General Electric Theater

*General Electric Theater*
General Electric Theater
	Ronald Reagan, host
Genre	Anthology series
Presented by	Ronald Reagan
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	10
No. of episodes	302
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Revue Studios
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	February 1, 1953 –; June 3, 1962

General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.

Radio

After an audition show on January 18, 1953, titled The Token, with Dana Andrews, the radio series, a summer replacement for The Bing Crosby Program, debuted on CBS on July 9, 1953, with Ronald Colman in an episode based on Random Harvest. With such guest stars as Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Van Johnson, Jane Wyman, William Holden, Alan Young, Dorothy McGuire, John Hodiak, Ann Blyth, James Mason, Joan Fontaine, and Judy Garland the series continued until October 1, 1953. Jaime del Valle produced and directed the show. Ken Carpenter was the host and announcer. Wilbur Hatch supplied the music.

Also known as G.E. Stereo Theater, the program "was the first network radio series to be broadcast on FM in stereo."^[1]

Television

The television version of the program, produced by MCA-TV/Revue, was broadcast every Sunday evening at 9:00 pm EST, beginning February 1 1953, and ending June 3 1962. Each of the estimated 209^[2] television episodes was an adaptation of a novel, short story, play, film, or magazine fiction. An exception was the 1954 episode "Music for Christmas", which featured choral director Fred Waring and his group The Pennsylvanians performing Christmas music. Jacques Tourneur directed four episodes, "The Martyr'" (1955), "Into the Night" (1955), "Aftermath" (1960) and "Star Witness: The Lili Parrish Story" (1961). The April 24, 1960, episode, "Adam's Apples", was the pilot for the situation comedy Ichabod and Me, which aired on CBS during the 1961–1962 television season.^{[citation needed]}

On September 26, 1954, Ronald Reagan debuted as the only host of the program. GE added a host to provide continuity in the anthology format. The show's Nielsen ratings improved from #27 in the 1953–1954 season to #17 in 1954–1955, followed #11 in 1955–1956, #3 in 1956–1957, #7 in 1957–1958, #26 in 1958–1959, #23 in 1959–1960, and #20 in 1960–1961.^[3]

Reagan's contract with GE also entailed work as a motivational speaker for the company.^[4] After eight years as host, Reagan estimated he had visited 135 GE research and manufacturing facilities, and met over 250,000 people. During that time, he would also speak at other forums such as Rotary clubs and Moose lodges, presenting views on economic progress that in form and content were often similar to what he said in introductions, segues, and closing comments on the show as a spokesman for GE. Reagan, who would later be known as "The Great Communicator" because of his oratorical ability, often credited these engagements as helping him develop his public-speaking abilities.

Television guest stars

Among the guest stars on the anthology were:

