{{Short description|American TV anthology series (1955–1956)}} {{italic title}} {{more citations needed|date=October 2014}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} [[File:Betty Grable Casey Adams Cleopatra Collins Star Stage 1956.jpg|thumb|Betty Grable and Casey Adams in ''Cleopatra Collins'', 1956]] '''''Star Stage''''' is a half-hour American television anthology series that began on September 9, 1955, and ended on September 7, 1956.<ref name="brooks">{{cite book |first1=Tim |last1=Brooks |author-link1=Tim Brooks (historian) |first2=Earle |last2=Marsh |title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946–Present |section=Star Stage (Dramatic Anthology) |section-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&dq=%22Star+Stage+Dramatic+Anthology%22&pg=PA1292 |page=1292 |edition=9 |year=2007 |publisher=Ballantine Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-345-49773-4 |access-date=2026-03-13 }}</ref>
It was sponsored on alternate weeks by Chesebrough-Ponds and Campbell Soup Company<ref name=":0" /> and hosted by Jeffrey Lynn, who became host on the November 18 telecast.<ref name=brooks/> Thirty-nine episodes aired on NBC.{{Citation needed |date=May 2021}} Approximately two-thirds of the episodes were done live and the remainder were filmed.<ref name=brooks/> Filmed episodes were produced by Revue.<ref>{{cite news |title=TV 'Star Stage' to offer drama |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/113279877 |access-date=May 2, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=August 25, 1955 |page=47|id={{ProQuest|113279877}} }}</ref> Some episodes originated from WRCA-TV in New York City, and others came from KRCA-TV in Los Angeles. When the program debuted, it was carried live on 31 stations and by delayed broadcast on 12.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |title=Friday (9) |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-TV-Index/1955/TV-Index-1955-09-05.pdf#page=2 |access-date=May 2, 2021 |work=Ross Reports on Television |date=September 4, 1955 |page=100}}</ref>
Guest stars included: Mary Astor, Ralph Bellamy, Polly Bergen,<ref name="Vindicator">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6JA_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=vVUMAAAAIBAJ&q=Paul+Douglas+Polly+Bergen+White+Night&pg=984%2C2629206 |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Television Tonight |page=16 |newspaper=Youngstown Vindicator (Ohio) |date=1956-02-10 |access-date=2026-03-13 }}</ref> Ward Bond, Eddie Bracken, Rod Cameron, Wendell Corey, Joseph Cotten, Jeanne Crain, Paul Douglas, Dan Duryea, Joan Fontaine, Greer Garson, Betty Grable, Lorne Greene, Dennis Morgan, Sylvia Sidney,<ref>{{cite news |title= Debut |newspaper= Independent |agency= Long Beach Independent |date= September 9, 1955 |page= 30 |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/2077140/sylvia_sidney_star_stage/ |via= Newspapers.com |accessdate= March 27, 2015}} {{Open access}}</ref> Jack Whiting, Cornel Wilde, and Alan Young.
Mort Abrahams was the executive producer, and Charles Russell was the initial producer,<ref name=":0" /> In March 1956, S. Mark Smith was named producer.<ref>{{cite news |title=Network People |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1956/1956-03-05-BC.pdf#page=72 |access-date=May 3, 2021 |work=Broadcasting |date=March 5, 1956 |page=74}}</ref> Directors included feature film directors, Robert Stevenson, Sidney Lanfield, Felix E. Feist, and Don Weis.
The episode "Killer on Horseback" (February 3, 1956). starring Cameron, was the pilot for the TV series ''State Trooper''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aaker |first1=Everett |title=Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters: All Regular Cast Members in American Crime and Mystery Series, 1948-1959 |date=October 17, 2024 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-0636-1 |pages=109-110 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VLcuEQAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PA109&dq=%22City%20Detective%22%20Cameron&pg=PA109#v=onepage&q=%22City%20Detective%22%20Cameron&f=true |access-date=August 27, 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
==Episodes== {| class="wikitable" |+ Partial List of Episodes of ''Star Stage'' |- ! Date !! Title !! Actor(s) |- | September 16, 1955 || "Cop Without a Badge" || Joey Walsh, James Gregory<ref>{{cite news |last1=Shanley |first1=J. P. |title=TV: Break for Teen-ager: School Boy's Story on 'Star Stage' |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/113231193 |access-date=May 2, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=September 17, 1955 |page=35|id={{ProQuest|113231193}} }}</ref> |- | October 7, 1955 || "On Trial" || Joseph Cotten<ref>{{cite news |title=Tonight's Television . . . |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76927156/the-vancouver-sun/ |access-date=May 3, 2021 |work=The Vancouver Sun |date=October 7, 1955 |page=33|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> |- | December 25, 1955 || "The Knife" || Donald Woods, Pud Flanagan, Edward Binns, Barbara Joyce, Anne Hegira<ref>{{cite news |title=Nancy Gates Is Heroine Of Western |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76926520/the-des-moines-register/ |access-date=May 3, 2021 |work=The Des Moines Register |date=December 25, 1955 |page=10|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> |- | January 27, 1956 || "Screen Credit" || Cornel Wilde, Carolyn Jones, Jim Backus, Hal Peary, Allen Jenkins<ref>{{cite news |title=Programs, Personalities |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/st-louis-post-dispatch/163931995/ |access-date=January 25, 2025 |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |date=January 22, 1956 |page=5 H|via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> |- | March 9, 1956 || "Cleopatra Collins" || Betty Grable, Max Showalter, Rick Jason, Louise Beavers, Jack Kruschen, Gordon Mills, Leon Tyler<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Greenwood Press| isbn = 978-0-313-28156-3| last = Billman| first = Larry| title = Betty Grable : a bio-bibliography| access-date = 2026-02-20| date = 1993| url = http://archive.org/details/bettygrablebiobi0000bill| page=146}}</ref> |- | February 24, 1956 || "Career" || Greer Garson, Patric Knowles, Stephen Bekassy, Richard Erdman, Sarah Selby, Douglas Evans, Mandie Prickett<ref name="rmm">{{cite book |last1=Troyan |first1=Michael |title=A Rose for Mrs. Miniver: The Life of Greer Garson |date=September 16, 2005 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-9150-8 |page=381 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ooy5AXe_ulAC&dq=%22Telephone+Time%22+CBS&pg=PA381 |access-date=September 20, 2023 |language=en}}</ref> |- | August 10, 1956 || "The Sainted General" || Luther Adler<ref>{{cite news |title=TV Key Previews |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76912098/the-capital-times/ |access-date=May 2, 2021 |work=The Capital Times |date=August 10, 1956 |location=Wisconsin, Madison |page=21|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> |}
==Critical response== A review of the program's premiere episode in ''The New York Times'' said that Sidney "did her usual competent job on a fairly routine plot".<ref name=1955nytrev>{{cite news |title=TV Review; 'Big Story' Returns for New Season |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1955/09/10/archives/tv-review-big-story-returns-for-new-season.html |access-date=February 22, 2026 |work=The New York Times |date=September 10, 1955 |page=35 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> However, the review said, "the over-all tone was sluggish", such that dialog impeded the episode's progress.<ref name=1955nytrev/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [http://ctva.biz/US/Anthology/StarStage.htm ''Star Stage'' at CVTA with episode list] * {{IMDb title|id=0047776|title=Star Stage}}
Category:1950s American anthology television series Category:1955 American television series debuts Category:1956 American television series endings Category:American live television series Category:Black-and-white American television shows Category:NBC television dramas