Family Theater — 1948
52 episodes broadcast in 1948.
The trials of the Gordon family across the Depression years from 1933 to 1948, hosted by J. Edgar Hoover.
On New Year's night, Father Time hands a carefree boy called '1948' one tall order: track down the world's happiest person.
Killed when his experimental plane goes down, a test pilot is granted one final visit to the family he left, guided by his guardian angel.
Handed a baby to mind, a tough Broadway chorus girl feels her hard edges start to melt.
To cool his sons' thirst for revenge, a father recounts the tale of a man wrongly imprisoned who set out to punish the judge who condemned him.
On the show's first anniversary, a grape grower learns from a failed harvest that prayer and patience yield richer returns.
In frontier Kentucky, a settler marries and raises two children, in a tale that ends about the way you would guess.
A cash-strapped family is tempted to stretch the truth for a $10,000 payout after their son is injured.
A big top, an orphanage, and a hermit all figure in the grand adventure of a little girl named Penny.
J. Carrol Naish plays a French baker during the Second World War.
A washed-up movie actor cast as Lazarus finds his own fall and revival mirrored in the role.
A working man engaged to a wealthy decorator finds the gulf between them exposed on a visit to his family.
Ethel Barrymore narrates a dramatization of the condemnation and crucifixion of Christ.
The grief behind Eugene Field's beloved poem, in a warm period piece.
A street kid is drawn toward stolen cars by his hardened big brother's creed: if you steal, steal big.
A childless couple finally turn to prayer, in an amusing fantasy about where babies come from.
One month into their romance, Eddie wants to wed his Bronx girl and whisk her off to San Francisco.
Lavished with every advantage, the son of a mayoral hopeful turns out miserable.
A gently comic Mother's Day tale of a mischievous boy and the spanking his mother knows she must deliver.
The life and faith of poet-patriot Joyce Kilmer.
Before a judge, a hobo unfolds a tale of trust betrayed and a forgotten hero, with more than a whiff of Les Miserables.
From Indiana lawyer to Civil War general, John A. Logan helped give the nation Memorial Day.
For a sandhog settling into a new town, hostile neighbors prove nearly as dangerous as the tunnels he digs.
The tale behind Alice in Wonderland, and the shy Oxford mathematician who dreamed it up.
A southern mother tells her child the tale of Joan of Arc.
A self-important lawyer must defend and justify his life before a final, heavenly court.
To curb youth crime -- and needle the mayor -- a small-town editor launches a Boy Scout troop.
How a Scottish love affair gave rise to an enduring song.
A cold-hearted man of means, struck down by leprosy, is humbled by the compassion of someone he had spurned.
Posing as a tramp, a millionaire hunts for one person who genuinely keeps the Golden Rule, ready to share his fortune with them.
A veteran studying medicine on the G.I. Bill juggles his lessons, his marriage, and a new baby.
A reporter trails a mysterious man who quietly makes birthdays brighter for poor children.
A schoolboy's beloved tin whistle brings lasting trouble to his teacher.
A boy borrows from the bank to buy a prized pig, then faces temptation when a uranium-stock windfall beckons.
August 26, 1948
Half-Time Strategy
A retelling for all ages of how a shy Oxford don dreamed up Alice in Wonderland.
Sure that nobody at home wants his company anymore, Ozzie lays down the law, in a typical outing for the Nelson clan.
A man recalls the anniversary when his mother got her own checking account -- a day he never forgot.
Inheriting the bat of the game's greatest slugger, a benchwarmer suddenly powers his club to the World Series.
A mischievous grandfather of seventy-eight is more playmate than elder to the young grandson growing up beside him.
A picture of American home life and juvenile delinquency, as David Lee works to clear a jailed young friend.
June Haver stars as a scatterbrained receptionist juggling the demands of her four different bosses.
Orphaned mid-journey on an 1844 Oregon wagon train, a boy shoulders the family and presses on west -- a true story.
For twenty-one years Johnny has lived in his brother's shadow; when the chance for revenge finally comes, so does the truth. Introduced by Kate Smith.
A man longs to adopt an abandoned orphan boy, over the firm objections of his wife.
A Carnegie Hall piano tuner brags to his nine-year-old pal Mary Ann, and loses his job for it.
A widow raising two children at last squares off with the town's resident busybody.
After stealing his roommate's date and marrying her, a scholarship man finds life turns hard once graduation arrives.
A fired ad man reinvents himself as 'The Masked Tenor,' winning back a partnership and his marriage plans.
A fatherless boy asks Santa for a daddy for Christmas, and his mother ends up wed to the store Santa. Hosted by Shirley Temple.
On a London Christmas Eve, a blind British girl is visited by a mysterious stranger -- and wonders if he is Jesus.
Baritone John Charles Thomas and storyteller John Nesbit present the traditional tale of the poor juggler's gift to the Mother of Christ.
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Other seasons: 1947 · 1949 · 1950 · 1951 · 1952 · 1953 · 1954 · 1955 · 1956 · 1957