About this season
Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology drama series of the mid-1950s were usually hour-long shows, the title highlighted the network's intention to present something unusual, a weekly series of hour-and-a-half dramas rather than 60-minute plays. Playhouse 90 began as a pitch by Frank Stanton—the formidable, forward-thinking right-hand man to CBS chairman William S. Paley—during a brainstorming session for program ideas. The project was ultimately developed by Hubbell Robinson, a CBS vice president who received no screen credit on Playhouse 90 but is often described as its creator.
Episodes (17)
1. Target for Three
Aired 1 October 1959 • 90 min
Three conspirators plan the death of a South American head of state.
2. The Sounds of Eden
Aired 15 October 1959 • 90 min
Three different viewpoints of the same story - a kidnapping and its aftermath.
3. Misalliance
Aired 29 October 1959 • 90 min
A group of people gathered at a wealthy man's country home on a summer weekend engage in an exploration of their varied romantic entanglements.
4. The Hidden Image
Aired 12 November 1959 • 90 min
A journalist out to expose political corruption finds his family is in danger.
5. The Grey Nurse Said Nothing
Aired 26 November 1959 • 90 min
In Australia, a landowner is arrested for murder - but where's the body?
6. The Tunnel
Aired 10 December 1959 • 90 min
In the Civil War, a tunnel is dug under Confederate lines, and filled with explosives.
7. The Silver Whistle
Aired 24 December 1959 • 90 min
The old people's home is a pretty miserable place - until the arrival of the mysterious Mr. Erwenter.
8. John Brown's Raid
Aired 14 January 1960 • 90 min
The story of abolitionist John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry.
9. A Dream of Treason
Aired 21 January 1960 • 90 min
A State Department official is required to leak a confidential document - which may have terrible repercussions.
10. To the Sound of Trumpets
Aired 10 February 1960 • 90 min
In Paris, a former soldier is alarmed when the girl he has fallen in love with demonstrates a rather naïve and romanticized attitude to war.
11. The Cruel Day
7.0Aired 24 February 1960 • 90 min
Violence and brutality greet a French Army captain when he arrives in Algeria to assume command of a remote outpost. He is appalled by the savage massacre of an Algerian family by the Rebels. When the French take a prisoner who knows the names of Rebel leaders, the captain is told that torture is the only way to make him talk. Then the captain meets the prisoner - a handsome, intelligent teenage boy.
12. Tomorrow
Aired 7 March 1960 • 90 min
Slow witted, and tired, Fentry leads a lonely life of grinding poverty in his sharecropper's shack until a sick, pregnant woman escaping her abusive husband comes there. He takes her in and cares for her, eventually falling in love with her.
13. The Hiding Place
Aired 22 March 1960 • 90 min
In the last days of World War II, two English airmen are captured by an ordinary German citizen, who, instead of handing them over to the authorities, keeps them prisoner in his cellar, neglecting to tell them when the war ends.
14. Alas, Babylon
Aired 3 April 1960 • 90 min
Americans try to cope with the aftermath of a nuclear catastrophe.
15. Journey to the Day
Aired 22 April 1960 • 90 min
Patients at a mental hospital meet for a group therapy session.
16. The Shape of the River
Aired 2 May 1960 • 90 min
Determined to pay off his debts, Mark Twain sets off on a lecture tour.
17. In the Presence of Mine Enemies
Aired 16 May 1960 • 90 min
In the Warsaw ghetto, a Jewish man seeks revenge for the rape of his sister by a German soldier.