Original title
Kraft Television Theatre
Released
5/7/1947
Origin country
US
Genre
Drama
Production companies
Talent Associates, J. Walter Thompson Agency
Status
Returning series
Number of seasons
11
Number of episodes
261
Kraft Television Theater is an American, well-received anthology series presenting live television dramas.
A wealthy man, who lives on the Dover Road, traditional path of elopers, forces these couples to see one another in the sober light of home life in his house. One such encounter leads to a personal involvement for him.
A penniless theatre producer and his zany theatre flunkies obtain hotel rooms and rehearsal space by avoiding creditors while preparing for their surefire Broadway hit.
A man starts with a little deception but eventually spins the lies into a web so large that he can't escape from it.
Judge Homer Peabody's quiet life in small-town New Hampshire, punctuated only by failed Senate runs, is disrupted when a provocative mural at city hall incites local outrage. Peabody defends the artist against the town's disapproval.
A young actress has three suitors and must choose one from the crowed field.
This comedy tells the story of the ambassador Benjamin Franklin's visit to Paris from 1776 to 1777.
A college professor becomes involved in matters of naval intelligence.
A woman, known as the nightclub entertainer "That Ryan Girl" is forced to choose between her husband and her son. The father plans to trade on their reputations to clear himself of a murder rap.
A former naval intelligence officer, now a college professor, is offered a job by a group of European socialists. He is forced to confront the changes in life since the start of the Cold War.
67-year-old ex-major league player "Lefty" MacDonald regales fellow residents at the rest home with stories of his glory days in baseball. After injuring his arm throwing a horseshoe, "Lefty" finds he can now throw a freakish curve ball. He approaches the manager of his old team, the floundering Brooklyn Dodgers. The team is doing so poorly, the manager gives the old timer a spot on the roster.
Just out of prison Joe Harris looks to restart his life. His wife Barbie has moved and the one man who can tell him where refuses to do so. Enraged, Joe beats the old man senseless and runs away to his father's home, where he also finds his wife. A police detective comes around about the beating (which will soon to become a murder) and Joe insists he's innocent. Joe tells his wife and father he's a changed man and he's only a suspect because of his prior conviction. Barbie and Fred struggle with their desire to believe Joe's plea versus their fear he'll never change.
Alice stumbles into the world of Wonderland. Will she get home? Not if the Queen of Hearts has her way.
In Scotland in 1751, young David Balfour is shanghaied aboard a ship where he meets Jacobite rebel Alan Breck Stewart with whom he escapes to the Scottish Highlands, dodging the redcoats.
A young architect who's finding it tough to make his mark in the big city is faced with a great temptation.
Emma's a beautiful, intelligent heiress who cares for her elderly father. In desperate need of diversion, she involves herself in the romances and dalliances of her friends.
Following the American Civil War, a Southern soldier returns home with the Union soldier who saved his life. When the Yankee falls for a Southern Belle, the resentments of the soldier's southern family quickly bubble to the surface.
Fred Staples is the newest executive in a large firm. He strikes up a friendship with Andy Sloane, the Vice President to whom he nominally reports. Staples is good at his job and the company's hard-nosed president, Walter Ramsey, is pleased with his choice. Staples has a crisis of conscience when Ramsey tells him that he's been recruited to replace Sloane, someone who has devoted his entire life to the company at the expense of his family. Sloane knows what Ramsey is up to but digs in his heels and refuses to quit. Tragedy ensues forcing Staples to make a choice.
The original presentation received such extensive praise, the same production crew and cast were hired for a highly unusual repeat live performance, thus becoming the first live drama in television history to be broadcast twice due to popularity. Both shows were performed and broadcast live. Fred Staples is the newest executive in a large firm. He strikes up a friendship with Andy Sloane, the Vice President to whom he nominally reports. Staples is good at his job and the company's hard-nosed president, Walter Ramsey, is pleased with his choice. Staples has a crisis of conscience when Ramsey tells him that he's been recruited to replace Sloane, someone who has devoted his entire life to the company at the expense of his family. Sloane knows what Ramsey is up to but digs in his heels and refuses to quit. Tragedy ensues forcing Staples to make a choice.
