Meeting of Minds

Origin

Steve Allen first conceived Meeting of Minds in the late 1950s as a segment for his weekly program, but Chrysler Corporation objected and the plans were canceled. Five years later, Allen and an acting troupe performed the segment on his nightly Westinghouse show. In 1971, he revived the concept for a syndicated talk series; the first episode was a critical success and won three local Emmy awards. Allen personally financed six additional one-hour programs, which PBS produced starting in 1977.

PBS series 1977–1981

The series was filmed at KCET in Hollywood, California. Scripts used the actual words of historical figures as nearly as possible, crafted to appear as spontaneous discussion. Guests included Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Paine, Francis Bacon, Thomas Jefferson, Voltaire, Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Daniel O'Connell, Catherine II, and Oliver Cromwell. Each episode typically split into two parts, with guests introduced in the first part and discussions continuing in the second.

A total of 24 episodes (or 12 two-part episodes) were produced. Actors often played multiple roles; Jayne Meadows appeared in 18 episodes as nine distinct characters. One episode departed from the usual format, featuring William Shakespeare with characters from his plays, Meadows playing the dark lady of his sonnets. The show won an Emmy Award and a Peabody Award.

Nominations included Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series (1978, Steve Allen), Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress (1978, Beulah Quo), Outstanding Lead Actress for a Single Performance (1978, Jayne Meadows), and Outstanding Achievement in Video Tape Editing for a Series (1977, Terry Pickford). Scripts are available for public performance without royalty.

Similar series

The Canadian series Witness to Yesterday, created by Arthur Voronka, aired three years before Allen's local Emmy-winning program, using a one-on-one interview format with a single historical figure each episode. Steve Allen appeared on a 1976 episode as George Gershwin. Another Canadian series, Titans, followed a similar format and originally broadcast in 1981–82. In French-speaking Canada, Les grands esprits aired on Radio-Canada from 1982 to 1989, based on the original concept with scripts adapted and translated by Jean Boisvert.