Acting
Four Star Playhouse is an American television anthology series that ran from 1952 to 1956, sponsored in its first bi-weekly season by The Singer Company; Bristol-Myers became an alternate sponsor when it became a weekly series in the fall of 1953. The original premise was that Charles Boyer, Ida Lupino, David Niven, and Dick Powell would take turns starring in episodes. However, several other performers took the lead from time to time, including Ronald Colman and Joan Fontaine. Blake Edwards was among the writers and directors who contributed to the series. Edwards created the recurring character of illegal gambling house operator Willie Dante for Dick Powell to play on this series. The character was later revamped and spun off in his own series starring Howard Duff, then-husband of Lupino. The pilot for Meet McGraw, starring Frank Lovejoy, aired here, as did another episode in which Lovejoy recreated his role of Chicago newspaper reporter Randy Stone, from the radio drama Nightbeat.
The Cisco Kid is a half-hour American Western television series starring Duncan Renaldo in the title role, The Cisco Kid, and Leo Carrillo as the jovial sidekick, Pancho. Cisco and Pancho were technically desperados, wanted for unspecified crimes, but instead viewed by the poor as Robin Hood figures who assisted the downtrodden when law enforcement officers proved corrupt or unwilling to help. It was also the first television series to be filmed in color, although few viewers saw it in color until the 1960s.
In a racially mixed American town, a five-year-old black girl falls unnoticed into a hidden, forgotten well on her way to school. Having nothing better to go on, the police follow up a report that the child was seen with a white stranger, and rumors run wild. Before hapless, innocent Claude Packard is even found, popular hysteria has him tried and convicted. But is he guilty?
In Indiana of the early 1800s, conflict once again arises between the United States and Great Britain over territory and boundaries. Each side endeavors to gain the support of the Shawnee Indian tribes in the area. Governor William Henry Harrison enlists the aid of Steve Rubbell, whose friendship with the Shawnee chief Tecumseh goes back to childhood. Tecumseh's leadership of the Shawnee is contested by his brother, known as The Prophet, who sides with the British. Tecumseh, who grew up as a childhood playmate of Steve and of Laura McGregor, loves Steve as a brother and hopes to marry Laura. But Laura is in love with Steve. Laura's father, Shayne McGregor, secretly leads local support of the British against the Americans, even though it risks the life and love of his daughter. Everything comes to a head at the battle of Tippecanoe.
The daughter of famous outlaw Belle Starr arrives at the town where her mother was murdered to find her killer.
Jimmy and Cannonball find the body of Don Muquel after he has been shot and robbed by henchmen Ramsay and Sturgis. Jimmy is accused of the crime by Jose Esteban but the latter's rich uncle, Don Esteban, clears his friend Jimmy. Jose accuses the the settlers, led by John Chambers, of confiscating the land of the native Californians, through murder and theft. Actually, surveyor Willard Jackson is making forged copies of stolen land-grant papers after his men have killed the rightful owners. Playing both ends against the middle, Ramsay urges Chambers and his daughter, Diane, to drive off the Californians.
An American diplomat risks his life to save an Indian prince from an assassination plot designed to ignite a war.
An outcast gambler hijacks a wagon train of eligible women taken west by a mayor.
When Ranger Raymond is killed during a stage holdup, Wells Fargo Agent Whip Wilson assumes his identity.
A homicide detective suspects a playwright who bases his play on a murder.
Jimmy and his pal Cannonball are hired by a rancher and horse breeder to capture Midnight, a wild stallion that has been interfering with local herds and has a reputation as a killer.
Jimmy and Cannonball stumble across a murder scheme, hatched by beautiful but deadly Janice Thompson.
Bad guys trying to steal the mineral rights away from African natives find it isn't so easy fighting Jungle Jim.
Johnny and Banty come in contact with a cattlemen's protective organization. Ostensibly an honest venture, the association is the front for an extortion racket, headed by a gent named Carson.
A Texas Ranger and his partner gallop after a band of desperadoes.
