The Dreft Star Playhouse

The Dreft Star Playhouse
Other names	The Hollywood Theatre of the Air
Genre	Romantic movies in serial form
Running time	15 minutes
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
Syndicates	NBC
Announcer	Marvin Miller; Terry O'Sullivan
Directed by	Les Mitchel; Axel Gruenberg
Original release	June 28, 1943 – March 30, 1945
Sponsored by	Dreft detergent

The Dreft Star Playhouse was a daytime radio program in the United States, presenting adaptations of romantic movies in serial form.[1] It was broadcast on NBC June 28, 1943 – March 30, 1945.[2] The show's original title was Hollywood Theatre of the Air, but that changed effective October 18, 1943, "[t]o avoid conflict with similar titles."[3]

Format

The Dreft Star Playhouse was classified as "prestige drama" by one source.[4] It "attempted to accomplish in a five-times-a-week soap-opera format what Lux Radio Theatre had done in the nighttime format."[5] Radio historian John Dunning called the program "a noble experiment, devised to see if daytime radio would support a show of purported nighttime quality."[2]

Programs presenting adaptations of movies proliferated on nighttime radio. Lux Radio Theatre may have been the best known; others included Warner Brothers' Academy Theatre, The Screen Guild Theater, Hollywood Premiere, Hollywood Star Time, Hollywood Mystery Time, Hollywood Star Preview, Academy Award and Hollywood Star Playhouse.[6]

In contrast to the evening programs, which limited an adaptation of a movie to a single broadcast, The Dreft Star Playhouse presented its adaptations in the form of serials whose duration varied. Perhaps the longest was "Dark Victory," starring Gail Patrick, which "ran two months in daily quarter-hour doses."[2]

Productions and players

Dunning called The Dreft Star Playhouse "an ambitious undertaking," noting that the program spent "up to $3,000 per week for 'name' talent."[1] Jane Wyman starred in its first production, "Bachelor Mother." Other titles and stars that listeners heard on the program included the following:

"The Magnificent Ambersons" -- Agnes Moorehead
"Hold Back the Dawn" -- Maureen O'Sullivan
"Take a Letter, Darling" -- Mary Astor
"Dark Victory" -- Gail Patrick
"Suspicion" -- Margo.[1]

gollark: Well, you could argue it's with people using C for odd things.

gollark: OpenSSL had Heartbleed for ages. They have competent programmers, and yet this issue - which a more memory safe language could not easily have - persisted for ages.

gollark: A good language should be safe *automatically*, and actually *warn* you about things.

gollark: ...

gollark: There are many guns aimed at your feet.

References

Dunning, John. (1976). Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 1925-1976. Prentice-Hall, Inc. ISBN 0-13-932616-2. P. 170.
Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 211. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved 2019-09-05. The Dreft Star Playhouse, Hollywood.
"Broadcasting" (PDF). October 25, 1943. Retrieved 2 July 2014 – via americanradiohistory.com.
Sterling, Christopher H. (ed.) (2004). Encyclopedia of Radio. Fitzroy Dearborn. ISBN 1-57958-249-4. P. 1179.
Buxton, Frank and Owen, Bill (1972). The Big Broadcast: 1920-1950. The Viking Press. ISBN 978-0-670-16240-6. P. 73.
Hilmes, Michele. (1990). Hollywood and Broadcasting: From Radio to Cable. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-01709-9. Pp. 67-70.

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[dunningtiy-1] Dunning, John. (1976). Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 1925-1976. Prentice-Hall, Inc. ISBN 0-13-932616-2. P. 170.

[dunningota-2] Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 211. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved 2019-09-05. The Dreft Star Playhouse, Hollywood.

[3] "Broadcasting" (PDF). October 25, 1943. Retrieved 2 July 2014 – via americanradiohistory.com.

[eofr-4] Sterling, Christopher H. (ed.) (2004). Encyclopedia of Radio. Fitzroy Dearborn. ISBN 1-57958-249-4. P. 1179.

[buxton-5] Buxton, Frank and Owen, Bill (1972). The Big Broadcast: 1920-1950. The Viking Press. ISBN 978-0-670-16240-6. P. 73.

[hilmeshandb-6] Hilmes, Michele. (1990). Hollywood and Broadcasting: From Radio to Cable. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-01709-9. Pp. 67-70.