On Stage — 1953
50 episodes broadcast in 1953.
An advertising copywriter winds up starring in the very perfume commercial he cooked up, and the comic tangles multiply from there.
A young woman's ocean voyage turns into an unexpected romantic adventure by the time the ship reaches Beirut.
The rehearsal recording of "A Poetic Tragedy" (aired four days later): a producer deliberately talks up a hopeless play, banking on the profit in its failure.
A theatrical producer deliberately oversells a doomed show, gambling that its very badness will pay off -- the same con later spun in The Producers.
Adventure, danger, and heartbreak collide deep in the jungle, where a dangerous shipment carries far more than freight.
A lovestruck soldier pours his heart out in letters to a movie star, then finds his long-dreamed-of trip to Hollywood is nothing like he pictured.
A never-quite-famous nightclub singer and an alcoholic pianist drift into a fragile, doomed romance; the episode that served as the show's audition, with Cathy Lewis singing.
A wry social satire set at a soiree where the hostess is thoroughly in her glory while one male guest flounders hopelessly.
From the Henry James story: a man looks back on the cousin he met only four times, and on the small tragedy that shadowed her life.
An undercover policewoman works her way into a seedy bar's gangland crowd to get a trapped young girl out.
Stuck out in the rain, a solitary passenger and her equally solitary taxi driver drift together into a shared romantic reverie.
A quietly chilling account of a stalker and the chances to stop him that everyone let slip past.
A silver-tongued swindler talks his way into a dig by passing himself off as an archaeology expert.
Frank Stockton's famous riddle of jealousy and choice, dramatized: behind one door a bride, behind the other a tiger.
One salesman's impulsive nickel bouquet triggers a chain of comic mix-ups, with Cathy Lewis and Peggy Webber both taking three parts apiece.
A tongue-in-cheek retelling of Thayer's ballpark ballad, out to reveal the "real" reason the mighty Casey struck out.
A plain-looking woman lawyer, gnawed by envy of a beautiful defendant, lets that jealousy push her to prosecute an innocent woman.
A musical valentine for the couple's tenth anniversary, reviving a disc they had waxed years earlier with bandleader Ray Noble; Cathy performs "The Very Thought of You."
Chekhov's one-act reset on the frontier: a loud, boorish creditor comes calling on a grieving widow over money her late husband owed, and the two strike sparks.
A hard-charging assistant state's attorney sits down face to face with the woman accused of an axe murder.
May 21, 1953
Conrad in Quest of His Youth
A frontier tale of a dancehall singer bound up with a killer on the run.
A comic love triangle among a drama teacher at a college, his spouse, and the never-married pal from their student days who has since become a stage star.
June 11, 1953
East Lynn
A blissfully wed pair lands a guest spot on a TV program titled "Happy, Though Married" -- and the cameras put their contentment to the test.
June 25, 1953
A Day to Remember
A man sets out to become the strongest person alive by starting absurdly small -- snapping toothpicks, one at a time.
July 16, 1953
Miracle for Julie
After seven years tending his invalid wife in the desert, a man is tempted by a night with a lively passing waitress.
July 30, 1953
The Girl I Tried to Love
August 13, 1953
A Month of Sundays
A celebrated actor looks back and tells the story of his very first, childhood turn on the stage.
August 27, 1953
Child in the Room
September 9, 1953
I Love You, I Love You, Gezundheit!
A grim two-hander at an isolated backwater inn, pairing a slow-witted dishwasher with a cold, predatory waitress.
First of the Stanley Finston comedies: Stanley finds a stray dollar on a Las Vegas casino floor and, over his wife's protests, parlays it into a fortune.
Three short plays on the many faces of love, with the Lewises each taking three roles, alongside William Conrad and Barney Phillips.
October 7, 1953
Great Dane
October 14, 1953
Ditty and Mr. Jasper
A painter and a writer fall for each other in Greenwich Village at the turn of the century.
October 28, 1953
Cellar Door
November 4, 1953
Vickie
November 11, 1953
The Marathon
A wry fantasy: X-rays reveal that a married couple has tiny gears quietly growing inside them.
November 25, 1953
New York's a Nice Place to Visit, But I Wouldn't Want to Live There
December 2, 1953
Our American Cousin
December 9, 1953
Passing Strange
Voltaire's satire condensed for radio, following guileless Candide through a world determined to disabuse him of optimism.
A musical holiday sequel to the anniversary show, re-creating the Lewises' 1949 record, with Ray Noble.
◆ ◆ ◆
Other seasons: 1954