September 14, 1966 (1966-09-14) – May 4, 1967 (1967-05-04)
ABC Stage 67 is the umbrella title for a series of 26 weekly American television shows that included dramas,
variety shows, documentaries and original musicals.[1]
It premiered on
ABC on September 14, 1966, with
Murray Schisgal's The Love Song of Barney Kempinski,[2] directed by
Stanley Prager and starring
Alan Arkin as a man enjoying the sights and sounds of New York City in his last remaining hours of bachelorhood. Arkin was nominated for an
Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance By An Actor in a Leading Role in a Drama and the program was nominated as Outstanding Dramatic Program.[3]
Ultimately, ABC's effort to revive the popular anthology series format from the 1950s failed.[2] Scheduled first against I Spy on Wednesdays and then The Dean Martin Show on Thursdays, the show consistently received low ratings. Its last production, an adaptation of
Jean Cocteau's one-woman play The Human Voice starring
Ingrid Bergman, was shown on May 4, 1967.
The Kennedy Wit (aired October 5, 1966) featured Jack Paar discussing
John F. Kennedy's speeches with
David Powers, who served as Special Assistant to the President in the
White House and was the original curator of the
Kennedy Library.
Sex in the Sixties (aired January 12, 1967), a documentary about the changing sexual mores of the decade, included discussions with
William Masters and
Virginia E. Johnson, authors of Human Sexual Response,[5] and Playboy's
Hugh Hefner.
The American Boy (aired March 9, 1967) was a trio of films about adolescent boys living in the city, the suburbs, and the country. One of the three, Skaterdater, had been nominated for a 1965
Academy Award as Best Live Action Short, and was the winner of nine international film festival awards, including the
Palme D'Or at
Cannes.
I'm Getting Married (aired March 16, 1967),[2] a musical satire by
Betty Comden,
Adolph Green and
Jule Styne. The two-character story features
Dick Shawn as an up-and-coming businessman who is about to marry
Anne Bancroft but can only focus on getting ahead in his career.
The Human Voice (aired May 4, 1967) was an adaptation of
Jean Cocteau's 1930 one-woman play about a woman's conversation with her former lover. It starred
Ingrid Bergman and was directed by Canadian director
Ted Kotcheff. Bergman had previously released a commercial recording of the play on Caedmon Records in 1960.[6]
Unaired episode
A behind the scenes documentary of a May 1966 British concert tour by the musician
Bob Dylan was promoted by the network as a forthcoming episode. Eat the Document, as the film was later titled, was never shown as part of the series. Editing delays and an un-television "art house" choice of camera technique are believed to be the reasons.
References
^Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (2007). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present (9th ed.). New York: Ballantine Books.
ISBN978-0-345-49773-4.
^
abcdefgTerrace, Vincent (2009). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2007 (Volume 1 A-E). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc.
ISBN978-0-7864-3305-6.
^O'Neil, Thomas (2000). The Emmys (3rd ed.). New York: Berkley Publishing Group.
ISBN0-399-52611-0.
^
abTerrace, Vincent (1976). The Complete Encyclopedia of Television Programs 1947-1976 (Vol. 1). South Brunswick and New York: A.S. Barnes and Company.
ISBN0-498-01561-0.