September 13, 1954 - May 27, 1970

A portrait of Abraham Lincoln on the 150th anniversary of his birth. This program concentrates on the final four years of Lincoln's life and his presidency. Thomas Mitchell introduces the program, and does one commercial for the sponsor, (The Lincoln Life Insurance Company). This presentation was a repeat of its premiere airing one year before, February 11, 1959. Alexander Scourby narrates from Richard Hanser's script, quoting mostly in the words of Abraham Lincoln. Robert Russell Bennett's score incorporates songs of the time. Donald B. Hyatt produced and directed. This broadcast received many outstanding awards but was never aired again. 

For this extraordinary documentary producer Donald B. Hyatt developed the "stills-in-motion" technique  which involved the animation of thousands of still photographs and non filmed visual materials. However, just listening to the narrative sound track by Alexander  Scourby, the incredible score, using music of the times, orchestrated by Robert Russell Bennett, coupled with the narrative written by Richard Hanser, including  salient quotations expressed by President Abraham Lincoln, makes for an exhilarating interpretation, insight and appreciation of Lincoln's presidency, and what he endured  during his administration during the Civil War (1861-1865). 

In 1954 Henry Solomon, along with Donald B. Hyatt, Issac Kleinerman, Richard Hanser, and Robert Russell Bennett, began production on a group of compilation documentaries they named PROJECT 20. Salomon and company periodically produced special broadcasts for NBC recreating the lives, events, periods, and trends of the 1900's through an effective marriage of archival news film and still photos, long before contemporary Ken Burns picked up the baton to do similar approach documentaries  broadcast on PBS beginning in the 1980's. 

There were 33 produced Project 20 NBC Specials in the series. Eleven of them were enhanced with narration provided by the mellifluous Alexander Scourby. The series became universally recognized as one of  American television's most enduring and honored series, winning hundreds of national and international awards for broadcasts, including two prime time Emmy Awards.                          

January 23, - July 16, 1960.

A prime time our-long documentary series hosted by Chet Huntley and Frank McGee.

A repeat showing of the special Easter time program first presented on NBC on April 16, 1960; filmed in the Holy Land without actors, it traces the route Jesus took through Jerusalem as he bore the cross to his crucifixion on Calvary. Frank McGee introduces the program. Last years presentation was a part of the World Wide 60 series.  Music conducted by Jacques Belasco.  

Narrated by Alexander Scourby.
Norman Rose contributes the biblical voice.  

                       

America's participation in World War I is chronicled.  Alexander Scourby narrates.  Produced by Henry Salomon.  Written by Salomon and Richard Hanser.  Music by Robert Russell Bennett.  Premiere broadcast was Oct. 16, 1956.    

A Reviewer's Comment:

   I am a professional musician, so I am probably a little more aware of the background music than many other viewers, but I need to mention that one can shut the picture or one's eyes and just concentrate on the score and Alexander Scourby's voice to have a rather enjoyable hour, for the music is non-stop for the entire hour. 

More than one poet has tried to capture all of America in a single work.But how would it be if the works of many poets were stitched together into a sampler portrait of America? That's what tonight's program has done, drawing on such writers as Edgar Allan Poe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, e.e.Cummings and Allen Ginsberg. The major work of the evening is Robert Frost's "Death Of The Hired Man," with Peggy Wood as Mary, Alexander Scourby as Silas and James Whitmore, the show's narrator, as Warren. "The People Yes," by Carl Sandburg,is also heard.                                       

Profile of bandleader Benny Goodman that covers his childhood in Chicago, his rise to fame and his world travels, particularly his 1961 trip to Russia. Narrated by Alexander Scourby. 

Dupe Of Number 371.                         

World's Fair opening night.  

Guests include Fred MacMurray, Walt Disney, Alexander Scourby, and Lorne Greene. 

Host: Henry Fonda.                                                

Jonathan Winters and his guests, Buster Keaton, Julie Newmar and Fred Clark satirize Hollywood. Alexander Scourby also guests as narrator.             

An NBC Television SPECIAL:

 A look into German death concentration camps during World War 11. The play is set in a courtroom where witnesses confront the accused who represent real people. Alexander Scourby introduces the play. The cast is comprised of those actors who performed in this play on Broadway (1966).  
Commercials deleted. 


