Runnin – September 16, 1963 *''Maggie Brown'' – September 23, 1963

Season 2

*''Hey, Teacher'' – June 15, 1964 *''Hooray for Hollywood'' – June 22, 1964 *''Papa G.I.'' – June 29, 1964 *''I and Claude'' – July 6, 1964 *''He's All Yours'' – July 20, 1964 *''Love is a Lion's Roar'' – July 27, 1964 *''At Your Service'' – August 3, 1964 *''The Graduation Dress'' – August 10, 1964 *''The First Hundred Years'' – August 17, 1964 *''My Darling Judge'' – August 31, 1964 *''The Bean Show'' – September 7, 1964 *''The Ivy League'' – September 14, 1964

Season 3

*''Sybil'' – June 20, 1965 *''Alec Tate'' – June 27, 1965 *''The Barbara Rush Show'' – July 4, 1965 *''Patrick Stone'' – July 11, 1965 *''Starr'' (aka – "Starr, First Baseman" or "Starr of the Yankees") – July 18, 1965 *''The Brave Duke'' – July 25, 1965 *''Luke and the Tenderfoot Part I'' – August 6, 1965 *''Luke and the Tenderfoot Part II'' – August 13, 1965 *''Coogan's Reward'' – August 15, 1965 *''Three on an Island'' – August 22, 1965 *''Cap'n Ahab'' – August 29, 1965 *''Down Home'' – September 5, 1965

Season 4

*''The Good Old Days'' – July 11, 1966 *''Frank Merriwell'' – July 25, 1966 *''Where's There Smokey'' – August 1, 1966 *''My Lucky Penny'' – August 8, 1966 *''The Hoofer'' – August 15, 1966 *''My Son, the Doctor'' – August 22, 1966 *''The Two of Us'' – August 29, 1966 *''Off We Go!'' – September 5, 1966

Season 5

*''You're Only Young Twice'' – July 3, 1967 *''My Boy Goggle'' – July 24, 1967 *''Alfred of the Amazon'' – July 31, 1967 *''Heaven Help Us'' – August 14, 1967 *''The Jones Boys'' – August 21, 1967

References

External links

*''{{IMDb title, 0056792'' 1963 American television series debuts 1967 American television series endings 1960s American comedy-drama television series 1960s American anthology television series American live television series Black-and-white American television shows CBS original programming English-language television shows