CTVA - The Classic TV Archive

US Anthology series (chronological order) -  US Anthology series (alphabetical order)  -  Sponsors

Your Play Time (1953-55)

Presented by Lucky Strike
Also known as "Dangerous Encounter" / Syndication title "Twilight Theater"

---------------
YOUR PLAY TIME
---------------
 (Season 1)(Summer 1953) CBS Sundays 7:30-8:00pm Eastern
 Summer replacement show for Ann Sothern's Private Secretary & The Jack Benny Program

 (Season 2)(Summer 1954) CBS Sundays 7:30-8:00pm Eastern
 Summer replacement show for Ann Sothern's Private Secretary & The Jack Benny Program

(Season 3)(Summer 1955) NBC Saturdays 10:30-11:00pm Eastern
 Summer replacement show for Your Hit Parade

US Anthology Series  Summer 1953, 1954, 1955    38 episodes x 30 min

Premise:
"Your Play Time" dramas will be set in the exotic backgrounds of London, Berlin, Budapest and Paris and will
feature such Hollywood personalities as Marguerite Chapman, Steve Brodie, Andrea King, Hillary Brooke,
Craig Stevens, Ann Tyrell, Robert Hutton, Ruth Warrick, and Onslow Stevens.

Directors include: Richard Irving

###### Your Play Time ######
####### season 1 1953 ######
############################
CBS Sundays 7:30-8:00pm Eastern

Ann Sothern's Private Secretary & The Jack Benny Program

[01] Your Play Time: COUNTERPLOT
14Jun1953 CBS Sun
starring
Mari Aldon
John Hudson
Synopsis:
An American newspaperman is tortured into signing a confession behind the Iron Curtain, the Voice of America
challenges his captors to release him. [RF]

[02] Your Play Time: EMERGENCY
21Jun1953 CBS Sun
starring
Robert Hutton
Dorothy Patrick
Synopsis:
A doctor and nurse engage in the scientific pursuit of an insane poisoner of pets.
Synopsis 2:
A veterinarian with an insane desire to kill starts his campaign by infecting dogs with a rare African disease. [RF]
Syndication airing on Famous Playhouse 25Sep68 WTCN-11 Mpls-St.Paul, MN 10:30 am.

[03] Your Play Time: THE CORNER SHOP
28Jun1953 CBS Sun
starring
Craig Stevens
Ruth Warrick
Synopsis:
A young barrister and the owner of an antique shop combine talents to combat strange and supernatural happenings
in a London antique shop. [RF]

[04] Your Play Time: THE TIN BRIDGE
05Jul1953 CBS Sun
starring
Marguerite Chapman
Tommy Rettig
George Nader
Synopsis:
Conflicting interests threaten a marriage, but the problem of a young boy's emotional security gives reason
for reconsideration. [RF]

[05] Your Play Time: LESSON IN HOT LEAD
12Jul1953 CBS Sun
starring
Rory Mallinson
Billy Gray
Stacy Harris
Synopsis:
A young boy's hero worship leads him to an encounter with his hero, a gun slinging bandit. [RF]
*Note: Syndication airing on "Dangerous Encounter" 06Jun54.

[06] Your Play Time: CAFE BERLIN
19Jul1953 CBS Sun
Teleplay by Howard J. Green
Directed by Richard Irving
Director of photography Ellsworth Fredericks
Editor Richard C. Currier
starring
Steve Brodie
Robert Hutton
Mari Aldon
Norbert Schiller
Robert Carson
Peter Bourne
Otto Reichow
James Harrison
Synopsis:
Two American agents are sent to Berlin to uncover a leak of confidential information sent from West Berlin to Moscow. [RF]

[07] Your Play Time: THE ADVENTURE OF THE FRIGHTENED BARONET
26Jul1953 CBS Sun
starring
John Hoyt
Robert Warwick
Synopsis:
It is the story about the curse of an East Indian god and how it plays havoc with a normal mind. [RF]

[08] Your Play Time: LONG, LONG AGO
02Aug1953 CBS Sun
starring
Andrea King
Leslie Bradley
Tommy Rettig
Synopsis:
The story of a childless couple living in a cottage on the English coast who find a small orphaned boy in a storm. [RF]
Synopsis 2:
Shortly after World War 2, a silent little boy wanders into the English coast home of a childless couple. [RF]

[09] Your Play Time: MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD
09Aug1953 CBS Sun
starring
Alf Kjellin
Carl Esmond
Victor Perry
Karin Nordgren
Synopsis:
A story telling how police in a city behind the Iron Curtain arrest and get rough with a member of a group
distributing freedom leaflets. [RF]

