Crawford Mystery Theatre

Crawford Mystery Theatre (also known as Public Prosecutor) is an American television program broadcast on the DuMont Television Network Thursdays at 9:30pm ET beginning on September 6, 1951. The series was also seen in first-run syndication. The series ran from 1951 to 1952.[1]

Crawford Mystery Theatre
Created byJerry Fairbanks
StarringWarren Hull (host)
Bob Sheppard (announcer)
John Howard
Anne Gwynne
Walter Sande
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes26
Production
Running time30 minutes (1951–1952)
Production companyJerry Fairbanks Productions
Release
Original networkDuMont
Original releaseSeptember 6 (1951-09-06) –
September 27, 1951 (network)
28 February 1952 (local)

Broadcast history

Originally filmed in 1947-48 by Jerry Fairbanks Productions and titled Public Prosecutor, the program starred John Howard, Walter Sande, and Anne Gwynne in a typical murder-mystery setting.

The series is most notable for being television's first filmed series (although not the first filmed series broadcast),[2] paving the way for later filmed TV series such as I Love Lucy four years later.[1]

After running in syndication earlier that year as Public Prosecutor, the program aired on DuMont from 6 September 1951 to 27 September 1951. Retitled Crawford Mystery Theatre, after sponsor Crawford Clothes, the series was padded out to thirty minutes with the addition of a panel show segment. Before the guilty party was revealed, three studio panelists would attempt to guess his or her identity. This version of the show was hosted by Warren Hull.

After the network cancellation, the program continued to air locally on DuMont's flagship station, WABD in New York City. The final program aired on February 28, 1952.[1]

Episode status

An episode of Crawford Mystery Theatre survives at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago. Internet Archive has two episodes, "The Case of the Comic-Strip Murder" (September 20, 1951) and "The Case of the Man Who Wasn't There" (January 17, 1952). Public Prosecutor has over 20 surviving episodes.

See also

References
  1. McNeil, Alex. Total Television. Fourth edition, p 677. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-024916-8.
  2. The NBC anthology series Your Show Time became American television's first filmed dramatic series to be broadcast, in January 1949. Stanley Rubin, "A (Very) Personal History of the First Sponsored Film Series on National Television", E-Media Studies, vol. 1, issue 1 (2008).

Bibliography
  • David Weinstein, The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004) ISBN 1-59213-245-6
  • Alex McNeil, Total Television, Fourth edition (New York: Penguin Books, 1980) ISBN 0-14-024916-8
  • Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows, Third edition (New York: Ballantine Books, 1964) ISBN 0-345-31864-1
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