Anthology of Memories

John Frankenheimer has directed such memorable films as “The Manchurian Candidate,” “Seven Days in May” and “The Birdman of Alcatraz.” In the last three years he has won three Emmy Awards for directing the TV movies “Against the Wall,” “The Burning Season” and “Andersonville.” But his favorite professional association? “Playhouse 90,” a dramatic anthology that ran on CBS from 1956 to 1960.

“I know that the ‘Playhouse 90’ years were the best years of my life,” Frankenheimer says simply. “I loved doing television.”

The Museum of Television & Radio kicks off its three-week William S. Paley Television Festival tonight with a tribute to the legendary series.

“It’s the 40th anniversary of the series and that seemed to be a good time to give focus to the entire series and to see if we couldn’t reunite as many people who were involved in it,” says museum president Robert Batscha.

Among those scheduled to participate in the “Playhouse 90” salute at the Directors Guild are producer Martin Manulis, casting director Ethel Winant, director Frankenheimer, writer Abby Mann and performers Polly Bergen, Lloyd Bridges, Charlton Heston, Tab Hunter, Piper Laurie, Cliff Robertson and Rod Steiger.

Excerpts from several seminal “Playhouse 90” dramas, including Rod Serling’s “Requiem for a Heavyweight” and “The Comedian” and J.P. Miller’s “The Days of Wine and Roses,” will be screened.

“I think one of the interesting things is that the shows were preserved on two-inch videotape,” Batscha says. “We have now been able to put them on digital tape. The look is going to be remarkable. It looks like it’s being broadcast live.”

“Playhouse 90,” which originated live from CBS’ studios in West Hollywood, boasted a pool of such now-renowned directors as Frankenheimer, Arthur Penn, Franklin Schaffner, Arthur Hiller and Ralph Nelson. Writers included Serling, Miller, Tad Mosel, Reginald Rose, Horton Foote and Paddy Chayefsky. After the series won the Emmy Award for outstanding drama for all four years it aired, repeats were shown during the summer of 1961.

Frankenheimer directed more than 40 “Playhouse” dramas, including “The Days of Wine and Roses,” “The Comedian” and “Journey to the Day,” with Mike Nichols.

“That’s all I wanted to do,” he says. “If live television had continued, I would never have left it [for features].”

*

The reason, Frankenheimer says, was the excellence of the material and “because we could do so many different types of shows.”

Writers, he says, “had a forum. They had a place that would do their work. They had relationships with producers and directors so they were guaranteed a certain amount of exposure.”

A major incentive for the writers was the fact that they were allowed to own their own material.

“J.P. Miller owned ‘Days of Wine and Roses,’ ” Frankenheimer says. “After one broadcast, the rights reverted back to him. He could sell it as a play or a film, as indeed he did. So there was a lot of incentive for these well-known writers to write for anthology television shows because it was like they got a great production and they could turn it around and sell it to the movies.”

Manulis was the sole producer of the series for the first two seasons.

“CBS’ mandate was simply to do a 90-minute live show on a weekly basis,” Manulis says. “It was a fact that television had been doing pretty good work for almost 10 years, so there was a nice pool of talented writers and directors who were used to doing television. At that time I was doing a show out here with Frankenheimer called ‘Climax.’ While we were doing that first year of that I was asked by CBS to do ‘Playhouse 90.’ ”

But the freedom wasn’t total. The series did have problems with advertisers.

“When they were doing ‘Judgment at Nuremberg,’ ” Frankenheimer recalls, “the gas company was one of the sponsors. They refused to let [director] George Roy Hill use the term ‘gas ovens.’

“So George Roy Hill said, ‘To hell with it.’ They went on the air with the script intact and the gas company had a man in master control with a script, so that every time the actors said ‘gas,’ they blipped it, which called much more attention to it.”

Despite its accolades and numerous Emmys, “Playhouse 90” was never a huge ratings hit. “We didn’t beat the westerns,” Manulis says. “But it did very well considering it was an anthology drama. Those were never notoriously successful in the ratings. It did hold its own for four years.”

One of the most acclaimed presentations was “Days of Wine and Roses.” Piper Laurie and Cliff Robertson starred as a young married couple whose marriage is destroyed by the bottle.

Laurie, who also worked with Frankenheimer on the “Playhouse 90” drama “The Ninth Day,” says doing a live show was extremely nerve-racking.

“It was beyond fear,” Laurie says. “It was, I truly think, like facing your own death. You think if you can survive this you can survive anything. I imagine the people who did a lot more than I did, it got easier for them. It was like the terror of a thousand opening nights on Broadway where you haven’t had the ease of playing it out of town, plus the fact that you never got another chance to do it again.”

“It was an emotional show,” Manulis says. “It was such a strain [doing it] live. Plus, you had to run from one [set] to another. You had to have people clawing at you to change your clothes while you were in close-ups.”

Among Manulis’ favorite productions are “Requiem for a Heavyweight”; William Gibson’s “The Miracle Worker,” which was done before the play and the movie; and Serling’s “The Comedian,” which starred Mickey Rooney.

“I guess that’s the best TV show I ever did,” Frankenheimer says of the Emmy Award-winning drama about an obnoxious, cruel, funny man.

While the museum’s 13th annual L.A. festival also pays tribute to such current programs as “Friends,” “Cybill” and “Party of Five,” Batscha says it seemed appropriate to start with “Playhouse 90.”

With the festival, he explains, “we really try to show that there is a great tradition in television and there are people today who are carrying on that tradition of excellent work, pushing the envelope, and that has its roots in series like ‘Playhouse 90.’ ”

Here’s the schedule for the remainder of the festival. All events take place at the Directors Guild of America at 7 p.m. unless otherwise noted.

Friday: “Friends”

Saturday: “General Hospital”

Tuesday: “A Salute to George Schlatter”

Wednesday: “Schoolhouse Rock”

Oct. 10: “An Evening With Phil Donahue”

Oct. 11: “That Girl”

Oct. 12: “Star Trek: Voyager,” followed at 9:30 p.m. by “New York Undercover”

Oct. 15: “Party of Five”

Oct. 16: “Ellen”

Oct. 17: “The Real World”

Oct. 18: “Leave It to Beaver”

Oct. 19: “Cybill,” followed at 9:30 p.m. by “3rd Rock From the Sun”

* The “Playhouse 90” tribute is at 7 tonight at the Directors Guild of America, 7920 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Tickets are $17 for the general public and $14 for museum members, students and seniors. Tickets can be purchased at the museum, 465 N. Beverly Drive, or by phone at (213) 466-1767.