CTVA US Anthology - "Cavalcade Of America" (NBC) Season 1 (1952-53)

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 Season 1 (NBC) (1952-53)
Episode Guide compiled by The Classic TV Archive
with contributions by:  Hal Erickson, Steve Greenup, Rina Fox, Jim Brent
references:
TV Guide / Library of Congress (telnet://locis.loc.gov)
Internet Movie Database (https://us.imdb.com)
UCLA Film and Television Archive

 

###########  Cavalcade of America  ###########
############## season 1 1952-53 ##############
##############################################
NBC  Wednesdays 8:30-9:00pm EST   (010ct52-24Jun53)
   (alternated with "Scott Music Hall")
 

 1.01 [--] Cavalcade of America: POOR RICHARD [Premiere]
01-Oct-1952 NBC Wed (Network Rerun 05Jan54)
Producer Gil Ralston
Written by Frederick Jackson & Arthur Ripley
Directed by Peter Godfrey
Director of photography Stuart Thompson
Editor Marvin Coll
starring
Dabbs Greer ........ John Adams
Cecil Kellaway
Alan Napier
Leo Britt
Henry Brandon
Hilda Plowright
Tudor Owen
Patrick O'Moore
Almira Sessions
Roy Darmour
Synopsis 1:
Dramatized incidents are used to show how Benjamin Franklin delayed a conference between Lord Howe and John Adams until the spring rainy
season commenced, thereby allowing General Washington to extricate his troops from Long Island under the cover of a storm.
Synopsis 2:
This drama sent the "old and obstinate" Franklin to delay American surrender talks with the British, thereby allowing General George Washington
to escape capture to fight another day. [JB]
Synopsis 3:
Benjamin Franklin delays a conference and gains time for Washington’s Army to escape.

[--] Music Hall
08Oct1952 [Premiere]
with Patti Page, Frank Fontaine.


1.02 [--] Cavalcade of America: ALL'S WELL WITH LYDIA
15-Oct-1952 NBC Wed (Network rerun 22Mar55)
Teleplay by Frederick Jackson
Director of photography Stuart Thompson
Editor Bernard Matis
starring
Ruth Warrick .......... Lydia Darragh
Reginald Denny ...... Col. Patterson
John Dodsworth ...... Lt. Allen
Esther Dale ............. Aunt Tabitha
Phil Chambers
William Bakewell
Everett Glass
Burt Mustin
John Downey
Synopsis 1:
A Philadelphia matron makes friends with the British officers who are occupying that city during the revolution.
Her friendship is of great value to the American forces. [JB]
Synopsis 2:
The Revolutionary War story of Lydia Darragh, American patriot and Philadelphia widow, who by her cleverness gained
information instrumental in an American victory.

[--] Music Hall
22Oct1952
with Patti Page, Frank Fontaine.


1.03 [--] Cavalcade of America: THE MAN WHO TOOK A CHANCE
29-Oct-1952 NBC Wed (Network rerun 10Nov53)
Producer Jules Bricken
Written by Catherine Turney
Directed by Jules Bricken
Director of photography Henry Freulich
Editor Dan Heiss
starring
Richard Denning
Rhys Williams
Lewis Martin
Harry Cheshire
Byron Foulger
John Litel
Thurston Hall
Synopsis 1:
The story of an 19th century genius who adapted 20th century methods to solve an American problem.
Synopsis 2:
Eli Whitney first begins to manufacture muskets.
Synopsis 3:
There is drama as sharp as the rattle of muskets when the warlike powers of Europe threaten the young Union of States,
and the danger comes when it seems that all the liberties won in the hard-fought Revolutionary War may be lost.
From the necessity of making muskets in defend America. Whitney gets the idea of manufacturing interchangeable parts.
The result is mass production, a system that changes the face of the new continent, and after that the world.

[--] Music Hall
05Nov1952
with Patti Page, Frank Fontaine.


