Classic TV: Kraft Suspense Theatre (1963)

 Anthology series, especially those with a sponsor's name attached or with a name celebrity (i.e. Bob Hope, Fred Astaire) as host, were big in the 50's & 60's.

Kraft already had NBC's Kraft Music Hall, which ran for a number of years. In 1963, Kraft, NBC, & Universal partnered with singer Perry Como's production company, which was also running the Music Hall, to develop Kraft Suspense Theatre.

In those days, it was common for series to average over 30 episodes a season, enough for syndication after two seasons, which is why Suspense Theatre was re-edited without the Kraft name when it surfaced on local channels in the 70's.

One first season episode, "Once Upon a Savage Night", with Ted Knight, Charles McGraw, Philip Abbott, & Robert Ridgely, was later reissued and expanded as the feature film, "Nightmare in Chicago", which aired in late night on WTEN, Knight's former employer, one Saturday night when I happened across it. We'll look at that another day. We had it before, but it's been taken down twice.

Anyway, we'll offer up the season 1 intro. Theme music composed by future Oscar winner John Williams.

"Savage Night" is the only episode I know, and we'll be looking at individual episodes later. Most of the copies now are under the alternate syndication title, Crisis. 

Rating: A.