Once Upon a Tune
| Once Upon a Tune | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Music/Variety |
| Written by | Sid Frank |
| Directed by | Barnaby Smith |
| Starring |
Bea Arthur Reginald Beane Charlotte Rae Gordon Dilworth Phil Hanna Holly Harris |
| Composer(s) | Coleman Dowell |
| Country of origin |
 United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Bob Loewi |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | DuMont |
| Picture format | Black-and-white |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | March 6 – May 15, 1951 |
Once Upon a Tune is a weekly half-hour American television series that aired on the DuMont Television Network, premiering on March 6, 1951, and running to May 15, 1951.
The series presented original musical productions which were often satirical and tongue-in-cheek adaptations of either classic fairy tales or contemporary Broadway musicals. Bea Arthur made her TV debut on this series.[1][2]
Episode status
The Paley Center for Media holds kinescope copies of three episodes – one spoofing "Three Little Pigs",[3] one spoofing "Rapunzel",[4] and the third on a 57-minute kinescope film reel. (This latter reel also contains an episode of Mr. Dynamite, a TV series or pilot based on an earlier Hollywood movie of the same name based on a Dashiell Hammett story.)[5]
According to Edie Adams, an actress who worked at DuMont for several years, much of the network's programming archive was destroyed in the 1970s.[6]
See also
- List of programs broadcast by the DuMont Television Network
- List of surviving DuMont Television Network broadcasts
References
Bibliography
- David Weinstein, The Forgotten Network: DuMont and the Birth of American Television (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004) ISBN 1-59213-245-6
- Alex McNeil, Total Television, Fourth edition (New York: Penguin Books, 1980) ISBN 0-14-024916-8
- Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows, Third edition (New York: Ballantine Books, 1964) ISBN 0-345-31864-1