BEST OF BROADWAY, THE: THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER
(TV)
Summary
One in this series of television adaptations of Broadway
productions. Reprising the role he originated on
Broadway in 1939, Monty Woolley stars as the
manipulative curmudgeon Sheridan Whiteside in this
adaptation of the celebrated George S. Kaufman and Moss
Hart comedy. After slipping on the ice at the home of
his dinner hosts, Whiteside is forced to recuperate in
their home until his hip mends and wrecks havoc with
their lives. The celebrated radio personality and
critic first commandeers the family's living room and
telephone, banishing the Stanley's to the upper regions
of their own home. He intimidates his nurse, the meek
Miss Breen, strings along Dr. Bentley with promises he
will read his autobiographical opus, and attempts to
sabotage the blossoming romance between his longtime
secretary, Maggie Cutler, and a local newspaper
reporter. To this end, he calls upon the services of
the glamorous actress Lorraine Sheldon to lure the
reporter away from Maggie, but his scheme is foiled by
the expert mimicry of his Noel Coward-like friend
Beverly Carlton who drops in for a visit. In the end,
all is resolved with the help of Banjo, a Marx
Brother-like Hollywood actor, who stops by for a visit.
(This is a black-and-white copy of a color telecast.)
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: October 13, 1954 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:00:00
- COLOR/B&W: B&W copy of a color telecast
- CATALOG ID: T77:0404
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1954-1955
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - Westinghouse
CREDITS
- Martin Manulis … Producer
- Jerome Shaw … Director
- David Alexander … Director, Staged by
- Moss Hart … Writer
- George S. Kaufman … Writer
- Ronald Alexander … Adapted by
- David Broekman … Music by
- Merle Oberon … Cast, Maggie Cutler
- Joan Bennett … Cast, Lorraine Sheldon
- Reginald Gardiner … Cast, Beverly Carlton
- ZaSu Pitts … Cast, Miss Preen
- Buster Keaton … Cast, Dr. Bradley
- Bert Lahr … Cast, Banjo
- Monty Woolley … Cast, Sheridan Whiteside
- Margaret Hamilton … Cast, Sarah
- William Prince … Cast, Bert Jefferson
- Catharine Doucet … Cast, Harriet Stanley
- St. John, Howard … Cast, Mr. Stanley
- Frank Tweddell … Cast, John
- Sylvia Field … Cast, Mrs. Stanley
- Betty Furness … Talent, Westinghouse commercials