NBC’s pioneering dramatic anthology Kraft Television Theatre aired for approximately 585 episodes between May 1947 to October 1958. The series ran year-round with no summer breaks, meaning it didn’t have traditional seasons. When I first published this status guide in May 2009, I arbitrarily decided to break the series into “seasons” running from May to May, with the first season starting in May 1947 and ending in May 1948. I later decided to align my status guides with episode lists and guides available online, like those found at TV.com, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), and the Classic TV Archive (CTVA). These sources all have the first season starting in May 1947 and ending in September 1948.
Kraft Television Theatre premiered on Wednesday, May 7th, 1947. It originally aired from 7:30-8:30PM but in January 1948 shifted to the 9-10PM time slot. It’s unclear how many episodes were broadcast during the 1947-1948 season. Either 70 or 71 episodes were aired, depending on whether or not the series was pre-empted on a certain date. Keep reading to learn more.
Murder Without Crime (September 1947)
I initially assumed Kraft Television Theatre didn’t air on September 17th, 1947 because it wasn’t included in TV listings published in The New York Times for that date. According to those listings, WNBT–NBC’s flagship station in New York City–aired a football game between the New York Giants and the Los Angeles Rams at 8:30PM. A cooking show called In the Kitchen (also known as In the Kelvinator Kitchen) moved forward an hour to 7:30PM ET, bumping Kraft Television Theatre.
However, the book Live Television Drama, 1946-1951 indicates an episode titled “Murder Without Crime” aired on September 17th, 1947. It is also included in both the TV.com and CTVA episode guides. TV.com provides an episode summary while CTVA has cast information.
At one point, I considered the possibility that Kraft Television Theatre was only pre-empted locally in New York City but aired on other stations. However, that seems inconceivable for several reason. First, the series was broadcast live from WNBT and there’s no chance NBC and Kraft would agree to produce an episode of Kraft Television Theatre but not air it in New York City.
More importantly, it’s not known whether Kraft Television Theatre was seen outside of New York City in September 1947. At that time, NBC’s limited Eastern Network consisted of WNBT and three other stations: WNBW in Washington, D.C. WRGB in Schenectady, NY; and WPTZ in Philadelphia, PA. Information on early network programming is sketchy at best and I’ve been unable to confirm when NBC started relaying Kraft Television Theatre to other stations.
Therefore, it’s my belief that Kraft Television Theatre did air on WNBT and other NBC stations on September 17th from 7:30-8:30PM as usual. The TV listings published in The New York Times were incorrect.
Political Pre-Emptions (July 1948)
NBC did pre-empt the series on Wednesday, June 23rd, 1948 for live coverage of the Republican National Convention. The network also planned to broadcast the Joe Louis-Joe Walcott fight that night but the bout was postponed.
Coverage of the Democratic National Convention aired on July 14th, 1948 and most sources, including Live Television Drama, indicate NBC once again pre-empted Kraft Television Theatre. However, TV listings in The New York Times show an abbreviated episode titled “Poor Aubrey” airing from 8-8:45PM followed by convention coverage. Listings in other papers have the episode airing for a full hour from 8-9PM followed by convention coverage.
As if that isn’t confusing enough, Live Television Drama, TV.com, and CTVA–plus TV listings published in numerous newspapers–all have an episode titled “Poor Aubrey” airing on August 25th, 1948. Although it seems unlikely NBC and Kraft would stage a second version of the story only weeks after it first aired, there is no contemporary evidence to confirm NBC pre-empted Kraft Television Theatre on July 14th, 1948. Could another episode have been substituted at the last minute and “Poor Aubrey” delayed until August? Or did Kraft Television Theatre really restage “Poor Aubrey” just six weeks after it first aired?
Hopefully, further research will shed additional light on this matter.
Surviving Episodes
Assuming “Poor Aubrey” or some other episode did air on July 14th, 1948, NBC broadcast a total of 71 episodes of Kraft Television Theatre during the 1947-1948 season. Of those 71 episodes, only five survive in their entirety. Excerpts from three other episodes also exist, the earliest of which is from the June 24th, 1947 episode (“I Like It Here”). Three minutes from this episode a part of the Hubert Chain Collection held by the Library of Congress, as is a two-minute silent excerpt from the February 25th, 1948 episode (“Alison’s House”).
The earliest surviving complete episode is “No Way Out,” which aired on March 17th, 1948. The Library of Congress has this episode and three others from the 1947-1948 season. The Paley Center for Media has two episodes from the 1947-1948 season, one of which the Library of Congress also has.
