About this season
Telephone Time is an American anthology drama series that aired on CBS in 1956, and on ABC from 1957 to 1958. The series features plays by John Nesbitt who hosted the first season. Frank C. Baxter hosted the 1957 and 1958 seasons. The program was directed by Arthur Hiller.
Episodes (17)
1. The Golden Junkman
Aired 8 April 1956
True story of an Armenian immigrant who overcomes all odds to become a wealthy and educated man: after his wife's death, he rears his beloved sons in old-world simplicity, only to have them turn on him and call him an ignorant peddler. Hurt, but not discouraged, he begins to educate himself by studying the encyclopedia and ultimately returns to college to earn his degree and the respect of his children. A hardworking, old-world immigrant raises two sons by himself while becoming very succesfull in the junkyard business. His sons attend the best college, but to the father's dismay, they resent and are embarrassed by his crude style and mannerisms. Undaunted, the man sends himself to college and proves to be a brilliant student with an enclyclopedic mind. The family is lovingly reunited when the boys see their father for the kind, loving, generous, happy, well-liked man that he has become.
2. Man with a Beard
Aired 15 April 1956
3. Captain from Kopenick
Aired 22 April 1956
Based on a real scandal where a cobbler posing as a captain absconded with the treasury of a Berlin suburb in 1906.
4. Borders Away
Aired 29 April 1956
The WW2 story of Captain Dan Gallery. He convinced his superiors he could capture a German U-boat. See the top secret preparation, the planning for booby traps, and the actual boarding and capturing of the U-505 German submarine. This harrowing feat led to the capture of the German code books which helped shorten the war.
5. The Mystery of Caspar Hauser
Aired 6 May 1956
6. The Stepmother
Aired 13 May 1956
7. Time Bomb
Aired 20 May 1956
8. Emperor Norton's Bridge
Aired 27 May 1956
9. The Man Who Believed in Fairy Tales
Aired 3 June 1956
Story of Heinrich Schliemann's quest for truth and riches in the myths he read about.
10. Harry in Search of Himself
Aired 10 June 1956
11. Felix the Fourth
Aired 17 June 1956
12. Smith of Ecuador
Aired 24 June 1956
13. The Gingerbread Man
Aired 1 July 1956
14. Joyful Lunatic
Aired 8 July 1956
15. The Key
Aired 15 July 1956
16. Grandpa Changes the World
Aired 22 July 1956
Far more than courtroom drama, this TRUE STORY about how Alexander Hamilton, attorney to William Penn and the only colonial admitted to the English Bar, came out of retirement to defend a printer accused of libelling the Governor by printing the truth in his newspaper about his corrupt activities. The principals established in this case, as so eloquently argued by Hamilton, had a profound influence on the drafting of the Bill of Rights several years latter. ""Gentlemen, with an impartial, uncorrupted verdict we assure ourselves, our posterity, the right, the liberty of speaking and writing the truth."" As author and host, John Nesbitt says at the conclusion of this drama, ""The great footnote to this story, of course, lies in the Bill of Rights. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Old Andrew Hamilton that day in court was not so much defending his client with law that was already in existence, but was actually creating law that would not be clearly written down for generations to
17. Again the Stars
Aired 29 July 1956