Philip Morris Playhouse (1953-54)
aka P.M. Playhouse    Sponsors  - Philip Morris
Episode Guide compiled by The Classic TV Archive
with contributions by: J. Fred MacDonald (www.macfilms.com), Rina Fox
references:
TV Guide / Library of Congress (telnet://locis.loc.gov)
Internet Movie Database (https://us.imdb.com)
UCLA Film and Television Archive / Writers Guild of America (wga)
Syracuse Herald / Long Beach Independent
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PHILIP MORRIS PLAYHOUSE
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CBS Production (Live from New York)

Producer Charles Martin

US Live Dramatic Anthology series 1953-54   22 episodes x 30 min  (October 8, 1953 to March 4, 1954)    

Host Kent Smith

########### Philip Morris Playhouse ##########
############## season 1 1953-54 ##############
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CBS Thursdays 10:00-10:30pm Eastern
East Coast - Live [Syracuse Herald]
West Coast - 1 week delay [Long Beach Independent]

[01] Philip Morris Playhouse: JOURNEY TO NOWHERE
08Oct1953 CBS Thur
written by Anya Corvin
starring
Lorne Greene ..... Joe
Eddie Albert ..... Rick
Constance Ford ... Maria
Synopsis:
A compulsive gambler must pay off his debts before his loses his life. He befriends a girl who is about to commit
suicide and talks her into taking out an insurance policy.

[02] Philip Morris Playhouse: ROOM 203
15Oct1953 CBS Thur
starring
Nina Foch ........ Toni Stewart
John Beal .... Chris Stewart
.... Mr. Spencer, hotel manager
.... Detective Green
.... Dr. Barnes
Synopsis:
A newspaperman and his wife of one year return to the hotel where they spent their honeymoon. While there she sees
something out the window in the corner room of the hotel that deathly frightens her. Her husband contacts the hotel
manager and his wife tells him about what she saw in Room 203.
*Note: Actress Ellen Mcrae (Ellen Burstyn) performed in "Room 203" of Suspense Radio Program on October 11, 1959.

[03] Philip Morris Playhouse: CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
22Oct1953 CBS Thur
based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky
starring
Jean-Pierre Aumont .... Raskolnikov
Blanche Yurka ......... Alėna
Synopsis:
An impoverished Russian student suffers thru mental anguish as he executes a plan to kill a pawnbroker.
*Note: "Crime and Punishment" the Philip Morris Radio Program episode aired December 11, 1942 starring Peter Lorre.

[04] Philip Morris Playhouse: TEMPTATION
29Oct1953 CBS Thur
Based on the play by Vaclav Havel from a story on the Faust legend.
starring
Franchot Tone ......... Dr. Henry Foustka
Louise Allbritton ..... Marketa
Synopsis:
A scientist is under scrutiny because of his new type of unorthodox therapy by the Director of the Institute who
doubts his dabbling in the black arts.

[05] Philip Morris Playhouse: BULLET FOR A STRANGER
05Nov1953 CBS Thur
Producer Charles Martin
Written by Milton Lewis
Directed by Charles Martin
starring
Vincent Price
Bambi Linn
Synopsis:
Dr. Martinson has removed a bullet after Nora's father shot the stranger known as Melina.
Dancer Bambi Linn will do four imaginative dances in a play about a master's uneventful career which suddenly takes
a melodramatic turn as he undertakes to teach dancing to a pupil with criminal tendencies.

[06] Philip Morris Playhouse: MAN VERSUS TOWN
12Nov1953 CBS Thur
Producer Charles Martin
Directed by Charles Martin
starring
Everett Sloane
Synopsis:
A man has a confrontation with the townspeople who believe he's evil.
*Note: The Philip Morris Radio Playhouse aired "Man Against Town" on December 10, 1952 starring Boris Karloff

[07] Philip Morris Playhouse: BEAUTIFUL WORLD
19Nov1953 CBS Thur
starring
Hurd Hatfield
Cloris Leachman
Synopsis:
A woman falls into a pit of despair after the death of her child until a stranger helps her to overcome that pain.
Synopsis 2:
A forlorn young man pays a gangster $10,000 to kill him.

[08] Philip Morris Playhouse: THE SACRIFICE
26Nov1953 CBS Thur (East Coast) [Syracuse Herald]
03Dec1953 CBS Thur (West Coast) [Long Beach Independent]
starring
Charles Korvin
Synopsis:
A man unjustly imprisoned for murder volunteers for a scientific experiment which risks his eyesight knowing he will
be pardoned and thus free to obtain revenge.

[09] Philip Morris Playhouse: DEADLINE
03Dec1953 CBS Thur (East Coast)
10Dec1953 CBS Thur (West Coast) [Long Beach Independent]
starring
Otto Kruger
Anthony Ross
Synopsis:
A sardonic critic whose play review creates a dramatic situation.

[10] Philip Morris Playhouse: SERENADE IN MANHATTAN
10Dec1953 CBS Thur (East Coast) [Syracuse Herald]
17Dec1953 CBS Thur (West Coast) [Long Beach Independent]
Directed by Charles Martin
starring
Donald Cook
Miriam Hopkins
Everett Sloane
Synopsis:
A wealthy but disconsolate woman seeks romantic adventure via the lonely hearts column in a newspaper.

