Star Tonight (1955-56)
Episode Guide compiled by The Classic TV Archive
https://ctva.biz/index.htm

with contributions by: Rina Fox
references:
Library of Congress (telnet://locis.loc.gov)
Internet Movie Database (https://us.imdb.com)
UCLA Film and Television Archive
 

STAR TONIGHT

February 3, 1955 to August 9, 1956

ABC Thu 9:00-9:30

Star Tonight was designed as a showcase for young actors

and actresses working in New York. Each week a live play was telecast.
 

 ####### Star Tonight #######

##### Season 1 1955-56 #####

##########################

1.01 Star Tonight: YOU NEED ME

03Feb1955 ABC Thu

starring

Kevin McCarthy

Jacqueline Holt
Synopsis:
When a young man becomes so obsessed with a girl she is frightened for her life. [RF]

1.02 Star Tonight: THE WEEK-END

10Feb1955

adapted by Meade Roberts
based on Lester Atwell's short story

starring

John Conte

Peg Hillias

Judy Parrish

Synopsis:
A young girl shocks her family by spending time with a married man. [RF]

1.03 Star Tonight: CONCERNING DEATH

17Feb1955

story by John Collier

starring

Edward Andrews ........ Dr. Sam Rankin

Jo Van Fleet ........ Irene Rankin

Synopsis:

A restless young girl is married to a middle-aged small-town doctor.

One day his friends suspect the doctor has murdered her. [RF]

 1.04 Star Tonight: HOW BEAUTIFUL THE SHOES

24Feb1955

starring

John Baragrey

Lois Smith

1.05 Star Tonight: ZONE OF QUIET

03Mar1955

starring

Patricia Englund

1.06 Star Tonight: ILE

10Mar1955

starring

Bruce Gordon

Philip Kenneally

Luis Van Rooten

Perry Wilson

 1.07 Star Tonight: THE MURDERER

17Mar1955

starring

Charles Aidman

Buster Crabbe

 1.08 Star Tonight: A MATTER OF LIFE

24Mar1955

starring

Lois Smith

 1.09 Star Tonight: DEATH OF A STRANGER

31Mar1955

written by Rupert Brooke

starring

Vaughn Taylor

Joanne Woodward

Synopsis:

A strong-willed backwoods girl is bent on murder for money and she shows

signs of knowing how to get it. [RF]

1.10Star Tonight: TREASURE TROVE

07Apr1955

starring

Pat Sully

1.11 Star Tonight: THE LAVENDER KITE

14Apr1955

starring

Edward Binns

Margaret Feury

1.12 Star Tonight: THE GIANTS' STAIR

21Apr1955

adapted from a play by Wilbur Daniel Steele

Synopsis:

Superstition and a sheriff play a major role when a farm woman's

husband is reported missing during a thunderstorm. [RF]

 1.13 Star Tonight: ZERO HOUR

28Apr1955

adapted by George Lefferts

story by Ray Bradbury

Synopsis:

Zero Hour recounts the story of a little girl who tells her mother of an

invisible companion of hers, a man from Mars named Drill. [RF]

1.14 Star Tonight: THE DARK SEARCH

05May1955

starring

Ruth Ford

1.15 Star Tonight: SECOND STRING

12May1955

starring

Jeff Harris

 1.16 Star Tonight: TENDER ROOTS

19May1955

by Gilbert Braun & William Welch

starring

Johnny Washbrook (as John A. Washbrook)

Synopsis:

A couple has been planning for years a pre-retirement trip around

the world. Just as the dream is about to come true, they are faced

with the problem of whether to make a home for their young

nephew, instead. [RF]

 1.17 Star Tonight: GOLDEN VICTORY

26May1955

Script by Bentz Plagemann

starring

Kathleen Comegys

Sue Randall

Synopsis:

The story of a wealthy girl whose mother has helped to make

her introspective. The mother, married several times herself,

is trying to engineer a "good" marriage for her daughter. [RF]

 1.18 Star Tonight: TASTE

02Jun1955

show no. 18

Story by Roald Dahl

starring

Leonard Elliott

Violet Heming

Diana Millay

Rudy Vallee

Synopsis:
A wine connoisseur bets another he cannot guess a particular vintage by taste.

