The Philco Television Playhouse

As we enter Y2K, it's good to look back on such terrific programs as The Philco Television Playhouse (so named for a time when one sponsor would pick up the whole tab for the series), when the production people strove for excellence, to do the very best they could on the air for their audience, and when actual thought and attention to the on-screen activities was mandatory. (It was for programs such as this that the "TV Dinner" was created, for better or worse. But at least there was something then to attract our continuous attention.) Philco Television Playhouse and the other anthologies of the day were very, very good television, indeed.

Wow. I just happened to come across Jean Pearson's picture and artical in a February 1949 addition of Life. She was being followed as she was training to be an actor she walked along the famous Schubert Alley of Broadway when she was 21. They mentioned she was supporting herself on $105-a month job in a hospital blood bank. The magazine also showed her waiting in the then famous William and Morris talent agency. Actors like Jean would sometimes wait all day and if the agency got them a job, it would take 10%.

I looked her up to see if her hard work and sacrifice had paid off and was happy to see, to some extent she had moderate success in such a tough profession.