[11] Philip Morris Playhouse: THE GIOCONDA SMILE
17Dec1953 CBS Thur
Based on Aldous Huxley's short story "The Gioconda Smile" (The English Review, August 1921; collected in MORTAL COILS.
Chatto & Windus 1922, Doran 1922)
starring
Dennis King ...... Henry Hutton
Leueen McGrath.... Janet Spence
Synopsis:
After the death of his invalid wife, he marries a much younger woman. The investigation reveals that his first wife
was poisoned and Henry Hutton is sentenced to hang. Janet Spence has long been in love with Henry and doesn't believe
that he murdered his wife and sets out to save him from the gallows.

[12] Philip Morris Playhouse: DAVID'S STAR OF BETHLEHEM
24Dec1953 CBS Thur
Based on the short story by Christine Whiting Parmenter (published by Thomas Y. Crowell Company 1926)
starring
Gene Raymond
Louisa Horton
William Prince
Synopsis:
The story of how an orphan brings joy to a lonely couple.
Note: David's Star of Bethlehem aired on Philip Morris Radio Program on December 25, 1951 starring Loretta Young.

[13] Philip Morris Playhouse: TO LOVE AND TO CHERISH
31Dec1953 CBS Thur
Based on a short story by Stella Gibbons
starring
Jane Wyatt
John Beal
John Emery
Synopsis:
A young wife finds a new love while her husband is out getting supplies for their fifth wedding anniversary celebration
on New Years Eve.

[14] Philip Morris Playhouse: KITTY DOONE
07Jan1954 CBS Thur
Based on a book written by Aben Kandel
starring
Constance Bennett ..... Kitty Doone
Everett Sloane
Nydia Westman
Synopsis:
A fading star tries to regain her popularity by marrying a handsome young actor.
*Note: The Philco Television Playhouse episode aired February 11, 1951 starring Valerie Bettis, Edmon Ryan and David White.
Aired on the radio program Philip Morris Playhouse on June 29, 1952 starring Miriam Hopkins.

[15] Philip Morris Playhouse: THE LITTLE STONE HOUSE
14Jan1954 CBS Thur
Adaptation of the play by George Calderon
starring
Betty Field
Charles Castleman a young violinist from Braintree, Massachusetts
Synopsis:
An opera singer gives up her own career to help further her violinist son's career.
*Note: Charles Castleman, son of an engineer started playing the violin at four years old. At seven he became the
youngest artist ever to play with the Boston Pops. At 10, he was the youngest performer to appear with the Buffalo
Philharmonic. He has given recitals in Boston and New York and appeared as soloist with the New York Philharmonic and
the National Orchestral Society of New York. On television, he has appeared on the Jack Benny Show and Arthur Godfrey's
Talent Scouts programs.

[16] Philip Morris Playhouse: MAKE ME HAPPY, MAKE ME SAD
21Jan1954 CBS Thur
starring
Donald Cook
Janis Paige
Synopsis:
A playwright turns out two hits when he is poor and unhappy but turns out only flops when he has money and fame.
*Radio program Philip Morris Playhouse aired Make Me Happy, Make Me Sad on April 22, 1953 starring Richard Widmark.

[17] Philip Morris Playhouse: TASTE
28Jan1954 CBS Thur
written by Roald Dahl
starring
Joseph Schildkraut
Ed Begley
Patricia Breslin
Synopsis:
The tale of a man who is a wine connosseur and how he badgers his host into a bet that he can name the vintage and year
of any given wine. The stake is his most beautiful daughter.
*Note: This play was used once before in TV in a "Suspense" episode with Peter Lorre as the star.

[18] Philip Morris Playhouse: UP FOR PAROLE
04Feb1954 CBS Thur
starring
Dane Clark
Cathy O'Donnell
Synopsis:
A workingman goes out to lunch and runs into a gang of masked holdup men fleeing from the police. He has to make one
of the most important decisions of his life when one of the bandits thrusts a bagful of money into his hands.

[19] Philip Morris Playhouse: THE MAN THEY'D MURDERED
11Feb1954 CBS Thur
written by Alvin Sapinsley
starring
Basil Rathbone
Joan Wetmore
Francis L. Sullivan
Synopsis:
Two travelers going to London by train are confronted by murder.

[20] Philip Morris Playhouse: A WALK IN THE NIGHT
18Feb1954 CBS Thur
Written by Rod Serling & Verne Jay
Directed by Charles Martin
Hosted by Jay Jostyn
starring
Chester Morris
Synopsis:
A detective lieutenant investigating the death of a police captain pursues a circuitous trail of evidence to a startling solution.

[21] Philip Morris Playhouse: THE MURDERER WHO WASN'T
25Feb1954 CBS Thur
written by Haskel Frankel
starring
Rod Steiger ....... Willie Schmidt
Bethel Leslie
Elisha Cooke Jr.
Synopsis:
The rule of double jeopardy fails to save bail bondsman Willie Schmidt when a policeman decides to prove murder is
murder after he is acquitted of the premeditated murder of his wife.
Synopsis 2:
A woman claims to have witnessed a murder, but the detective has no victim.

[22] Philip Morris Playhouse: A SOLDIER'S RETURN (Last episode)
04Mar1954 CBS Thur
Written by Melvyn Bragg
starring
John Beal
Synopsis:
A man returns to his wife and song after the War but can't shake the horror and memories of that time.

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