1.04 [--] Cavalcade of America: A ROMANCE TO REMEMBER
12-Nov-1952 NBC Wed (Network rerun 11Jan55)
Producer Jules Bricken
Written by David Dortort
Directed by Jules Bricken
Director of photography Henry Freulich
starring
Dan O'Herlihy ......... Nathaniel Hawthorne
Fay Baker .............. Elizabeth Peabody
Helen Westcott ...... Sophia Peabody
Synopsis 1:
The tale of the two beautiful Peabody Sisters who become rivals for the love of Nathaniel Hawthorne.[JB]
Synopsis 2:
Young Nathaniel Hawthorne is prodded to greater literary efforts by an ambitious woman.

[--] Music Hall
19Nov1952
with Patti Page, Frank Fontaine.

1.05 [--] Cavalcade of America: WHAT GOD HATH WROUGHT
26-Nov-1952 NBC Wed (Network rerun 02Feb54)
Producer Jules Bricken
Teleplay by Richard Blake
Directed by Jules Bricken
Director of photography Henry Freulich
Editor William A. Lyon
starring
Eduard Franz ........ Samuel Morse
Thomas Browne Henry
Steven Clark
Synopsis:
The story of how Samuel Morse, after many hardships, gained recognition for the first telegraph.
Synopsis 2:
Semi-documentary on inventor Samuel Morse outlining difficulties in obtaining recognition for his telegraph.

[--] Music Hall
03Dec1952
with Patti Page, Frank Fontaine.


1.06 [--] Cavalcade of America: NO GREATER LOVE
10-Dec-1953 NBC Wed (Network rerun 05Apr55)
Producer Jack Chertok
Written by Tom Seller
Directed by William J. Thiele
Director of photography Robert Pittack
Editor Frank Capacchione
starring
Mary Anderson ....... Clara Louise Maas
Arthur Franz ........ Dr. William Gorgas
Reed Hadley
David Bond
Synopsis 1:
A story about Clara Louise Maas, a Spanish-American War nurse who allowed herself to be bitten by a Stegomyia mosquito in order to
further the experiments which were being conducted in the Las Animas Hospital in Havana under the direction of Dr. William C. Gorgas
during a yellow fever epidemic at the turn of the century.
Synopsis 2:
Nurse Clara Maas volunteers to be bitten by a dreaded mosquito so that the research on yellow fever can go on.

[--] Music Hall
17Dec1952
with Patti Page, Frank Fontaine.

1.07 [--] Cavalcade of America: IN THIS CRISIS
24-Dec-1953 NBC Wed (Network rerun 23Feb54)
Producer Jules Bricken
Teleplay by David Dortort
Directed by Robert Stevenson
Director of photography Fayte M. Browne
Editor James Sweeney
starring
Richard Gaines ... George Washington
Tom Tully ............. John Honeyman
Ann Doran ........... Mrs. Honeyman
John Hoyt ............ Hessian Officer
Harry Harvey
Synopsis 1:
John Honeyman, American patriot, pretends to be a Tory in order to gain information that will mean Washington’s victory over the Hessians.
Synopsis 2:
An American patriot pretends to be a Tory in order to gain information that will insure Washington's victory over the Hessians. [JB]

[--] Music Hall
31Dec1952
with Patti Page, Frank Fontaine.


1.08 [--] Cavalcade of America: THE ARROW AND THE BOW
07-Jan-1953 NBC Wed
Producer Gilbert Ralston
Teleplay by Frederick Jackson
Directed by Arthur Ripley
Director of photography Stuart Thompson
Editor Edward A. Biery & Bernard Matis
starring
Sean McClory .... Andrew Johnson
Elena Verdugo
Booth Colman
Frances Bavier
O.Z. Whitehead
Synopsis:
The career of Andrew Johnson, who, starting as a tailor, became the 17th President

[--] Music Hall
14Jan1953
with Patti Page, Senor Wences, Frank Fontaine.


