Once Upon a Tune
Once Upon a Tune is a weekly half-hour American television series that aired on the DuMont Television Network, premiering on March 6, 1951, and running to May 15, 1951.
| Once Upon a Tune | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Music/Variety |
| Written by | Sid Frank |
| Directed by | Barnaby Smith |
| Starring | Bea Arthur Reginald Beane Charlotte Rae Gordon Dilworth Phil Hanna Holly Harris |
| Composer | Coleman Dowell |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producer | Bob Loewi |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | DuMont |
| Original release | March 6 – May 15, 1951 |
The series presented original musical productions which were often satirical and tongue-in-cheek adaptations of either classic fairy tales or contemporary Broadway musicals. Bea Arthur made her TV debut on this series.[1]
Episode status
The Paley Center for Media holds kinescope copies of three episodes – one spoofing "Three Little Pigs",[2] one spoofing "Rapunzel",[3] and the third on a 57-minute kinescope film reel. (This latter reel also contains an episode of Mr. Dynamite, a TV series or pilot based on an earlier Hollywood movie of the same name based on a Dashiell Hammett story.)[4]
According to Edie Adams, an actress who worked at DuMont for several years, much of the network's programming archive was destroyed in the 1970s.
See also
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