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"Playhouse 90"
Rod Taylor appeared in five productions of "Playhouse 90,"
which generally is regarded as the most ambitious of TV's dramatic anthology
series.
During its first three seasons, "Playhouse 90" presented a
90-minute drama each week -- many of them live and many of them considered
classics.
I've seen three of the five episodes that featured Rod Taylor, thanks
to the Museum of Television and Radio in New York City. The shows are indeed
quality productions -- tackling complex themes, employing first-rate acting,
writing and directing talent, and challenging viewers in a way that television
rarely does.
Taylor has a pivotal role in each production, playing the man of good
character who must wrestle with troubling circumstances and serve as the
audience's guide to sorting out right and wrong.
VERDICT OF THREE -- Episode 2.32 (April 24, 1958)
IMDb
Rod Taylor played Francis Allen in this adaptation of "Verdict of
Twelve," a novel by Raymond Postgate.
It was directed by the highly respected Buzz Kulik.
A United Press International review described the
production:
It was one of those very English things about a mother
accused of murdering her little boy so she could get her mitts on his
inheritance.
The concern of "Verdict of Three" was not only the trial of the mother, but
also the personal entanglements of three members of the jury. Through
flashbacks, the drama showed how each of the trio related portions of the
courtroom testimony to his own life and ultimately, to a decision to find
the mother guilty.
A weird little trio they were, too. One had bumped off her aunt for money,
another had seen her husband beaten to death by hoodlums and had her marbles
juggled by the event, the third was
a 28-year-old boy who sponged off his mother.
To a great extent, it was just too much for a 90-minute show to chew. The
development of the characters of the jurors was, of necessity, kind of
skimpy and the relationship between the mother and her attorney was a little
hazy.
Yvonne De Carlo as the mother turned in a pretty crisp job and so did Carmen
Mathews, Angela Lansbury and Rod Taylor as the jurors. Michael Wilding
played the defense attorney. Cecil Kellaway, an old pro, walked away with
acting honors for the evening in a bit role.
THE GREAT GATSBY -- Episode 2.40 (June 26, 1958)
IMDb
Rod Taylor played Nick Carraway in this adaptation of
F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel. Nick is the innocent bystander who gets drawn
into the complicated scandals of his wealthy neighbors for the summer:
his cousin, Daisy Buchanan (Jean Crain) and Jay Gatsby (Robert Ryan).
Of
the three episodes I've viewed, this is the one that feels most like a
stage production. Nevertheless, it features bold direction -- by Franklin
Schaffner -- for the small
screen, and an engaging performance by Taylor.
THE LONG MARCH -- Episode 3.4 (Oct. 16, 1958)
IMDb
Rod Taylor played Lt. Warren Culver, a Marine Corps reservist
called back for duty in Korea. Taylor gives a strong, smooth performance
in this live production, which was directed by Delbert Mann and based on
a William Styron novel.
Culver is established as a by-the-book, practical sort
of guy. On the personal side of his life, his girlfriend, Betty, wants
to get married, but he refuses, saying that he's been "in a war, out
of a war, into a job and out of a job, and back into another war."
That's not the type of foundation he wants to start a marriage upon.
In the Marines, Culver is the capable assistant to his
good friend, Capt. Al Mannix (Jack Carson), a fellow reservist and the
company commander. Mannix's commander -- and nemesis -- is Col. Rocky Templeton
(Sterling Hayden), who has ordered the Marine trainees on a rigorous battle
exercise that's to be followed by a 36-mile march back to the base.
For Mannix, a burly man softened by his civilian desk
job, the long march becomes a personal crusade. Ultimately, Mannix defies
a sensible order by Templeton, and his defiant action leads to loyal Marine
being mortally injured.
In the inquiry that follows, Culver's is placed in the
uncomfortable position of having to support the facts of the case while
realizing that the facts hurt his friend. His emotional struggle continues
as he must deliver the bad news to the dying Marine's new bride. In a final,
clarifying scene with Betty, Culver tries to sort out the meaning of what
happened, then grabs hold of one sure thing -- love (and marriage).
