Ford Star Jubilee
Genre	Anthology
Written by	Maxwell Anderson Herbert Baker Jim Bishop Robert Buckner Carroll Carroll Noël Coward Paul Gregory Ben Hecht John Hersey Jean Holloway Charles MacArthur John Cherry Monks, Jr. Denis Sanders Terry Sanders Franklin J. Schaffner John Tackaberry Herman Wouk
Directed by	Seymour Berns Noël Coward Frederick de Cordova Paul Harrison Delbert Mann James Neilson Ralph Nelson Paul Nickell Franklin J. Schaffner Jerome Shaw
Composer(s)	Frank Denning
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	12
Production
Executive producer(s)	Richard Lewine
Producer(s)	Robert Alton Paul Gregory Lance Hamilton Sidney Luft Ken Murray Jack Rayal Charles Russell Arthur Schwartz
Running time	90 mins. (approx)
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Picture format	Black-and-white
Audio format	Monaural
Original run	September 24, 1955 – November 3, 1956

Ford Star Jubilee was a usually live, ninety minute, color anthology series that aired once a month on Saturday nights on CBS from September 1955 to November 1956, at 9:00 P.M., E.S.T. The series was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company.

[edit] Format

Ford Star Jubilee routinely featured major stars, such as Judy Garland, Betty Grable, Orson Welles, Julie Andrews (at the time that she was preparing for her starring role in My Fair Lady on Broadway), Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Lillian Gish, Charles Laughton, Jack Lemmon, Raymond Massey, Lauren Bacall, Claudette Colbert, Noel Coward, Nat 'King' Cole, Mary Martin, Eddie Fisher, Ella Fitzgerald, Red Skelton and Debbie Reynolds.

Instead of the usual performance created especially for Ford Star Jubilee, the final episode on November 3, 1956 was a special, two-hour presentation of the 1939 MGM theatrical Technicolor film The Wizard of Oz, hosted by Bert Lahr, 10 year old Liza Minnelli and young Oz expert Justin Schiller. This marked the first time that the film had ever been shown on television, and the only time that one of the film's actual stars hosted it. The broadcast was a ratings smash, but the film was not shown on TV again until 1959, when it was presented at 6:00 P.M., E.S.T. rather than 9:00 P.M., this time as a Christmas season special in its own right, not as part of an anthology series. The 1959 telecast was hosted by comedian Red Skelton and his daughter Valentina. This broadcast attracted an even wider audience, because children were able to watch, and thus began the tradition of showing the film annually on television.

Another rare instance of Ford Star Jubilee presenting a filmed, rather than live, program was their 1956 musical version of Maxwell Anderson's High Tor, starring Bing Crosby and Julie Andrews. Music was by Arthur Schwartz, noted composer of such scores as those for The Band Wagon and Revenge with Music. Crosby, according to sources, had insisted the production be filmed rather than presented live, because he did not feel comfortable acting in a live television musical play. ^[1]

Although it was filmed in color, the musical version of High Tor has never been released on VHS or DVD.

[edit] Episodes

[edit] Awards and nominations

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Ford Star Jubilee at the Internet Movie Database
• Ford Star Jubilee at TV.com