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Season
3 (WNDT/WNET) (1968-69)
Episode Guide
compiled by The Classic TV Archive
with contributions by: Rina Fox, Tom Alger
references:
TV Guide /
Library of Congress (telnet://locis.loc.gov)
Internet Movie Database (http://us.imdb.com)
UCLA Film and Television Archive
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3.01 [---] NET Playhouse:
ACROSS THE RIVER
(1964 US feature film)
04Oct1968 NYC WNDT-13 Fri
Cast:
Lou Gilbert
Kay Doubleday
Synopsis:
Story of a gentle rag picker on the New York waterfront whose attempt to help an
abandoned girl leads to his own
destruction. [TA]
3.02 [---] NET Playhouse: THE MAYFLY AND THE FROG (90min) (UK-BBC
Production)
(first broadcast in the UK on BBC's "The Wednesday Play" 21-Dec-1966)
11Oct1968 NYC WNDT-13 Fri (rerun 06Aug70)
Produced by the BBC
Written by Jack Russell
Cast:
John Gielgud ........ Quantara
Felicity Kendal ..... the Girl
David Stoll ......... Mario
Isa Miranda ......... Mme. Roo
Jeremy Rowe ......... Tepich
Synopsis:
A frog is confronted by a May fly; the result is a brief, bitter-sweet
encounter. John Gielgud plays the frog, a
middle-aged millionaire whose lonely life is penetrated by a bold but sensitive
young girl - the May fly. In London,
Gabriel Quantara's Rolls-Royce knocks over the May fly's motor scooter.
Determined to be paid for the damage, she
follows Quantara to his mansion, foils the devices designed to protect his
privacy and confronts the millionaire
in his bath! [RF]
Synopsis 2:
Interlude in the life of an aging and aloof multi-millionaire. Felicity Kendall
provides the romantic interest.
(Yonkers NY Herald Statesman) [TA]
3.03 [---] NET Playhouse: THE SOLDIER'S TALE
18Oct1968 NYC WNDT-13 Fri (Repeated 26Dec1969 NYC)
Written by Igor Stravinsky
Cast:
Svetlana Beriosova
Robert Helpmann ... The Devil
Brian Phelan
Synopsis:
"The Soldier's Tale" by Igor Stravinsky is the story about a soldier who sells
his soul to the Devil in return for
endless wealth. [TA]
Synopsis 2:
Drama is about a soldier who sells his soul, in the form of a violin, to the
devil, in retur for endless wealth.
The cast is headed by Robert Helpmann, character dancer, who appears in eight
different disguises as the Devil.
(Color) (New York Times) [TA]
[--] 25Oct1968 NYC WNDT-13 Fri - Rerun of #2.28 "Dr.
Knock" (first broadcast 29Mar1968)
3.04 [---] NET Playhouse: WOMEN BEWARE WOMEN (UK-Granada Television
Production)
(first broadcast in the UK on the ITV Network "Play of the Week: Blood &
Thunder" series 11-Jan-1965)
01Nov1968 NYC WNDT-13 Fri 8:30-9:45pm
A complicated drama by 17th century playwright Thomas Middleton.
Cast:
Clifford Evans
Gene Anderson
Diana Rlgg
Laurence Payne
Bill Gaunt
Michael Barrington
Godfrey Quigley
Eric Dodson
Karin Fernald
Synopsis:
A 17th century fun 'n' games drama of court Intrigue, revenge and murder, by
English playwright Thomas Middleton.
(Yonkers NY Herald Statesman) [TA]
3.05 [---] NET Playhouse: THE SEAGULL (UK-BBC Production)
(first broadcast in the UK on BBC's "Theatre 625" 27-Mar-1966)
08Nov1968 NYC WNDT-13 Fri (repeated 07Jul1970 NYC)
Cast:
Robert Stephens
Pamela Brown
Synopsis 1:
This version of Chekhov's thlrd full length play was produced especially for
television. Two of England's best actors,
Pamela Brown and Robert Stephens, star in the story of the son of a popular
actress who wishes to become a writer.
A dead seagull becomes the boy's symbol of lost hope.
