I’ve written a brief overview of NBC’s long-running Kraft Television Theatre — which ran from 1947 to 1958 — and the status of its hundreds of episodes, which you can read here. Because the show ran year-round, I initially considered each season to run from May to May (in other words, the first season would have run from May of 1947 to May of 1948). However, I eventually decided to align my status guides with various episode guides available online: TV.com, the Internet Movie Database and the Classic TV Database.
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 Season Five September 12th, 1951 – September 24th, 1952 March 30th, 2010
The third season of Kraft Television Theatre premiered on September 21st, 1949 with the 124th episode of the series and ended on September 20th, 1950 with the 176th episode. Thirteen episodes are held by the Library of Congress, one of which (“The Wind is Ninety”) is also held by UCLA’s Film & Television Archive. The Library of Congress also has six segment of outtakes from “The Wind is Ninety” in its collection. Excerpts from the August 2nd, 1950 episode (“January Thaw”) were included in the sixth anniversary show broadcast on May 6th, 1953; both UCLA and the Library of Congress have copies of this episode. The Museum of Broadcast Communications and the Paley Center for Media don’t have any episodes from this season in its collection.
The January 25th, 1950 episode (“Kelly”) was re-staged on January 10th, 1951. UCLA, the Museum of Broadcast Communications and the Library of Congress all have copies of the 1951 version. No copies of the 1950 version are known to exist.
| Season Three: 1949-1950 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ep. # | Episode Title | Airdate | Status | 124. | “The Man in Half Moon Street” | 09/21/1949 | LOC |
| 125. | “Climax” | 09/28/1949 | LOC |
| 126. | “Apple of His Eye” | 10/05/1949 | LOC |
| 127. | “Your Friendly Nabors” | 10/12/1949 | |
| 128. | “Accidentally Yours” | 10/19/1949 | |
| 129. | “To Dream Again” | 10/26/1949 | |
| 130. | “Whistling in the Dark” | 11/02/1949 | |
| 131. | “Happy Ending” | 11/09/1949 | |
| 132. | “The Happiest Year” | 11/16/1949 | |
| 133. | “In Love with Love” | 11/23/1949 | |
| 134. | “Seen But Not Heard” | 11/30/1949 | |
| 135. | “Comedy of Errors” | 12/07/1949 | LOC |
| 136. | “Nantucket Legend” | 12/14/1949 | LOC |
| 137. | “The Glove” | 12/21/1949 | |
| 138. | “New Brooms” | 12/28/1949 | |
| 139. | “That Naborly Feeling” | 01/04/1950 | |
| 140. | “As Husbands Go” | 01/11/1950 | |
| 141. | “The Vinegar Tree” | 01/18/1950 | |
| 142. | “Kelly” | 01/25/1950 | |
| 143. | “The Old Ladies” | 02/01/1950 | |
| 144. | “The Dark Tower” | 02/08/1950 | |
| 145. | “The Silent Room” | 02/15/1950 | |
| 146. | “Valley Forge” | 02/22/1950 | |
| 147. | “Mrs. Moonlight” | 03/01/1950 | |
| 148. | “Nineteenth Hole” | 03/08/1950 | |
| 149. | “Ladies in Retirement” | 03/15/1950 | |
| 150. | “The Queen’s Husband” | 03/22/1950 | |
| 151. | “The Copperhead” | 03/29/1950 | |
| 152. | “A Doll’s House” | 04/05/1950 | LOC |
| 153. | “The Lucky Finger” | 04/12/1950 | LOC |
| 154. | “Make Way for Lunch” | 04/19/1950 | |
| 155. | “Black Sheep” | 04/26/1950 | |
| 156. | “The Fourth Step” | 05/03/1950 | |
| 157. | “Macbeth” | 05/10/1950 | LoC |
| 158. | “Storm in a Teacup” | 05/17/1950 | |
| 159. | “The House Beautiful” | 05/24/1950 | |
| 160. | “The Luck of Guldeford” | 05/31/1950 | |
| 161. | “The Doctor in Spite of Himself” | 06/07/1950 | |
| 162. | “Good Housekeeping” | 06/14/1950 | |
| 163. | “Noah” | 06/21/1950 | |
| 164. | “The Wind is Ninety” | 06/28/1950 | LoC |
| 165. | “Jeannie” | 07/05/1950 | |
| 166. | “Murder on the Nile” | 07/12/1950 | LoC |
| 167. | “Accent on Youth” | 07/19/1950 | |
| 168. | “Mr. Barry’s Etchings” | 07/26/1950 | |
| 169. | “January Thaw” | 08/02/1950 | LoC/UCLA |
| 170. | “Feathers in a Gale” | 08/09/1950 | |
| 171. | “September Tide” | 08/16/1950 | LoC |
| 172. | “The First Mrs. Fraser” | 08/23/1950 | LoC |
| 173. | “The Detour” | 08/30/1950 | |
| 174. | “Last Trump” | 09/06/1950 | |
| 175. | “The Great Big Doorstep” | 09/13/1950 | |
| 176. | “Last Stop” | 09/20/1950 | |
The “Kelly” confusion is due to the fact that the January 25, 1950 production was so successful that it was done again, in a separate live performance, on January 10, 1951, nearly a year later. I have this straight from E.G. Marshall who starred in both productions. Is it possible that the two holdings are of the different performances?
Jim, thanks for raising this issue. After doing some additional research it looks like there are no copies of the original January 25th, 1950 version of “Kelly” in any of the big television archives. The Library of Congress, the Museum of Broadcast Communications and UCLA’s Film & Television Archive all have copies of the January 10th, 1951 version, although only the Library of Congress correctly identifies it as a re-staging.
The Museum of Broadcast Communications identifies its version as airing on January 10th, 1950. This date is doubly inaccurate. You can watch the episode online and at the beginning, the announcer notes that it is the 192nd presentation. At the end, the announcer promotes the following week’s play as “Best Years,” which was broadcast on January 17th, 1951. Clearly, this is the 1951 version.
UCLA notes that its copy is the 192nd play broadcast by Kraft Television Theatre, which identifies it as the 1951 version, but gives the 1950 date.
As further confirmation that the Museum of Broadcast Communications and UCLA have the 1951 version, television listings in The New York Times state that Ann Francis appeared in the 1950 version alongside E.G. Marshall and Mark Roberts while Olive Deering appeared alongside Marshall and Roberts in the 1951 version. The end credits to the version available for viewing at the Museum of Broadcast Communications include Deering as does the cast list at UCLA.