1.09 [--] Cavalcade of America: WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
21-Jan-1953 NBC Wed (Network rerun 01Mar55)
Producer Jules Bricken
Teleplay by Warner Law
Directed by John English
Director of photography Henry Freulich
Editor Al Clark
starring
Ross Ford ........... Jefferson Davis
Nancy Hale .......... Sarah Taylor
Dayton Lummis
Robert Barrat
Synopsis 1:
The story of the tragic romance and marriage of Jefferson Davis and Sarah Knox Taylor.
Synopsis 2:
The story of Jefferson Davis, future president of the Confederacy, and Sarah Taylor, daughter of the future president
of the United States. Their love was fated to end in tragedy.

[--] Music Hall
28Jan1953
with Patti Page, Senor Wences, Frank Fontaine.


1.10 [--] Cavalcade of America: NEW SALEM STORY
04-Feb-1953 NBC Wed (Network rerun 08Feb55)
Producer Jules Bricken
Teleplay DeWitt Bodeen
Directed by Jules Bricken
Director of photography Henry Freulich
Editor James Sweeney
starring
Jeff Donnell ......... Ann Rutledge
James Griffith ...... Abraham Lincoln
Lloyd Corrigan ...... Bowling Green
Louis Jean Heydt
Synopsis:
The legendary tale of Abe Lincoln and his great love for Ann Rutledge

[--] Music Hall
11Feb1953
with Patti Page, Frank Fontaine.

1.11 [--] Cavalcade of America: A MATTER OF HONOR
18-Feb-1953 NBC Wed (Network Rerun 15Jun54)
Producer Gil Ralston
Written by Van Norcross
Directed by Arthur Hilton
Director of photography Stuart Thompson
Editor Marvin Coil
starring
Onslow Stevens ..... Sam Houston
Taylor Holmes ......... General Andrew Jackson
Randy Stuart .......... Eliza Houston
Jonathan Hale
Stanley Andrews
Pierre Watkins
Synopsis 1:
A historical drama portraying the misunderstanding between Sam Houston and his wife, Eliza, which resulted in Houston's resignation of the governorship of Tennessee.
Synopsis 2:
The story of Sam Houston, hero of the Alamo, who gave the woman he loved a locket engraved with one word, “integrity,” but had she earned the right to wear it? [JB]

[--] Music Hall
25Feb1953
with Patti Page, Frank Fontaine.

1.12 [--] Cavalcade of America: EXPERIMENT AT MONTICELLO
04-Mar-1953 NBC Wed (Network rerun 17May55)
Producer Jules Bricken
Teleplay by Brown Holmes
Directed by Jules Bricken
Director of photography Henry Freulich
Editor Richard Fantl
starring
Grandon Rhodes ...... Thomas Jefferson
Raymond Greenleaf
Barbara Woodell
John Hamilton
Donald Randolph
Morgan Farley
Synopsis 1:
Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States, uses himself as a guinea pig and is inoculated with the germs of
small pox in a heroic effort to establish control of the disease.
Synopsis 2:
A dramatization of Thomas Jefferson’s attempt to stop an epidemic of smallpox.

[--] Music Hall
11Mar1953
with Patti Page, Les Paul, Mary Ford.


1.13 [--] Cavalcade of America: MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD
18-March-1953 NBC Wed [Network rerun 25May54]
Producer Jack Chertok
Written by Tom Seller
Directed by William J. Thiele
Director of photography Robert Pittack
Editor Frank Sullivan
starring
Douglas Kennedy
Eduard Franz
Adele Longmire
Robert Rockwell
Hayden Rorke
Whit Bissell
John Doucette
Byron Foulger
Harry Harvey
Earle Hodgins
John Eldredge
David Cavendish
John Alvin
John Hamilton
Synopsis 1:
A pre-Revolutionary War drama. The freedom of the press is upheld through the trial and acquittal of John Peter Zenger,
a New York newspaper publisher who was imprisoned for printing the truth about corruption of the British administration.
Synopsis 2:
Story of John Peter Zenger in the famous trial that established American freedom of the press. [JB]
Synopsis 3:
The celebrated case of Peter Zenger, whose trial helped establish freedom of the press in America.

[--] Music Hall
25Mar1953
with Patti Page, Dick Haymes, Frank Fontaine.


