Family Theater
Family Theater was a dramatic anthology radio show which aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System in the United States from February 13, 1947 to September 11, 1957.
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[edit] Production background
The show was produced by Family Theater Productions, a film and radio studio extension of the Family Rosary Crusade founded by the Holy Cross Priest, Father Patrick Peyton, CSC, as a way to promote family prayer. The motto of the these Holy Cross Family Ministries is, "The family that prays together, stays together."
The program had no commercial sponsor, yet Father Peyton, CSC arranged for many of Hollywood's stars in film and radio at the time to appear. In its ten-year run, well-known actors and actresses, including James Stewart, Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Raymond Burr, Jane Wyatt, Charlton Heston, Bing Crosby, Jack Benny, Gene Kelly, William Shatner and Chuck Connors, appeared as announcers, narrators or stars.
A total of 540 episodes were produced. The program featured not only religious stories but half-hour adaptations of literary works such as A Tale of Two Cities, Moby-Dick and Don Quixote.
[edit] Television
In 1951, while the radio version was still on the air, Family Theater moved to television, and the spelling of the title was altered (Family Theatre). On TV, it was extended to one hour. Father Peyton also hosted the TV version, which ran for seven years.
One of the TV episodes was Hill Number One, famous for featuring an early appearance by James Dean (as John the Apostle - not John the Baptist, as is commonly thought). It combined a World War II story with the story of the Crucifixion of Christ and has recently been released on DVD.
[edit] EWTN Radio
As of May 2008, The EWTN Radio Network broadcasts selected Family Theater episodes at 11:30pm on Sundays and 1:00am on Thursdays, ET. The current broadcast schedule is available on the EWTN website. Some local Catholic radio stations affiliated with EWTN, like KATH-AM in Dallas, also broadcast the program, and rebroadcast it multiple times during the week. As of September 2009, however, these programs were no longer being broadcast on EWTN.
[edit] Radio Maria USA
Radio Maria USA's ten station English language network (based at KJMJ in Alexandria, Louisiana} still airs the series on Sunday afternoons from 2 until 2:30pm Eastern time.
[edit] Listen to
[edit] External links
- Family Theatre ep. "Hill Number One: A Story of Faith and Inspiration" at the Internet Movie Database
- Family Theatre ep. "Hill Number One: A Story of Faith and Inspiration" is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
