20th Century , Ford Star Jubilee, CBS-TV 1956

[Vidamonte]

I was lucky to see quite a good copy of this, which nicely adds to Orson Welles' other work doing comedy in American television during mid 50's. Other two are, of course, his own "Fountain Of Youth" and his appearence in "I Love Lucy".
I think this is better than the 1939 Campbell Playhouse radio-version of it.
Welles' performance is very funny in best screwball-tradition and Keenan Wynn and Ray Collins are excellent in their parts.There are not very much info about this anywhere and I have never seen anything that Welles might have said about this.

Here is synopsis:
When Oscar Jaffe, a brilliant but eccentric Broadway impresario, boards the 20th Century Limited in Chicago, he makes sure that his compartment adjoins that of the tempestuous movie queen Lily Garland. For the object of his trip is to get Lily's signature on a contract before the train reaches New York. The situation is complicated by the fact that Jaffe's creditors are breathing hot down his neck and a Broadway play with Lily as star can bail him out. In addition, Oscar's interest in Lily was, at one time, more than professional. But now the relationship between the two temperamental artists is something less than cordial.
Adapted by Buckner from the 1932 Hecht-MacArthur play and the 1934 Howard Hawks film with Carole Lombard and John Barrymore. Hecht and MacArthur based their play on one written by Charles Bruce Milholland called Napoleon of Broadway which was inspired by his experience with
producer David Belasco.

First Aired: April 7, 1956

Cast and Crew:
Writer: Robert Buckner
Director: Paul Nickell
Story: Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur

Guest Star: Orson Welles (Oscar Jaffe), Betty Grable (Lily Garland), Keenan Wynn (Owen O'Malley), Ray Collins (Oliver Webb), Ralph Dumbke (), Gage Clarke (Matthew Clark), Lance Fuller (), Olive Sturgess (Mrs. Lockwood), Steve Terrell (Grover Lockwood), Benny Rubin (), Paul Siemion (), Philip Van Zandt (), Richard Collier (), Dick Elliott (), Larry J. Blake (), Roy Glenn ()

[Glenn Anders]

Thank you, vidamonte, for this post.

Yes, Orson Welles would have been drawn to this piece, first in Radio, nd then in TV, for many reasons. The 20th Century Limited, with its latterly magnificent art deco engine, represented the peak of American transportation during the years Welles was growing to prominence. As you suggest, Welles' Home State Wisconsin-raised Ben Hecht with Charles MacArthur had written the smash Broadway stage play, 20th Century, based topically on an earlier model of the transcontinental train service, in 1932. Howard Hawks, who would become one of Welles' behind the scenes mentors, directed the 1934 movie version, starring John Barrymore, Welles' great theatrical model, in possibly his last commanding screen role. The theme of the play is both comedic and desperate; it is rather like the life Barrymore led, and that Welles would tend to lead later.

The cast list you found for this 1956 TV adaptation is interesting, too, because the inclusion Ray Collins, Benny Rubin, and Philip van Zandt, in addition to Welles, indicates the constant desire to reconstitute the Mercury Players in a new medium was still there.

Glenn

[Vidamonte]

Check also this original picture: ACTIVATE and Copy all this!
http://pro.corbis.com/popup/Enlargement.aspx?mediauids={7d3ba8d0-4d74-464f-b5f5-337386f79c99}|{ffffffff-ffff-ffff-ffff-ffffffffffff}&qsPageNo=5&fdid=&Area=Search&TotalCount=278&CurrentPos=15&WinID={7d3ba8d0-4d74-464f-b5f5-337386f79c99}

(if this link doesn't work, go to the Corbis main site and search Welles and on page 5 there is the pic in the 3rd row)

Welles is in this disguise, when boarding the train, but takes the dress off,forgetting the earrings and there is a funny dialogue, when Jaffe(Welles) fires his assistant Webb(Ray Collins) and says to him: "Take your hat off when you speak to me "and Collins responds: "Take your earrings off when you speak to me."

[Terry]

Welles and Ray Collins reprise their roles from the Campbell's Playhouse adaption (though that had a better script, and here Welles uses his Eastern-European accent unlike on Campbell's.) Delightful. I was surprised that this was originally shown in color! How many color sets were out there in 1956? Not many, and primetime shows were still black and white a full decade later.

https://archive.org/details/ford-twentieth-century

[Le Chiffre]

Right. Only rich people had color sets back then. Too bad there wasn't some way to preserve it in color. Maybe if they find a copy of the quality that Vidamonte indicated at the top of the thread, they could colorize it! Entertaining show. Thanks again, Terry.