[10] Your Play Time: THE LAST DAY OF MY LIFE
16Aug1953 CBS Sun
starring
Hillary Brooke
Craig Stevens
Onslow Stevens
Synopsis:
An ambitious woman opens her diary and finds an entry that strikes her with terror. [RF]

[11] Your Play Time: THE TRAIL
23Aug1953 CBS Sun
starring
Douglas Kennedy
Synopsis:
A Western sheriff disconsolately follows the trail of his own son, whom he suspects of having been
involved in a robbery. [RF]

[12] Your Play Time: DEAR LITTLE FOOL
30Aug1953 CBS Sun
Story by Agnes Sligh Turnbull
starring
Leslye Banning
Patrick O'Neal
Synopsis:
A doctor reprimands a probationary nurse for using unorthodox methods in caring for her patients.
He discharges her and changes her entire future with one simple question. [RF]
*NOTE: Reaired on "Pepsi Playhouse" 04Jul54.

[13] Your Play Time: A MANSION FOR JIMMY
06Sep1953 CBS Sun
starring
Mary Lawrence
Robert Paige
Gordon Gebert ...... Phil
Patrick Mitchell ... Jimmy
Paul Collins ....... Red
*NOTE: Reaired on "Pepsi Playhouse" 12Sep54.

###### Your Play Time ######
####### season 2 1954 ######
############################
CBS Sundays 7:30-8:00pm Eastern
Ann Sothern's Private Secretary & The Jack Benny Program

2.01 [14] Your Play Time: THE HOUSE THAT NOBODY WANTED
13Jun1954 CBS Sun
written by Fredric Brown
starring
Craig Stevens
Marilyn Erskine
Synopsis:
A bride and groom buy a house which meets their specifications as a dream house and discover it was the
scene of a brutal murder which the bride suspects her husband of having committed. [RF]
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Pepsi-Cola Playhouse" 13Nov1953.

2.02 [15] Your Play Time: WAIT FOR ME DOWNSTAIRS
20Jun1954 CBS Sun
story by Cornell Woolrich
starring
John Hudson
Allene Roberts
Synopsis:
A man's sweetheart disappears and he learns she has been kidnapped by espionage agents in order to get her passport. [RF]
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Pepsi-Cola Playhouse" 09Oct1953.

2.03 [16] Your Play Time: UNCLE JACK
27Jun1954 CBS Sun
starring
Jack Haley
Elisabeth Fraser
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Revlon Mirror Theater" 28Nov1953.

2.04 [17] Your Play Time: SUMMER DANCE
04Jul1954 CBS Sun
story by Cornell Woolrich
starring
Jane Greer
Glenn Langan
Barbara Bates
Synopsis:
The story of two sisters who become involved with an unscrupulous youth. [RF]
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Revlon Mirror Theater" 21Nov1953.

2.05 [18] Your Play Time: MISS DARKNESS
11Jul1954 CBS Sun
Story by Fredric Brown
Directed by Leslie H. Martinson
starring
Dee Carroll
Peter Graves
Synopsis:
A woman who never turns on the light in her room is suspected of being the driver of a get-away car in a bank holdup. [RF]
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Pepsi-Cola Playhouse" 01Jan1954.

2.06 [19] Your Play Time: WHEN A LOVELY WOMAN
18Jul1954 CBS Sun
starring
Marguerite Chapman
Ron Randell
James Millican
Karen Sharpe
Irene Hervey
Dick Simmons
Synopsis:
A woman lives in constant memory of a romance before she married her husband. The hubby sets out to find out
all about the ex-romeo. [RF]
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Pepsi-Cola Playhouse" 02Oct1953.

2.07 [20] Your Play Time: FAR, FAR BETTER THINGS
25Jul1954 CBS Sun
Teleplay by Marion Cooper
Directed by John English
starring
Nancy Gates ........... Virginia Sills
Richard Gaines ........ Len Sills
Robert Lowery ......... George Loring
Sally Mansfield ....... Betty Loring
Synopsis:
A blackmail team posing as brother and sister are plotting against a married couple. [RF]
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Pepsi-Cola Playhouse" 12Feb1954.

2.08 [21] Your Play Time: THE RAGGED STRANGER
01Aug1954 CBS Sun
starring
Michael Hall
Hayden Rorke
Joanne Davis
Synopsis:
Larry Doyle is caught stealing a loaf of bread by one Neil Armstrong. Armstrong talks him into staging a
fake hold up of his wife, allowing Armstrong to "fight" off the robber and appear the hero. When the staged
hold-up ends up as a murder, Dolyle realizes he's been played for a fool and been framed. [RF]
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Pepsi-Cola Playhouse" 30Oct1953.

