Latest News from The Interviews

Archive of American Television interview with producer Robert Halmi, Sr., featured in Emmy magazine

 Mon, 11/26/2007 The latest issue of Emmy magazine (Issue No. 5, 2007, with Cane's Jimmy Smits on the cover) includes selections from our Archive of American Television interview with producer (nearly 200 television movies and miniseries) and chairman of RHI Entertainment, Robert Halmi, Sr. He was interviewed for two hours in May, 2007. Halmi’s credits include many of the most acclaimed broadcast and cable productions of the past four decades: Lonesome Dove, The Josephine Baker Story, Gypsy, Gulliver’s Travels...

I Love Lucy: The Complete Series DVD Set Released

 Mon, 11/26/2007 Just released: The I Love Lucy: The Complete Series collection is a definitive compact, 34-disc set that includes hours of bonus material from the previously released individual complete season sets, plus new special features. Gregg Oppenheimer, son of I Love Lucy creator Jess Oppenheimer, served as executive producer for this special complete series DVD box set, and, as a supporter of the Archive, has generously included the Archive's 4-minute promotional reel on the Bonus Disc! The total...

Archive Celebrates Fran Allison's Centennial

 Mon, 11/19/2007 The Archive celebrates the centennial of Fran Allison (1907-89), born on November 20. Fran Allison was the host of the classic television series Kukla, Fran, and Ollie (in photo with puppeteer Burr Tillstrom). The series is called by the Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Television as, "the first children's show to be equally popular with children and adults." The series was done live and the dialogue was unscripted. The series began locally in Chicago in 1947 and went on NBC's...

"Mary Kay and Johnny," American Network TV's First Sitcom, Celebrates its 60th Anniversary! Archive Interviews Now Online

 Thu, 11/15/2007 Mary Kay and Johnny was a live domestic comedy that centered around a young couple that lived in Greenwich Village: he worked at a bank and she was a homemaker. It debuted on November 18, 1947. Mary Kay and Johnny (1947-50) originally ran on the Du Mont network (for nearly a year), then (except for a brief stint on CBS) spent the rest of its run on NBC. Among the true-to-life storylines used on the show: Mary Kay got stuck in an elevator; Mary Kay left the apartment with a cake in the oven,...

Director Delbert Mann Dies at the Age of 87 -- Archive Interview Online

 Mon, 11/12/2007 Delbert Mann who helmed "Marty" for television and film died on Sunday. Mann won an Academy Award for the feature film adaptation of Marty (1955) that originated as a "live" television presentation in 1953. Click here to access Delbert Mann's entire nine-part interview. Interview Description: Delbert Mann talked about studying at Yale Drama School and his transition to television following his service in the Air Force during World War II. He spoke of his days during the war, and his further...

"Meet the Press" Celebrates 60 Years on Television

 Tue, 11/06/2007 Network television's oldest show, Meet the Press , debuted on NBC on November 6, 1947. The guest on this first show was James A. Farley, former postmaster general under Franklin D. Roosevelt and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee; the show was created by Laurence E. Spivak and Martha Roundtree (who served as moderator). Meet the Press made its radio debut in 1945. The series moved around the week in its first few years but since 1950 has been a Sunday staple, as Tim Russert's...

Sidney Lumet's Interview Is Now Online

 Fri, 11/02/2007 With Sidney Lumet's critically praised film "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" now in theaters, the Archive of American Television has posted his three-hour interview online in which he discusses his career that started in the theater and in the "Golden Age of Television." Soundbites from Sidney Lumet's six-part interview . On “live” television: The pressure was wonderful. And because it wasn’t insane, the pressure was, can we do it? Because nobody knew what we could do and what we couldn’t...

60 Years Ago — October 20, 1947 — The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) Began Its Probe That Resulted in The Hollywood Blacklist

 Fri, 10/19/2007 “Television Responds to the Red Scare” By Gary Rutkowski American television production, halted in its infancy before World War II, continued full-force with the four networks— ABC, CBS, NBC, and DuMont— scheduling programs regularly. Soon after, in 1950, they also began consulting an independently published booklet entitled “Red Channels,” which listed alleged Communists or sympathizers who were not to be employed on television: a blacklist. With the beginning of the Cold War a strong Anti-...