Status of Kraft Television Theatre, Season 4

2 Replies to “Status of Kraft Television Theatre, Season 4”

1. Firstly, thank you for all of your work and this information.

   Secondly, I was born in Manhattan in mid-1954 and knew, from a very early age, that my parents had had involvement in early live television, beginning in Chicago around 1950 and then, in NYC. I heard the names ‘Kraft Television’, ‘Lux Video’ and other programs mentioned a number of times, as well as hearing my parents (mostly mom) discuss some of the later big-time stars having done the shows she had worked on. I heard the J Walter Thompson Advertising Agency mentioned more than a few times, too – although most of all of these references were made before I was fully able to appreciate them, and both parents are long gone, now. Mom was prone to exaggeration & (only) sometimes get caught out… however, after she died, I inherited virtually all of her fairly vast amount of never-thrown-out paperwork, and amongst it all, I found a few very telling things: One was a letter of recommendation from Stanley Quinn attesting to her work as his assistant. The other was her copy of two Season 4 scripts: ‘The Great Broxopp’ and ‘Ashes in the Wind – complete with her annotations – plus correspondence which showed that she had reserved rehearsal space for episodes, did rehearsal and costuming session scheduling, and she timed the (live) show – which she had spoken about to me. When i found these things, I was very rapidly winnowing down those inherited items during the 58 days between my retirement (in 2014) and my departure for a new life in South America – because I left with only a large carry-on backpack for that new life. A colleague agreed to keep / store the items which I said held historical value: She may still have them…

   My reason for writing is that I spent much of my life realizing that both of my parents’ greatest work and contribution to that famous live era of NYC television occurred before my birth and so little of it remains. I cannot seem to prove much of what they did, although I have seen evidence [I have a photograph of my dad (Alan Paul Rhone) addressing Helen Hayes and George Abbott, backstage, during the period of the November 1953 Lighthouse Telethon for the Blind, and someone whom I didn’t even know provided a photo of the actual page of the TV Guide program for that event, which helped give me more context than I’d known]. Other than all of these things, I have never seen evidence of their involvement. I know ‘kinnies’ were both made and lost (even mom spoke about that). IMdB somehow manages to avoid any mention of crew names or titles other than episode producers, so I cannot even place my mom assisting Quinn that way.

   I wonder if you might happen to have anything which could assist me?

   I’m 69, now, and live in Vancouver, Canada.

   Thank you soooo much,
   R Paul Kerston

   Reply

   1. R Paul Kerston, all of IMdB content comes from its readers, so the only way crew names would be listed is if one of the readers adds them. I would suggest you try to contact the colleague you left documents with, and see if the person still has anything.

      Reply

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