The Plymouth Playhouse
(originally called ABC Album)
(1953)
Anthology / Drama
30 minutes
Hosts: Donald Cook and Whit Bissell
The Plymouth Playhouse was an anthology television program shown by ABC, auditioning possible programs for the 1953-1954 season in an effort to compete with CBS and NBC.
The episodes were cast with first-rate actors, and were expensive to produce, allowing for quality programs.
These episodes, a two-part adaptation of Dickens’
A Tale of Two Cities , were aired on May 3rd and May 10th, 1953.
Directed by Dik Darley
Original music by Dmitri Tiomkin
Host: Whit Bissell
(The London Story)
Cast:
Murray Matheson as Dr. Alexander Manette
Carleton Young as Charles Darnay
Esther Dale as Pross
Paul Cavanagh as Mr. Stryver
Jerry LaZarre ...... Baraud
Norman Budd as Jerry Cruncher
Ted Stanhope as The Judge
Colin Kenny as The Bailiff
Larry Williams as The Barrister
This episode in the first city is set in London around 1780 as England is recovering from the war with the New Colonies.
(The Paris Story)
Cast:
Judith Evelyn as Therese Defarge
Murray Matheson as Dr. Alexander Manette
Carleton Young as Charles Darnay
Esther Dale as Pross
Lucille Pierlot as The Seamstress
Bob Foulk as Ernest Defarge
Jerry LaZarre as Baraud
Norman Budd as Jerry Cruncher
Constance Cavendish as Regiene
Ivan Triesault as The President
This episode in the second city is set in Paris and concerns the French Revolution, Paris’ recovery from the fall of the Bastille, and the advent of beheadings.
