1950 - Theater, Film

Theater, Film

Theater: The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers 1/5 at New York's Empire Theater, with Ethel Waters, Michigan-born actress Julie (Julia) Harris, 24, and Brandon de Wilde in a play directed by Harold Clurman based on the 1946 McCullers novel, 501 perfs.; Venus Observed by Christopher Fry 1/18 at the St. James's Theatre, London; The Cocktail Party by T. S. Eliot 1/21 at New York's Henry Miller Theater, with Alec Guinness, English actress Cathleen Nesbit, 60, Irene Worth, 409 perfs.; The Happy Time by Chicago-born playwright Samuel (Albert) Taylor, 36 (based on a novel by Robert Fontaine) 1/24 at New York's Plymouth Theater, with Budapest-born actress Eva Gabor, 28, Vienna-born actor Kurt Kasznar (originally Serwicher), 36, sets and costumes by Aline Bernstein, 614 perfs.; Come Back, Little Sheba by Kansas-born playwright William (Motter) Inge, 37, 2/15 at New York's Booth Theater, with Shirley Booth, Sidney Blackmer, Joan Loring, 191 perfs.; The Rial Trilogy by Canadian playwright John Coulter 2/17 at Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum Theater; Judith (Giuditta) by Carlo Terron 5/2 at Milan's Teatro Nuovo; The Bald Prima Donna (La Cantatrice chauve) by Romanian-born French playwright Eugène Ionesco (originallly Eugen Ionescu), 38, 5/11 at the Théâtre des Noctambules, Paris (Ionesco uses meaningless platitudes to convey the sterility of modern life); The Little Hut by French playwright André Roussin (adapted by Nancy Mitford) 8/23 at London's Lyric Theatre, with Robert Morley, New York-born actress Joan Tetzel, 29, 1,261 perfs; Season in the Sun by drama critic Wolcott Gibbs 9/28 at New York's Cort Theater (to Booth Theater 5/14/1951), with Anthony Ross, Cleveland-born actor Jack Weston (originally Weinstein), 26, Nancy Kelly, Richard Whorf, Baltimore-born actor Eddie Mayehoff, 36, 367 perfs.; Affairs of State by French playwright Louis Verneuil 9/25 at New York's Royale Theater, with Reginald Owen, Celeste Holm, Shepperd Strudwick, Harry Bannister, 610 perfs.; Top of the Ladder by Tyrone Guthrie 10/11 at St. James's Theatre, London (adapted from Guthrie's "microphone play" The Flowers Are Not for You to Pick aired on BBC in 1931); The Rehearsal (La repetition, ou L'amour Pani) by Jean Anouilh 10/25 at the Théâtre Marigny, Paris; Trial of the Innocent (Processo agli innocenti) by Carlo Terron 11/7 at Milan's Teatro Oden; The Country Girl by Clifford Odets 11/10 at New York's Lyceum Theater, with Paul Kelly, Uta Hagen, Steven Hill, 235 perfs.; The Great and the Small Maneuvers (La grande et la petite manoeuvre) by Russian-born avant-garde French Theater of the Absurd playwright Arthur Adamov, 42, 11/11 at the Théâtre des Noctambules, Paris, with music by Pierre May (Adamov's realistic work has been influenced by his late friend Antonin Artaud); The Invasion (L'Invasion) by Adamov 11/14 at the Studio des Champs-Elysées, Paris; Bell, Book, and Candle by John Van Druten 11/14 at New York's Ethel Barrymore Theater, with Lili Palmer, Rex Harrison, Jean Adair, 233 perfs.; In the Burning Darkness (En la ardiente oscuridad) by Antonio Buero Vallejo 12/1 at Madrid's Teatro National Maria Guerrero.

The Elizabethan-style Mermaid Theatre opened in back of their house by actor Bernard Miles, 42, and his actress wife, Josephine (née Wilson), is the first new theater to open in London since the 17th century. Miles establishes the Mermaid Theatre Trust to raise funds for a permanent venue, and a new, 500-seat Mermaid Theatre will open in 1959.

