Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by
Hallmark CardsHallmark Cards is a privately owned American company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 by Joyce C. Hall, Hallmark is the largest manufacturer of greeting cards in the United States. In 1985, the company was awarded the National Medal of Arts....
, a
Kansas CityKansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011. From 1954 onward, all of its productions have been shown in color, although color television video productions were extremely rare in 1954. Many television movies have been shown on the program since its debut, though the program began with live telecasts of dramas and then moved into videotaped productions before finally turning to filmed ones.
The series has received eighty
Emmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
s, twenty-four
Christopher AwardThe Christopher Award is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, motion pictures and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit"...
s, eleven
Peabody AwardThe George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
s, nine Golden Globes, and four
Humanitas PrizeThe Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing intended to promote human dignity, meaning, and freedom. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser — also the founder of Paulist Productions — but is generally not seen as specifically directed toward religious...
s. Once a common practice in American television, it is the last remaining television program where the title contains the name of the sponsor. Unlike other long-running TV series still on the air, it differs in that it only broadcasts occasionally and not on a weekly broadcast programming schedule (as opposed to
The SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
,
GunsmokeGunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
and the news program,
60 Minutes60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
).
Early years
The series debuted on 24 December 1951 on NBC with the first opera written specifically for television,
Amahl and the Night VisitorsAmahl and the Night Visitors is an opera in one act by Gian Carlo Menotti with an original English libretto by the composer. It was commissioned by NBC and first performed by the NBC Opera Theatre on December 24, 1951, in New York City at NBC studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, where it was broadcast...
, by
Gian Carlo MenottiGian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
, starring
Chet AllenChet Allen was an American child actor of the 1950s known for his role as Amahl in Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, the first opera written for television, which he made with the NBC Opera Theatre....
. It was the first time a major corporation developed a television project specifically as a means of promoting its products to the viewing public. The program was such a success that it was restaged by Hallmark several times over a period of fifteen years.
Amahl was also staged by other NBC television anthologies.
Early productions included some of the classical works of Shakespeare:
HamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
,
Richard IIKing Richard the Second is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to be written in approximately 1595. It is based on the life of King Richard II of England and is the first part of a tetralogy, referred to by some scholars as the Henriad, followed by three plays concerning Richard's...
,
The Taming of the ShrewThe Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1591.The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself...
,
MacbethThe Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
and
The Tempest. Biographical subjects were very eclectic, ranging from
Florence NightingaleFlorence Nightingale OM, RRC was a celebrated English nurse, writer and statistician. She came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers. She was dubbed "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night...
to
Father FlanaganFather Edward Joseph Flanagan was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. He was the founder of what is arguably the most famous orphanage—Boys Town...
to
Joan of ArcSaint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
. Popular Broadway plays such as
Harvey,
Dial M for Murder, and
Kiss Me, Kate were made available to a mass audience, most of them with casts that had not appeared in the film versions released to theatres. In a few cases, the actors repeated their original Broadway roles. Noted actors such as Richard Burton,
Alfred LuntAlfred Lunt was an American stage director and actor, often identified for a long-time professional partnership with his wife, actress Lynn Fontanne...
,
Lynn FontanneLynn Fontanne was a British actress and major stage star in the United States for over 40 years. She teamed with her husband Alfred Lunt.She lived in the United States for more than 60 years but never relinquished her British citizenship. Lunt and Fontanne shared a special Tony Award in 1970...
,
Maurice EvansMaurice Herbert Evans was an English actor noted for his interpretations of Shakespearean characters. In terms of his screen roles, he is probably best known as Dr...
,
Katharine CornellKatharine Cornell was an American stage actress, writer, theater owner and producer. She was born to American parents and raised in Buffalo, New York.Cornell is known as the greatest American stage actress of the 20th century...
,
Julie HarrisJulia Ann "Julie" Harris is an American stage, screen, and television actress. She has won five Tony Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1994, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. She is a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame...
,
Laurence OlivierLaurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
and
Peter UstinovPeter Alexander Ustinov CBE was an English actor, writer and dramatist. He was also renowned as a filmmaker, theatre and opera director, stage designer, author, screenwriter, comedian, humourist, newspaper and magazine columnist, radio broadcaster and television presenter...
all made what were then extremely rare television appearances in these plays.
Tod GriffinTod Griffin, born as Arthur Griffin , was an American actor of stage, film, and television, originally from Birmingham, Alabama.-Early years:...
appeared three times on
Hallmark early in his brief acting career, including roles of
George WashingtonGeorge Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
in "The Plot to Kidnap General Washington" (1952) and
Patrick HenryPatrick Henry was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786...
in "The Farmer from Monticello" (1955).