 So confident is he of winning, he is even willing to wager his daughter's hand in marriage. [RF]

 1.19 Star Tonight: WANTED - POOR BOY

09Jun1955

starring

Harold J. Stone

1.20 Star Tonight: STRENGTH OF STEEL

16Jun1955

written by Rod Serling

starring

Wyatt Cooper

Jim Holden

1.21 Star Tonight: CROSS-WORDS

23Jun1955

starring

Ann Dere

Kim Hunter

Dennis Patrick

 1.22 Star Tonight: GALLANT LADY

30Jun1955

starring

Peter Cookson

Phillip Huston

Virginia Kaye

Maureen Stapleton

1.23 Star Tonight: FOOTFALLS

07Jul1955

starring

Theodore Bikel

1.24 Star Tonight: THE CRITIC

14Jul1955

starring

James Broderick

Philip Coolidge

Grayson Hall (as Shirley Grayson)

E.A. Krumschmidt

Rebecca Sand

 1.25 Star Tonight: THE KEWPIE DOLL

21Jul1955

starring

Dorothy Peterson

 1.26 Star Tonight: THE MATRIMONY SHOPPE

28Jul1955

starring

Leslie Barrie

Walter Burke

1.27 Star Tonight: EDGE OF LIGHT

04Aug1955

starring

Doreen Lang

Hugh Reilly

Paul Roebling

 1.28 Star Tonight: THE RING OF GENERAL MACLAS

11Aug1955

starring

Miriam Colon

Gene Peterson

Kathryn Sergava

 1.29 Star Tonight: THE PROM

18Aug1955

starring

David Anderson

Roni Dengel

John Griggs

Augusta Roeland

1.30 Star Tonight: FLAME AND ICE

25Aug1955

starring

Gordon Dilworth

Miko Oscard

Jason Robards Jr.

####### Star Tonight #######

##### Season 2 1956-57 #####

##########################

 2.01 [31] Star Tonight: TRIFLES

01Sep1955

starring

Barbara Joyce

Alan Nourse

Jane Seymour

Roland Wood

 2.02 [32] Star Tonight: SUCCESS STORY

08Sep1955

starring

Frederick Worlock

 2.03 [33] Star Tonight: LONG DISTANCE

15Sep1955

written by Harry Junkin

starring

Raymond Bramley

Frederic Downs

Neva Patterson

Synopsis:

It's the night a man is to be executed for murder. But his wife has just come

 across information which should set him free. She tries frantically to reach

the official who can stay the execution. [RF]

 2.04 [34] Star Tonight: VISITATION

22Sep1955

starring

Lloyd Bochner

Burt Brinckerhoff

Synopsis:

The story of a boy attending an elegant prep school. He looks on his father

 as a loudmouth and is horrified when he learns his father plans to visit him at the school. [RF]

 2.05 [35] Star Tonight: THE TERRIBLE WOMAN

29Sep1955

starring

Valerie Cossart

Joseph Warren

 2.06 [36] Star Tonight: NOT FOR ME

06Oct1955

starring

Hildy Parks

Dora Weissman

2.07 [37] Star Tonight: ONE DAY MORE

13Oct1955

starring

Bramwell Fletcher

Scott Marlowe

Margaret Phillips

Frederick Worlock

2.08 [38] Star Tonight: THE LITTLE WIFE

20Oct1955

starring

Joe Maross

 2.09 [39] Star Tonight: FINDER'S KEEPERS

27Oct1955

starring

Signe Hasso

2.10 [40] Star Tonight: NIGHT, BE QUIET

03Nov1955

starring

Nancy Coleman

Buster Crabbe

Clifford David

Synopsis:
A woman tells her husband that his kid brother, whom they've raised,

 must now live elsewhere. The husband refuses, not realizing that his wife

 is beginning to feel a new kind of attachment to the lad. [RF]

 2.11 [41] Star Tonight: THAT RYAN GIRL

10Nov1955

Directed by Edmund Goulding

starring

Kay Medford

Dana White

Synopsis:

A criminal learns that a recently acclaimed war hero is his son, a boy who was raised by

foster parents. The play depicts the struggle of the boy's mother to prevent his

father from using the boy's war record to get out of a murder charge. [RF]

 2.12 [42] Star Tonight: THE CAGE

17Nov1955

Adapted by John De Vries
Based on Daniel Lang's short story
starring
Patricia Collinge
Bruce Hall
Vaughn Taylor
Synopsis:
A middle-aged widow finds herself stuck in an elevator and unable to summon help. [RF]
 