Bud Abbott
Edie Adams
Nick Adams
Claude Akins
Eddie Albert
Leon Ames
Edward Andrews
Fred Astaire
Phyllis Avery
Parley Baer
Raymond Bailey
Patricia Barry
Anne Baxter
Fred Beir
Bea Benaderet
Jack Benny
Whit Bissell
Joan Blondell
Ray Bolger
Ward Bond
Scott Brady
Neville Brand
Ernest Borgnine
Stephen Boyd
Diane Brewster
Charles Bronson
Sally Brophy
Edgar Buchanan
Terry Burnham (3 appearances)^[5]^[6]^[7]
Michael Burns
Francis X. Bushman
Red Buttons
Macdonald Carey
Jack Carson
Jack Cassidy
Gower Champion
Marge Champion
George Chandler
Lon Chaney Jr.
Phyllis Coates
Lee J. Cobb
Claudette Colbert
Ronald Colman
Chuck Connors
Richard Conte
Russ Conway
Ellen Corby
Lou Costello
Joseph Cotten
Jerome Cowan
Bob Crane
Joan Crawford
Hume Cronyn
Tony Curtis
Bette Davis
Sammy Davis Jr.
Jim Davis (actor)
James Dean
Richard Denning
Elinor Donahue
Ann Doran
Dan Duryea
John Ericson
Bill Erwin
Richard Eyer
William Fawcett
Frank Ferguson
Nina Foch
Joan Fontaine
Eduard Franz
Eva Gabor
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Judy Garland
Greer Garson
Anthony George
George Gobel
Billy Gray
Virginia Gregg
Virginia Grey
Kevin Hagen
Alan Hale Jr.
Brooke Hayward
Barbara Hale
Darryl Hickman
Ed Hinton
Dennis Holmes
Skip Homeier
Ron Howard
Gary Hunley
Kim Hunter
Burl Ives
Victor Jory
Allyn Joslyn
Louis Jourdan
Boris Karloff
Joseph Kearns
Ricky Kelman
Stan Kenton
Ernie Kovacs
Otto Kruger
Nancy Kulp
Alan Ladd
Michael Landon
Joi Lansing
Keith Larsen
Charles Laughton
Piper Laurie
Cloris Leachman
Art Linkletter
Myrna Loy
Dayton Lummis
Carol Lynley
Dorothy Malone
Flip Mark
Strother Martin
Scott Marlowe
Nora Marlowe
E. G. Marshall
Lee Marvin (record 7 appearances)
Chico Marx
Groucho Marx
Harpo Marx
Raymond Massey
Walter Matthau
Tyler MacDuff
Gisele MacKenzie
Fred MacMurray
George Macready
Kevin McCarthy
John McIntire
Eve McVeagh
Patrick McVey
Tyler McVey
Joyce Meadows
Burgess Meredith
Gary Merrill
Robert Middleton
Vera Miles
Ray Milland
Ewing Mitchell
George Montgomery
Rita Moreno
Dennis Morgan
Read Morgan
Audie Murphy
Burt Mustin
Leslie Nielsen
Lloyd Nolan
Dan O'Herlihy
J. Pat O'Malley
Geraldine Page
Barbara Parkins
Neva Patterson
John Payne
Larry Pennell
Suzanne Pleshette
Judson Pratt
Vincent Price
Nancy Davis Reagan
Jason Robards Sr.
Ruth Roman
George Sanders
Karen Sharpe
Robert F. Simon
Dean Stockwell
Everett Sloane
Stella Stevens
Jimmy Stewart
Nick Stewart
Olive Sturgess
Hope Summers
Gloria Talbott
Rod Taylor
Phyllis Thaxter
Gene Tierney
Audrey Totter
Harry Townes
Claire Trevor
Lurene Tuttle
Gary Vinson
Beverly Washburn
David Wayne
Christine White
Jesse White
Cornel Wilde
Rhys Williams
Natalie Wood
Fay Wray
Will Wright
Jane Wyman
Ed Wynn
Keenan Wynn

Reagan fired by General Electric

Michael Reagan, adopted son of Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman, contends that Attorney General of the United States Robert F. Kennedy pressured GE to cancel The General Electric Theater or at least to fire Reagan as the host if the program were to continue. The series was not dropped because of low ratings but political intervention, the younger Reagan still maintains. Michael claimed that Robert Kennedy told GE officials that the company would receive no federal contracts so long as Reagan was host of the series. Michael noted the irony that his father's dismissal propelled Reagan into the political arena, and eighteen years afterwards, Reagan would take the oath of office as U.S. president. Kennedy's directive is another example of the "law of unintended consequences". Had Kennedy stayed out of GE contract matters, likely there would have been no Governor or President Reagan.^[8]

