Warner Bros. Presents
Encyclopedia
Warner Bros. Presents is the umbrella title
for three series telecast as part of the 1955-56 season
on ABC
: Cheyenne
, a new Western
series that originated on Presents, and two based on classic Warner Bros. film
s, Casablanca
and Kings Row
.
While neither a critical or popular success, this wheel series
is an historically important program. Perhaps most significantly, it is the first television program of any kind made by Warner Brothers. It was also the original home of Cheyenne
, the first hour-long television Western series and the first wholly original television series produced by a major Hollywood studio. It also allowed ABC, then a junior player in American television, to secure its first advertising contracts with commercial giants General Electric
and tobacco company Liggett & Myers.
tried to dismiss it as a mere passing fad, but by 1955 it was apparent that this was hardly the case. ABC had approached Warner Bros. about acquiring the rights to broadcast some of its relatively recent theatrical films, which were then not available for television broadcast. Instead, Warner saw a different potential for his company, inspired by ABC's Disneyland. He believed that perhaps television could be used to cross-market upcoming Warner films. Thus he created a television department and promoted his son-in-law, William T. Orr
, to the new position of Head of Television Production. The initial goal was to provide new short fiction which they could wrap around information about upcoming film projects. Orr's first effort in that capacity was this program.
doing rope trick
s on the set of Giant, Billy Wilder
and James Stewart
explaining the special effects of The Spirit of St. Louis
, and other notable Warner Brothers productions, including a four-part feature on the new John Ford
western The Searchers
, one of the first attempts to document the making of a major Hollywood film.
While completing Giant, and to promote Rebel Without a Cause, Dean filmed a short interview with actor Gig Young
for an episode of Warner Bros. Presents in which Dean, instead of saying the popular phrase "The life you save may be your own" instead ad-libbed "The life you save may be mine." Dean's sudden death prompted the studio to re-film the section, and the piece was never aired.
The problem for ABC's newly acquired advertisers was that it amounted to a 15-minute commercial for Warner Brothers' products. They had ABC exert pressure to abolish the segment before the season concluded.
The concept changed in other ways as the season progressed. The dramatic portions of the program were attacked from the beginning as inept. All three series were overhauled, but only Cheyenne emerged as successful. It would have ranked in the top 20 if its ratings had been calculated independently. Despite the relative success of Cheyenne, ABC and Warner continued to have problems injecting Kings Row and Casablanca with sufficient drama. These efforts failed. Kings Row, starring Jack Kelly
and Robert Horton
in the roles played by Robert Cummings
and Ronald Reagan
in the original film, was axed within just a few weeks of its first broadcast, while Casablanca, starring Charles McGraw
in the Bogart
part, survived almost to the end of the season. However, when they both went, the umbrella of Warner Brothers Presents effectively closed, pushing Cheyenne out on its own. Presents was renamed Conflict
by ABC and relaunched as an anthology series. It was around this time that the films which inspired the Kings Row and Casablanca segments were sold, along with the rest of WB's pre-1950 theatrical library, to Associated Artists Productions
.
television. It also began a long-running partnership between Warner Brothers and ABC. Over the course of the following decade, the two companies would provide American viewers with a string of popular programs. The relationship would pull ABC from the bottom of the ratings and help it avoid the fate of the other struggling 1950s broadcaster, the DuMont Network
.
Umbrella title
An umbrella title is a formal or informal name connecting a number of individual items with a common theme. It is most often used in lieu of listing separately the separate components or providing a convenient "label" for a collection of disciplines.-Academia:...
for three series telecast as part of the 1955-56 season
1955-56 United States network television schedule
The 1955–56 United States network television schedule was for the period that began in September 1955 and ran through March 1956.The $64,000 Question had debuted on CBS during summer 1955 and became the #1 program on U.S. television. The three networks "rushed to copy this latest hit format,...
on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
: Cheyenne
Cheyenne (TV series)
Cheyenne is a western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1963. The show was the first hour-long western, and in fact the first hour-long dramatic series of any kind, with continuing characters, to last more than one season...
, a new Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
series that originated on Presents, and two based on classic Warner Bros. film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s, Casablanca
Casablanca (film)
Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
and Kings Row
Kings Row
Kings Row is a 1942 film starring Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, and Ronald Reagan that tells a story of young people growing up in a small American town at the turn of the twentieth century, beset by social pressure, dark secrets, and the challenges and tragedies one must face as a result of these...
.
While neither a critical or popular success, this wheel series
Wheel series
A wheel series is a term applied in the broadcast television industry to a television program in which two or more regular series are rotated with the same time slot...
is an historically important program. Perhaps most significantly, it is the first television program of any kind made by Warner Brothers. It was also the original home of Cheyenne
Cheyenne (TV series)
Cheyenne is a western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1963. The show was the first hour-long western, and in fact the first hour-long dramatic series of any kind, with continuing characters, to last more than one season...
, the first hour-long television Western series and the first wholly original television series produced by a major Hollywood studio. It also allowed ABC, then a junior player in American television, to secure its first advertising contracts with commercial giants General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
and tobacco company Liggett & Myers.
Historical background
At first, Warner Bros., like most other Hollywood studios, had seen television as a threat that it wished would disappear. Jack WarnerJack Warner
Jack Leonard "J. L." Warner , born Jacob Warner in London, Ontario, was a Canadian American film executive who was the president and driving force behind the Warner Bros. Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California...
tried to dismiss it as a mere passing fad, but by 1955 it was apparent that this was hardly the case. ABC had approached Warner Bros. about acquiring the rights to broadcast some of its relatively recent theatrical films, which were then not available for television broadcast. Instead, Warner saw a different potential for his company, inspired by ABC's Disneyland. He believed that perhaps television could be used to cross-market upcoming Warner films. Thus he created a television department and promoted his son-in-law, William T. Orr
William T. Orr
William T. Orr was an American television producer associated with a series of western and detective programs of the 1950s-1970s....