Synopsis 2:
It's not for everybody, but for lovers of pure theater, Chekhov's "The Seagull"
has always been considered a
near-masterpiece. You can see it tonight on NET Playhouse, in a version made by
the BBC. A Fine British cast has
been assembled, headed by Robert Stephens and Pamela Brown. This version of the
play has been made especially for
television. (TA)
3.06 [---] NET Playhouse: THEATER AMERICA - NEW THEATER FOR NOW
15Nov1968 NYC WNDT-13 Fri 8:30-10pm Color
(repeated 13Nov1969 Thur)
Cast:
Marge Champion
Ed Flanders
Gail Kobe
Beverlee McKinsey
Tim O'Connor
Philip Proctor
Joseph Reale
Helen Westcott
Anthony Zerbe
Synopsis:
First in a series of programs focusing on American regional theater.
The Los Angeles Center Theater Group at the Mark Taper Forum.
This show features four dramatic vignettes and a two-character, one-act play by
new American playwrights.
The bill includes:
"The Golden Fleece" by Lanford Wilson
"Chuck," by Jack Larson
"Thoughts on the Instant on Greeting a Friend on the Street" by Jean-Claude van
Itallie and Sharon Thie
"Camera Obscura" by Robert Patrick
(New York Times) [TA]
Synopsis 2:
Interesting, uneven, but undeniably provocative 90 minute 1968 adventure with
original dramas, written by new American
playwrights, and presented by an experimental group working under the aegis of
the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.
There are five of them on view tonight Four are vignettes, a few minutes in
length, each written by a different playwright,
each directed with a cameraeyed fusion of images, and all deeply affected by an
electronically motivated life that
leaves no room for communication. The fifth is an overlong. but quite striking
one-act play. "The Golden Fleece," which
calls on an ancient Greek legend to verify the meaning of a marriage today.
Though it has an uncomfortable dependence
on soliloquies. It manages nonetheless to say some powerful things about a
television oriented society, as well as about
life and love. Tim O'Connor deserves to be singled out for a brilliant
performance.
(TV Key Previews, Auburn NY Citizen-Advertiser) [TA]
3.07 [---] NET Playhouse: DEVI
22Nov1968 NYC WNDT-13 Fri B&W
Cast:
Sharmila Tagore ... Doyamoyee
Chhabi Biswas ... Kalikinkar
Soumitra Chatterjee ... Umaprasad
Purnendu Mukherjee ... Taraprasad
Karuna Bannerjee
Arpen Choudhury
Synopsis 1:
"Devi" a film by Satyajit Ray concerns the religious fantasies of an Indian man
about his daughter-in-law.
(Yonkers NY Herald Statesman) [TA]
Synopsis 2:
NET Playhouse presents Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray's "Devi," religious fantasy
of a father who believes his
daughter-in-law to be the incarnation of a healing goddess. (Yonkers NY Herald
Statesman) [TA]
[---] 29Nov1968 NYC - Repeat of "A Mother for Janek"
(first aired 05May1967 NYC)
3.08 [---] NET Playhouse: A CELEBRATION FOR WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYANT
06Dec1968 NYC WNDT-13 Fri 8:30-9:45pm
Synopsis:
NET Playhouse presents James Broderick in the title role of, "A Celebration for
William Jennings Bryan," playwright
Geoffrey Bush's bitter drama of the political giant who fell by the wayside
because he couldn't keep up with the
times. With Nancy Coleman, Roy R. Schneider and Barry Primus. (Yonkers NY Herald
Statesman) [TA]
3.09 [---] NET Playhouse: A CRACK IN THE ICE
13Dec1968 NYC WNDT-13 Fri
Synopsis:
Bureaucratic pandemonium is unleashed when a soldier deserts his post to rescue
a drowning peasant in the dramatization
of a story by 19th-century Russian writer Nikola Leskov. (New York Magazine, Dec
16, 1968) [TA]
[---] 20Dec1968 NYC - Repeat of "An Evening's Journey
to Conway, Mass." (first aired 03Nov1967 NYC)
3.10 [---] NET Playhouse: THE EDWARDIANS #4 - THE MADRAS HOUSE
(UK-Granada Television Production)
(First broadcast in the UK on the ITV Network "Play of The Week" pt 4 of the 4
pt series "The Edwardians" 24-May-1965)
27Dec1968 NYC WNDT-13 Fri (repeated 29Aug1969)
Cast:
Laurence Hardy ..... Henry Huxtable ("titular" head of his household)
Joan Heath ......... Katherine Huxtable (his pious, self-righteous wife)
Gerald Flood ....... Philip Madras (the socially concerned head of the Madras
family)
Gene Anderson ...... Jessica Madras (his sophisticated and neglected wife)
Synopsis:
A play about the generation gap in a prominent London family at the beginning of
the century. (New York Magazine) [TA]
Synopsis 2:
NET "Playhouse presents "The Madras House," a satire on the place of women in a
man-made world, written by the late
British dramatist, critic and Shakespearean scholar, Harley Granville-Rarker.
