Status Guide – “Kraft Television Theatre” Season Two
Kraft Television Theatre premiered on May 7th, 1947. Because it was broadcast year-round there were no true seasons, no hiatuses or summer breaks. Furthermore, anniversary shows were shown during May. So I’m saying Season Two began on May 5th, 1948 and ended on April 27th, 1949. The series was pre-empted on Wednesday, June 23rd, 1948 for convention reports and the Louis-Walcott fight.
Only three complete episodes exist at the four big television archives, two at the Library of Congress and one at UCLA’s Film & Television Archive. Excerpts from another episode, broadcast as part of the sixth anniversary show, are held by both institutions.
| Season Two: 1948-1949 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ep. # | Episode Title | Airdate | Status |
| 52. | “The Royal Family” | 05/05/1948 | |
| 53. | “Broken Dishes” | 05/12/1948 | |
| 54. | “Minick” | 05/19/1948 | |
| 55. | “Riddle Me This” | 05/26/1948 | |
| 56. | “The Torchbearers” | 06/02/1948 | |
| 57. | “The Fourth Wall” | 06/09/1948 | |
| 58. | “Applesauce” | 06/16/1948 | |
| PRE-EMPTED | 06/23/1948 | ||
| 59. | “Foolish Notion” | 06/30/1948 | |
| 60. | “The Show-Off” | 07/07/1948 | |
| 61. | “Poor Aubrey” | 07/14/1948 | |
| 62. | “Berkeley Square” | 07/21/1948 | |
| 63. | “Green Cars Go East” | 07/28/1948 | |
| 64. | “Theatre” | 08/04/1948 | |
| 65. | “The Tenth Man” | 08/11/1948 | |
| 66. | “The White Headed Boy” | 08/18/1948 | |
| 67. | “Poor Aubrey” | 08/25/1948 | |
| 68. | “Icebound” | 09/01/1948 | |
| 69. | “Poor Little Me” | 09/08/1948 | |
| 70. | “Lady Frederick” | 09/15/1948 | |
| 71. | “Her Husband’s Wife” | 09/22/1948 | |
| 72. | “Great Day” | 09/29/1948 | |
| 73. | “Twin Diamonds” | 10/06/1948 | |
| 74. | “The Truth Game” | 10/13/1948 | |
| 75. | “Criminal At Large” | 10/20/1948 | |
| 76. | “Biography” | 10/27/1948 | |
| 77. | “Old Lady Robbins” | 11/03/1948 | |
| 78. | “The Detour” | 11/10/1948 | |
| 79. | “The Ivory Door” | 11/17/1948 | |
| 80. | “Wuthering Heights” (Excerpts) | 11/24/1948 | UCLA/LOC |
| 81. | “The Dover Road” | 12/01/1948 | |
| 82. | “The Flashing Stream” | 12/08/1948 | |
| 83. | “The Old Soak” | 12/15/1948 | |
| 84. | “Hansel and Gretel” | 12/22/1948 | |
| 85. | “Meet the Prince” | 12/29/1948 | |
| 86. | “To Catch the Wind” | 01/05/1949 | |
| 87. | “Miranda” | 01/12/1949 | |
| 88. | “Duet for Two Hands” | 01/19/1949 | |
| 89. | “There’s Always Juliet” | 01/26/1949 | |
| 90. | “Her Master’s Voice” | 02/02/1949 | |
| 91. | “Gramercy Ghost” | 02/09/1949 | |
| 92. | “Room Service” | 02/16/1949 | |
| 93. | “The Flying Gerardos” | 02/23/1949 | |
| 94. | “A Bill of Divorcement” | 03/02/1949 | |
| 95. | “Arrival of Kitty” | 03/09/1949 | |
| 96. | “Consider Lily” | 03/16/1949 | |
| 97. | “Village Green” | 03/23/1949 | |
| 98. | “Wicked is the Vine” | 03/30/1949 | UCLA |
| 99. | “As Husbands Go” | 04/06/1949 | |
| 100. | “The Miracle of Chickerston” | 04/13/1949 | LOC |
| 101. | “The Whole Town’s Talking” | 04/20/1949 | LOC |
| 102. | “Green Stockings” | 04/27/1949 | |
Related:
September 27th, 2009 at 11:27PM
At one time, NBC had an entire shelf of “KRAFT TELEVISION THEATER” kinescopes in their warehouse at Fort Lee, New Jersey…and then they systematically “cleared their shelves” of those and other historically significant TV series by tossing them out- often destroying the film itself. And they did this every few years…we’re lucky four of them from the 1948-’49 season DID survive! Too bad Kraft couldn’t have socked most of them away in their own warehouse, as Westinghouse did with most of their “STUDIO ONE” kinnies….
November 11th, 2009 at 10:23PM
Are you sure they don’t exist? NBC donated over 100,000 kinies to the Library of Congress in the early 80s and they have a ton of Kraft Television Theatres. I’m not sure how many but its a significant amount numbering in the hundreds.
November 12th, 2009 at 8:04PM
The last time I searched the Library of Congress database online — and this was at least a year ago — I found around 50 episodes of Kraft Television Theatre. There could certainly be plenty more that I either missed or are not searchable via the online database.