2.09 [22] Your Play Time: CLAIRE
08Aug1954 CBS Sun
starring
Marilyn Erskine
Walter Coy
Marguerite Chapman
Douglas Kennedy
Synopsis:
A woman working hard to support her ill husband is put on the spot by the nurse. [RF]
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Pepsi-Cola Playhouse" 20Nov1953.

2.10 [23] Your Play Time: HIS BROTHER'S GIRL
15Aug1954 CBS Sun
starring
George Nader
Keith Larsen
Nancy Gates
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Pepsi-Cola Playhouse" 26Feb1954.

2.11 [24] Your Play Time: FLIGHT FROM HOME
22Aug1954 CBS Sun
starring
Ruth Hussey
David Brian
Gigi Perreau
Synopsis:
A couple lose their first child and almost their marriage. [RF]
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Revlon Mirror Theater" 10Oct1953.

2.12 [25] Your Play Time: MELODY IN BLACK
29Aug1954 CBS Sun
starring
Peter Graves ......... Fred Crain
Nancy Gates .......... Peggy Harper
Robert Paige ......... Roger Libbott
Dorothy Green
Synopsis:
A murder leads a young woman being gossiped about as the subject of the crime. [RF]
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Pepsi-Cola Playhouse" 06Nov1953.

2.13 [26] Your Play Time: THE NIGHT LIGHT AT VORDEN'S
05Sep1954 CBS Sun
starring
Craig Stevens ........ Ward Preston
Jean Byron ........... Vanessa Vorden
Mira McKinney ........ Bianca Vorden (as Myra McKinney)
Emmett Vogan ......... Harold Atkins
Bruce Payne .......... Dr. Paul Tabor
Synopsis 1:
A possessive mother uses every possible ruse to  keep her only daughter from marrying. [RF]
Synopsis: 2:
A domineering mother stops at nothing to keep her daughter from marrying her schoolteacher suitor. [RF]
*NOTE: Originally broadcast on "Pepsi-Cola Playhouse" 16Oct1953.

###### Your Play Time ######
####### season 3 1955 ######
############################
Summer replacement series for Your Hit Parade
NBC Saturdays at 10:30-11:00pm Eastern

3.01 [27] Your Play Time: A FRAME-UP
18Jun1955 NBC Sat
starring
James Gleason
Wally Brown
Hal Baylor
Joan Camden
Pat Conway
Synopsis:
A simple man from the country who is talked into entering an exhibition match with an outstanding boxer,
and finds himself in the professional fight game as a result of knocking out the pro in the first round. [RF]

3.02 [28] Your Play Time: SPEAKING OF HANNAH
25Jun1955 NBC Sat
Teleplay by Eugene Solow / Story by Gladys Hasty Carroll
Directed by Leigh Jason
Director of photography Floyd Crosby
Editor Jerry Young
Production Designer Nicolai Remisoff
starring
Ethel Waters
Lloyd Corrigan
Ellen Corby
James Bell
Pippa Scott
Mark Damon
Norma Varden
Vivi Janiss
Everett Glass
Synopsis:
The story of a faithful servant who maintains her independence and dignity while the family she is employed by is falling to pieces. [RF]

3.03 [29] Your Play Time: THE LONER
02Jul1955 NBC Sat
starring
Peter J. Votrian
Anna Lee
Hayden Rorke
Synopsis:
A lonely boy devises his own methods of getting the affection he lacks from his parents. [RF]
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Pepsi-Cola Playhouse" 27Mar1955.

3.04 [30] Your Play Time: SAM
09Jul1955 NBC Sat
starring
Charles Coburn ......... Theodore J. Gulch
Phyllis Joyce .......... Miss Kittridge
Yvette Dugay ........... Miss La Rue
John Harmon ............ Emmett Dolan
Synopsis:
A man turns up with a considerable sum of money, supposedly taken from a hidden cache, but actually found
in an old abandoned mine. [RF]
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Studio 57" 22Mar1955.

3.05 [31] Your Play Time: THE GREY AND GOLD DRESS
16Jul1955 NBC Sat
starring
Vera Miles ........ Nancy
Peggy Converse .... Jane
Gertrude Michael .. Coralee
Jan Arvan
Gerry Gaylor
Synopsis:
A fabulously expensive dress brings breathtaking drama into the lives of three women. [RF]
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Pepsi-Cola Playhouse" 02Apr1954.