When her elderly landlady dies, a young woman inherits her house and the resident ghost: a soldier of the American Revolution who cannot go to Heaven because he failed to deliver a message to George Washington.
Since his recent retirement, Christy Fellon has taken to visiting with a night watchman friend. One night, a new element is added: a robber appears and is captured by Christy Fellon himself.
A young man trains his ten-year-old brother to be a boxer. The older brother's motivation is his own vanity and quest for success.
A medical lab specialist dreams of becoming a successful surgeon. One day when no doctor is available, he intervenes in an emergency to perform an operation. When the patient dies, he tries to clear himself of responsibility by implicating a nurse.
A rural Southern woman is a mathematical whiz, but she's rather stay in the backwoods than be considered a genius in the big city.
A prep school student named Percy Washington becomes friends with his schoolmate John Unger. Percy invites John to spend the holidays at his family's isolated Montana mansion. It sits atop a mountain of solid diamond. John begins to worry about his safety when he learns the the father, Mr. Washington, is paranoid about his wealth. He shoots down planes that fly over the house and then kills the pilots. The crazed patriarch does the same with children who drop in.
Despite having no political aspirations or experience, Mrs. Bibb is asked to fill the seat of her deceased husband. Aiding her is her husband's assistant, Ned, who is engaged to the Bibbs' daughter. Events take an ugly turn when it Ned is suspected of having taken a bribe from a contractor.
The bullet-riddled body of a big-time gambler is brought to the morgue in this tongue-in-cheek comedy. Out of the blue, a naive young waitress steps forward to claim the dead man's remains. Soon, she finds herself with three boyfriends: a mortician, a tough police officer and the murdered crook's business partner. Soon she's being taken on her "last ride" and she manages to even charm the gunman.
A delicatessen owner who buys an Irish Sweepstakes ticket in a friend's name. When it wins $28,000, trouble abounds for the poor man.
A young boy finds a wounded, dying man hiding in his family's boat house. The man, a prospector who has just killed his partner in a dispute, at first frightens the boy, but as the two begin to get to know each other, they become friends. Eventually the boy suspects that the man might not be all he claims to be.
A man who in a drunken rage killed a neighbor is released from prison after serving five years. Paddo returns home and takes out his rage on his friends and family members. His son Willie stands up to the brute and proves that Paddo is neither needed nor wanted by the family.
The Fool Killer is a mythical figure who chops the heads off of those who make fools of themselves. In the days after the American Civil War, a young boy who is haunted by this creature in his dreams. When he runs away from home he encounters the beast in the flesh.
A big city real estate mogul gets involved in a shady tax deal. Facing exposure, he plans to flee the country, leaving his son-in-law behind to take the blame. His daughter learns of his scheme and puts a stop to it.
Jeff Peters uses his personal magnetism to fleece the mayor of a hick town, run a shady matrimonial agency and establish a monopoly on the rot-gut whiskey business. Peters is joined in these schemes by a right-hand man and a beautiful widow. The trio thinks that they are unstoppable until they meet up with a former master of the con game.
On its maiden voyage in April 1912, the supposedly unsinkable RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean.
An attractive young woman flirts with a store clerk at a pawn shop, inviting him to join her for lunch. While he's gone, the store is robbed and the owner is killed. The clerk is without an alibi because the woman with whom he dined worked for the criminals.
As part of its law school training, a college stages mock trials for students to gain experience. One of its mock trials turns real when the city's mayor is put on the stand and the misuse of taxpayers' money is revealed.
Al Kendall has climbed from delivery boy to ownership of a dress manufacturing plant. Now facing bankruptcy, he hires an arsonist to burn the plant down so he can collect the insurance. When the building goes up in flames, a man is unexpectedly killed, leaving Kendall facing a murder charge.
A young Marine recruit undergoes rigorous combat training at a Marine boot camp.