THE INVESTIGATION dramatizes testimonies by Nazi death-camp inmates. Adapted from the Peter Weiss Broadway play.

For years, the machinery of Auschwitz consumed them, millions upon millions. Statistics cannot communicate the horror; adjectives cannot describe the nightmare. It is only through the testimonies of the survivors that we can understand what took place, and that it COULD HAPPEN AGAIN!

The play is set in a courtroom where witnesses confront the accused (represented by real people). The atrocities which occurred less than an quarter of a century ago are related calmly and quietly. With equal reserve, the accused reply, "WE ONLY OBEYED ORDERS." 

NOTE:
This color taped 90 minute SPECIAL PRIME TIME NBC TV broadcast is not extant IN ANY FORM, VIDEO, AUDIO (with the exception of the master 1/4" reel to reel recording archived by Archival Television Audio, Inc.), or TRNASCRIPT. It was not archived by NBC or  archived by the major museums in the USA (Paley Center for Media, UCLA Film & TV Archive, Library of Congress, Museum of Broadcasting). 

Even more sadly noted and unexplained is that there is NO REFERENCE to this broadcast title on the internet, or listed as an IMDb entry.

The one listing of this title can be found in The Library of Congress as a rare theater program Playbill, ONLY (found in the Richard L. Coe Theater Programs Collection).

It is interesting to note some of the following review excerpts from Variety Television Reviews:

“The NBC presentation deserves all the recognition it may get as one of the outstanding programs of the season.”

“If to forget history is to be compelled to relive it, this dramatized presentation could not be aired often enough.”

"THE INVESTIGATION" WAS REPEATED AND AIRED ON SUNDAY APRIL 16, 1967 FROM 3:30 TO 5:00 PM EST. 

“If it were not known to be history, playwright Peter Weiss’ play could be mistaken for the sickest kind of theatre of the Absurd.”

                                                                                    

An NBC Television SPECIAL:

 A look into German death concentration camps during World War 11. The play is set in a courtroom where witnesses confront the accused who represent real people. Alexander Scourby introduces the play. The cast is comprised of those actors who performed in this play on Broadway (1966).  
Commercials deleted. 

Duplicate of #8334.


THE INVESTIGATION dramatizes testimonies by Nazi death-camp inmates. Adapted from the Peter Weiss Broadway play.

For years, the machinery of Auschwitz consumed them, millions upon millions. Statistics cannot communicate the horror; adjectives cannot describe the nightmare. It is only through the testimonies of the survivors that we can understand what took place, and that it COULD HAPPEN AGAIN!

The play is set in a courtroom where witnesses confront the accused (represented by real people). The atrocities which occurred less than an quarter of a century ago are related calmly and quietly. With equal reserve, the accused reply, "WE ONLY OBEYED ORDERS." 

NOTE:
This color taped 90 minute SPECIAL PRIME TIME NBC TV broadcast is not extant IN ANY FORM, VIDEO, AUDIO (with the exception of the master 1/4" reel to reel recording archived by Archival Television Audio, Inc.), or TRNASCRIPT. It was not archived by NBC or  archived by the major museums in the USA (Paley Center for Media, UCLA Film & TV Archive, Library of Congress, Museum of Broadcasting). 

Even more sadly noted and unexplained is that there is NO REFERENCE to this broadcast title on the internet, or listed as an IMDb entry.

The one listing of this title can be found in The Library of Congress as a rare theater program Playbill, ONLY (found in the Richard L. Coe Theater Programs Collection).

It is interesting to note some of the following review excerpts from Variety Television Reviews:

“The NBC presentation deserves all the recognition it may get as one of the outstanding programs of the season.”

“If to forget history is to be compelled to relive it, this dramatized presentation could not be aired often enough.”

"THE INVESTIGATION" WAS REPEATED AND AIRED ON SUNDAY APRIL 16, 1967 FROM 3:30 TO 5:00 PM EST. 

“If it were not known to be history, playwright Peter Weiss’ play could be mistaken for the sickest kind of theatre of the Absurd.”

                                                                                                 

National Geographic documentary narrated by Alexander Scourby and Joseph Campanella.             

History of the Capital in Washington, DC. Description of how the Cspital was built.

Narrated by Alexander Scourby.