STUDIO ONE VIDEO HISTORY: FRANKLIN HELLER INTERVIEWED BY LORING MANDEL (TV)
Summary
A Museum of Broadcasting interview of television producer/director Franklin Heller by TV writer and playwright Loring Mandel. Heller talks about his career, beginning before his start in TV. Subjects discussed include: theater work with Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, and as executive producer of USO camp shows; two years at Paramount; meetings with Norman Blackburn at NBC and Charlie Underhill at CBS; pianist and TV performer Bob Howard; "Ukulele Ike" TV show; involvement in "Suspense," in the creation and production of "The Web," and in the creation of "Omnibus" with Robert Saudek and Jack Turner; working with Yul Brynner and others on "The Trap," with James Dean on "Beat the Clock" and "Danger," and with Bob Bach, Mark Goodson, Bill Todman, and Gil Fates and cameramen on "What's My Line?"; "What's My Line?" panelists Hal Block, Dorothy Kilgallen, Arlene Francis, and Louis Untermeyer; and the affluence of the 1950s TV audience.
They also discuss "What's My Line?" panelists Bennett Cerf and Fred Allen and mystery guests; "Beat the Clock"; the Dorsey Brothers; an encounter with Elvis Presley; the 1950s trend of discussing the previous night's TV shows; Pearl Bailey's introduction to producer David Merrick on "What's My Line?"; Heller's work on "To Tell the Truth" and "I've Got a Secret"; technical aspects of producing; "The Earl Wrightson Show"; 15-minute musical shows; the Goodson-Todman organization; quiz-show scandals; the Directors' Guild of America and network contracts; radio technicians who did not survive the transition to TV; comparison of CBS production techniques and capabilities with those of ABC and NBC; technical director George Gould; camera teams at "Playhouse 90"; Hubbell Robinson, CBS programming head; Saudek and "Omnibus"; cameraman John Lincoln; "The Front Page" TV show; working with John Daly; the origins of the Betty Furness Westinghouse commercials; and cooperation among people in the industry.
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: March 3, 1987 Tuesday
- RUNNING TIME: 1:57:17
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T87:0383
- GENRE: Talk/Interview
- SUBJECT HEADING: Talk/Interview; Television writers
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Loring Mandel … Interviewer
- Franklin Heller … Guest
- Fred Allen
- Bob Bach
- Pearl Bailey
- Norman Blackburn
- Hal Block
- Yul Brynner
- Bennett Cerf
- John Charles Daly
- James Dean
- Dorsey Brothers, The
- Gil Fates
- Arlene Francis
- Betty Furness
- Mark Goodson
- George Gould
- Moss Hart
- Bob Howard
- George S. Kaufman
- Dorothy Kilgallen
- John Lincoln
- David Merrick
- Elvis Presley
- Robert Saudek
- Bill Todman
- Jack Turner
- Charlie Underhill
- Louis Untermeyer