The Green Pastures (1959) | Partial Kinescope of the Live TV Production

The second half of the 1959 production of The Green Pastures. It was broadcast in color, but B&W kinescope seem to be the only preserved copies . To my best knowledge, it was not recorded on Color Videotape (NBC began recording shows in color in 1958. This was done for CBS). This is incomplete, transferred from 16mm film elements. I don't know if there are any copies of the full show in existence. This footage is very rare. Another gem from the Out of The Woods Collection.
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Credited cast:
William Warfield William Warfield ... De Lawd
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson ... Noah
Vinnette Carroll Vinnette Carroll ... Angel
Terry Carter Terry Carter ... Gabriel
Bill Dillard Bill Dillard ... King of Babylon (as William Dillard)
Sheila Guyse Sheila Guyse ... Zeba
Hilda Haynes Hilda Haynes ... Angel
Estelle Hemsley Estelle Hemsley ... Mrs. Deshee
Earle Hyman Earle Hyman ... Adam
The Leonard De Paur Chorus The Leonard De Paur Chorus ... Themselves
Avon Long Avon Long ... First Gambler
Mantan Moreland Mantan Moreland
Frederick O'Neal Frederick O'Neal

""The Hallmark Hall of Fame, for the first time in its distinguished history, will repeat a show next Monday, March 23. The play is Marc Connelly's adaptation of his stage play "The Green Pastures." Mildred Freed Alberg, Hall-mark's executive producer, ex-plained the reason for the repeat. "The number of phone calls, wires and letters after the first show was overwhelming. Also, a lot of people didn't see the show. You may recall that the first time we did it (Oct. 17, 1957) we were in the same time period as the Mike Todd party from Madison Square Garden. Mike outdrew us almost two to one. We thought it especially ap-propriate to offer this drama again during the Easter season." Most of the show's all-Negro cast assembled for the first TV production will be in the repeat showing. William Warfield again will play De Lawd, and Eddie (Rochester) Anderson will be back as Noah. Connelly's play opened in New York Feb. 26, 1930, winning the Pulitzer Prize that year. It ran for 640 performances before going on the road for five years, when it was reportedly seen in 112 cities. Abroad, the play ran into dif-ficulty. It was banned from Eng-land by virtue of an old law for-bidding portrayal of God by an actor. In Stockholm the actors were pelted with garbage for what an irate Swedish press called "religious lampoonery." The play has been revived on Broadway twice and was made into a movie in 1936. Eddie Anderson played Noah in the film too. This second time on TV will be a duplicate of the first as far as cast size (80), expensive sets and production staff are concerned. Miss Alberg expects one change: a tremendously increased audience. " - TV Guide March 21, 1959

Shared for historical purposes. I do not own the rights.

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