The setting is London in 1910. The
action of the play concerns the lives of the members of the families who own and
operate Madras House, a famous Bond
Street fashion house, and their reactions to the social and economic changes of
Edwardian England. The author has
embodied his major characters with the clashing attitudes of that rapidly
changing time — toward sex, women's rights
and labor. Indeed the drama provides such an insight into those times that after
one British revival of the play,
The London Times called it "a pretty and malicious period piece ... (evoking) a
recognizable but vanished past."
This television premiere of "The Madras House," features a large cast of
well-known British television actors.
(newspaper article) [TA]
[---] 03Jan1969 NYC Fri - Repeat of "Charley's Aunt"
(first aired 16Feb1968 NYC)
3.11 [---] NET Playhouse: THE TIN WHISTLE
10Jan1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri
Synopsis:
Richard S. Burdick's play about an adolescent who uses ancient witchcraft to put
a curse on two of his school teachers.
(New York Times) [TA]
3.12 [---] NET Playhouse: THE NATIONAL THEATER OF THE DEAF
17Jan1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri 8:30-9:30pm Color
Synopsis:
Hour-long program of selections including poetry and the comedy, "Gianni
Schicchi" from the repertory of this virtuoso
troupe of professonal actors who, though deaf themselves, perform expressively
for hearing audiences as well.
(New York Times) [TA]
3.13 [---] NET Playhouse: SILENT SONG (UK-BBC Production)
(first broadcast in the UK on BBC's "The Wednesday Play" 2-Feb-1966)
24Jan1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri
Synopsis:
"Silent Song," by Hugh Leonard and the late Frank O'Connor. A young postulant,
in a Trappist monastery, discovers that
even monks have their little weaknesses. (New York Times) [TA]
3.14 [---] NET Playhouse: THE BLOOD KNOT
31Jan1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri
Synopsis:
"The Blood Knot" by Athol Fugard. Drama, set in South Africa, about the
relationship between two brothers, one black
and one who could pass for white. The playwright plays role of one of the
brothers. (New York Times) [TA]
3.15 [---] NET Playhouse: THE BOSS' SON (Produced for French TV)
07Feb1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri 8:30-9:30pm
Written by by Danielle Hunebelle
Synopsis:
NET Playhouse presents a group of amateur actors in "The Boss' Son," a
dramatized-documentary by French author Danielle
Hunebelle that focuses on French class society by following the romantic plight
of a textile manufacturer's son who
falls for a working class girl.
Synopsis 2:
A dramatized documentary by Danielle Hunebelle, about the pressures a rich boy
and a working-class girl in a small
French town and the social pressures they encounter when they want to marry.
[TA]
Synopsis 3:
"Rich Boy, Poor Girl In Drama"
A rich boy and a working class girl want to marry, but they find the obstacles
of custom and tradition impossible
to overcome.
This is the story of "The Boss' Son," a poignant drama by Danielle Hunebelle,
one of France's leading journalists
and editor and correspondent for the magazine "Realities." which will be seen
Friday, Feb. 7, at 8:30.
A rich authenticity pervades the play. The characters are not actors, but rather
people portraying their everyday lives.
The young girl is really a factory worker, and the rich boy is really the son of
an industrialist. The townspeople,
whose opinions propel the action to its unhappy ending, express their own ideas
and prejudices.
This NET Playhouse was part of a series Mme. Hunebelle produced for French
television called "Games of Society." [TA]
===
3.16 [---] NET Playhouse: TALKING TO A STRANGER #1 - ANYTIME YOU'RE READY
I'LL SPARKLE
(first broadcast in the UK on BBC's "Theatre 625" 2-Oct-1966 BBC2)
14Feb1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri
Synopsis:
"Talking to a Stranger: Anytime You're Ready, I'll Sparkle". The first of John
Hopkins' quartet of drama about a single
weekend in the lives of one family.