3.06 [32] Your Play Time: RESCUE
23Jul1955 NBC Sat
starring
Brian Keith ........... Denis Burke
Dorothy Green ......... Desiree Blanc
Stephen Bekassy ....... Captain Crepin
Lawrence Dobkin ....... Hamid
Romo Vincent .......... Aguilar
Synopsis:
An American adventurer is caught in a maelstrom of Moroccan politicians after a pretty girl is a political
prisoner and he becomes involved with a French police captain and a sultan during a daring rescue attempt. [RF]

3.07 [33] Your Play Time: A HUSBAND APPEARS
30Jul1955 NBC Sat
Written by Joseph Ruscoll
Directed by Paul Landres
starring
Sallie Brophy ......... Ellen Tate
Alan Dexter ........... Arthur Dolman
Dorothy Adams ......... Hester
Phil Tead ............. Dr. Jennings
Herbert Rudley ........ The Man
Synopsis:
A psychological drama of a woman's desperate struggle to prove herself sane in the face of overwhelming
evidence to the contrary. [RF]
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Pepsi-Cola Playhouse" 20Mar1955.

3.08 [34] Your Play Time: CALL FROM ROBERT JEST
06Aug1955 NBC Sat
starring
Carolyn Jones ...... Carol Marshall
Robert Horton ...... Pete
Betty Lynn ......... Jeanne Collins
Donald Murphy ...... Crane Colton
Addison Richards.... Detective Lewis
Synopsis:
A murder mystery dealing with a puzzle addict who leaves a real puzzle when she is murdered and a 'telephone
call that gives a cryptic message as the only clue to the crime. [RF]
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Studio 57" 29Mar1955.

3.09 [35] Your Play Time: WAIT FOR GEORGE
13Aug1955 NBC Sat
starring
Josephine Hutchinson ... Lyddie Hampton
Norman Leavitt ......... Burt
Frank Ferguson ......... Dr. Bryce
Walter Baldwin ......... George
Synopsis:
A farm wife finds she must cope single-handedly with the sinister scheme of a criminal farmhand. [RF]
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Pepsi-Cola Playhouse" 13Mar55.

3.10 [36] Your Play Time: THE DUEL
20Aug1955 NBC Sat
starring
Don Haggerty
Brian Keith
Claudia Barrett
Alan Wells
Synopsis:
A tale of the west with a lawyer from the east and a rough-and-ready local lad clashing over the affections
of the sheriff's daughter. [RF]
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Studio 57" 16Nov54.

3.11 [37] Your Play Time: MR. DONALD TAKES A RISK
27Aug1955 NBC Sat
Teleplay by Richard Collins
Directed by Richard Irving
Director of photography Stanley Wilson
starring
Arthur Space
Mary Field
Lee Ericson
Milton Frome
Robert Hyatt
William Forrest
Synopsis:
A small boy and a dog team against an unfriendly world and then learn a valuable lesson about a better way of life. [RF]
*NOTE: Originally aired on "Pepsi-Cola Playhouse" 06Mar1955.

3.12 [38] Your Play Time: THE INTOLERABLE PORTRAIT (FinalLast show of the series)
03Sep1955 NBC Sat
Teleplay by Brewster Morgan & Eugene Solow
Based on a story by Christopher La Farge
Directed by Peter Godfrey
starring
Teresa Wright
Philip Ober
John Dehner
Peter Van Eyck
Millie Bruce
Rex Ingram
Synopsis:
An art critic, writing a book about a famous artist, discovers that there is one portrait the artist has never permitted
the world to see. [RF]
*Syndication airing on "Twilight Theater" 09Apr56.
 

Have you any comments, corrections, episode titles, air dates, production numbers, directors, writers, story/synopsis, guest stars, cast lists, etc?
Have you any old videos, or tv guides? Dust them off and let us know if you have any information on this series or any other tv series from the
Golden Age of TV, which is missing from any episode guides on the web. Perhaps a certain episode of a particular series coincided with a key
moment in your life, or in world events - and or has left a vivid memory of when it was shown. Let us know. Would you like to see any other
tv series guides on this site? If so please e-mail The Classic TV Archive - see Feedback below.
This guide may be distributed and copied freely, in its entirety, for personal use. All original author and copyright information must
remain intact. Any sales or other uses of this document are expressly forbidden, without the specific consent of the author(s).
Copyright © The Classic TV Archive. All rights reserved.

Return to The Classic TV Archive Home Page
 Feedback  -  Anthology Forum