Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology drama series of the mid-1950s were usually hour-long shows, the title highlighted the network's intention to present something unusual, a weekly series of hour-and-a-half dramas rather than 60-minute plays. Playhouse 90 began as a pitch by Frank Stanton—the formidable, forward-thinking right-hand man to CBS chairman William S. Paley—during a brainstorming session for program ideas. The project was ultimately developed by Hubbell Robinson, a CBS vice president who received no screen credit on Playhouse 90 but is often described as its creator.
39 Episodes
E01 Forbidden Area
Why are so many B-99 bombers from Hibiscus Air Base crashing or simply disappearing? Colonel Price comes up with a terrifying explanation, but will anyone believe him?
October 4, 1956E02 Requiem for a Heavyweight
An over-the-hill heavyweight boxing champion who suffers from the ravages of years of head trauma is exploited by his manager, despite the efforts of a compassionate young woman who tries to help him recover his self-respect.
October 11, 1956E03 Sizeman and Son
The happy atmosphere in Mr. Sizeman's factory is disrupted by an argumentative newcomer - his son.
October 18, 1956E04 Rendezvous in Black
A woman is inexplicably killed on a street-corner. What has this to do with other deaths around the city?
October 25, 1956E05 The Country Husband
After a near-death experience, a businessman starts to re-think his life, and wonders about leaving his wife.
November 1, 1956E06 The Big Slide
A vaudeville comic becomes a silent film star.
November 8, 1956E07 Heritage of Anger
A wealthy industrialist has trouble with his sons.
November 15, 1956E08 Eloise
It's not so much that Eloise is a mischievous child, but the darnedest things do happen when she's around.
November 22, 1956E09 Confession
When a much-admired community leader dies, a journalist starts to investigate his life - and finds he was not the man he seemed.
November 29, 1956E10 Made in Heaven
When Zachary and Elsa separate, each seems tempted to start a new love affair.
December 6, 1956E11 Sincerely, Willis Wade
A wealthy mill owner finances the education of a clever, but poor, young man.
December 13, 1956E12 The Family Nobody Wanted
A true story, it follows a pastor and his wife through forties beginning with one biological child, Donny. But the upheaval of the war years results in a number of mixed raced children that the Doss family adopt until they have 12 children.
December 20, 1956E13 Massacre at Sand Creek
An investigation into a massacre of Native Americans.
December 27, 1956E14 Snowshoes: A Comedy of People and Horses
Some racetrack Johnnies are talking between races when one wonders if you can hypnotize a horse into thinking it's a champion. The idea sets in motion a series of hilarious events.
January 3, 1957E15 The Ninth Day
Events in the aftermath of World War Three.
January 10, 1957E16 So Soon to Die
Down on his luck, war hero Lionel Amblin contemplates committing a murder.
January 17, 1957E17 The Star Wagon
An inventor, pondering on how he might differently have arranged his life, invents a time machine and decides to make a few changes.
January 24, 1957E18 The Greer Case
When a rich woman dies without signing her new will, all kinds of problems ensue.
January 31, 1957E19 The Miracle Worker
The story of Anne Sullivan's struggle to teach the blind and deaf Helen Keller how to communicate.
February 7, 1957E20 The Comedian
Sammy Hogarth, a vaudeville comedian who now has his own TV show, is a ruthless egomaniac who demands instant obedience from his staff and heaps abuse on those in lesser positions than his. His most vituperative behavior, however, is reserved for his weak-willed brother, Lester, whom Sammy has hired as his assistant but whom he really uses as his whipping boy.
February 14, 1957E21 One Coat of White
A newly-widowed woman goes on a trip to Europe and meets a French artist.
February 21, 1957E22 The Blackwell Story
In the 19th century, Elizabeth Blackwell determines to become a doctor.
February 28, 1957E23 Invitation to a Gunfighter
A gunfighter is terrorizing a small western town. The townspeople finally pool their money to a hire another gunfighter to drive him out of town. The townsfolk thought they had it bad until they handed the reigns over to the new terror. Pooling their money again, this time to hire Jeffers to get rid of Dancer.
March 7, 1957E24 The Last Tycoon
A movie producer is slowly working himself to death.
March 14, 1957E25 The Hostess with the Mostes'
The story of Perle Mesta, who became, first, a renowned society hostess, and then an ambassadress.
March 21, 1957E26 Where's Charley?
Lord Fancourt Babberley is forced to disguise himself as a woman - his aunt from Brazil, "where the nuts come from".
March 28, 1957E27 Clipper Ship
A romance on the high seas revolving around the comely widow of a shipping magnate, and her growing love for a handsome young political prisoner who was scheduled to be put to death when the vessel reached its destination. Though unyielding at first, the ship's stern captain eventually helped the woman to make a clean getaway, with the condemned man in tow.
April 4, 1957E28 If You Knew Elizabeth
April 11, 1957E29 Three Men on a Horse
A meek salesman with an uncanny ability to pick horses is virtually kidnapped by a trio of gamblers.
April 18, 1957E30 Four Women in Black
Four nuns, led by Sister Teresa, begin a treacherous journey across the Arizona desert in 1870. Their faith enables them to deal with the challenges of nature and the hostility of their fellow mankind.
April 25, 1957E31 Child of Trouble
May 2, 1957E32 Homeward Borne
Just after World War Two ends, an American woman takes in a Polish war orphan boy, a concentration camp survivor. But conflict arises when her husband, a returning Air Force bomber pilot, hates the boy and his psychological baggage.
May 9, 1957E33 The Helen Morgan Story
Broadway legend Helen Morgan 's life as told by her mother, from her early start in second rate speakeasies to star of top rated shows and owning her own club. Also seen is her poor choices, such as her affair with a married man, her short marriage to a much younger man, a court fight over an adopted baby and her fatal descent into booze addiction.
May 16, 1957E34 Winter Dreams
May 23, 1957E35 Circle of the Day
On her tenth wedding anniversary (which is also her daughter's birthday), a wife begins to suspect her husband of unfaithfulness.
May 30, 1957E36 Without Incident
Captain Russell Bidlack, commander of a U.S. Cavalry unit in 1870, determines to complete a rescue mission through dangerous Indian territory. In the course of the mission, he rescues the wives of two slain traders and captures the Indian chief accused of the murders. When he returns to the fort, he's faced with a revolt among his own men.
June 6, 1957E37 Clash by Night
Mae Doyle comes back to her hometown a cynical woman. Her brother Joe fears that his love, fish cannery worker Peggy, may wind up like Mae. Mae marries Jerry and has a baby; she is happy but restless, drawn to Jerry's friend Earl.
June 13, 1957E38 Ain't No Time for Glory
American soldiers must use stealth to take over a German command post in Normandy.
June 20, 1957E39 The Fabulous Irishman
Romanticized life story of Robert Briscoe, the first Jewish Lord Mayor of Dublin.
June 27, 1957