1.14 [--] Cavalcade of America: THE INDOMITABLE BLACKSMITH
01-April-1953 NBC Wed (Network rerun 19Apr55)
Producer Jack Chertok
Written by Warner Law
Directed by William J. Thiele
Director of photography Robert Pittack
Editor John C. Fuller
starring
Whitfield Connor .... Thomas Davenport
Peggy Webber
John Dehner
Robert Foulk
Kathleen Freeman
Paul Keast
Katherine Warren
Frank Ferguson
Harris Brown
Geraldine Wall
Kenneth MacDonald
Synopsis 1:
A story about Thomas Davenport, a blacksmith, and his long struggle to invent and perfect the electric motor. Setting: Brandon, Vt., in the 1830's.
Synopsis 2:
The story of how Thomas Davenport neglected his blacksmith trade and failed in business, but won immortality in science by inventing the first electric motor. (JB)
Synopsis 3:
Thomas Davenport, a blacksmith of Brandon, Vermont, had to suffer the gibes of his fellow townsmen when, back in 1830, he invented the first electric motor.

[--] Music Hall
08Apr1953
with Patti Page, Ezio Pinza.

1.15 [--] Cavalcade of America: THE GINGERBREAD MAN
15-April-1953 NBC Wed (Network rerun 21Dec54)
Producers Gil Ralston & Arthur Ripley
Written by Robert Stevenson
Directed Robert Stevenson
Director of photography Stuart Thompson
Editor Alfred DeGaetano
starring
Otto Waldis ........... Christopher Ludwick
Edith Angold .......... Katie
John Wengraf ....... German Colonel
William Yetter ....... Schultz
Richard Gaines .... George Washington
John Hamilton ....... Col. Norton
Tony Christian
Skelton Knaggs
Synopsis 1:
A true story about Christopher Ludwick, the baker, who came to America in 1776 from Germany. He made a most unusual gingerbread man
which later became famous in America. He lived with his wife in Philadelphia.
Synopsis 2:
A baker, Christopher Ludwick, is responsible for some Hessian troops’ decision to join the American Army in the war for independence.
Ludwick’s clever words give the American Army a great many more soldiers to help fight the British.
Synopsis 3:
A comedy-drama about an elderly German baker who persuades 123 Hessian soldiers to desert the British Army during the American Revolution.

[--] Music Hall
22Apr1953
with Patti Page, Bob Crosby, Four Aces.

1.16 [--] Cavalcade of America: NIGHT STRIKE (Nite Strike)
29-April-1953 NBC Wed (Network rerun 19Oct54)
Producers Gil Ralston & Arthur Ripley
Written by Robert Stevenson
Directed by Robert Stevenson
Director of photography Stuart Thompson
Editor Alfred DeGaetano
starring
Glenn Langan ........ Captain John Paul Jones
Richard Garrick ..... Benjamin Franklin
Russell Simpson ..... Quartermaster
Maurice Marsac ...... DeSartine
Robert Osterloh ..... Simpson
Dayton Lummis ....... Lee
Dorothea Wolbert .... Widow Parker
Norman Dupont ........ Etienne
John Fraser ............ Tom Giddings
Harry Wilson ........... Harry Martley
Kenneth Donald Murray ... Davey Tucker
Hank Mann ........ British Sentry
James Best
Synopsis 1:
Dramatizes an incident in the career of Captain John Paul Jones. Describes a raid made by Americans under Jones' leadership
on the English coast at Whitehaven in 1778 and the unexpected outcome of the action.
Synopsis 2:
John Paul Jones undertakes the first hostile invasion of England since 1066 as he endeavors to prove to all the world that
the American Navy and the American government are to be reckoned with.

[--] Music Hall
06May1953
with Patti Page, Stan Kenton, Jimmy Boyd, The Mills Brothers.

