@bernardjkd.bsky.social#KraftTheatre Ok need a break. Spoiler alert: Season 4 will have an actual surviving ep that has escaped to the wild that I can watch!
TBF I was about 3 weeks of slog into my #TheLoneRanger walkthrough before I even reached its first surviving Radio ep!
PS: I kinda love "The Bigelow Show"!
@bernardjkd.bsky.social#KraftTheatre 53 eps in S3 (1949/50). 14 survive. 0 are available as they're in the Library of Congress and UCLA archives.
FFS!!!! Be nice if I soon see an actual ep!!!
Ratings for 1949/50:
KTT is 21st place. Jeepers #MartinKane was 18th! #LightsOut was 8th somehow!
Also the TV set numbers:
@bernardjkd.bsky.social#KraftTheatre Season 3 of "Kraft Television Theater" spanned the 1949/50 TV season.
53 weekly eps, Wednesday 9.00pm .
Against:
DuMont TV: #ThePlainclothesman / Famous Jury Trials
CBS TV: The Bigelow Show / International Boxing Club bouts
ABC TV: local / Wrestling from the Rainbo in Chicago
@bernardjkd.bsky.social#KraftTheatre 52 eps in S2 (1948/49). 6 survive. 0 are available as they're in the Library of Congress and UCLA archives.
All the eps broacast live from Studio 8H, floor 8 of the Rockefeller Building, NY. More recently the live "30 Rock" eps were made there.
TV is growing exponentially....
@bernardjkd.bsky.social#KraftTheatre Onto Season 2 of "Kraft Television Theater" which spanned the 1948/49 TV season.
52 weekly ep that aired later now on Wednesday at 9.00pm to 10.00pm.
Up against:
DuMont TV: Boxing from Jamaica Arena
CBS TV: Tournament of Champions (boxing)
ABC TV: Wrestling from Washington DC
@bernardjkd.bsky.social#KraftTheatre TV 1.08 cont'd.
WNBT is NBC New York. Operating as TV since 1928, commerical TV since 1941.
As the opening credits survive we know the original logo.
Ok that pic of the mini cameraman makes sense now!
Who watched US TV in 1946/47 & 1947/48? Below is the max no of viewers possible.
@bernardjkd.bsky.social#KraftTheatre TV ep #1.08 "I Like it Here" (25-Jun-47).
The only clip of "Kraft Television Theatre" surviving from the 1946/47 TV season!
There are two cameras operating (at least). It is live TV obviously.
The younger actress died 2012 so won't make my 100 Club.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xn-l...
@bernardjkd.bsky.social#KraftTheatre Of the 70 eps in Season 1 five fully exist and two partially. All 5 are locked away in archives in the Library of Congress or The Paley Center. These 5 from Spring 1948 are the earliest surviving TV kinescopes. One stars Grace Kelly.
But one partial clip does exist in the world...
@bernardjkd.bsky.social#KraftTheatre "Kraft Television Theatre" S1 was 71 eps (07-May-47 to 15-Sep-48). So Spring 1946/47 season to end 1947/48 season.
Wednesday 7.30pm NBC
1946/47:
DuMont TV: local
1947/48:
DuMont TV: local
CBS TV: News / Face the Music / local
ABC TV: Critic at Large / The Gay Nineties Revue
@bernardjkd.bsky.social#KraftTheatre As the # of available eps is woeful so I expanded this walkthrough:
1947-58: 587 x NBC TV eps of "Kraft Television Theatre" [✅8 full/3 part🥲]
1961-63: 47 x TV eps of "Kraft Mystery Theatre" [❌repacked eps so void?]
1963-65: 59 x TV eps of "Kraft Suspense Theatre" [✅found 53]