A frantic father helps police search for his traveling wife and daughter. The child had been bitten by a rabid dog and needs medical attention immediately.
A pair of convicts, the leader and his psychopathic follower, attempt a prison break. The two take over the isolation wing of a penitentiary and hold a couple of guards hostage. Then negotiations start with the warden and a shady politician.
A young lawyer is urged by the local political boss to run for the district attorney's office. Wanting to fight for justice, he debates accepting the politician's support. Though he despises the boss' methods, he feels he can accomplish much good with the man's endorsement.
A powerful diplomat and a possible Russian spy are among the passengers on a transatlantic flight thought to have a bomb aboard. As tension builds, a French detective goes about the job of determining if it's simply an empty threat and who might be behind such a deed.
An American salesman who is about to return home from Brussels after an unsuccessful business trip is offered $10,000 to smuggle diamonds to the U.S. He agrees and promptly has the gems stolen. He then frantically goes in search of the thief.
A British pathologist conducts an autopsy on a corpse to discover the cause of death. He's shocked to discover that the unidentified man died of the bubonic plague. Scotland Yard is very interested, as are a couple of foreign agents.
Conflict develops between an old sheriff and his ambitious, young deputy as the two pursue a killer on the loose.
A young man comes into the life of a childless married couple, functioning in many ways as a son. Trouble begins when he and the wife fall in love and begin plotting the death of the clueless husband.
A woman who has been away for years recovering from a mental illness returns to find her life quite different. She comes home to a daughter who does not remember her and a husband who has since remarried.
A mousy bank clerk whose hobby is collecting guppies attends his 20th anniversary college reunion. He assumes an outgoing persona for the occasion and impresses the alumni with his gregarious ways.
A psychotic actor goes to extremes to keep his ex-girlfriend from going out with another man. When she falls in love with a new man, the couple become the target of threats and violence from the berserk thespian.
Four dangerous desperadoes are heading into a peaceful Western town. The young sheriff gets no support from the merchants who fear a shoot-out will ruin the town's reputation or the locals who are simply afraid. He's left with just his gun and sense of duty to take on the deadly quartet.
A decorated ex GI fears that he is the victim of the "killer instinct" when he shoots a fleeing bandit. Does this stem from an evil instinct or from a sense of justice? Another violent crisis, however, proves his anxiety unfounded.
The Polish-American father of three daughters takes great pride in entering the annual polka contest each year with one of the girls. Last year, when his oldest daughter married, the second daughter Theckla danced and won the contest with Papa. However, this year, Theckla is in love, and she refuses to put on the old-country costume and dance.
A well-liked policeman dreams that he will have a shoot-out with a criminal on a specific day. While walking his beat on that night, he encounters the thug of his dreams.
An average citizen witnesses a murder. His family then faces intimidation from the killer.
A group of shady characters from a mining town wind up stuck in a blizzard with a naive young couple. The situation brings out the best, and worst, in everyone.
The rise and fall of a corrupt politician, who makes his friends richer and retains power by dint of a populist appeal.
Two college students hitching their way back to school. A fierce storm arises, and they take shelter in a local farmer's barn. The next day on the radio they hear that the daughter of the farmer who gave them shelter has been murdered, and the boys are shocked to hear that a description of the killers matches them perfectly.
A tough veteran cop, expecting to be promoted to a supervisor position, is passed over, and finds himself assigned to a homicide by the man who took what he considered to be his job. His new boss warns him against using the brutal tactics he is infamous for, but the cop soon ditches his partner and pays a visit to the suspect in the case, in order to "interrogate" him--alone.
Elderly Aunt Violet lets it be known that she's particularly afraid of one of her heirs, who she thinks is greedy enough to do away with her to get her money. Not long after hiring a new gardener, Violet disappears. Her friends and neighbors suspect that she has been killed by the greedy heir, but her niece Helen decides to search the entire countryside to find out what happened to her aunt.
A sophisticated, upper-crust British lawyer turns to a much shadier colleague to clear him when he's charged with murdering a somewhat disreputable woman.
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