 2.13 [43] Star Tonight: HAVE FAITH IN YOUR AGENT

24Nov1955

written by Judith Parrish

starring

Ernest Truex ....... Fred Cotton

Sylvia Field ...... Fanny Cotton

Synopsis:

A show-business couple now in semi-retirement, are having trouble making

ends meet and need a scheme to net them some cash. [RF]

 2.14 [44] Star Tonight: THE SUMMER ROAD

01Dec1955

written by Edward Moser

starring

Donald Briggs

Don Dubbins

Joan Tetzel

Synopsis:

The scene is a summer cottage in an area now deserted by the summer visitors.

A young woman is still living, however, in this cottage. One day a man barges

in demanding the use of the car. It is not long before she is the prisoner of the man,

 who informs her he is an escaped murderer. [RF]

2.15 [45] Star Tonight: NIGHTMARE BY DAY

08Dec1955

starring

James Gregory

Doreen Lang

 2.16 [46] Star Tonight: GANG UP

15Dec1955

written by Nicholas E. Baehr

starring

Paul Carr

George Grizzard

Polly Rowles

 2.17 [47] Star Tonight: THE SELFISH GIANT

22Dec1955

written by Oscar Wilde

starring

George Mathews

Mia Slavenska

Basil Rathbone as Narrator

 2.18 [48] Star Tonight: WRITE ME A LOVE SCENE

29Dec1955

starring

Mary Boylan

Tom Helmore

Tom Middleton

2.19 [49] Star Tonight:  THE BIG FIFTEENTH
05Jan1956
starring
Peter Turgeon ........ Mike Green
Kenny Delmar ......... Sid Warren
Malcolm Lee Beggs .... Henry Schuyler
Len Wayland .......... Joe
Michael Sivy ......... Pete
William Martel ....... Charlie
Synopsis:
Calvin Tomkins' drama of a man who attends the 15th reunion of his college class.

 He feels he has led a nondescript life. [RF]
 

 2.20 [50] Star Tonight: GLORY WITH HONOR

12Jan1956

starring

Kathleen Maguire

2.21 [51] Star Tonight: THE NIGHT VISITOR

19Jan1956

written by Charles Jackson

2.22 [52] Star Tonight: EARLY FROST

26Jan1956

written by Douglas Parkhirst
starring
Kathleen Comegys
Jada Rowland
Synopsis:
The strange tale of a young girl who goes to live with a pair of spinster sisters.

One of the sisters had a playmate when she was a girl, and it was said the

playmate had been carried off by gypsies. But the woman was convinced she would

reappear. When she lays eyes on the young girl, she believes her to be the playmate. [RF]
 

2.23 [53] Star Tonight: BELOW AVERAGE

02Feb1956

written by Nicholas E. Baehr

starring

Robert Emhardt

Dennis Patrick

Patricia Sully

2.24 [54] Star Tonight: THE HAPPY JOURNEY

09Feb1956

written by Thornton Wilder

starring

Elizabeth Wilson ..... Ma Kirby
Peter Turgeon ........ Pa Kirby
Synopsis:
The story of a married couple and their two younger children, who are all taking a short train trip. [RF]

2.25 [55] Star Tonight: THE THING THAT NEVER HAPPENED

16Feb1956

starring

Nancy Malone

2.26 [56] Star Tonight: RITUAL OF INNOCENCE

23Feb1956

written by Anne Howard Bailey

2.27 [57] Star Tonight: THREE HOURS BETWEEN PLANES

01Mar1956

written by Charles Mergendahl

story by F.Scott Fitzgerald

starring

Nancy Coleman

Jack Manning

 2.28 [58] Star Tonight: NIGHT ESCAPE

08Mar1956

written by Abby Mann

starring

Frank Overton ........ Dr. Foster
Jerome Cowan ......... Dr. Hollander
Neva Patterson ....... Liz
Synopsis:
A self-confident surgeon's world begins to disintegrate.