From Reagan: The Life, H.W. Brands, Anchor Books, New York 2015

Page 124–125: Reagan's jeremiads against encroaching government cited the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) as a case in point – until he got wind that TVA executives were listening and wondering to General Electric's boss, Ralph Cordiner, why they shouldn't shift their purchases to a more appreciative company. Cordiner said he wouldn't censor Reagan – a move that caused Reagan to censor himself. Reagan recalled saying: “Mr Cordiner, what would you say if I could make my speech just as effectively without mentioning TVA?” [He also recalled the response:] “Well, it would make my job easier.” Reagan concluded the story “Dropping TVA from my speech was no problem.” [This quote is taken directly from Where's the Rest of Me?, Ronald Reagan with Richard G. Hublen, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, New York, 1965, pp. 269–270]

Page 131: In 1961, the Justice Department launched a probe into price-fixing in the electrical equipment industry. General Electric was a prime target. Corporate management decided prudence lay in avoiding anything that raised the company's profile needlessly. Reagan's attacks on big government did just that. .... The company offered to keep him on pitching commercial products if he would stop talking politics. ...He decided the reduced stage was too small.

From An American Life, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1990, page 137: “In 1962, there was a change in management at General Electric that brought an end to my satisfying eight-year relationship with the company. Ralph Cordiner was retiring and the new management asked me, in addition to continuing as host of the GE Theater, to go on the road and become a pitchman for General Electric products – in other words, become a salesman. I told them that after developing such a following by speaking out about the issues I believed in, I wasn't going to go out and peddle toasters.

From When Character was King, Peggy Noonan, Penguin, New York, 2001, page 84:, New management asked him to stay on....but go on the road and pitch GE products. They insisted. He said no. They cancelled.

Don Herbert, a television personality well known as the host of Watch Mr. Wizard, appeared as the "General Electric Progress Reporter", adding a scientific touch to the institutional advertising pitch. The show was produced by Revue Studios, whose successor-in-interest, NBC Universal Television, was co-owned by GE.

Following General Electric Theater's cancellation in 1962, the series was replaced in the same time slot by the short-lived GE-sponsored GE True, hosted by Jack Webb.

On March 17, 2010, General Electric presented Reagan's widow Nancy Davis Reagan with video copies of 208 episodes of General Electric Theater, to be donated to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.^[9]

On April 20, 2010, a "lost" live episode of General Electric Theater – "The Dark, Dark Hours", which originally aired on December 12, 1954 – was uncovered by NBC writer Wayne Federman, who was working on a television retrospective for the Reagan Centennial Celebration.^[10] The episode was noteworthy because it teamed Ronald Reagan with James Dean. Highlights were broadcast on the CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, and Good Morning America.

Directors

"The Martyr", directed by Jacques Tourneur (1956) (25 min)
"Into the Night", directed by Jacques Tourneur (1955) (25 min)
"Aftermath", directed by Jacques Tourneur (1960) (25 min)
"Star Witness: The Lili Parrish Story", directed by Jacques Tourneur (1961) (25 min)

References

^ Terrace, Vincent (1999). Radio Programs, 1924–1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-4513-4. p. 128.
^ "Television Obscurities – Another General Electric Theater Episode Found". 21 April 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-08-29.
^ "ClassicTVguide.com: TV Ratings". classictvguide.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
^ Perlstein, Rick (2009). Before the storm : Barry Goldwater and the unmaking of the American consensus. New York: Nation Books. ISBN 9780786744152.
^ "Comedy of a Reluctant Hangman". The Port Huron Times Herald. October 24, 1959. p. 20. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
^ "Jane Wyatt to Star on GE Theater". Progress-Bulletin. March 21, 1961. p. 8. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
^ "Irene Dunne Takes Political Role on GE Theater". Jefferson City Post-Tribune. p. 19. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
^ Michael Reagan (February 4, 2011). "Ronald Reagan's Son Remembers The Day When GE Fired His Dad". investors.com. Archived from the original on January 26, 2013. Retrieved February 5, 2011.
^ "Associated Press via Yahoo News (March 17, 2010)". yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 23 March 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
^ "Rare Film of Ronald Reagan, James Dean Unearthed". cbsnews.com. Archived from the original on 8 May 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2018.