3.17 [---] NET Playhouse: TALKING TO A STRANGER #2 - NO SKILL OR SPECIAL
KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED
(first broadcast in the UK on BBC's "Theatre 625" 9-Oct-1966 BBC2)
21Feb1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri
(US rerun 10Sep70) [RF]
Cast:
Maurice Denham ...... Father
Michael Bryant ...... Alan
Judi Dench .......... Terry
Margery Mason ....... Mother
Frederick Pyne ...... Father as a young man
Synopsis 1:
"Talking to a Stranger: No Skill or Special Knowledge Required" is the second of
John Hopkins' quartet of dramas which
tell the story of a family's tragedy from the father's point of view.
Synopsis 2 (1970 rerun):
The second of a quartet of dramas that was nominated for an Emmy last year. The
plays tell of a family dissolution over
one weekend as seen by each member. This episode is from the Father's
perspective. [RF]
3.18 [---] NET Playhouse: TALKING TO A STRANGER #3 - GLADLY MY CROSS-EYED
BEAR
28Feb1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri
(first broadcast in the UK on BBC's "Theatre 625" 16-Oct-1966 BBC2)
3.19 [---] NET Playhouse: TALKING TO A STRANGER #4 - THE INNOCENT MUST SUFFER
(first broadcast in the UK on BBC's "Theatre 625" 23-Oct-1966 BBC2)
07Mar1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri (repeated 25Sep1970)
Synopsis:
The fourth and final play in John Hopkins' quartet of dramas about a family of
strangers is, perhaps, the most touching
of them all. It's a play about the mother, a woman whom we've seen before as a
hostile, bitter soul, easily angered
and sharply critical of all. She emerges here as a person drowning in the
darkness and silence of her uncommunicative
world. Playwright Hopkins is particularly sucessful in reviewing the events of
the traumatic Sunday from her vantage
point, without any attempt to slant them in her favor, and yet comes through
with an aching feeling of compassion for
this driven, destructive soul. Margery Mason is magnificent as the mother.
(Auburn NY Citizen Advertiser, 25Sep1970 repeat)
====
3.20 [---] NET Playhouse: ANATOLE (UK-BBC Production)
(first broadcast in the UK on BBC's "Thursday Theatre" 18-Mar-1965 BBC2)
14Mar1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri B&W
Cast:
Robert Hardy ... Anatol
John Wood ... Max
Moira Redmond ... Mimi
Priscilla Morgan ... Bianca
Elvi Hale
Synopsis:
The escapades of a Viennese Lothario are sketched in "Anatole," a romantic
comedy by 19th-century Austrian playwright
Arthur Schnitzler. The play comprises three amorous adventures in the life of
Anatole, a wealthy man-about-town whose
bark is worse than his bite. [TA]
Synopsis 2:
"Anatol," the romantic comedy by 19th Century Austrian playwright Arthur
Schnitzler, is tonight's NET Playhouse production.
This funny show is about the love life of a Viennese man-about-town at the turn
of the century. [TA]
Synopsis 3:
The story of a handsome and wealthy Viennese man-about-town and how he gets
entangled in the web of his own multiple
romances will be related in theatrical form — Friday, March 14 at 8:30 pm.
Anatol, the central figure in the play of
the same name, is a confirmed scoundrel: he neglects his women, forgets
encounters, and on the eve of his marriage
invites an old flame over for the night. But poetic justice is realized in this
witty, romantic, and satirical
19th-century play by Arthur Schnitzler, adapted for the NET Playhouse stage by
Harley Granville-Barker. Anatol
eventually becomes ensnared in his own deceptions; and Miml, Bianca, and Lona —
his three women—are avenged.
(Amsterdam NY Recorder) [TA]
{--] 21Mar1969 NYC - Repeat of "A Passage to India"
(first aired 26Jan1968 NYC)
3.21 [---] NET Playhouse: CATHY COME HOME (UK-BBC Production)
(first broadcast in the UK on BBC's "The Wednesday Play" 16-Nov-1966)
28Mar1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri 8:30-10pm B&W
Written by Jeremy Sandford
Cast:
Carol White ... Cathy Ward
Ray Brooks ... Reg Ward
Synopsis:
Dramatized documentary about a young British family caught in a downward spiral
of bad luck in their desperate struggle
for decent housing in an over-crowded urban society.