1.17 [--] Cavalcade of America: SLATER'S DREAM
13-May-1953 NBC Wed (Network rerun 31May55)
Producer Jack Chertok
Teleplay by John Thiele, William Thiele and Charles Larson
Directed by William J. Thiele
Director of photography Robert Pittack
starring
Terence Kilburn ..... Samuel Slater
Howard Wendell
Robert Foulk
Mary Ellen Kay
James Guilfoyle
Harvey B. Dunn
Synopsis 1:
Dramatizes the story of Samuel Slater, a young Englishman, who came to America in 1790 and struggled to construct from memory the cotton spinner,
the plan of which England jealously guarded to insure a monopoly on the machine.
Synopsis 2:
A young English immigrant serves his newly adopted country by enabling America to break the English monopoly on the cotton spinner.
Synopsis 3:
English law in 1790 forbade taking written information on the cotton spinning machine from the country. Samuel Slater, however, memorized the
plans and went to America to try to build a machine from memory.
*Syndication airing on "American Legend" 25Aug58.

[--] Music Hall
20May1953
with Patti Page, Vaughn Monroe, Richard Hayman, The Whiffenpoofs.


1.18 [--] Cavalcade of America: PIRATE'S CHOICE
27-May-1953 NBC Wed [Network rerun 14Jun55]
Producer Jack Chertok
Teleplay by Curtis Kenyon & David P. Sheppard
Directed by William J. Thiele
Director of photography Robert Pittack
Editors John C. Fuller & Jack Ruggiero
starring
William Bishop ...... Jean LaFitte
Morris Ankrum ....... Andrew Jackson
Philip Tonge .......... English Captain
Mario Siletti
Sig Arno
Donna Martell
Rhys Williams
Ben Astar
Jim Hayward
Douglas Evans
Peter Mamakos
Gladys Hurlbut
James Seay
Synopsis:
Dramatizes the events which led to the decision of the pirate Jean Lafitte to join Andrew Jackson in the defense of
New Orleans against the English forces in 1814.

[--] Music Hall
03Jun1953
Host Robert Russell Bennett with Rise Stevens, William Warfield, Leontyne Price, Oscar Hammerstein II.


1.19 [--] Cavalcade of America: JOHN YANKEE
10-Jun-1953 NBC Wed
Producer Jack Chertok
Written by Charles Larson
Directed by William J. Thiele
Director of photography Robert Pittack
Editors Ben Marmon & Jack Ruggiero
starring
Whitfield Connor .... John Adams
Helen Parrish
Lowell Gilmore
Scott Elliott (as Robert Neil)
Patrick O'Moore
John Alderson
Raymond Greenleaf
Teddy Infuhr
Harry Harvey
Paul Keast
Nolan Leary
Emory Parnell
Norman Field
Watson Downs
Synopsis 1:
Dramatizes John Adams' difficult and unpopular decision to defend eight English soldiers who participated in a Boston riot prior to the Revolution.
Synopsis 2:
John Adams defends eight British soldiers charged with murder.

[--] Music Hall
17Jun1953
Host Robert Russell Bennett with Patricia Morison, Norman Scott, Carroll Glenn, The Eva Jessye Choir.


1.20 [--] Cavalcade of America: THE TENDERFOOT
24-Jun-1953 NBC Wed
Producer Jack Chertok
Teleplay by Tom Seller
Directed by William J. Thiele
Director of photography Robert Pittack
Editor Jack Ruggiero
starring
Tom Brown ........... Teddy Roosevelt
Edgar Buchanan
John Kellogg
Ludwig Stossel
Lee Van Cleef
Robert Cornthwaite
Nolan Leary
James Young
Synopsis 1:
A historical drama showing how young Theodore Roosevelt, undaunted by a blizzard, pursues and captures three outlaws in the Dakota Bad Lands. Time: 1886.
Teddy Roosevelt goes west to begin anew after great personal tragedies, and finds the will to return and fight his way to new political heights.
Synopsis 2:
Theodore Roosevelt in Dakota's “badlands” captures three outlaws.

[--] Music Hall
01Jul1953
with Patti Page

 ############ Cavalcade of America ############
############### end of season 1 ##############
##############################################

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