In 2014, a television station manager contacted Festival Films Ron Hall with intriguing news: the station manager had come into possession of 250 16mm prints of The O. Henry Playhouse. The 50’s anthology show was little-seen (and largely forgotten) for nearly six decades. Hall offered the station manager free transfers of each episode in exchange for the right to sell them elsewhere.
When Festival Films received and reviewed the 250 prints, they determined they had multiple prints of 39 episodes (17 of “The Reformation Of Calliope” alone). Hall wanted to partner with a DVD distribution company that would restore and promote the series as it deserved, and eventually, he found such a partner in ClassicFlix.
Costly new film scans were produced and software technology was used to remove scratches, dirt, cue marks, etc. The results are stunning, the restored episodes look pristine. ClassicFlix has completed restoration of the 26 episodes that make up Volumes 1 and 2 and are currently at work on restoring the final 13 for Vol. 3, with release hoped for later this year.
In October 1953, the Hollywood trades carried notice of Gross-Krasne Productions’ intention to produce a series of 39 half-hour episodes of (then titled) The O. Henry Television Playhouse. O. Henry was very much in the public consciousness at the time, thanks to the 20th Century Fox film O. Henry’s Full House, released the year prior.
Phil Krasne was a producer on the popular syndicated television series, The Cisco Kid starring Duncan Renaldo, based on the villain from the original O. Henry short story “The Caballero’s Way” (turned into a Robin Hood sort of hero for the TV series). Krasne’s existing relationship with Doubleday & Co. publishers (and rights holders) to O. Henry’s short stories, proved beneficial to Gross-Krasne when it came to securing the literary rights to 240 O. Henry short stories.
Gross-Krasne did not have to look far for their lead actor when casting O. Henry. They had worked with Thomas Mitchell on the syndicated television series Mayor Of The Town, based on the hit radio program starring Lionel Barrymore that ran from 1942 to 1949.
Thomas Mitchell was considered by many one of the greatest character actors in cinematic history, the first male actor to complete the Triple Crown of Acting by winning an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Tony Award. Roles in such iconic films as Gone With The Wind, It’s A Wonderful Life and High Noon assure fond remembrance of Mitchell continues to this day.
It would be late 1956 before The O. Henry Playhouse would begin premiering on TV stations; two episodes were filmed in May 1955, “The Reformation Of Calliope” and ”Man About Town," but beyond these two episodes created for potential sponsors to get a sense of what the show would be, Jack Gross and Phil Krasne were barred from being in the syndication business for eighteen months as part of the terms of the sale of their United Television Programs production company to MCA that was finalized in December 1954. In June 1956, production was allowed to commence and when Gross-Krasne sold The O. Henry Playhouse to General Cigar Company in May 1957 for airing in the Baltimore market, the show was then contracted to 188 markets.
On the occasion of the lavish premiere banquet for The O. Henry Playhouse at the Beverly Hills Hotel in April 1957, series star Thomas Mitchell told Hollywood columnist Eve Starr that “this show has a wide appeal and I am proud to play O. Henry.” Mitchell went on to convey his belief that this show and this role were by far the most exciting he had ever done. In addition to his voluminous acting resume, Mitchell (like O. Henry) had a brief career as a newspaperman and had a modicum of success as a playwright earlier in his career, so it would be of no surprise that Mitchell felt a special kinship with O. Henry (pen name Of William Sydney Porter), the renowned short story writer known for his humor, wordplay and unexpected twists at the conclusion of so many of his stories.
Ron Hall’s frequent collaborator Bob Campbell (Bijou Productions) who produced Matinee at the Bijou for PBS in the ’80s, sees the release of The O. Henry Playhouse as an opportunity to rejuvenate interest in O. Henry and hopes it may lead to the development of an educational curriculum marrying the original television episodes with the original stories to create an enjoyable, informative learning experience. Hall imagines students being assigned the task of reading the short story and then watching the film adaptation. This could be followed by a general class discussion contrasting the two versions or an essay assignment along those lines.
Festival Films is currently gauging interest with educators about the feasibility of developing such a curriculum. Hall believes discussing the distinctions between the original short stories and the TV adaptations would provide historic insight and perspective into the late 1800s and early 1900s, while Campbell sees an opportunity for aspiring screenwriters to study the print-to-film adaptation process.
Both agree such a curriculum would appeal to teachers and students and is malleable enough for a broad age group. They believe it would work equally well for homeschoolers and lifelong learning students and may draw in new O. Henry fans who might not be predisposed to sample the original stories without an additional stimulus.
What a grand idea! This O. Henry aficionado hopes "The O. Henry Experience" classroom course concept is realized. In the meantime, there is nothing stopping you from enjoying the episodes of The O. Henry Playhouse, then reading the original story upon which the episode is based; the pleasure of the one reinforces the pleasure of the other.
Readers can help support this project by purchasing the DVD for themselves (or as a gift) and sharing the news with teachers of English literature and the associated curriculum.