04Apr1969 NYC - Repeat of "Infancy" and "Childhood"
(first aired 15Dec1967 NYC)
3.22 [---] NET Playhouse: FLOWERING CHERRY (UK-BBC Production)
(first broadcast in the UK on BBC's "Thursday Theatre" 7-Jan-1965 BBC2)
11Apr1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri 8:30-10pm B&W
(repeated 21Aug1970)
Cast:
Bernard Lee ... Jim Cherry
Margaret Tyzack ... Isobel Cherry
John Paul ... David Bowman
Simon Ward ... Tom Cherry
Synopsis 1:
"Flowering Cherry," a play about one man's self-destruction, written by Robert
Bolt, who gave us "A Man for All Seasons"
and the screenplay of "Lawrence of Arabia." [TA]
Synopsis 2:
"Flowering Cherry" Is a drama by Robert Bolt about a clerk's dream of owning an
apple orchard. [TA]
Synopsis 3:
Though this early Robert Bolt play may be disappointing as a work by the author
of "A Man for All Seasons," it is of
interest nevertheless. Essentially, it is the study of a man who manages to
cover up his devastating weakness and
immaturity, by soliciting sympathy for a dream he has never been able to fulfill.
Bernard Lee overacts unmercifully
in the role of his childish braggart, but Margaret Ryzack (remember her
magnificent Winifred in "The Forsyte Saga") as
his loyal and intelligent wife saves the play and gives the evening some
dimension.
(Auburn NY Citizen Advertiser, 1970 repeat) [TA]
[--] 18Apr1969 NYC - Repeat of "I'll Sing to You"
(first aired 10Nov1967 NYC)
3.23 [---] NET Playhouse: THE QUEEN AND THE WELSHMAN (90 min) (UK-BBC
Production)
(first broadcast in the UK on BBC's "Theatre 625" 10-April-1966 BBC2)
25Apr1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri (repeated 22Jul71)
BBC Production
Producer Cedric Messina
Directed by Basil Coleman
Written by Rosemary Anne Sisson
cast:
Dorothy Tutin ....... Catherine de Valois
Derek Godfrey ....... Sir Owen Tudor
Nicholas Selby ...... Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
Gordon Whiting ...... John, Duke of Bedford
Llewellyn Rees ...... Henry Beaufort
Jeremy Brett ........ Villiers
Fiona Hartford ...... Margaret
Jack Wild ........... Edmund Tudor
Robert Russell ...... Hall
Jonathan Dennis ..... Queen's servant
Robert Bruce ........ Captain of Horse
Harry Littlewood .... Gaoler
Synopsis 1:
A 15th century love story of Catherine de Valois, widow of Henry V. The efforts
to preserve the royal line of succession,
lead Catherine into a tragic affair with Welshman Owen Tudor - a union rooted in
secrecy and menaced by betrayal. [RF]
Synopsis 2:
Dorothy Tutin stars as Catherine, widow of Henry V, whose secret love for a
Welsh squire destroyed her but gave England
its first Tudor king. (New York Magazine, Apr 28, 1969) [TA]
3.24 [---] NET Playhouse: THE PRODIGAL (90 min)
(US Production?)
02May1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri 8:30-10pm Color
(repeated 31Jul71)
Adapted from Jack Richardson's award-winning 1960 off-Broadway play
cast:
Peter Galman ........... Orestes
Kim Hunter ............. Clytemnestra
Roy Poole .............. Agamemnon
Aline MacMahon ......... Penelope
Pamela Payton-Wright ... Electra
John Heffernan ......... Aegisthus
Walker Daniels ......... Pylades
Cavada Humphrey ........ Cassandra
Meg Foster ............. Praxithia
Synopsis 1:
The work retells the Greek legend of Orestes, drawing parallels with
contemporary concepts of revenge, honor and
patriotism. [RF]
Synopsis 2:
Jack Richardson's drama is based on the Greek legend of Orestes as seen from a
twentieth-century viewpoint.
(New York Times) [TA]
[--] 09May1969 NYC - Repeat of "The Journey of the
Fifth Horse" (first aired 14Oct1966 NYC)
[--] 16May1969 NYC - Repeat of "The Star Wagon" (first
aired 21Oct1966)
3.25 [---] NET Playhouse: LET ME HEAR YOU WHISPER
(US Production)
23May1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri 8:30-10pm Color
Written by Paul Zindel
Directed by Glenn Jordan
Executive Producer: Jac Venza
A Presentation of Thirteen/WNET New York, NET Playhouse, New York Television
Theater 1969
Music by The Modern Jazz Quartet
Cast:
Ruth White ... Helen
Elizabeth Wilson ... Miss Moray
Anthony Holand ... Fridge
Bill Baird ... Life sized Dolphin puppet
Synopsis:
Set in a research laboratory, a simple scrubwoman pits all her energies to save
the life of one of the experimental
animals in the lab - a dolphin who stubbornly refuses to talk to anyone but her.
