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CAVALCADE OF AMERICA
PRODUCERS
Maurice Geraghty, Armand Schaefer, Gilbert A. Ralston, Arthur Ripley,
Jack Denove, Jack Chertok
PROGRAMMING
HISTORY
NBC
October 1952-June 1953........... Wednesday 8:30-9:00
ABC
September 1953-June 1955............ Tuesday 7:30-8:00 September
1955-June 1957.......... Tuesday 9:30-10:00
U.S. Anthology
Drama
Cavalcade
of America pioneered the use of anthology drama for company
voice advertising. A knock-off of sponsor E.I. du Pont de Nemours
& Company's long running radio program, television's Cavalcade
celebrated acts of individual initiative and achievement consistent
with its sponsor's "Better things for better living" motto. The
historical-documentary format especially fit the politically conservative
DuPont Company, whose own history in America dated to 1802. The
Cavalcade frequently touched upon science and invention,
often focusing its free enterprise subtext upon the early American
republic. "Poor Richard," its first telecast 1 October 1952 dramatized
the wit and inventiveness of Benjamin Franklin. Developed from a
back catalog of radio plays judged to have "picture qualities,"
the drama sent the "old and obstinate" Franklin to delay American
surrender talks with the British, thereby allowing General George
Washington to escape capture to fight another day. The denouement
found Franklin "on his knees praying for Liberty and Peace and the
ability to deserve them." Other first season telecasts reprised
Cavalcade favorites Samuel Morse in "What Hath God Wrought,"
electric motor inventor Thomas Davenport as "The Indomitable Blacksmith,"
Samuel Slater in "Slater's Dream" and Eli Whitney as "The Man Who
Took A Chance."
For
many viewers the Cavalcade of America was history on the
air. DuPont Company publicist Lyman Dewey confidently asserted that
the typical viewer "abstracts (sic) the meaning for himself" without
explicit statement from the company, identifying DuPont with the
"rugged scene of America's struggle." Program specialists exercised
the format's malleable historical and dramatic properties under
maximum editorial control. A complete reliance upon telefilms ensured
the prescribed interpretation of scripts, expanded the scope of
production limited by the television studio, and lent programs a
finished look that specialists felt reflected the company's stature.
The use of telefilms allowed for additional economies in the rebroadcast
and syndication of programs. Shorn of the "Story of Chemistry" commercials
that concluded each program, telefilms were then placed in circulation
on the club-and-school circuit. Merchandising directed to the general
viewing public leavened the series' educational purpose with entertainment
values. Promotional material accompanying the Cavalcade's
second telecast entitled "All's Well with Lydia," for example, described
"the Revolutionary War story of Lydia Darragh, American patriot
and Philadelphia widow, who by her cleverness gained information
instrumental in an American victory." Spot announcement texts supplied
to local stations to be read "while you are showing the Cavalcade
action" wondered "'Was she minx or patriot?'" A second exclaimed,
"Lydia Darragh's receptive ear ready smile and pink cheek are more
dangerous to British hopes than a thousand muskets!"
In
a bid to freshen up the series' historical venue with the trend
toward "actuals" then in favor on General Electric Theater and
Armstrong Circle Theater, during the 1954-55 television season
Cavalcade introduced contemporary story subjects: "Saturday
Story," with the Cleveland Browns' Otto Graham, who played himself;
"Man on the Beat," a police drama; "The Gift of Dr. Minot," the
story of the 1934 Nobel Laureate in Medicine and his treatment of
anemia; and "Sunrise on a Dirty Face," a juvenile delinquent drama.
The favorable reception of stories of "modern American life" led
to a change of title for the 1955-56 television season. Retaining
an option on the historical past, the new DuPont Cavalcade Theater
debuted with "A Time for Courage," the story of "Nancy Merki and
the swimming coach who led her to victory over polio and to Olympic
stardom." In subsequent weeks the Cavalcade featured a contemporary--historical
story mix including "Toward Tomorrow," a biography of Dr. Ralph
Bunche; "Disaster Patrol," an adventure story about the Civil Air
Patrol; "The Swamp Fox," featuring Hans Conried in the role of General
Francis Marion; and "Postmark: Danger," a police drama drawn from
the files of U.S. postal investigators.
DuPont's
new interest in contemporary relevance, however, was occasionally
misread by Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn, its Madison Avenue
advertising agency and program producer. Rejecting a Cavalcade
Theater script entitled "I Lost My Job," a DuPont Company official
testily explained to agency producers that "on Cavalcade or in any
other DuPont advertising, we do not want to picture business in
a bad light, or in any way that can be interpreted as negative by
even a single viewer. It just seems axiomatic that we'd be silly
to spend advertising money to tear down the very concept we're trying
to sell." By the 1956-57 television season that sale had moved to
new settings and locations far from the Cavalcade's capsule
demonstrations of free enterprise at work. Spurred by an editorial
confidence in the value of entertainment, the newly renamed DuPont
Theatre all but abandoned the historical past, at least as an
educational prerequisite for an evening's entertainment. The following
season the DuPont Show of the Month confirmed the trend with
a schedule of 90-minute spectaculars, some in color, debuting 29
September 1957 with "Crescendo," a musical variety program co-starring
Ethel Merman and Rex Harrison.
-William
L. Bird
FURTHER
READING
Grams,
Martin. The History of the Cavalcade of America. Churchville,
Maryland: OTR Publishing, 1999.
Hawes, William. The American Television Drama: The Experimental
Years. University, Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 1986.
Sturken, Frank. Live Television: The Golden Age of 1946-58 In
New York. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland , 1990.
See
also Advertising,
Company Voice; Anthology
Drama; Armstrong
Circle Theatre; General
Electric Theater
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