GOLDEN AGE OF WORTHINGTON MINER, THE {SUGAR RAY ROBINSON, SAM SNEAD, AND OTHERS} (TV)
Summary
This program is a tribute to television producer, writer, and director Worthington Miner, conducted by the Directors Guild of America shortly after Miner's death. Ira Marvin, vice president of the DGA, introduces the event. Actor, writer, and director Ezra Stone, the host, speaks with associates of Miner's and introduces clips from Miner's shows. Still photos of Miner's childhood, family, and colleagues are shown. Actor Paul Tripp recalls working with Miner on the "Mr. I. Magination" children's program, and a clip from the show is shown. Jerry Danzig recalls Miner's urging CBS to sign Ed Sullivan to counter NBC's Milton Berle in 1948. Clips from "The Toast of the Town" include: Bill "Bojangles" Robinson; Rosemary Clooney's 1949 television debut; golfers Babe Didrikson and Lou Costello; Margaret Truman; Gordon Jenkins's tearful response to a tribute by New York City Mayor Paul O'Dwyer; Julie Harris, Ethel Waters, and Brandon De Wilde in a scene from "Member of the Wedding"; Moira Shearer; Gertrude Lawrence singing "I Whistle a Happy Tune" (1951); Helen Hayes; Oscar Hammerstein II reciting lyrics to "The Last Time I Saw Paris" while a sketch is performed in television's first split screen; Yul Brynner; boxer Sugar Ray Robinson joking with golfer Sam Snead; and Jackie Gleason and Art Carney in a bakery sketch from 1952. Stone introduces clips from two "Studio One" dramas, "Boy Meets Girl" and "Battleship Bismarck."
Director Paul Nickell discusses Miner and "Studio One." A clip from "England Made Me," directed by Lela Swift, is shown. Swift recalls directing that program, working with Miner, and directing "The Storm." A clip from "Macbeth," adapted by Miner and directed by Franklin Schaffner, is shown. Stone reads a message sent by Charlton Heston. A clip of Betty Furness doing a Westing- house commercial on "Studio One" is shown; Furness recalls working with Miner and the early days of "Studio One." Miner's colleague and nephew Kirk Browning discusses Miner with Stone and the technical aspects of television he learned from Miner. Stone reads a message from Schaffner. Author Max Wilk reads from his interview with Miner. David Hartman, in a taped message, recalls how Miner and Frances Fuller helped him in his career.
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: December 17, 1982
- RUNNING TIME: 0:52:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T87:0399
- GENRE: Public affairs/documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Public affairs/documentaries; Talk/Interview; Biography
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Ezra Stone … Host
- Ira Marvin … Guest
- Paul Tripp … Guest
- Jerry Danzig … Guest
- Paul Nickell … Guest
- Lela Swift … Guest
- Kirk Browning … Guest
- Max Wilk … Guest
- Yul Brynner
- Art Carney
- Rosemary Clooney
- Lou Costello
- Mildred "Babe" Didrikson
- Brandon de Wilde
- Frances Fuller
- Betty Furness
- Jackie Gleason
- Oscar Hammerstein II
- Julie Harris
- David Hartman
- Helen Hayes
- Charlton Heston
- Gordon Jenkins
- Gertrude Lawrence
- Worthington Miner
- Paul O'Dwyer
- Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
- Sugar Ray Robinson (see also: Walker Smith, Jr.)
- Franklin Schaffner
- Moira Shearer
- Sam Snead
- Ed Sullivan
- Margaret Truman
- Ethel Waters