[RF]
Synopsis:
A pognant comedy pitting love against a laboratory. Ruth White is the scrubwoman
who tries to save her only friend
- a dolphin - from an unpleasant fate in the lab. Puppeteer Bil Baird created
the dolphin and supplies the voice.
This production of Paul Zindel's play features an original score by the Modern
Jazz Quartet. [TA]
[--] 30May1969 NYC - Repeat of "Everyman" (first aired
12Apr1968 NYC)
3.26 [---] NET Playhouse: THE SIEGFRIED IDYL (UK-BBC co-production with CBC
Canada & NET)
(first broadcast in the UK on BBC2 Sunday 20-Apr-1969)
06June1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri Color
Cast:
Alan Badel ... Wagner
Barbara Leigh-Hunt ... Cosima von Buelow
Richard Pasco ... Hans von Buelow
John Quentin ... King Ludwig II
Timothy West ... Hans Richter
Timothy Bateson ... Cornelius
Peter Stephens ... Pfistermeister
David Spestis ... Frederich Nietzche
Synopsis:
About Richard Wagner's love affair with the wife of his best friend. (New York
Times) [TA]
Synopsis 2:
A re-creation of 19th century composer Richard Wagner's passionate affair with
Cosima von Buelow - his mistress of
eight years, mother of his four children and wife of his best friend.
Filmed in Switzerland and Germany. [TA]
3.27 [---] NET Playhouse: CONFRONTATION
13June1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri Color
Synopsis:
An experimental television drama based on events in today's world-wide campus
rebellions, combining documentary
techniques with dramatic structure and professional actors, also students. (New
York Times) [TA]
[---] 20June1969 NYC - Repeat of "La Mama Playwrights"
(first aired 20Jan1967 NYC)
3.28 [---] NET Playhouse: FREDERICK DELIUS: A SONG OF SUMMER (1862-1934) (UK-BBC
Production)
(first broadcast in the UK on the BBC's Arts series "Omnibus" 15-Sep-1968)
27June1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri B&W
(repeated 27May1971 Thur)
Script by Eric Fenby & Ken Russell
Directed by Ken Russell
Cast:
Max Adrian .... Frederick Delius
Christopher Gable ... Eric Fenby
Maureen Pryor ... Jelka Delius
David Collings ...... Grainger
Synopsis:
For the last 10 years of his life, composer Frederick Delius was paralyzed and
blind. Yet, during this period he
composed some of his major works. Delius's suffering and genius are etched by
the narration of Eric Fenby, an organist
who devoted himself to the composer. [RF]
Synopsis 2:
"A Song of Summer" dramatizes 10 years of relentless creativity, and a
collaboration unique in music history.
Rendered helpless by paralysis and blindness 10 years before his death, English
composer Frederick Delius found a
new link to music through the devotion of the admiring organist Eric Fenby (with
whose help Delius continued to
execute compositions of extraordinary emotional intensity). [TA]
Synopsis 3:
Newspaper article: "Composer's Last Years Dramatized"
The strange and touching story of the last years in the life of composer
Frederick Delius, as seen through the eyes of
a young admirer, Eric Fenby, will be told on NET Playhouse Friday, June 27, at
8:30pm. The play dramatizes the years
that Fenby spent in the mysterious Delius household, and of the incredible
handicaps that had to be overcome before he
finally helped the blind and paralyzed composer to complete several major
orchestral works, including "A Song of Summer,"
which is the title of the drama. Excerpts from some of Delius' earlier works,
such as "On Hearing the First Cuckoo in
Spring," "The Walk to the Paradise Garden" and "Song of the High Hills" are
heard in the program.