Broadway manager-producer William A. Brady dies at New York January 6 at age 86; Variety publisher Sid Silverman at Harrison, N.Y., March 10 at age 52; Broadway producer Brock Pemberton of a heart attack at New York March 11 at age 64; Nina Boucicault at her home in the London suburb of Ealing May 4 at age 83; Jane Cowl of cancer at Santa Monica, Calif., June 22 at age 65; playwright Edward Childs Carpenter in Surrey June 28 at age 77; Chrystal Herne at New York September 19 at age 67; Pauline Lord of a heart attack at Alamogordo, N.M., October 11 at age 60; playwright George Bernard Shaw of a kidney infection at Ayot St. Lawrence, England, November 2 at age 94 (he leaves a third of his royalties to the 46-year-old Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts); actress-playwright Michael Strange dies at Boston November 5 at age 60; English-born Shakespearean actress Julia Marlowe in her apartment at New York's Plaza Hotel November 12 at age 85; Gertrude Elliot (Lady Forbes-Robertson) at her home in Kent December 24 at age 76.

Radio: The Story of Dr. Kildare 2/1 on syndicated stations with Lew Ayres, now 41 (who was a conscientious objector during World War II but served as a voluntary medic), Lionel Barrymore (to 8/3/51, 80 episodes; see Television, 1961).

Television: What's My Line 2/2 on CBS, with emcee John (Charles) Daley Jr., 35, and panelists: actress Arlene Francis, now 41; columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, now 36; and anthologist Louis Untermeyer, 64, who try to guess the occupations of guests. Publisher Bennett A. Cerf, 51, will succeed Untermeyer in 1952 (to 9/3/1967); Your Show of Shows 2/25 on NBC with Yonkers-born comedian-writer Sid Caesar, 27, Imogene Coca, New York-born comedian-writer Carl Reiner, 27, Howard Morris, and guest stars in a comedy hour developed by NBC executive Sylvester "Pat" Weaver Jr., 41, and written by Gary Belkin, New York-born comedian Mel Brooks (originally Melvin Kaminsky), 24, Caesar, Larry Gelbart, Sheldon Keller, Reiner, Aaron Ruben, New York-born writer (Marvin) Neil Simon, 22, and his brother Danny, Michael Stewart, and Mel Tolkin (160 weekly shows to 6/5/1954; retitled Caesar's Hour, to 5/25/1957); Beat the Clock 3/23 on CBS with host Bud Collyer in a quiz show created by Goodson-Todman (to 2/16/1958); ABC begins airing Saturday morning cartoon shows for children August 19; You Bet Your Life 10/5 on NBC with Groucho Marx, George Fenneman in a comedy quiz show (to 9/21/1961); The Burns & Allen Show 10/12 on CBS with comedians George Burns and Gracie Allen, Harry Von Zell (to 9/22/1958, 239 filmed episodes); The Jack Benny Show 10/28 on CBS with comedian Benny and his old radio team—Don Wilson, Mary Livingston (Mrs. Benny), Dennis Day, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Mel Blanc (to 9/10/1965); You Asked For It 12/19 on Dumont with host Art Baker, Jack Smith in a variety show (to 9/27/1959).

U.S. network television offers 130 hours of prime-time programming per week, up from 16 hours in 1947. An episode of the short-lived NBC sitcom Hank McCune Show uses a "laughtrack" invented by former CBS engineer Charles Rolland "Charlie" Douglass, now 40, who has founded Northridge Electronics. Variety notes that "there are chuckles and yocks dubbed in. Whether this induces a jovial mood in home viewers is still to be determined, but the practice may have unlimited possibilities if it's spread to include canned peals of hilarity, thunderous ovations, and gasps of sympathy." Radio comedy shows had studio audiences that responded on cue to laugh cards and applause cards; Douglass's "laff machine" allows a technician to select the style, sex, and age of a laugher with a keyboard, using a foot pedal to control the duration of the "audience" reaction, and the "Laff Box" will come into widespread use in the 1960s and '70s.

