# The Alcoa Hour

The Alcoa Hour is an American anthology television series sponsored by the Alcoa Corporation that aired live on NBC from October 16, 1955, to September 22, 1957.

## Overview

The Alcoa Hour is a one-hour live anthology series that primarily presented dramas but occasionally presented a musical or a comedy.
The series alternated weeks in the same time slot with the Goodyear Television Playhouse until both series ended in 1957.

## Notable episodes

The series's premiere episode, The Black Wings, marked the American TV debut of Ann Todd.
The show garnered press in February 1956 for actor Lloyd Bridges's emotional performance in an episode titled "Tragedy in a Temporary Town", directed by Sidney Lumet. During the performance, Bridges inadvertently slipped in some profanity while ad-libbing. Although the slip of the lip generated hundreds of complaints, the episode won a Robert E. Sherwood Television Award, with Bridges's slip defended by many, including some members of the clergy. The episode, during which an innocent Puerto Rican man is targeted by a mob for a sexual crime, was cited by the Anti-Defamation League as "the best dramatic program of the year dealing with interethnic group relations".
One episode was the telecast of The Stingiest Man in Town, a musical adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, starring Basil Rathbone, Johnny Desmond and Vic Damone. It is the only Alcoa Hour production to be granted an original cast album recording. The Stingiest Man in Town was remade in 1978 as a Rankin-Bass animated cartoon featuring the voice of Walter Matthau as Scrooge, and was also sponsored by Alcoa. Another record album, The Magic Horn (Victor LPM-1332), was "not the soundtrack, but largely a re-creation of the music that was played" on the show's episode "The Magic Horn".

## Episodes
### Series overview

| Season | Episodes | Season Premiere | Season Finale |
| 1 | 24 | 16 October 1955 (1955-10-16) | 2 September 1956 (1956-09-02) |
| 2 | 28 | 16 September 1956 (1956-09-16) | 22 September 1957 (1957-09-22) |

### Season 1 (1955-56)

| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Guest Stars | Original air date |
| 1 | 1 | "The Black Wings" | Wendell Corey, Robert Flemyng, Ann Todd | 16 October 1955 (1955-10-16) |
| 2 | 2 | "The Small Servant" | Laurence Harvey, Halliwell Hobbes, Diane Cilento | 30 October 1955 (1955-10-30) |
| 3 | 3 | "A Girl Can Tell" | Diana Lynn, Natalie Trundy, Carleton Carpenter, Jack Whiting | 13 November 1955 (1955-11-13) |
| 4 | 4 | "Thunder in Washington" | Melvyn Douglas, Ed Begley | 27 November 1955 (1955-11-27) |
| 5 | 5 | "Undertow" | Robert Preston, Teresa Wright, John Kerr, Thomas Mitchell | 11 December 1955 (1955-12-11) |
| 6 | 6 | "Amahl and the Night Visitors" | Rosemary Kuhlman, David Aiken, Leon Lishner, Andrew McKinley | 25 December 1955 (1955-12-25) |
| 7 | 7 | "Man on a Tiger" | Melvyn Douglas, Tony Randall, Keenan Wynn | 8 January 1956 (1956-01-08) |
| 8 | 8 | "A Patch of Faith" | Lee J. Cobb, Robert Emhardt, Theodore Bikel, Miko Oscard, Will Kuluva, Lilia Skala, Nehemiah Persoff (as Nicholas Persoff), Henry Lascoe, George Petalis, Kenneth Sharpe, Luis van Rooten | 22 January 1956 (1956-01-22) |
| 9 | 9 | "Long After Summer" | Robert Preston, Susan Kohner | 5 February 1956 (1956-02-05) |
| 10 | 10 | "Tragedy in Temporary Town" | Ed Binns, Lloyd Bridges, Robert Emhardt | 19 February 1956 (1956-02-19) |
| 11 | 11 | "Man on Fire" | Tom Ewell, Patricia Barry, Neva Patterson, Ed Begley | 4 March 1956 (1956-03-04) |
| 12 | 12 | "Doll Face" | Gene Lyons, Nancy Malone, Glenda Farrell | 18 March 1956 (1956-03-18) |
| 13 | 13 | "Finkle's Contest" | David Opatoshu, Hans Conried, Norman Fell | 1 April 1956 (1956-04-01) |
| 14 | 14 | "Even the Weariest River" | Lee Grant, Boris Karloff, Christopher Plummer, Jason Robards | 15 April 1956 (1956-04-15) |
| 15 | 15 | "Paris and Mrs. Perlman" | Gertrude Berg, Claude Dauphin | 29 April 1956 (1956-04-29) |
| 16 | 16 | "The President" | Claude Rains, Mildred Dunnock, Everett Sloane | 13 May 1956 (1956-05-13) |
| 17 | 17 | "The Confidence Man" | Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy | 27 May 1956 (1956-05-27) |
| 18 | 18 | "The Magic Horn" | Ralph Meeker, Sal Mineo | 10 June 1956 (1956-06-10) |
| 19 | 19 | "The Archangel Harrigan" | Darren McGavin, Frank Aletter, Pat Hingle, Janice Rule | 24 June 1956 (1956-06-24) |
| 20 | 20 | "The Piper of St. James" | Brenda Forbes, Barry Jones, Patrick O'Neal | 8 July 1956 (1956-07-08) |
| 21 | 21 | "Sister" | Gladys Cooper, Cathleen Nesbitt, Vincent Price | 22 July 1956 (1956-07-22) |
| 22 | 22 | "Kiss and Tell" | Robin Morgan, Warren Berlinger | 5 August 1956 (1956-08-05) |
| 23 | 23 | "The Big Vote" | Ed Begley, Walter Matthau | 19 August 1956 (1956-08-19) |
| 24 | 24 | "The Girl in Chapter One" | James Daly, Joanne Woodward | 2 September 1956 (1956-09-02) |