Max Adrian portrays the failing Delius, and Christopher Gable his young
apprentice and friend, Eric, in the adaptation
by Ken Russell, director of several film biographies, among them award-winning
studies of Edward Elgar, Claude Debussy
and Isadora Duncan. (Schenectady NY Gazette) [TA]
3.29 [---] NET Playhouse: A MAN ON HER BACK (UK-BBC Production)
(first broadcast in the UK on BBC's "The Wednesday Play" 12-Jan-1966)
04Jul1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri B&W
Cast:
Norman Rodway ... John
Valerie Gearon ... Mary
Barrie Ingham ... Colin
June Ellis ... Belle
Sidney Bough ... Andrew
Milo Sperber ... Otto
Hana Pravda ... Myra
Roy Patrick ... Raoul
Jo Rowbottom ... Eileen
John Baker ... Detective
Synopsis 1:
Peter Luke's comedy about a love affair between an earnest young musician and
his hopelessly soft-hearted girl friend.
(New York Times) [TA]
Synopsis 2:
John loves Mary, but it isn't enough in this tale of an almost-affair. The
obstacle and cause of much frustration:
scampish sidekick Colin, an alcoholic who turns to Mary when the chips are down
- and they always are. {TA]
11Jul1969 NYC - Repeat of "Home" (first aired 19Jan1968
NYC) Color
3.30 [---] NET Playhouse: THE SEEKERS #1 - THE HERETICS (UK-BBC
Production)
(first broadcast in the UK in the trilogy "The Seekers" on BBC's "Theatre 625"
3-May-1964 BBC2)
18Jul1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri
Synopsis:
"The Seekers: The Heretics" starring Michael Bryant is a play about a group of
12th century Flemish heretics who
flee persecution in France to seek refuge in England. (Yonkers NY Herald
Statesman) [TA]
3.31 [---] NET Playhouse: THE SEEKERS #2 - THE IDEALISTS (UK-BBC
Production)
(first broadcast in the UK in the trilogy "The Seekers" on BBC's "Theatre 625"
10-May-1964 BBC2)
25Jul1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri
Cast:
Michael Bryant ...... Gerard
Patrick Allen ....... Edmonde
Synopsis:
Part 2 of a dramatic trilogy on man and his beliefs. Set during the turbulent
days of the French Revolution, the
play examines a young officer's moral conflict. Captain Girard is ordered to
execute 200 political prisoners. But
as an idealist, how can he square his conscience with the decisions of the
Republic and his duties as a loyal
soldier. [RF]
3.32 [---] NET Playhouse: THE SEEKERS #3 - THE MATERIALISTS (UK-BBC
Production)
(first broadcast in the UK in the trilogy "The Seekers" on BBC's "Theatre 625"
17-May-1964 BBC2)
01Aug1969 NYC NYC WNDT-13 Fri 8:30-10pm
Cast:
Michael Bryant ... Gerhard
Synopsis:
Final play in Ken Taylor's trilogy on the theme of man and his beliefs. It's
about a German political prisoner,
in 1942, who finds an alternative to nihilism even in the inhumanity of
Auschwitz. (New York Times) [TA]
[---] 08Aug1969 NYC - Repeat of "Auto Stop" (first
broadcast 05Jan1968 NYC)
3.33 [---] NET Playhouse: THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR THE DEAF ENCORE (US
production?)
15Aug1969 NYC WNDT-13 Fri Color
Cast:
Audree Horton ....... Kasane
Gilbert Eastman ....... Yoemon
Joe Velez ...... Policeman
Synopsis 1:
Second evening of theater by talented company of deaf actors who speak with
their fingers. They perform a Kabuki
drama and Anton Chekhov's monologue, "On the Harmfulness of Tobacco. (New York
Times) {TA}
Synopsis 2:
Impressive dramatizations in sign-language and mime.
1. Bernard Bragg and Lou Fant (the troup's only hearing member) teach children
to recite poetry with their hands.
2. On the Harmfulness of Tobacco
Chekhov's monologue by a man (Fant) whose convictions have faded
beneath his wife's dominance.
3. The Tale of Kasane, by Tsura Namboko. The Japanese kabuki play relates the
tale of an ill-fated couple whose
love is destroyed by guilt. [RF]
[---] 22Aug1969 NYC - Repeat of "The Lady with the Dog"
(first aired 02Feb1968 NYC)
[---] 29Aug1969 NYC - Repeat of "The Edwardians #4 - The Madras House" (first
aired 27Dec1968 NYC)
[---] 05Sep1969 NYC - Repeat of "Devi" (first aired 22Nov1968 NYC)
[---] 12Sep1969 NYC - Repeat of "Across the River"
(originally aired 04Oct1968)
############## NET Playhouse
##############
############# end of season 3 #############
###########################################
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