In an lengthy
interview, actress Shirley Knight recalls
working with Rod Taylor in this episode:
I played a young woman whose husband was
killed in the Second World War. ... We had a problem on
that. Jack Carson had been taking some sort of pills –
I think someone said later they were diet pills – and
when we actually were doing the show live, because he
just wasn’t quite all there, he cut half of a scene.
Which meant that some information wasn’t in, and also
meant that we were going to be running three or four
minutes short.
There was a scene later in the show
where Rod Taylor came to tell me that my husband died,
and so, very quickly, the writer and director gave Rod
Taylor something to say that was some information that
needed to be in the story. And also, the director said
to us, “You really need to improvise until we cut you
off.”
So after he had said this information,
and after he told me my husband died, Rod Taylor and I
improvised. I was crying, and went on and on with my
sadness, basically. It was terrifying, but in a way it
was very exciting to mean that you were improvising
Playhouse 90 in front of a lot of people out there,
and hoping that you did well. Afterward everyone was so
impressed and kind about what the two of us had done.
So we felt like we did well.
THE RAIDER -- Episode 3.20 (Feb. 19, 1959)
IMDb
Rod Taylor played Bob Castillo, a member of the board
of directors of the Harman Corp., a company that's the target of a corporate
raider.
He's one of the players in a high-stakes game between
the raider, David Ringler (Paul Douglas) and the chairman of the board,
Arthur Hennicut (Frank Lovejoy). But Castillo is different from the other
businessmen on the board: He's also a brilliant engineer from the research
and development department. As the power struggle mounts, Castillo is pressured
to rush an experimental engine through to production -- a desperate move
by Hennicut to shore up the board's stockholder support.
Although it deals with corporate intrigue rather than
military action, the themes in "The Raider" are similar to "The
Long March" -- loyalty, hard work and men driven by circumstances
past the point of being able to tell who's right and who's wrong. Taylor,
as Castillo, helps the audience try to sort it all out. Castillo grows
in stature and awareness from the opening scene -- where he's considered
something of a yes-man -- to a climactic scene in Act 2 in which a virile,
angry (and open-shirted) Castillo challenges Hennicut over compromising
the integrity of the company and its employees.
The show concludes with the stockholders' vote unresolved,
but rather than being unsatisfying, the ending produces a jolt, leaving
the viewer with abundant material for discussion and deep appreciation
of the magnificent performances and well-crafted characters.
This episode and "The Great Gatsby" were directed
by Franklin J. Schaffner, whose later credits include "Papillon,"
"Planet of the Apes" and an Academy Award for "Patton."
MISALLIANCE -- Episode 4.3 (Oct. 29, 1959)
IMDb
Rod Taylor played aviator Joey Percival in a cast that
featured Claire Bloome, Robert
Morley and Siobhan McKenna.
A reviewer noted that, with this adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's
play, "Playhouse 90 proved it could handle sophisticated
comedy with style and inventiveness in this free-wheeling version of Shaw's
play, directed by Robert Stevens." A UPI
reviewer gushed:
It was time for a talk-talk-talk show on Playhouse 90 Thursday night.
And rousing good talk it was, too.
George Bernard Shaw's high-speed, high-penetrating comic romp,
"Misalliance," was run off in a delicious style on CBS-TV by a clever cast
that consisted of Robert Morely, Claire Bloom, Siobhan McKenna, Rod Taylor,
Kenneth Haigh, John Williams, Isobel Elsom and last but by no means least,
Robert Casper as the "over-bred" Bentley.
The twinkling epigrams poured some inconsistencies in the attitudes of the
lower classes toward the upper classes and vice versa. Stuffiness can be
found in unexpected places, said Shaw, as he
also paid his compliments, in passing, to such institutions as love, the
arts and law.
Robert Stevens' direction provided a stimulating pace. He clicked it off as
quickly as a Sgt. Bilko show — highest praise for this sort of show when
done on TV. At times the speed threw Morely for a loss, but nevertheless,
his verbal blurrings were minor compared to the spirit he displayed for his
part. Close-ups were superb and the camera's movement heightened the airy
atmosphere.
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Rod in "Misalliance"
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