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 3)
The Plot to Kill Stalin 0.0
Air date: 1958-09-25
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: In late 1952, an aging and increasingly paranoid Stalin puts in motion a purge against his doctors, with anti-Semitic overtones. His lackeys, including Khrushchev, Molotov and Beria, fear it will spread to the Politburo, and plan to strike first.
Days of Wine and Roses 0.0
Air date: 1958-10-02
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: An alcoholic falls in love with and gets married to a young woman, whom he systematically addicts to booze so they can share his "passion" together.
The Time of Your Life 0.0
Air date: 1958-10-09
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: William Saroyan's Pulitzer Prize-winning play revolves around the denizens of a San Francisco bar in 1939. Lonely, lovelorn, weary or cynical, the characters drift in and out of the bar and each other's lives, giving voice to Saroyan's philosophies as they randomly comment about the impending world war, the beauty of art, and traditional notions of good and evil.
The Long March 0.0
Air date: 1958-10-16
Runtime: 90 min
Shadows Tremble 0.0
Air date: 1958-10-23
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: An elderly immigrant tries to buy an old house in New England and is opposed by snobbish locals.
Word from a Sealed-Off Box 0.0
Air date: 1958-10-30
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A courier for the Dutch Resistance is captured by the Nazis.
Heart of Darkness 0.0
Air date: 1958-11-06
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A trading company manager travels up an African river to find a missing outpost head and discovers the depth of evil in humanity's soul.
Old Man 0.0
Air date: 1958-11-20
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: To fight a Mississippi flood in 1927, a prison farm releases some convicts.
The Return of Ansel Gibbs 0.0
Air date: 1958-11-27
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: After years in retirement, Ansel Gibbs is asked to return to government service.
Free Weekend 0.0
Air date: 1958-12-04
Runtime: 90 min
Seven Against the Wall 0.0
Air date: 1958-12-11
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: The story of the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre of 1929.
The Nutcracker 0.0
Air date: 1958-12-25
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: This telecast of George Balanchine's famous production was broadcast only four years after it was premiered by the New York City Ballet. This was the only episode of the series televised in color.
Face of a Hero 0.0
Air date: 1959-01-01
Runtime: 90 min
The Wings of the Dove 0.0
Air date: 1959-01-08
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: An impoverished woman who has been forced to choose between a privileged life with her wealthy aunt and her journalist lover, befriends an American heiress. When she discovers the heiress is attracted to her own lover and is dying, she sees a chance to have both the privileged life she cannot give up and the lover she cannot live without.
The Blue Men 0.0
Air date: 1959-01-15
Runtime: 90 min
The Velvet Alley 0.0
Air date: 1959-01-22
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: Ernie Pandish has tried to be a writer for years and has never made much money out of it. But now he seems likely to hit the big-time.
A Quiet Game of Cards 0.0
Air date: 1959-01-29
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A few friends meet each weekend for a quiet game of cards. But they're bored with poker and, in trying to find another diversion, gradually find themselves plotting a hypothetical murder. It is hypothetical, isn't it?
Child of Our Time 0.0
Air date: 1959-02-05
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: War deprives Tanguy of his childhood. When his mother returns to Spain to oppose the Franco regime, he is left in Nazi-occupied Marseilles, France.
The Second Man 0.0
Air date: 1959-02-12
Runtime: 90 min
The Raider 0.0
Air date: 1959-02-19
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A corporate raider plans a hostile takeover. To stall him, pressure is put on a scientist to rush through a new type of engine before all necessary tests have been completed.
The Ding-A-Ling Girl 0.0
Air date: 1959-02-26
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A housewife is offered a Hollywood contract. She'd rather stay home, but her husband has ambitions for her.
Made in Japan 0.0
Air date: 1959-03-05
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A young soldier in occupied Japan after World War II falls in love with a lovely Japanese girl, but is horrified about what his prejudiced family in Philadelphia will think if he takes her home with him.
For Whom the Bell Tolls: Part 1 0.0
Air date: 1959-03-12
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: During the Spanish Civil War, an American allied with the Republicans finds romance during a desperate mission to blow up a strategically important bridge.
For Whom the Bell Tolls: Part 2 0.0
Air date: 1959-03-19
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: The completion of the mission has tragic consequences.
A Trip to Paradise 0.0
Air date: 1959-03-26
Runtime: 90 min
In Lonely Expectation 0.0
Air date: 1959-04-02
Runtime: 90 min
The Day Before Atlanta 0.0
Air date: 1959-04-09
Runtime: 90 min
Judgment at Nuremberg 0.0
Air date: 1959-04-16
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: In the later stages of the Nuremberg Trials, four German judges are accused of perverting the course of justice.
A Corner of the Garden 0.0
Air date: 1959-04-23
Runtime: 90 min
Dark December 0.0
Air date: 1959-04-30
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: During World War II, an army doctor struggles to convert a Franciscan monastery into a field hospital.
Diary of a Nurse 0.0
Air date: 1959-05-07
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: The daily emergencies and stresses of a major city's hospital ward as seen through the eyes of nurse Gail Lucas.
A Marriage of Strangers 0.0
Air date: 1959-05-14
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: Marry in haste, repent at leisure? Well, maybe.
Out of Dust 0.0
Air date: 1959-05-21
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: On a cattle drive across the prairie, the sons of a wealthy cattle baron plot his death.
The Rank and File 9.0
Air date: 1959-05-28
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A powerful union leader is interrogated by a Senate committee. Testifying before a Senate, William Kilcoyne tells the story of his career. He began as a factory worker and his shrewdness and ambition carried him up through the ranks to his present position as head of a large union.
The Killers of Mussolini 0.0
Air date: 1959-06-04
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: As the Salo Republic crumbles around him, Mussolini, along with his mistress and several of his ministers flee with retreating Nazi soldiers, but are caught at the town of Dongo by red partisans. All are brutally executed without trial.
Project Immortality 0.0
Air date: 1959-06-11
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: Key defense scientist Doner has cancer. Schramm is assigned to code Doner's thinking into a computer. He gets to know him as a friend, a husband and father. The project is successful, but he now knows identity is not programmable.
Dark as the Night 0.0
Air date: 1959-06-18
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A British politician finds himself open to blackmail because of the indiscretion of his American wife.
The Second Happiest Day 0.0
Air date: 1959-06-25
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A man about to be married recalls the day his life changed permanently.
Seasons
Episodes 39
Episodes 40
Episodes 38
Episodes 17