Kraft Television Theatre broadcast some 585 episodes on NBC between May 1947 and October 1958. The series ran year-round with no summer breaks, meaning it didn’t have traditional seasons. I’ve aligned this status guide with episode lists and guides available online, like those found at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) and the Classic TV Archive (CTVA).
Season 11 of Kraft Television Theatre premiered in September 1957 and ended in October 1958. There were three pre-emptions, all for entertainment specials. Some sources indicate NBC shortened the title to Kraft Theatre at the start of this final season. In June 1958, the network retitled the series Kraft Mystery Theatre. NBC aired a total of 51 episodes this season, of which at least 36 episodes survive.
The Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) has 34 episodes from this season in its collection. The Library of Congress (LOC) has 30 episodes. The UCLA Film & Television Archive (UCLA) has 15.
Keep in mind that just because the big TV archives/museums only have certain episodes doesn’t mean there aren’t additional episodes of Kraft Television Theatre/Kraft Mystery Theatre from the 1957-1958 season out there somewhere.
| Kraft Television Theatre, Season 11: 1957-1958 | |||
| # | Episode Title | Airdate | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 535 | “Vengeance” | 09/25/1957 | MBC |
| 536 | “The Barefoot Soldier” | 10/02/1957 | MBC |
| 537 | “Smart Boy” | 10/09/1957 | |
| 538 | “A Cook for Mr. General” | 10/16/1957 | |
| 539 | “Man in a Trance” | 10/23/1957 | UCLA |
| 540 | “Gun at a Fair One” | 10/30/1957 | MBC |
| 541 | “The Category is Murder” | 11/06/1957 | MBC |
| 542 | “The Big Heist” | 11/13/1957 | MBC |
| 543 | “The Sound of Trouble” | 11/20/1957 | MBC |
| PRE-EMPTED: Annie Get Your Gun | 11/27/1957 | ||
| 544 | “Come to Me” | 12/04/1957 | MBC |
| 545 | “Heroes Walk on Sand” | 12/11/1957 | MBC |
| 546 | “Polka” | 12/18/1957 | |
| 547 | “The Other Wise Man” | 12/25/1957 | MBC/UCLA |
| 548 | “The Battle for Wednesday Night” | 01/01/1958 | Paley/MBC/UCLA |
| 549 | “The Velvet Trap” | 01/08/1958 | |
| 550 | “Code of the Corner” | 01/15/1958 | |
| 551 | “Eddie” | 01/22/1958 | MBC |
| 552 | “Run, Joe, Run” | 01/29/1958 | |
| 553 | “The Spell of the Tigress” | 02/05/1958 | MBC |
| 554 | “Material Witness” | 02/19/1958 | MBC/UCLA |
| PRE-EMPTED: The Unchained Goddess | 02/12/1958 | ||
| 555 | “The Woman at High Hollow” | 02/26/1958 | |
| 556 | “Dog in a Bus Tunnel” | 03/05/1958 | MBC/Paley/UCLA |
| 557 | “The Sea Is Boiling Hot” | 03/12/1958 | MBC/UCLA |
| 558 | “Look What’s Going On” | 03/19/1958 | MBC |
| 559 | “Angry Angel” | 03/26/1958 | Paley/UCLA |
| 560 | “The Man in Authority” | 04/02/1958 | MBC |
| PRE-EMPTED: Swing Into Spring | 04/09/1958 | ||
| 561 | “Three Plays by Tennessee Williams” | 04/16/1958 | MBC/Paley/UCLA |
| 562 | “Angry Harvest” | 04/23/1958 | MBC |
| 563 | “Fifty Grand” | 04/30/1958 | MBC/Paley/UCLA |
| 564 | “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” | 05/07/1958 | MBC/Paley |
| 565 | “All the King’s Men (Part 1)” | 05/14/1958 | MBC/Paley/UCLA |
| 566 | “All the King’s Men (Part 2)” | 05/21/1958 | MBC/Paley/UCLA |
| 567 | “A Boy Called Ciske” | 05/28/1958 | MBC |
*Name Changed to Kraft Mystery Theatre*
| # | Episode Title | Airdate | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 568 | “The Last of the Belles” | 06/04/1958 | MBC* |
| 569 | “Killer’s Choice” | 06/11/1958 | MBC |
| 570 | “Now Will You Try for Murder?” | 06/18/1958 | |
| 571 | “The Eighty Seventh Precinct” | 06/25/1958 | |
| 572 | “Next Door to Death” | 07/02/1958 | |
| 573 | “Cop Killer” | 07/09/1958 | |
| 574 | “The Man Who Didn’t Fly” | 07/16/1958 | |
| 575 | “Focus on Murder” | 07/23/1958 | MBC |
| 576 | “Death Wears Many Faces” | 07/30/1958 | MBC |
| 577 | “Death for Sale” | 08/06/1958 | MBC |
| 578 | “Night Cry” | 08/13/1958 | UCLA |
| 579 | “We Haven’t Seen Her Lately” | 08/20/1958 | MBC |
| 580 | “Web of Guilt” | 08/27/1958 | MBC |
| 581 | “Back Track” | 09/03/1958 | MBC |
| 582 | “Trick or Treat” | 09/10/1958 | |
| 583 | “A Cup of Kindness” | 09/17/1958 | MBC |
| 584 | “Riddle of a Lady” | 09/24/1958 | MBC |
| 585 | “Presumption of Innocence” | 10/01/1958 | MBC/UCLA |
*Missing the first few minutes
During the summers of 1961, 1962, and 1963, NBC aired an unrelated anthology series called Kraft Mystery Theatre as a summer replacement for The Perry Como Show. This was followed by Kraft Suspense Theatre, which ran for two seasons on NBC from 1963 to 1965.
DO recommend that you peruse LARRY GIANNAKKOS VOLUMES ON EPISODE- BY- EPISODE also LISTING GUEST STAR CREDITS and original air dates as the most reliable source out ther……nyc tv museum had a token few but i havent consulted them since opening in 1983!
It’s too bad “Now You Will Try for Murder” isn’t found yet. Maxene Fabe mentioned this episode in her TV GAME SHOWS book as an example of how big quiz shows had gotten then. She described the plot as being about a quiz show contestant who was murdered just before he was to try for a record amount and listed the possible suspects.