NET Playhouse
Season 1
196642 episodes
Episode 1
Ten Blocks on the Camino Real
Oct 7, 19661h 30m
A production of Tennessee Williams's "Ten Blocks on the Camino Real," a one-act play upon which his full-length play, "Camino Real" was based. This allegorical drama is set in the plaza of a Latin American town, a sinister purgatory where laughing street cleaners cart away the dead. Kilroy, a young American ex-boxer with a failing heart, arrives in this nightmarish place.
Episode 2
The Journey of the Fifth Horse
Oct 14, 1966
Dustin Hoffman stars in Ronald Ribman's critically acclaimed off-Broadway drama and 1965 Obie Award for best play of the season. The story of a kind and good-hearted young landowner in 19th century Russia who, desperate for love and acceptance, sets out to find both, only to discover that if he had never lived at all it would have made no difference to anyone.
Episode 3
The Star Wagon
Oct 21, 1966
A comedy-fantasy by Maxwell Anderson, follows the adventures of an inventor who creates a time-machine enabling him to live his life over again.
Episode 4
L'Avventura
Oct 28, 1966
Episode 5
Victoria Regina, Part 1: Spring
Nov 4, 1966
The first hour of this four-part adaptation of Laurence Housman's drama focuses on Queen Victoria's accession to the throne and her conflict with Lord Melbourne, her Prime Minister and close friend. Melbourne brings up the question of marriage-but the Queen rejects his list of suitable bridegroom
Episode 6
Victoria Regina, Part 2: Summer
Nov 11, 1966
"Victoria Regina: Summer," second of four-part adaptation of Lawrence Hous mans' Broadway hit about the life of England's Queen Victoria. Tonight: Prince Albert faces the problem of being married to a reigning monarch.
Episode 7
Victoria Regina, Part 3: Autumn
Nov 18, 1966
"Victoria Regina: Autumn," third of a four-part adaption of Lawrence Housman's Broadway hit about the life of England's Queen Victoria. In this episode: Prime Minister Disraeli clashes with the Queen.
Episode 8
Victoria Regina, Part 4: Winter
Nov 25, 1966
Episode 9
An Enemy of the People
Dec 2, 1966
A Norwegian doctor discovers that the source of the town's medicinal waters has become poisonous.
Episode 10
A Sleep of Prisoners
Dec 9, 1966
Christopher Fry's verse drama of four prisoners in an imaginary war.
Episode 11
Ofoeti
Dec 16, 1966
A modern folklore tale about a highly imaginative, fantasy-bound youth and his search for a troll.
Episode 12
The Play of Daniel
Dec 23, 1966
"The Play of Daniel." Filmed at the Cloisters, NYC's Museum of Medieval Art, this 12th-century play dramatizes episodes in the life of the Old Testament hero Daniel. An English narrative by poet W. H. Auden supplements the original Latin and Old French text performed by the New York Pro Musica and the boys choir of New York City's Church of the Transfiguration.
Episode 13
La Marmite
Dec 30, 1966
Presented in French with English subtitles, The Theatre de la Mandragore Troupe wore masks and performed the Plautus play about a miser obsessed with his gold.
Episode 14
The Amorous Flea
Jan 6, 1967
"The Amorous Flea," is a musical-comedy based on Molière's "School for Wives." The play follows the misadventures of an old man who has raised a young girl, in total ignorance of the ways of the world, so that she will make him a perfect wife. Adapted from the 1964 off-Broadway hit.
Episode 15
A Comedy of Errors
Jan 13, 1967
William Shakespeare's comic-story of mistaken identity follows the misadventures of two sets of long-lost twins is presented by Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company. Produced by the BBC.
Episode 16
La Mama Playwrights
Jan 20, 1967
The off-Broadway La Mama Experimental Theater Club, founded by Ellen Stewart presents three avant-garde works. The plays: 1. "Pavane," by Jean-Claude van Itallie, examines rituals of modern society. 2. "Fourteen Hundred Thousand," by Sam Shepard, involves a young couple and their in-laws. 3. "The Recluse," by Paul Foster, focuses on a demented old lady in an abandoned hospital.
Episode 17
The World of Carl Sandburg
Jan 27, 1967
Actors Fritz Weaver and Uta Hagen join the folk-singing Tarriers and Carolyn Hester for this adaptation of "The World of Carl Sandburg," which opened on Broadway in 1960. Sandburg, a Pulitzer Prize-winner, is a poet, historian, novelist and folklorist. Carolyn Hester and the Tarriers perform numbers from Sandburg's "The American Songbag,
Episode 18
Knife in the Water
Feb 3, 1967
Roman Polanski directed this study of a clash between generations. On a weekend outing, two men find themselves pitted against each other in a tense psychological rivalry for the affections of the older man's wife.
Episode 19
Uncle Vanya
Feb 10, 1967
A retired professor has returned to his estate to live with his beautiful young wife, Yelena. The estate originally belonged to his first wife, now deceased; her mother and brother still live there and manage the farm
Episode 20
The Importance of Being Earnest
Feb 17, 1967
In 1890s London, two friends use the same pseudonym ("Ernest") for their on-the-sly activities. Hilarity ensues.
