Hallmark Hall of Fame
Longest-running prime-time anthology in television history.
Hallmark Hall of Fame, originally titled Hallmark Television Playhouse, is an anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. It is the longest-running prime-time series in television history, having begun in 1951 and continuing on network television until 2014. The series has received numerous awards, including eighty-one Emmy Awards, and its productions are made with budgets and production values comparable to feature films.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Anthology
- Writer
- Robert Hartung
- Jean Holloway
- Helene Hanff
- Gian Carlo Menotti
- Director
- George Schaefer
- William Corrigan
- Albert McCleery
- Kirk Browning
- Fielder Cook
- Jeannot Szwarc
- John Erman
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Seasons
- 69
- Episodes
- 260
- Executive producers
- George Schaefer; Brent Shields
Facts from the source article.
History
The series descends from two earlier Hallmark-sponsored radio anthologies: Radio Reader's Digest and Hallmark Playhouse, the latter premiering on CBS in 1948. Hallmark Television Playhouse debuted on NBC on December 24, 1951, with the first opera written for television, Amahl and the Night Visitors, featuring ballet dancer Nicholas Magallanes. Hosted by Sarah Churchill, it was a weekly half-hour program. In 1953, the series was renamed Hallmark Hall of Fame, marking the first time a major corporation developed a television project specifically to promote its products.
The program was so successful that Hallmark restaged it several times over fifteen years. Early productions included Shakespearean works such as Hamlet, Richard II, The Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, Twelfth Night, and The Tempest. Biographical subjects ranged from Florence Nightingale to Father Flanagan to Joan of Arc. Popular Broadway plays like Harvey, Dial M for Murder, and Kiss Me, Kate were adapted, often with casts that had not appeared in theatrical film versions.
Actors including Richard Burton, Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne, Maurice Evans, Katharine Cornell, Julie Harris, Laurence Olivier, and Peter Ustinov made rare television appearances in these plays.
Episodes
Very few Hallmark Hall of Fame episodes ever made it to VHS or DVD. Films for the Humanities released the 1960 version of The Tempest and the 1966 production Lamp at Midnight on VHS, but neither has come out on DVD. The Hallmark Hall of Fame division does not hold the rights to most episodes from 1951 through the 1970s; those rights stayed with the original producers or directors. Warner Bros. controls the rights to Promise and My Name is Bill W., and Hallmark Channel has tried to reclaim the others, excluding those two.
Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions
Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions LLC, a TV film production company under Crown Media Productions, made its first credited film, a version of The Tempest, in 1960. The company incorporated as Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions, Inc. on September 27, 1994. In February 1992, Hallmark Cards set up Signboard Hill Productions as a sister company.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which network aired Hallmark Hall of Fame?
Hallmark Hall of Fame aired on NBC (1951–1992), CBS (1973–80, 1982–89, 1990–2011), PBS (1981), ABC (1989–95, 2011–14), Hallmark Channel (2014–present).
How many episodes of Hallmark Hall of Fame are there?
Hallmark Hall of Fame has 260 episodes across 69 seasons.
More in 1970s American Drama Television Series
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