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.
Playhouse 90 (Season 1)
Forbidden Area 2.0
Air date: 1956-10-04
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: Why are so many B-99 bombers from Hibiscus Air Base crashing or simply disappearing? Colonel Price comes up with a terrifying explanation, but will anyone believe him?
Requiem for a Heavyweight 0.0
Air date: 1956-10-11
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: An over-the-hill heavyweight boxing champion who suffers from the ravages of years of head trauma is exploited by his manager, despite the efforts of a compassionate young woman who tries to help him recover his self-respect.
Sizeman and Son 0.0
Air date: 1956-10-18
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: The happy atmosphere in Mr. Sizeman's factory is disrupted by an argumentative newcomer - his son.
Rendezvous in Black 0.0
Air date: 1956-10-25
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A woman is inexplicably killed on a street-corner. What has this to do with other deaths around the city?
The Country Husband 0.0
Air date: 1956-11-01
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: After a near-death experience, a businessman starts to re-think his life, and wonders about leaving his wife.
The Big Slide 0.0
Air date: 1956-11-08
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A vaudeville comic becomes a silent film star.
Heritage of Anger 0.0
Air date: 1956-11-15
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A wealthy industrialist has trouble with his sons.
Eloise 0.0
Air date: 1956-11-22
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: It's not so much that Eloise is a mischievous child, but the darnedest things do happen when she's around.
Confession 0.0
Air date: 1956-11-29
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: When a much-admired community leader dies, a journalist starts to investigate his life - and finds he was not the man he seemed.
Made in Heaven 0.0
Air date: 1956-12-06
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: When Zachary and Elsa separate, each seems tempted to start a new love affair.
Sincerely, Willis Wade 0.0
Air date: 1956-12-13
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A wealthy mill owner finances the education of a clever, but poor, young man.
The Family Nobody Wanted 0.0
Air date: 1956-12-20
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A true story, it follows a pastor and his wife through forties beginning with one biological child, Donny. But the upheaval of the war years results in a number of mixed raced children that the Doss family adopt until they have 12 children.
Massacre at Sand Creek 0.0
Air date: 1956-12-27
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: An investigation into a massacre of Native Americans.
Snowshoes: A Comedy of People and Horses 0.0
Air date: 1957-01-03
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: Some racetrack Johnnies are talking between races when one wonders if you can hypnotize a horse into thinking it's a champion. The idea sets in motion a series of hilarious events.
The Ninth Day 0.0
Air date: 1957-01-10
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: Events in the aftermath of World War Three.
So Soon to Die 0.0
Air date: 1957-01-17
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: Down on his luck, war hero Lionel Amblin contemplates committing a murder.
The Star Wagon 0.0
Air date: 1957-01-24
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: An inventor, pondering on how he might differently have arranged his life, invents a time machine and decides to make a few changes.
The Greer Case 0.0
Air date: 1957-01-31
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: When a rich woman dies without signing her new will, all kinds of problems ensue.
The Miracle Worker 0.0
Air date: 1957-02-07
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: The story of Anne Sullivan's struggle to teach the blind and deaf Helen Keller how to communicate.
The Comedian 6.0
Air date: 1957-02-14
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: Sammy Hogarth, a vaudeville comedian who now has his own TV show, is a ruthless egomaniac who demands instant obedience from his staff and heaps abuse on those in lesser positions than his. His most vituperative behavior, however, is reserved for his weak-willed brother, Lester, whom Sammy has hired as his assistant but whom he really uses as his whipping boy.
One Coat of White 0.0
Air date: 1957-02-21
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A newly-widowed woman goes on a trip to Europe and meets a French artist.
The Blackwell Story 0.0
Air date: 1957-02-28
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: In the 19th century, Elizabeth Blackwell determines to become a doctor.
Invitation to a Gunfighter 0.0
Air date: 1957-03-07
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A gunfighter is terrorizing a small western town. The townspeople finally pool their money to a hire another gunfighter to drive him out of town. The townsfolk thought they had it bad until they handed the reigns over to the new terror. Pooling their money again, this time to hire Jeffers to get rid of Dancer.
The Last Tycoon 0.0
Air date: 1957-03-14
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A movie producer is slowly working himself to death.
The Hostess with the Mostes' 0.0
Air date: 1957-03-21
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: The story of Perle Mesta, who became, first, a renowned society hostess, and then an ambassadress.
Where's Charley? 0.0
Air date: 1957-03-28
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: Lord Fancourt Babberley is forced to disguise himself as a woman - his aunt from Brazil, "where the nuts come from".
Clipper Ship 0.0
Air date: 1957-04-04
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A romance on the high seas revolving around the comely widow of a shipping magnate, and her growing love for a handsome young political prisoner who was scheduled to be put to death when the vessel reached its destination. Though unyielding at first, the ship's stern captain eventually helped the woman to make a clean getaway, with the condemned man in tow.
If You Knew Elizabeth 0.0
Air date: 1957-04-11
Runtime: 90 min
Three Men on a Horse 0.0
Air date: 1957-04-18
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A meek salesman with an uncanny ability to pick horses is virtually kidnapped by a trio of gamblers.
Four Women in Black 0.0
Air date: 1957-04-25
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: Four nuns, led by Sister Teresa, begin a treacherous journey across the Arizona desert in 1870. Their faith enables them to deal with the challenges of nature and the hostility of their fellow mankind.
Child of Trouble 0.0
Air date: 1957-05-02
Runtime: 90 min
Homeward Borne 0.0
Air date: 1957-05-09
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: Just after World War Two ends, an American woman takes in a Polish war orphan boy, a concentration camp survivor. But conflict arises when her husband, a returning Air Force bomber pilot, hates the boy and his psychological baggage.
The Helen Morgan Story 0.0
Air date: 1957-05-16
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: Broadway legend Helen Morgan 's life as told by her mother, from her early start in second rate speakeasies to star of top rated shows and owning her own club. Also seen is her poor choices, such as her affair with a married man, her short marriage to a much younger man, a court fight over an adopted baby and her fatal descent into booze addiction.
Winter Dreams 0.0
Air date: 1957-05-23
Runtime: 90 min
Circle of the Day 0.0
Air date: 1957-05-30
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: On her tenth wedding anniversary (which is also her daughter's birthday), a wife begins to suspect her husband of unfaithfulness.
Without Incident 0.0
Air date: 1957-06-06
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: Captain Russell Bidlack, commander of a U.S. Cavalry unit in 1870, determines to complete a rescue mission through dangerous Indian territory. In the course of the mission, he rescues the wives of two slain traders and captures the Indian chief accused of the murders. When he returns to the fort, he's faced with a revolt among his own men.
Clash by Night 0.0
Air date: 1957-06-13
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: Mae Doyle comes back to her hometown a cynical woman. Her brother Joe fears that his love, fish cannery worker Peggy, may wind up like Mae. Mae marries Jerry and has a baby; she is happy but restless, drawn to Jerry's friend Earl.
Ain't No Time for Glory 0.0
Air date: 1957-06-20
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: American soldiers must use stealth to take over a German command post in Normandy.
The Fabulous Irishman 0.0
Air date: 1957-06-27
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: Romanticized life story of Robert Briscoe, the first Jewish Lord Mayor of Dublin.
Seasons
Episodes 39
Episodes 40
Episodes 38
Episodes 17