Keep in mind that just because the big television archives/museums only have certain episodes in their collections doesn’t mean additional episodes of Kraft Television Theatre from the 1947-1948 season aren’t out there somewhere.
| Season 1: 1947-1948 | |||
| # | Episode Title | Airdate | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Double Door” | 05/07/1947 | |
| 2 | “Merton of the Movies” | 05/14/1947 | |
| 3 | “A Doctor in Spite of Himself” | 05/21/1947 | |
| 4 | “Her Master’s Voice” | 05/28/1947 | |
| 5 | “The Barker” | 06/04/1947 | |
| 6 | “There’s Always Juliet” | 06/11/1947 | |
| 7 | “The Doll’s House” | 06/18/1947 | |
| 8 | “I Like It Here” [Excerpts Only] | 06/25/1947 | LOC* |
| 9 | “You and I” | 07/02/1947 | |
| 10 | “To the Ladies” | 07/09/1947 | |
| 11 | “Consider Lily” | 07/16/1947 | |
| 12 | “Papa Is All” | 07/23/1947 | |
| 13 | “Interference” | 07/30/1947 | |
| 14 | “The Man Who Married a Dumb Wife” | 08/06/1947 | |
| 15 | “Laburnum Grove” | 08/13/1947 | |
| 16 | “The First Year” | 08/20/1947 | |
| 17 | “Yes and No” | 08/27/1947 | |
| 18 | “Mr Pim Passes By” | 09/03/1947 | |
| 19 | “Craig’s Wife” | 09/10/1947 | |
| 20 | “Murder Without Crime” | 09/17/1947 | |
| 21 | “Suspect” | 09/24/1947 | |
| 22 | “Payment Deferred” | 10/01/1947 | |
| 23 | “January Thaw” | 10/08/1947 | |
| 24 | “Therese” | 10/15/1947 | |
| 25 | “The Man Who Changed His Name” | 10/22/1947 | |
| 26 | “Blind Alley” | 10/29/1947 | |
| 27 | “On Stage” | 11/05/1947 | |
| 28 | “Ladies in Retirement” | 11/12/1947 | |
| 29 | “But Not Goodbye” | 11/19/1947 | |
| 30 | “The Curtain Rises” | 11/26/1947 | |
| 31 | “Parlor Story” | 12/03/1947 | |
| 32 | “Importance of Being Earnest” | 12/10/1947 | |
| 33 | “Holiday” | 12/17/1947 | |
| 34 | “Reverie, and the Desert Shall” | 12/24/1947 | |
| 35 | “Respectively Yours” | 12/31/1947 | |
| 36 | “The Truth About Blayds” | 01/07/1948 | |
| 37 | “Alternating Current” | 01/14/1948 | |
| 38 | “Only the Heart” | 01/21/1948 | |
| 39 | “Criminal Code” | 01/28/1948 | |
| 40 | “Outward Bound” | 02/04/1948 | |
| 41 | “Spring Green” | 02/11/1948 | |
| 42 | “Apple of My Eye” | 02/18/1948 | |
| 43 | “Allison’s House” [Excerpts Only] | 02/25/1948 | LOC** |
| 44 | “Counsellor-at-Law” | 03/03/1948 | |
| 45 | “The Wind is Ninety” | 03/10/1948 | |
| 46 | “No Way Out” | 03/17/1948 | LOC |
| 47 | “Captain Applejack” | 03/24/1948 | LOC |
| 48 | “She Stoops to Conquer” | 03/31/1948 | LOC/Paley |
| 49 | “June Moon” | 04/07/1948 | |
| 50 | “Barchester Towers” | 04/14/1948 | |
| 51 | “The Silver Cord” | 04/21/1948 | LOC |
| 52 | “Louder, Please” | 04/28/1948 | |
| 53 | “The Royal Family” | 05/05/1948 | Paley |
| 54 | “Broken Dishes” | 05/12/1948 | |
| 55 | “Minick” | 05/19/1948 | |
| 56 | “Riddle Me This” | 05/26/1948 | |
| 57 | “The Torchbearers” | 06/02/1948 | |
| 58 | “The Fourth Wall” | 06/09/1948 | |
| 59 | “Applesauce” | 06/16/1948 | |
| PRE-EMPTED: Republican National Convention | 06/23/1948 | ||
| 60 | “Foolish Notion” | 06/30/1948 | |
| 61 | “The Show-Off” | 07/07/1948 | |
| 62 | “Poor Aubrey” [?] | 07/14/1948 | |
| 63 | “Berkeley Square” | 07/21/1948 | |
| 64 | “Green Cars Go East” | 07/28/1948 | |
| 65 | “Theatre” | 08/04/1948 | |
| 66 | “The Tenth Man” | 08/11/1948 | |
| 67 | “The White Headed Boy” | 08/18/1948 | |
| 68 | “Poor Aubrey” | 08/25/1948 | |
| 69 | “Icebound” | 09/01/1948 | |
| 70 | “Poor Little Me” | 09/08/1948 | |
| 71 | “Lady Frederick” | 09/15/1948 | |
*The Library of Congress has a three-minute excerpt from “I Like It Here,” part of the Hubert Chain Collection.
**The Library of Congress has a silent two-minute excerpt from “Allison’s House,” part of the Hubert Chain Collection.
Revised April 10th, 2019
