Project 20

Did You Know?

• The premiere episode, 'Nightmare in Red', aired on December 27, 1955, pre-empting Armstrong Circle Theatre and used film from 76 sources, some never shown publicly.
• Episodes of the series were broadcast in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, and England, and some were shown on the Christian Broadcasting Network cable service in the 1980s.

1956

Norelco sponsored the 1956 Project 20 episodes. One program examined Adolf Hitler and the Nazis as a case study in the rise and fall of dictators, showing events largely from the German perspective. It included a German-made film reconstruction of a 1944 bomb plot against Hitler. Alexander Scourby narrated, Henry Salomon and Richard Hanser wrote the script, and Robert Russell Bennett composed and conducted the score.

The production team reviewed about 5 million feet of film, then brought 150,000 feet to New York for editing into the 4,800-foot, one-hour broadcast. An estimated 34 million people watched the first airing, a record for a network one-shot documentary at the time. A repeat on June 12, 1956, featured a preview of the upcoming "The Jazz Age." West German television broadcast it in March 1956.

Another American repeat on January 31, 1960, added a prologue and epilogue where Frank McGee linked contemporary Nazi vandalism to the historical movement. The Chicago Daily Tribune’s Larry Wolters wrote that the narration and music were almost unnecessary, as the images alone powerfully conveyed Nazi rule’s impact, showing both devoted followers and those who risked their lives to oppose Hitler. Motion Picture Daily called it a stunning show, especially in capturing the emotions of the era and its people, but noted it could have used more facts and less generalization.

It also pointed out that some scenes were clearly staged shots from post-war German films, a fact neither acknowledged in the narration nor credits, which risked undermining audience trust in the episode’s truthfulness.

1957

The 1957 episode centered on the reopening of the Vienna State Opera House on November 5, 1955, an occasion celebrating Austrians' return to freedom after control by Nazis and then Communists. The opening event was a performance of Beethoven's opera Fidelio, whose score provided background music, mixing scenes from the opera with views of the old imperial splendor of Austria. Producer Henry Salomon said the story of a country's fight for freedom transcends any single nation, noting its similarity to the then-current situation in Hungary.

The script, written by Philip H. Reisman Jr., stated that Fidelio has become more than an opera—it is a call to freedom. Karl Böhm directed the Vienna Philharmonic for the opera, and other Beethoven works were used as background for scenes such as Nazis marching and a hurdy-gurdy sequence. Alexander Scourby narrated. After the production was widely panned following its initial broadcast, NBC broadcast it again on May 5, 1957, updating it with narration and commentary by Charles Van Doren.

Donald Kirkley wrote in The Baltimore Sun that the episode was altogether as mixed-up a thing as television has had to offer, calling the parallel between the opera and Austria's history far-fetched and suggesting it might prove a serious setback for the Project 20 idea. Jack Gould in The New York Times said the mix of film clips, opera, and narration, though a commendable concept, must be regretted, noting that intrusions of historical elements diminished the music's effect.

1960

The 1960 episode focused on the span between 1865 and 1900 in the United States, supplementing the still-photograph technique used in 'Meet Mr. Lincoln' with new films made on location. The narration included comments from Mark Twain and his contemporaries to help viewers see that part of America's history as Twain saw it. The staff looked for facial expressions that made an image effective for the show. Jack Gould in The New York Times called the program a rewarding hour of history, complimenting the moving-camera technique that created a feeling of action and lifelike quality from still photos.

A review in Time magazine said the episode movingly remembered what happened to Mark Twain, from his Hannibal, Missouri boyhood in the 1840s to his death. Bob Hope narrated another 1960 episode that reported on events from VJ Day to the beginning of the Korean War, including Harry Truman's upset of Thomas E. Dewey in the 1948 presidential election, Congressional hearings, flying saucers, the Marshall Plan, sports, and television.

1961

The 1961 Will Rogers episode featured Bob Hope as narrator, using film clips, still photos, and audio from Rogers’s radio shows. Richard Hanser and Rod Reed wrote it, with music by Robert Russell Bennett. Hanser noted that although the country had changed since Rogers’s day, his views on American life still held true in 1961. The audio included Rogers’s own voice whenever possible, with Hope’s narration tying it together.

Purex Corporation paid for the broadcast. That same year, “The Real West” aired with Gary Cooper narrating. It showed Old West figures unlike the typical movie and TV versions, split into six parts: “The Way West,” “The Gold Seekers,” “The Herdsmen,” “The Leather-Slappers,” “The Civilizers,” and “The Indians.” It covered outlaws like John Wesley Hardin, Doc Holliday, Billy the Kid, the James brothers, and the Earp brothers.

Hyatt pointed out that many outlaws had studio photos taken just before or after crimes, and lawmen sometimes got shots of them dead or on gallows. The episode used a still-pictures-in-motion technique for photos and shot new footage of historic Western sites. Philip Reisman Jr. wrote it, Bennett composed and conducted the score, and the Savings and Loan Foundation sponsored it. This was Cooper’s only major TV role and his last performance, airing six weeks before his death.

During filming, cancer weakened him so much he’d rest in a hotel room, sometimes with oxygen, blaming “acute arthritis of the neck” for his absences. Knowing he was dying when he agreed to narrate, Cooper wanted to correct myths about the West. After finishing, Hanser said Cooper went to Los Angeles and never left home again.