The United States Steel Hour
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| The United States Steel Hour | |
| Other names | Theater Guild on the Air |
| Genre | Anthology drama |
| Running time | 1 hour |
| Country | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | ABC (09/09/45-06/05/49) NBC (09/11/49-06/07/53) |
| Television adaptation(s) | The United States Steel Hour |
| Host(s) | Lawrence Langner, Roger Pryor |
| Starring | Numerous Broadway and Hollywood stars |
| Writer(s) | Erik Barnouw, Arthur Miller, Kenyon Nicholson, Robert Anderson, Peter Lyon, Norman Rosten, Stanley Young, William S. Rainey, Robert Cenedella, Jeffrey Dell, Robert Fresnell Jr. |
| Director(s) | Homer Fickett |
| Producer(s) | George Kondolf, Carol Irwin |
| Executive producer(s) | Armina Marshall |
| Air dates | September 9, 1945 – June 7, 1953 |
| No. of episodes | 315 |
| Audio format | Monaural sound |
The United States Steel Hour was an American radio and television anthology series.
[edit] Radio
The United States Steel Hour (AKA Theater Guild on the Air) first aired on radio on September 9, 1945. The series featured numerous Broadway and Hollywood actors, who presented radio adaptations of plays and films each week. Some of the actors who performed on radio were Bette Davis, Burgess Meredith, Fredric March, Rex Harrison, Ronald Colman, Basil Rathbone, Helen Hayes, Ingrid Bergman, Katharine Hepburn, Gene Kelly, Deborah Kerr, and Agnes Moorehead. The radio show was broadcast until June 7, 1953, when United States Steel Corporation decided to move its show to television.
[edit] Television
The television version aired from 1953 to 1955 on ABC, and from 1955 to 1963 on CBS. Like its radio predecessor it was a live dramatic anthology series. By 1963, the year it went off the air, it was the last surviving live anthology series from the Golden Age of Television. It was still on the air during President John F. Kennedy's famous April 11, 1962 confrontation with steel companies over the hefty raising of their prices.
The show featured a range of television acting talent as its episodes explored a wide variety of contemporary social issues, from the mundane to the controversial. Notable guest actors included Peter Lorre, Rex Harrison, Tallulah Bankhead, Walter Matthau, James Dean, Jack Klugman, Sally Ann Howes, Celeste Holm, Martin Balsam, Andy Griffith, Keir Dullea, George Peppard and Paul Newman. Episodes were contributed by many notable writers, including Rod Serling, Richard Maibaum, and Ira Levin. The program also telecast one-hour musical versions of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
[edit] External links
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