Television Debut
Hamlet was the second of Olivier's Shakespeare films to be telecast on American commercial network television – the first was Richard III, which was given an afternoon rather than a prime-time showing by NBC on March 11, 1956, the same day that it premiered in movie theatres in the U.S. The American Broadcasting Company gave the Olivier Hamlet a prime time showing in December 1956 but, like many theatrical films shown on television during that era, it was split into two 90-minute halves and telecast over a period of two weeks, rather than being shown complete on one evening. Only a month previously, MGM's 1939 film The Wizard of Oz had had its first television showing – on CBS – and, unlike Hamlet, had been shown complete in one evening.
Read more about this topic: Hamlet (1948 film)
Famous quotes containing the words television and/or debut:
“Addison DeWitt: Your next move, it seems to me, should be toward television.
Miss Caswell: Tell me this. Do they have auditions for television?
Addison DeWitt: That’s all television is, my dear. Nothing but auditions.”
—Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909–1993)
“One should never make one’s debut with a scandal. One should reserve that to give an interest to one’s old age.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)