Episode 21
The World of Kurt Weill
Feb 24, 1967
Singer-actress Lotte Lenya offers a tribute to her late composer husband.
Episode 22
Master of Santiago
Mar 3, 1967
In 16th-century Spain, pressure is brought on Don Alvaro Dabo to take part in the conquest of the West Indies-but Don Alvaro, an anti-colonialist and religious mystic, resists all arguments. Adapted from the play by contemporary French novelist-playwright Henri de Montherlant.
Episode 23
The Battle of Culloden
Mar 10, 1967
This BBC documentary-drama re-creates the Battle of Culloden (1746)-- the last battle fought on British soil. The final attempt to restore the house of Stuart to the throne of Scotland, England and Ireland culminated in the meeting (at Culloden) of an English army and the Highlander force, led by Bonnie Prince Charlie.
Episode 24
Satire
Mar 17, 1967
Playwright-actor-director Peter Ustinov presents a satiric "improvisation on musical themes" with pianist Anthony Hopkins, and British satirists Dudley Moore and Bernard Keefe. Ustinov caricatures typical Russian, American, German and English composers with pen and piano, singing along with the wild musical themes he invents for each composer
Episode 25
The Old Glory: Benito Cereno
Mar 24, 1967
A poetic drama that explores the paradoxes of the master-slave relationship.
Episode 26
Past Intruding
Mar 30, 1967
A Japanese film that follows the experiences of a psychiatrist who accidentally revives his buried memory of a horrible wartime experience.
Episode 27
Misalliance
Apr 7, 1967
A presentation of George Bernard Shaw's "Misalliance," a farce about love and the misunderstandings between family members. The visitors at the country home of a manufacturer find their lives changed by the sudden appearance of an outspoken Polish aviatrix.
Episode 28
Sponono
Apr 14, 1967
"Sponono," by South African author Alan Paton, incorporates native songs and dances into its narrative-drama form. The story is about a black delinquent's clash with his white reformatory principal.
Episode 29
Orpheus in the Underworld
Apr 28, 1967
Britain's Sadler's Wells Opera Company performs Offenbach's popular, light opera. According to Greek myth, the poet Orpheus played beautiful music and loved his wife Eurydice so much that. when she died, he went into the infernal regions to reclaim her life. In Offenbach's satiric treatment of the legend, Orpheus is such a bore and his music is so wretched that Eurydice is glad to go to hell. Orpheus, on the other hand, is equally happy to be rid of her.
Episode 30
A Mother for Janek
May 5, 1967
An orphaned refugee causes unforeseen problems when he comes to live with his bachelor uncle in America. Produced by WQED, Pittsburgh.
Episode 31
Acquit or Hang!
May 12, 1967
A courtroom drama based on the court-martial of 10 HMS Bounty mutineers. The 10 seamen on trial all claim to have taken no part in the mutiny, but they may still be punished: The naval regulations of 1792 state that sailors who do not try to prevent a mutiny share equal guilt with active mutineers. Only one of two verdicts can be handed down: acquit or hang.
Episode 32
Crime and Punishment
May 19, 1967
This dramatization of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's master novel explores the conflicting feelings of guilt and superiority in a student who murders two old women and then tries to justify his crime.
Episode 33
Ballet Gala
May 26, 1967
"Ballet Gala" features principal dancers from Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet, London's Royal Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet performing excerpts from Swan Lake, Don Quixote and Romeo and Juliet.
Episode 34
A Concert of Sacred Music
Jun 16, 1967
A Concert on Sacred Music by Duke Ellington, from the Grace Cathedral, seat of the Episcopal Archdiocese of San Francisco.
Episode 35
The Victorians, Part 1: The Rent Day
Jun 23, 1967
The first of an eight-part series focusing on life in England during the 1800's. Part 1: A young farmer and his wife face eviction unless they find a way to pay their rent.
Episode 36
The Victorians, Part 2: London Assurance
Jun 30, 1967
An 80-year-old nobleman competes with his son for the hand of a young heiress. This comedy by Dion Boucicault was first produced in 1841.
Episode 37
The Victorians, Part 3: Society
Jul 7, 1967
A wealthy businessman persuades a penniless young aristocrat to introduce his son into society.
Episode 38
The Victorians, Part 4: The Ticket-of-Leave Man
Jul 14, 1967
"The Victorians: The Ticket-of-Leave Man," a 19th-century detective story. Released from prison, a young man sets out to find the crook who framed him.
Episode 39
The Victorians, Part 5: Two Roses
Jul 21, 1967
Episode 40
The Victorians, Part 6: Still Waters Run Deep
Jul 28, 1967
Episode 41
The Victorians, Part 7: The Silver King
Aug 4, 1967
A gambler who fled to America to escape a murder charge returns to England in search of the real killer.
Episode 42
The Victorians, Part 8: Sweet Lavender
Aug 11, 1967