| Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Universal Star Time Theatre of the Stars |
| Genre | Anthology |
| Presented by | Bob Hope |
| Theme music composer | Johnny Williams |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 107 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Roy Huggins |
| Producer(s) | Richard Berg Jack Laird Richard Lewis Frank P. Rosenberg |
| Running time | 48 mins. |
| Production company(s) | Hovue Productions, in association with Universal Television |
| Distributor | MCA Television |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original run | October 4, 1963 – May 17, 1967 |
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre is an American anthology series, sponsored by Chrysler Corporation, which ran on NBC from 1963 through 1967. The show was hosted by Bob Hope, but it had a variety of formats, including musical, dramatic, and comedy.
Overview [edit]
The program included such events as an adaptation of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, starring Jason Robards (from the novel by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn); The Seven Little Foys, starring Mickey Rooney, Eddie Foy Jr. and the Osmond Brothers; Think Pretty, a musical starring Fred Astaire and Barrie Chase and Groucho Marx in "Time for Elizabeth", a televised adaptation of a play that Marx and Norman Krasna wrote in 1948.
Generally, each episode ran for an hour, although for some 'special presentations', NBC expanded the broadcast time to 90 minutes.
Hope was paid $25,000 per week for those episodes which he merely introduced, and $500,000 for those in which he starred in. Hope's performances consisted of his typical joke- and celebrity-filled blackout sketches. These were usually called Chrysler Presents a Bob Hope Special. Every season, Hope traveled to Vietnam for Christmas, to entertain the troops.
Actors who appeared in episodes included Phyllis Avery, Ida Lupino, Sam Peckinpah, Peter Falk, Hugh O'Brian, Shelley Winters, Cliff Robertson, John Cassavetes, Jack Lord, William Shatner, Angie Dickinson, Suzanne Pleshette, Robert Stack, Dina Merrill, Darren McGavin, Broderick Crawford, Robert Wagner, Robert Young and Stuart Whitman.
Several episodes were rerun from 1968 through 1972 under several different titles: NBC Adventure Theatre (1971-1972), NBC Action Playhouse (1971-1972), NBC Comedy Playhouse (1968-1970) and NBC Comedy Theater (1971-1972). The Hope introductions were replaced by other hosts, such as Peter Marshall (who hosted "Action"), Art Fleming ("Adventure" in 1971), Ed McMahon ("Adventure" in 1972), Monty Hall ("Comedy Playhouse" in 1968) and Jack Kelly ("Comedy Playhouse" in 1970, and "Comedy Theater").
In syndication, the series was presented as Universal Star Time and Theatre of the Stars, minus Hope's opening and closing segments.
Award nominations [edit]
For her performance in the episode "Two is the Number" (1964), Shelley Winters won an Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a miniseries or movie.
Simone Signoret won an Emmy for outstanding lead actress for her performance in "A Small Rebellion" (1966).
External links [edit]
- Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre at the Internet Movie Database
- Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre at TV.com
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