Kraft Television Theatre: How Many Episodes Survive?
The earliest and most famous of television’s live dramatic anthologies, Kraft Television Theatre helped define the “golden age” of television. The hour-long series, sponsored by Kraft Foods, premiered on Wednesday, May 7th, 1947 on NBC. It would run continuously, with no summer breaks, for the next eleven and a half years. The final episode was broadcast on Wednesday, October 1st, 1958.
Completed Status Guides
Season Air Dates Published Season One May 7th, 1947 – September 15th, 1948 May 16th, 2009 Season Two September 22nd, 1948 – September 14th, 1949 September 26th, 2009 Season Three September 21st, 1949 – September 20th, 1950 January 9th, 2010 Season Four September 27th, 1950 – September 5th, 1951 February 7th, 2010
Just how many episodes survive of this famed program is unknown. I’m not sure who owns the rights to the series. According to the Museum of Broadcasting’s Encyclopedia of Television, Kraft sold the series to Talent Associates in April of 1958. Only a few of the more famous episodes (Rod Serling’s award winning “Patterns,” for example) have been released on VHS or DVD. I’ve been unable to find a definitive episode guide or episode list for Kraft Television Theatre. Some sources give the total number of episodes as 650; others place the total at around 580. TV.com appears to have a comprehensive guide that includes 585 episodes. I believe some of the confusion stems from the fact that there were actually two separate programs called Kraft Television Theatre.
The more famous of the two, the one that ran on NBC from 1947 to 1958, probably produced 585 or so episodes. The other, broadcast on ABC from 1953 to 1955, ended with 91 episodes according to TV.com. Together that equals 676 episodes, which is a bit more than 650 but could explain that number.
Because it ran year-round is it necessary to shoe-horn Kraft Television Theatre into the standard September to April/May television season? I don’t think so. Contemporary articles from the mid-1950s refer to a anniversaries taking place in May. Thus, I’m of the opinion that each season of Kraft Television Theatre should run from May to May (i.e. the first season runs from May of 1947 to May of 1948 while the final season runs from May of 1958 to Oct of 1958). Should an authoritative episode guide say otherwise I am certainly willing to change my mind.
Each of the big four television archives/museums have episodes of the 1947-1958 version of Kraft Television Theatre in their collections. The Library of Congress has close to two hundred, the Museum of Broadcasting has roughly one hundred, the Paley Center for Media about 70 and UCLA’s Television & Film Archive about 45. I have not compiled a complete status guide for the series, however, and I’m not sure how many episodes in these archives/museums are actually from the 1953-1955 version of Kraft Television Theatre.
Related:
January 6th, 2010 at 3:37AM
Check University of Wisconsin. That’s where the majority of the Susskind collection was donated. They have a lot of episodes of this show.
January 8th, 2010 at 7:23PM
Michael, from what I’ve been able to find at the University of Wisconsin website, 21 episodes broadcast between 1957 and 1958 were donated in 1991 by the Susskind Estate as part of the larger David Susskind Papers collection. Here‘s the finding aid.
February 16th, 2010 at 11:55AM
Does anyone know if the 1953 version of A Christmas Carol from the Kraft Television Theatre (#1.11) can be obtained anywhere?