, to the new position of Head of Television Production. The initial goal was to provide new short fiction which they could wrap around information about upcoming film projects. Orr's first effort in that capacity was this program.
Program evolution
Originally, the hour-long episodes consisted of only about 45 minutes of dramatic programming, followed by a 10- to 15-minute "Behind the Camera" section. During this portion of the program, viewers saw James DeanJames Dean
James Byron Dean was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause , in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark...
doing rope trick
Trick roping
Trick roping is an entertainment or competitive art involving the spinning of a lasso or lariat. It is particularly associated with wild west shows or western arts in the United States....
s on the set of Giant, Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder
Billy Wilder was an Austro-Hungarian born American filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, artist, and journalist, whose career spanned more than 50 years and 60 films. He is regarded as one of the most brilliant and versatile filmmakers of Hollywood's golden age...
and James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
explaining the special effects of The Spirit of St. Louis
The Spirit of St. Louis (film)
The Spirit of St. Louis is a 1957 biographical film directed by Billy Wilder and starring James Stewart as Charles Lindbergh. The screenplay was adapted by Charles Lederer, Wendell Mayes, and Billy Wilder from Lindbergh's 1953 autobiographical account of his historic flight, which won the Pulitzer...
, and other notable Warner Brothers productions, including a four-part feature on the new John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
western The Searchers
The Searchers (film)
The Searchers is a 1956 American Western film directed by John Ford, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May, and set during the Texas–Indian Wars...
, one of the first attempts to document the making of a major Hollywood film.
While completing Giant, and to promote Rebel Without a Cause, Dean filmed a short interview with actor Gig Young
Gig Young
Gig Young was an American film, stage, and television actor. Known mainly for second leads and supporting roles, Young won an Academy Award for his performance as a dance-marathon emcee in the 1969 film, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?.-Early life and career:Born Byron Elsworth Barr in St...
for an episode of Warner Bros. Presents in which Dean, instead of saying the popular phrase "The life you save may be your own" instead ad-libbed "The life you save may be mine." Dean's sudden death prompted the studio to re-film the section, and the piece was never aired.
The problem for ABC's newly acquired advertisers was that it amounted to a 15-minute commercial for Warner Brothers' products. They had ABC exert pressure to abolish the segment before the season concluded.
The concept changed in other ways as the season progressed. The dramatic portions of the program were attacked from the beginning as inept. All three series were overhauled, but only Cheyenne emerged as successful. It would have ranked in the top 20 if its ratings had been calculated independently. Despite the relative success of Cheyenne, ABC and Warner continued to have problems injecting Kings Row and Casablanca with sufficient drama. These efforts failed. Kings Row, starring Jack Kelly
Jack Kelly (actor)
Jack Kelly was an American film and television actor most noted for the role of "Bart Maverick" in the TV series Maverick, which ran on ABC from 1957 to 1962...
and Robert Horton
Robert Horton
Sir Robert Horton, FRSA is a British businessman. He is a Director of the European Advisory Council and of Emerson Electric Company. He spent 30 years working for BP, formerly British Petroleum. He became Chief Executive and Chairman of the Board of BP in March 1990, but was forced out in 1992...
in the roles played by Robert Cummings
Robert Cummings
Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings , mostly known professionally as Robert Cummings but sometimes as Bob Cummings, was an American film and television actor....
and Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
in the original film, was axed within just a few weeks of its first broadcast, while Casablanca, starring Charles McGraw
Charles McGraw
Charles Butters , best known by his stage name Charles McGraw, was an American actor, who made his first film in 1942, albeit in a small, uncredited role. He was born in Des Moines, Iowa.-Career:...
in the Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....
part, survived almost to the end of the season. However, when they both went, the umbrella of Warner Brothers Presents effectively closed, pushing Cheyenne out on its own. Presents was renamed Conflict
Conflict (TV series)
Conflict is a 1956 ABC series that directly succeeded Warner Brothers Presents. It is most famous for having hosted the effective pilots of 77 Sunset Strip and Maverick....
by ABC and relaunched as an anthology series. It was around this time that the films which inspired the Kings Row and Casablanca segments were sold, along with the rest of WB's pre-1950 theatrical library, to Associated Artists Productions
Associated Artists Productions
Associated Artists Productions was a distributor of theatrical feature films and short subjects for television. It existed from 1953 to 1958. It was later folded into United Artists. The former a.a.p. library was later owned by MGM/UA Entertainment and then Turner Entertainment. Turner continues...
.
Aftermath
Conflict finished up the remainder of the 1955 season and continued on into 1956. But it, too, ultimately failed. By 1957, the only element remaining from the 1955 season was Cheyenne. Nevertheless, Presents may be regarded as a sort of midwife for an entirely new era of television —- one in which big Hollywood studios actively made original, episodicEpisode
An episode is a part of a dramatic work such as a serial television or radio program. An episode is a part of a sequence of a body of work, akin to a chapter of a book. The term sometimes applies to works based on other forms of mass media as well, as in Star Wars...
television. It also began a long-running partnership between Warner Brothers and ABC. Over the course of the following decade, the two companies would provide American viewers with a string of popular programs. The relationship would pull ABC from the bottom of the ratings and help it avoid the fate of the other struggling 1950s broadcaster, the DuMont Network
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
.