Telephone Time

Seasons

1956

7.1

Anthology series originally featured plays by host, John Nesbitt for season one. Beginning in September 1957, works from other authors were presented as well until series ended in April 1958. Frank Baxter hosted the third and final season.

Episode List

S1 • E1

The Golden Junkman

A Greek immigrant to the US goes to work at a junkyard owned by his friend. As he becomes more successful, he brings his wife and sons over from Greece, but his wife dies in a flu epidemic, leaving him to raise his sons alone. The sons eventually win a scholarship to a prestigious military school, and when they return home they find that their father now has his own "empire" of more than 20 junkyards and is known as "The Golden Junkman". But his success is tempered by the scorn and ridicule heaped on his sons because their "junkman" father's lack of education. He resolves to solve that problem and make his sons as proud of him as he is of them.

S1 • E2

Man with a Beard

A defiant farmer breaks the law of his New England town and grows a beard. Even after he's put on trial he refuses to shave it off.

S1 • E3

Captain from Kopenick

A cobbler posing as a captain absconds with the treasury of a Berlin suburb in 1906. Based upon a true story.

S1 • E4

Boarders Away

A dramatization of the capture of German submarine U-505, the only German sub ever captured in World War II.

S1 • E5

Mystery of Caspar Hauser

A dramatization of the story of Caspar Hauser, a tortured 17-year-old found lying on a street in Nuremberg in 1830.

S1 • E6

The Stepmother

After the death of his spouse, Thomas Lincoln brings home a new wife. Young Abe resents his new stepmother, but she slowly wins him over with her kindness.

S1 • E7

Time Bomb

While in Shanghai a husband races against time to develop insulin for his wife.

S1 • E8

Emperor Norton's Bridge

An old man who fancies himself Emperor of the United and Protector of Mexico becomes an object of ridicule in his home town of San Francisco.

S1 • E9

The Man Who Believed in Fairy Tales

Story of Heinrich Schliemann's quest for truth and riches in the myths he read about.

S1 • E10

Harry in Search of Himself

A drama about Harry Bergh, the founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

S1 • E11

Felix the Fourth

When a mailman in Cuba learns that Cuba has no entries in the 1904 Olympic Games, he vows to enter the Marathon and win.

S1 • E12

Smith of Ecuador

The story of an American engineer's rescue work after the earthquake of August 6, 1949 in Ecuador.

S1 • E13

The Gingerbread Man

During the Revolutionary War, a German baker becomes a secret agent of the Continental Army. He enters British camps as a civilian and talks to Hessian soldiers.

S1 • E14

The Joyful Lunatic

Joseph Priestley, a minister and scientist is up against much when his followers dismiss his scientific findings.

S1 • E15

The Key

Samuel Howe has the daunting task of teaching a young girl blind and deaf from her infancy. After about 200 lessons, he finally discovers the key to breaking through to her.

S1 • E16

Grandpa Changes the World

Once upon a time in Colonial America, publishers could be jailed for libel -- even if the libel was the truth. This is the story of Andrew Hamilton and the Zenger case, which would lead to the modernization of freedom of the press.

S1 • E17

Again the Stars

In Paris at the time of the French Revolution, Dr. Pinel is assigned to oversee the lunatic asylum. He is shocked at the squalor in which the patients are forced to live and sets about to reform the asylum.