### Season 2 (1956-57)

| No. in series | No. in season | Title | Guest Stars | Original air date |
| 25 | 1 | "Flight into Danger" | Patricia Barry, Macdonald Carey | 16 September 1956 (1956-09-16) |
| 26 | 2 | "The Big Wave" | Hume Cronyn, Carol Lynley, Rip Torn | 30 September 1956 (1956-09-30) |
| 27 | 3 | "Key Largo" | Anne Bancroft, Lorne Greene, Victor Jory | 14 October 1956 (1956-10-14) |
| 28 | 4 | "Morning's at Seven" | Dorothy Gish, Lillian Gish, David Wayne | 4 November 1956 (1956-11-04) |
| 29 | 5 | "Merry Christmas, Mr. Baxter" | Margaret Hamilton, Dennis King, John McGiver | 2 December 1956 (1956-12-02) |
| 30 | 6 | "Adventure in Diamonds" | Gary Merrill, Viveca Lindfors | 9 December 1956 (1956-12-09) |
| 31 | 7 | "The Stingiest Man in Town" | Basil Rathbone, Vic Damone | 23 December 1956 (1956-12-23) |
| 32 | 8 | "A Double Life" | Shelley Winters, Nina Foch, Eric Portman | 6 January 1957 (1957-01-06) |
| 33 | 9 | "Ride the Wild Mare" | Lloyd Bridges, Betty Field, Edward Andrews | 20 January 1957 (1957-01-20) |
| 34 | 10 | "No License to Kill (I)" | Hume Cronyn, Eileen Heckart, Carl Betz, Jack Klugman | 3 February 1957 (1957-02-03) |
| 35 | 11 | "The Animal Kingdom" | Robert Preston, Joanne Linville | 17 February 1957 (1957-02-17) |
| 36 | 12 | "The Last Train to Pusan" | Gary Merrill, Virginia Kaye, Philip Ahn | 3 March 1957 (1957-03-03) |
| 37 | 13 | "The Original Miss Chase" | Nanette Fabray, Darren McGavin | 17 March 1957 (1957-03-17) |
| 38 | 14 | "The Big Build-Up" | E.G. Marshall, George Peppard, Jason Robards | 31 March 1957 (1957-03-31) |
| 39 | 15 | "Nothing to Lose" | Ralph Bellamy, James Whitmore | 14 April 1957 (1957-04-14) |
| 40 | 16 | "Mechanical Manhunt" | Sallie Brophy, Richard Kiley | 28 April 1957 (1957-04-28) |
| 41 | 17 | "Protege" | Skip Homeier, Betsy Palmer, Ed Wynn | 19 May 1957 (1957-05-19) |
| 42 | 18* | TBA | TBA | 2 June 1957 (1957-06-02) |
| 43 | 19 | "Mrs. Gilling and the Skyscraper" | Helen Hayes, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Jack Klugman | 9 June 1957 (1957-06-09) |
| 44 | 20 | "Awake With Fear" | Eddie Bracken, Henry Jones | 23 June 1957 (1957-06-23) |
| 45 | 21 | "Hostages to Fortune" | Anne Bancroft, Rip Torn | 7 July 1957 (1957-07-07) |
| 46 | 22 | "He's For Me" | Roddy McDowall, Larry Blyden, Elaine Stritch | 21 July 1957 (1957-07-21) |
| 47 | 23 | "Weekend in Vermont" | Patricia Barry, Tony Randall | 4 August 1957 (1957-08-04) |
| 48 | 24 | "The Trouble With Women" | Audrey Christie, Walter Matthau | 11 August 1956 (1956-08-11) |
| 49 | 25 | "The Littlest Little Leaguer" | Jacob Kalich, Peter Lazer, Nehemiah Persoff | 25 August 1957 (1957-08-25) |
| 50 | 26 | "No License to Kill (II)" | Eddie Albert, Maureen Stapleton | 1 September 1957 (1957-09-01) |
| 51 | 27 | "14 October 1864" | Alan Nixon, James Pritchett, Clu Gulager | 15 September 1957 (1957-09-15) |
| 52 | 28 | "Night" | E.G. Marshall, Jason Robards, Franchot Tone | 22 September 1957 (1957-09-22) |
*No information found for this episode.

## Production

Herbert Brodkin was the producer. During his 12-week vacation in 1956, associate producer Philip Barry Jr. produced the series. Its first color episode was broadcast on April 19, 1956, from NBC's Brooklyn studio.
The trade publication Billboard reported in September 1956 that the budget for the Alcoa-Goodyear program had been increased to an estimated $65,000 per production for the upcoming season. It had been $45,000 during the previous season. The extra funding was said to allow the shows to "go in more for established properties which have greater exploitation possibilities to awaken audience interest".

## Critical response

Jack Gould, writing in The New York Times, commended the presentation of "The Big Wave" as one that "added further luster to the Alcoa Hour". He commended the director's and producer's conveying the story "to the home screen with deeply understanding fidelity", and noted that the episode "was one of the most rewarding programs yet seen" for viewers who had color receivers.
In contrast, The Times called the series's final episode, "Night", "a pointless and offensive exercise in violence and inanity". The brief review ended with, "There was no excuse at all for this one."