Films: Joseph L. Mankiewicz's All about Eve with Bette Davis, Indiana-born actress Anne Baxter, 27, Celeste Holm; Michael Gordon's Cyrano de Bergerac with Puerto Rican-born actor José Ferrer (originally José Vincente Ferrer y Centron), 38; Vincente Minnelli's The Father of the Bride with Spencer Tracy, Elizabeth Taylor, Pittsburgh-born actor Don Taylor, 29, Joan Bennett; John Boulting's Seven Days to Noon with Barry Jones, Olive Sloane; Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard with Gloria Swanson, William Holden, Erich von Stroheim (it is Swanson's 63rd feature and she has agreed to play the role of silent-screen star Norma Desmond for $53,333 when once she earned up to $1 million per year). Also: John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle with Montclair, N.J.-born actor Sterling Hayden (originally John Hamilton), 34, Louis Calhern, Chicago-born actress Jean (Ver) Hagen, 26; George Cukor's Born Yesterday with Judy Holliday, William Holden, Broderick Crawford; Michael Curtiz's The Breaking Point with John Garfield, Kentucky-born actress Patricia (originally Patsy) Neal, 23; David Lean's Breaking the Sound Barrier with Ralph Richardson, Ann Todd, Nigel Patrick (originally Nigel Nemyss), 37; Robert Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest (Journal d'un Curé de Campagne) with Claude Laydu; Henry Koster's Harvey with James Stewart, Josephine Hull; Nicholas Ray's In a Lonely Place with Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame; Victor Saville's Kim with Hollywood-born actor Dean Stockwell, 12, Errol Flynn, Paul Lukas; Robert Hamer's Kind Hearts and Coronets with Alec Guinness; Herbert Wilcox's Lady with the Lamp with Anna Neagle (who married Wilcox in 1942); Fred Zinnemann's The Men with Marlon Brando; Elia Kazan's Panic in the Streets with Richard Widmark, Paul Douglas, Barbara Bel Geddes; Anthony Pelissier's The Rocking Horse Winner with Valerie Hobson, John Howard Davies, John Mills; Max Ophuls's La Ronde with Anton Walbrook, Simone Simon, German-born actress Simone Signoret (originally Simone-Henriette-Charlotte Kaminker), 29, Serge Reggiani, Danielle Darrieux, Jean-Louis Barrault in a story based on an 1897 play (Merry-Go-Round) by the late Arthur Schnitzler that was first performed in 1920; Jacques Tourneur's Stars in My Crown with Joel McCrea, Ellen Drew, Dean Stockwell; Jean Negulesco's Three Came Home with Claudette Colbert, Sessue Hayakawa; Byron Haskin's Treasure Island with Bobby Driscoll, Robert Newton; Anthony Mann's Winchester 73 with James Stewart, St. Louis-born actress Shelley Winters (originally Shirley Schrift), 28; Anthony Asquith's The Winslow Boy with Robert Donat, Margaret Leighton, 28; Edward Buzzell's A Woman of Distinction with Rosalind Russell, Ray Milland; Norman Foster's Woman on the Run with Ann Sheridan.

Actor Emil Jannings dies of liver cancer and pneumonia at Strobl on Lake Wolfgang, near Salzburg, Austria, January 2 at age 65 (he continued to work in Germany during the Nazi regime); actor Alan Hale dies at Hollywood, Calif., January 22 at age 57; theater owner Sid Grauman dies of a heart attack at Hollywood March 5 at age 70; Walter Huston of an aneurism at Beverly Hills April 7 at age 66; Irish-born director Rex Ingram (originally Rex Fitchcock) at North Hollywood July 21 at age 58; Sara Allgood of cancer at the Motion Picture Country Hospital near Hollywood September 13 at age 66; Frank Morgan at his Beverly Hills home September 18 at age 59; Maurice Costello of a heart ailment at Hollywood October 29 at age 73.