 His marriage is breaking up, and his work begins to suffer. [RF]
 

 2.29 [59] Star Tonight: LOVE IS A LAWYER

15Mar1956

starring

Laurence Hugo

Mary Sinclair

2.30 [60] Star Tonight: THE CHEVIGNY MAN

22Mar1956

starring

Leo G. Carroll

Robert Culp

Leora Dana

2.31 [61] Star Tonight: BOY CRAZY

29Mar1956

from a story by John De Meyer
starring
June Lockhart
Jason Robards Jr.
Synopsis:
A boy crazy girl gets some sage advice from her mother on how to attract boys.

 Hearing of this, her father is furious. [RF]
 

 2.32 [62] Star Tonight: TWO WINDOWS

(aka Window on Forever)

05Apr1956

written by S. Lee Pogostin

starring

Richard Davalos

Diana Hyland

2.33 [63] Star Tonight: A DOOR YOU CAN CLOSE

12Apr1956

written by Michelle Cousin

starring

Norma Crane

Signe Hasso

Synopsis:
The drama is about the conflict between a mother, owner of a boarding house,

and her daughter, who insists she needs a separate room of her own,

 where she can enjoy some privacy. [RF]

 2.34 [64] Star Tonight: AN AMBULANCE FOR JILL

19Apr1956

written by Shirley Wallace

starring

Louise Platt

 2.35 [65] Star Tonight: TOUGH BOY

26Apr1956

written by Harry C. Nelson

starring

Richard Davalos

 2.36 [66] Star Tonight: CAN YOU COFFEEPOT ON SKATES?

03May1956

written by Nell O'Day & Lawrence Williams

starring

Leo G. Carroll

Susan Harrison

2.37 [67] Star Tonight: THE GIRL

10May1956

written by Edward Peple

starring

Patrick Macnee

Douglas Watson

 2.38 [68] Star Tonight: A TRIP TO CZARDIS

17May1956

written by Elizabeth & James Hart

starring

Nancy Coleman

Laurence Hugo

Peter Lazer

Van Dyke Parks

2.39 [69] Star Tonight: FAITH AND PATIENCE

24May1956

starring

Horace MacMahon

 2.40 [70] Star Tonight: KINGDOM'S CHILD

31May1956

2.41 [71] Star Tonight: A SMALL GLASS BOTTLE

07Jun1956

written by David Hill

starring

Virginia Kaye

Abby Lewis

Harry Townes

2.42 [72] Star Tonight: THE LONG VIEW

14Jun1956

written by Kay Arthur

starring

Lois Holmes

Henry Hull

Efrem Zimbalist Jr.

Synopsis:
The story of a beloved college professor, and the impact on his life of

his expectation of a chairmanship. [RF]

2.43 [73] Star Tonight: THE ASCENT OF P.J. O'HARA

21Jun1956

written by Mary Chamberlin & Donald Richardson

starring

Eddie Dowling

Doreen Lang

Peter Lazer

Dennis Patrick

Synopsis:
The ascent of P.J. O'Hara occurs when the old reprobate finds he

can save a boy's illusions through his own sacrifice. [RF]

2.44 [74] Star Tonight: MR. BELL'S CREATION

28Jun1956

written by Stanley Richards

starring

John Gibson

Virginia Vincent

 2.45 [75] Star Tonight: SHADOW OF EVIL

05Jul1956

written by Calvin Tomkins

story by James Aswell

starring

Charles Aidman

Lori March

Synopsis:
A woman's husband has been chosen as a clean-cut type to front for a corrupt political

party in danger of discovery. Since the man is a reformed alcoholic, his wife can't decide

whether it would help him more to encourage him in his prominent position, or to

oppose his connection with the outfit. [RF]

 2.46 [76] Star Tonight: THE COFFEE SHOP INCIDENT

12Jul1956

written by Howard Garland Sartin

starring

Loretta Leversee

Joe Maross

 2.47 [77] Star Tonight: THE BLOOD CALL

19Jul1956

starring

Lisa Daniels

Michael Ingram

 2.48 [78] Star Tonight: WILL POWER

26Jul1956

written by George Lowther

starring

Roy Fant

Diana Hyland

 2.49 [79] Star Tonight: THE GENTLEMAN CALLER

02Aug1956

written by Robert J. Shaw

starring

Don Hanmer

Ruth McDevitt

 2.50 [80] Star Tonight: THE MIRTHMAKER

09Aug1956

written by Robert Higgins

starring

Kenny Delmar

David Hedison

####### Star Tonight #######

######### the end ##########

##########################

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