126:: to televise five different stage plays per week live, airing around noon in order to promote color TV (which had just been developed) to the American housewife as she labored over her ironing. Al was the producer. He hired five directors and five art directors. Richard Bennett, one of our first early presidents of the Pewter Plough Corporation, was one of the directors and I was one of the art directors and, as soon as we were through televising one play, we had lunch and then met to plan next week's show. That was over 50 years ago, and I'm trying to think; I believe the TV art director is (or was) his own set decorator (selecting furnishings and hand props)—yes, of course! It had to be, since one of McCleery's chief claims to favor with the producers was his elimination of the setting
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McCleery advocating the elimination of elaborate, expensive scenery for television programs, preferring instead to use more close-ups of faces and more rudimentary backgrounds. He said that approach saved money that could be spent more wisely in other ways: "So why spend the money on scenery when you
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McCleery left
Columbia Studios in September 1942 to become a second lieutenant in the U. S. Army. In March 1945 he transferred from the Signal Corps to become a paratrooper. He commanded a photographic crew in the 101st Airborne Division during the invasion of Germany. He left the Army in February
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McCleery had a background in
American community theatres, having helped in the creation of experimental theatre companies across the United States. He explained his failing out of the School of Speech and Theatre Arts at Northwestern by saying that he worked so hard on creating the Georgian Little
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for television in 1950. A weekly live production, it continued until 1955. On this half-hour series, McCleery offered dramas seen against pure black backgrounds instead of walls of a set. This enabled cameras in the darkness to pick up shots from any angle. His work with
56:, by McCleery and Carl Glick. The book explored the community theatre movement, which a review described as "one of the newer social forces in modern American life". McCleery also wrote a column, "West of Broadway" for
22:(December 30, 1911 – May 13, 1972) was an American pioneering television producer during the 1950s. He had a reputation "as an innovative contributor to some of television's most esteemed theatrical productions".
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McCleery became director and executive producer of the
Pasadena Playhouse in July 1966. He had been on its board of directors for 13 years prior to the appointment.
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Theatre (the first arena theatre in the midwestern United States) that "I didn't have time to listen to the professor spout theory".
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there. He helped to found a dramatic club at the school, and as a senior he was named the best actor in one-act play competition in
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421:"Mystery Series Planned by N. B. C.: New 'Ellery Queen' Plays to Begin Live on TV Sept. 26 -- McCleery Will Produce"
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and was Evans' only portrayal of the role on television, after having played it on
Broadway in several productions.
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1946 as a lieutenant colonel. While serving he received the Bronze Star, the Silver Star, and three campaign stars.
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When Al McCleery got back to the States, he originated a most ambitious theatrical TV series for NBC called
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and simply decorating the scene with a minimum of props. It took a bit of ingenuity.
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McCleery was the son of Mr. and Mrs. J. C. McCleery. He spent much of his youth in
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306:"Matinee for 10 Million: 'NBC Matinee Theatre' to offer bonanza for drama lovers"
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237:"Editor Albert McCleery's New Magazine Includes His Old 'West of Broadway'"
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140:. In 1953, he directed the first two-hour television production of
371:"Arena TV Proponent: Albert McCleery Defends 'Close-Up" Staging"
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By 1960, McCleery had moved to CBS, where he was producer of
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478:"Albert McCleery Is Named Coast Playhouse Director"
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What Women
Watched: Daytime Television in the 1950s
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37:. He went on to attend
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137:Hallmark Hall of Fame
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483:The New York Times
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406:2008-05-16 at the
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209:978-0-292-78272-3
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521:Categories
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109:in 1955.
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143:Hamlet
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