| General Electric Theater | |
|---|---|
 Ronald Reagan, host | |
| Genre | Anthology series |
| Presented by | Ronald Reagan |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 10 |
| No. of episodes | 302 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company | Revue Studios |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | February 1, 1953 (1953-02-01) – June 3, 1962 (1962-06-03) |
General Electric Theater is an Americananthology series hosted byRonald Reagan that was broadcast onCBS radio andtelevision. The series was sponsored byGeneral Electric's Department of Public Relations.
After an audition show on January 18, 1953, titledThe Token, withDana Andrews, theradio series, a summer replacement forThe Bing Crosby Program, debuted on CBS on July 9,1953, withRonald Colman in an episode based onRandom Harvest. With such guest stars asCary Grant,Irene Dunne,Van Johnson,Jane Wyman,William Holden,Alan Young,Dorothy McGuire,John Hodiak,Ann Blyth,James Mason,Joan Fontaine, andJudy Garland the series continued until October 1, 1953. Jaime del Valle produced and directed the show. Ken Carpenter was the host and announcer.Wilbur Hatch supplied the music.
The television version of the program, produced byMCA-TV/Revue, was broadcast every Sunday evening at 9:00 pm EST, beginning February 11953, and ending June 31962. Each of the estimated 209[1] television episodes was an adaptation of anovel,short story,play,film, or magazinefiction. An exception was the 1954 episode "Music for Christmas", which featured choral directorFred Waring and his groupThe Pennsylvanians performingChristmas music.Jacques Tourneur directed four episodes, "The Martyr'" (1955), "Into the Night" (1955), "Aftermath" (1960) and Star Witness “The Lili Parrish Story" (1961). The April 24, 1960, episode, "Adam's Apples", was thepilot for thesituation comedyIchabod and Me, which aired on CBS during the1961–1962 television season.[citation needed]
On September 26, 1954, Ronald Reagan debuted as the only host of the program. GE added a host to provide continuity in the anthology format. The show'sNielsen ratings improved from #27 in the 1953–1954 season to #17 in 1954–1955, followed #11 in 1955–1956, #3 in 1956–1957, #7 in 1957–1958, #26 in 1958–1959, #23 in 1959–1960, and #20 in 1960–1961.[2]
Reagan's contract with GE also entailed work as amotivational speaker for the company.[3] After eight years as host, Reagan estimated he had visited 135 GE research and manufacturing facilities, and met over 250,000 people. During that time, he would also speak at other forums such asRotary clubs andMoose lodges, presenting views on economic progress that in form and content were often similar to what he said in introductions,segues, and closing comments on the show as a spokesman for GE. Reagan, who would later be known as "The Great Communicator" because of his oratorical ability, often credited these engagements as helping him develop his public-speaking abilities.
Among the guest stars on the anthology were:
Michael Reagan, adopted son of Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman, contends thatAttorney General of the United StatesRobert F. Kennedy pressured GE to cancelThe General Electric Theater or at least to fire Reagan as the host if the program were to continue. The series was not dropped because of low ratings but political intervention, the younger Reagan still maintains. Michael claimed that Robert Kennedy told GE officials that the company would receive no federal contracts so long as Reagan was host of the series. Michael noted the irony that his father's dismissal propelled Reagan into the political arena, and eighteen years afterwards, Reagan would take the oath of office as U.S. president. Kennedy's directive is another example of the "law of unintended consequences". Had Kennedy stayed out of GE contract matters, likely there would have been no Governor or President Reagan.[7]
FromReagan: The Life, H.W. Brands, Anchor Books, New York 2015
Page 124–125: Reagan's jeremiads against encroaching government cited theTennessee Valley Authority (TVA) as a case in point – until he got wind that TVA executives were listening and wondering to General Electric's boss, Ralph Cordiner, why they shouldn't shift their purchases to a more appreciative company. Cordiner said he wouldn't censor Reagan – a move that caused Reagan to censor himself. Reagan recalled saying: “Mr Cordiner, what would you say if I could make my speech just as effectively without mentioning TVA?” [He also recalled the response:] “Well, it would make my job easier.” Reagan concluded the story “Dropping TVA from my speech was no problem.” [This quote is taken directly fromWhere's the Rest of Me?, Ronald Reagan with Richard G. Hublen, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, New York, 1965, pp. 269–270]
Page 131: In 1961, the Justice Department launched a probe into price-fixing in the electrical equipment industry. General Electric was a prime target. Corporate management decided prudence lay in avoiding anything that raised the company's profile needlessly. Reagan's attacks on big government did just that. .... The company offered to keep him on pitching commercial products if he would stop talking politics. ...He decided the reduced stage was too small.
FromAn American Life, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1990, page 137: “In 1962, there was a change in management at General Electric that brought an end to my satisfying eight-year relationship with the company. Ralph Cordiner was retiring and the new management asked me, in addition to continuing as host of theGE Theater, to go on the road and become a pitchman for General Electric products – in other words, become a salesman. I told them that after developing such a following by speaking out about the issues I believed in, I wasn't going to go out and peddle toasters.
FromWhen Character was King, Peggy Noonan, Penguin, New York, 2001, page 84:, New management asked him to stay on....but go on the road and pitch GE products. They insisted. He said no. They cancelled.
Don Herbert, a television personality well known as the host ofWatch Mr. Wizard, appeared as the "General Electric Progress Reporter", adding a scientific touch to the institutional advertising pitch. The show was produced byRevue Studios, whose successor-in-interest,NBC Universal Television, was co-owned by GE.
FollowingGeneral Electric Theater's cancellation in 1962, the series was replaced in the same time slot by the short-lived GE-sponsoredGE True, hosted byJack Webb.
On March 17, 2010, General Electric presented Reagan's widowNancy Davis Reagan with video copies of 208 episodes ofGeneral Electric Theater, to be donated to theRonald Reagan Presidential Library.[8]
On April 20, 2010, a "lost" live episode ofGeneral Electric Theater – "The Dark, Dark Hours", which originally aired on December 12, 1954 – was uncovered by NBC writerWayne Federman, who was working on a television retrospective for the Reagan Centennial Celebration.[9] The episode was noteworthy because it teamed Ronald Reagan withJames Dean. Highlights were broadcast on theCBS Evening News,NBC Nightly News, andGood Morning America.
