1949 | Theater, Film
Theater, Film
Theater: Corruption in the Palace of Justice (Corruzione al palazzo di giustizia) by Ugo Betti 1/7 at Rome's Teatro della Arti; Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller 2/10 at New York's Morosco Theater, with Lee J. Cobb as salesman Willie Loman, Mildred Dunnock, Arthur Kennedy, Cameron Mitchell, 742 perfs.; Detective Story by Sidney Kingsley 3/23 at New York's Hudson Theater, with Ralph Bellamy, Les Tremayne, Alexander Scourby, Jean Adair, Troy, N.Y.-born actress Maureen Stapleton, 23, Joseph Wiseman, New York-born ingénue Lee Grant (originally Lyova Haskell Rosenthal), 21, 581 perfs.; Romulus the Great (Romulus der Grosse) by Swiss playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt, 28, 4/25 at Basel's Stadttheater; Story of a Staircase (Historia de una escalara) by Spanish playwright Antonio Buero Vallejo, 33, 10/14 at Madrid's Teatro Español; Cock-a-Doodle-Dandy by Sean O'Casey 12/10 at Newcastle-upon-Tyne; The Just Assassins (Les Justes) by Albert Camus 12/15 at the Théâtre Hebertot, Paris.
President Truman revives the U.S.O. February 19 (see 1942). Comedian Bob Hope entertained servicemen involved in the Berlin Airlift last year and has been a driving force in restarting the organization, but its budget of $1.5 million is less than half what it was 8 years ago (see 1950).
The Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting founded at New York by actress-teacher Adler, now 48, will educate players, including Marlon Brando, in the (Stanislavski) Method system of acting.
Playwright-poet-librettist Maurice Maeterlinck dies in his villa at Nice May 6 at age 86; playwright Thomas Heggen is found dead in his bathtub at New York May 19 at age 29, having taken sleeping pills, dozed off, and drowned; actor Harry Davenport dies at Los Angeles August 9 at age 83; Dame Irene Vanbrugh at London November 30 at age 76; playwright Philip Barry of a heart attack at his Park Avenue, New York, apartment December 3 at age 53.
Radio: Dragnet 7/7 on NBC with Santa Monica-born actor Jack Webb, 29, as Sgt. Joe ("Just the facts, ma'am") Friday, Los Angeles Police Department (to 1956); Father Knows Best 8/25 on NBC with Robert Young as Jim Anderson (to 1954).
Television: The Goldbergs 1/17 on CBS is the first TV situation comedy. Derived from the radio show first aired in 1929, it stars Molly Berg, now 50, will continue until late June 1951, and be followed by dozens of "sitcoms"; Quiz Kids 3/1 on NBC (on CBS from 1/53 to 9/27/1956); The Martin and Lewis Show 4/3 on NBC with Steubenville, Ohio-born singer Dean Martin (originally Dino Crocetti), 31, Newark, N.J.-born manic comic Jerry Lewis (originally Joseph Levitch), 23 (to 1952); Candid Camera on ABC with New York-born U.S. Signal Corps veteran Allen Funt, 34, who started Candid Microphone on ABC radio in 1947, moved it to TV last year, and has changed its name; Mr. I. Magination 5/29 on CBS with Paul Tripp as host (to 6/28/1952); Captain Video and His Video Rangers 6/27 on Dumont with Jack Vance as the Guardian of the Safety of the World, an electronic wizard whose 20-minute episodes aboard his rocketship Galaxy are broadcast live daily (to 1955); The Magic Cottage 7/18 on Dumont TV (daytime) with host Pat Meikle (to 9/12/1952); The Magic Clown 9/11 on NBC (daytime) with Zovella (to 6/27/1954); The Lone Ranger 9/15 on ABC with Clayton Moore (later John Hart), Mohawk actor Jay Silverheels (originally Harold J. Smith), 36 (as Tonto) in a television version of the old radio show (to 9/12/1957); The Life of Riley 10/4 on NBC with Jackie Gleason in a series written by Sumner Arthur Long, 28 (to 3/28/50). NBC will revive the series early in 1953 with William Bendix in the title role (to 8/22/1958, 217 episodes).
The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences confers its first Emmy Awards.
Films: George Cukor's Adam's Rib with Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday, Tom Ewell, David Wayne; Robert Rossen's All the King's Men with Philadelphia-born actor (William) Broderick Crawford, 37, Mercedes McCambridge; William Wyler's The Heiress with Olivia de Havilland, Ralph Richardson, Montgomery Clift; Ken Annakin, Arthur Crabtree, Harold French, and Ralph Smart's Quartet with Basil Radford, Mai Zetterling, Ian Fleming, London-born actor Dirk Bogarde (originally Derek Niven van den Bogaerd), 28, Naunton Wayne; Akira Kurosawa's Stray Dog with Toshiro Mifune; Carol Reed's The Third Man with Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Trevor Howard, Valli; Henry King's Twelve O'Clock High with Gregory Peck, Gary Merrill, Ohio-born actor Dean Jagger (originally Dean Jeffries), 43; Alexander Mackendrick's Whisky Galore! (in America, Tight Little Island) with Basil Radford, Joan Greenwood, 28. Also: Carol Reed's The Fallen Idol with Ralph Richardson, Michele Morgan, Bobby Henrey; Joseph H. Lewis's Gun Crazy with Peggy Cummins, John Dall; Lloyd Bacon's It Happens Every Spring with Ray Milland, Canton, Ohio-born actress Jean Peters, 22, Paul Douglas; Jacques Tati's Jour de Fête with Tati (Jacques Tatischeff), 41; Vincente Minnelli's Madame Bovary with Jennifer Jones, James Mason, Oklahoma-born actor Van (originally Emmett Evan) Heflin, 38, French actor Louis Jourdan (originally Louis Gendre), 28; Elia Kazan's Pinky with Jeanne Crain as a light-skinned woman who passes for white, Ethel Barrymore, Ethel Waters; Thorold Dickinson's Queen of Spades with Dame Edith Evans, now 61, in her only film role, Anton Walbrook; Max Ophuls's The Reckless Moment with James Mason, Joan Bennett; Robert Wise's The Set-Up with Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter; John Ford's She Wore a Yellow Ribbon with John Wayne, Joanne Dru; Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Small Back Room with David Farrar, Jack Hawkins, 38; Sam Wood's The Stratton Story with James Stewart, June Allyson; Nicholas Ray's They Live By Night with San Jose, Calif.-born actor Farley Granger, 24, Cathy O'Donnell; Raoul Walsh's White Heat with James Cagney, St. Louis-born actress Virginia Mayo (originally Virginia Jones), 29; Nicholas Ray's A Woman's Secret with Maureen O'Hara, Gloria Graham, Melvyn Douglas.
Ingrid Bergman shocks moviegoers August 5 by announcing that she is divorcing her physician husband, Peter Lindstrom, and abandoning her movie career; Bergman has been living with Italian director Robert Rosselini and in 6 months will bear his son Robertino out of wedlock, creating a furor.
Director Victor Fleming suffers a heart attack on a friend's ranch near Cottonwood, Ariz., and dies in an ambulance January 6 at age 64; Wallace Beery dies of heart disease at his Beverly Hills home April 15 at age 63; silent film star Richard Dix of heart disease at Hollywood September 20 at age 55; director Sam Wood of a heart attack at Hollywood September 22 at age 66; actress Maria Ouspenskaya at Hollywood December 3 at age 62 of a stroke after suffering burns in a fire started by smoking in bed; director Sidney Olcott dies of cancer at Hollywood December 16 at age 76; animated film pioneer Leon Schlesinger at Los Angeles December 26 at age 65.