Two different productions of
HamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
have aired on the
Hallmark Hall of Fame, one starring Maurice Evans (1953) and the other starring
Richard ChamberlainGeorge Richard Chamberlain is an American actor of stage and screen who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show Dr. Kildare .-Early life:...
(1970). Neither one was more than two hours long. Evans and actress
Judith AndersonDame Judith Anderson, AC, DBE was an Australian-born American-based actress of stage, film and television. She won two Emmy Awards and a Tony Award and was also nominated for a Grammy Award and an Academy Award.-Early life:...
brought their famous
Macbeth to the
Hallmark Hall of Fame on two separate occasions, each time with a different supporting cast. The first version (1954) was telecast live from NBC Studios; the second (1960) was filmed on location in
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and released to movie theatres in Europe after being telecast in the U.S. Like
Hamlet,
Macbeth and the other Shakespeare plays presented on
Hallmark Hall of Fame were cut (sometimes drastically) to fit the time limits of
commercial broadcastingCommercial broadcasting is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship...
television networkA television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
. It was left to
National Educational TelevisionNational Educational Television was an American non-commercial educational public television network in the United States from May 16, 1954 to October 4, 1970...
(NET) and
Public Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
(PBS) Public television to present nearly complete Shakespeare adaptations on American television in the future.
After a few decades
Hallmark Hall of Fame began to offer original material, such as
Aunt Mary (1979) and
Thursday's Child (1983), although its lineup still primarily consisted of expensive-looking
Masterpiece TheatreMasterpiece is a drama anthology television series produced by WGBH Boston. It premiered on Public Broadcasting Service on January 10, 1971, making it America's longest-running weekly prime time drama series. The series has presented numerous acclaimed British productions...
-style adaptations of American and European literary classics, such as
John SteinbeckJohn Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
's
The Winter of Our DiscontentThe Winter of Our Discontent, published in 1961, is John Steinbeck's last novel. The title is a reference to the first two lines of William Shakespeare's Richard III: "Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this sun [or son] of York," .-Plot introduction:The story revolves...
(1983) and
Robert Louis StevensonRobert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
's
The Master of BallantraeThe Master of Ballantrae: A Winter's Tale is a book by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson, focusing upon the conflict between two brothers, Scottish noblemen whose family is torn apart by the Jacobite rising of 1745...
(1984). The late 1980s saw productions such as
Foxfire (1987),
My Name is Bill W.My Name Is Bill W. is a 1989 CBS Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie directed by Daniel Petrie, starring James Woods, JoBeth Williams and James Garner. William G. Borchert, who wrote the film for television, based it on the true story of William Griffith Wilson and Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith,...
(1989),
Sarah, Plain and TallSarah, Plain and Tall is a children's book written by Patricia MacLachlan, and the winner of the 1986 Newbery Medal and the 1986 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. It explores themes of loneliness, abandonment, and coping with change....
(1991),
O Pioneers!O Pioneers! is a Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie based on the novel of the same title by Willa Cather. It originally aired in 1992 on CBS and stars Jessica Lange.-Plot summary:...
(1992),
To Dance With the White DogTo Dance with the White Dog is a 1990 novel by Georgia author Terry Kay, based on the experiences of his father.-Plot summary:Sam Peek happily resides in Hart County, Georgia as a pecan farmer and local celebrity featured in many gardening/horticultural magazines. He and his wife Cora are both in...
(1993),
The Piano LessonThe Piano Lesson is a 1990 play by American playwright August Wilson. The Piano Lesson is the fifth play in Wilson's The Pittsburgh Cycle. Wilson began writing this play by playing with the various answers regarding the possibility of "acquir[ing] a sense of self-worth by denying ones past"...
(1995), and
What the Deaf Man HeardWhat the Deaf Man Heard is a 1997 Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie that aired on CBS television on November 23, 1997. It concerns Sammy, a boy who pretends to be deaf and mute, when in reality he can hear and speak perfectly well. The movie starred Matthew Modine and James Earl Jones.-Plot...
(1997). One installment,
PromisePromise is a 1986 Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie that aired on December 14, 1986. The award-winning film is based on a story by Ken Blackwell and Tennyson Flowers, and stars James Garner and James Woods.-Plot:...
(1986), starring
James GarnerJames Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
and
James WoodsJames Howard Woods is an American film, stage and television actor. Woods is known for starring in critically acclaimed films such as Once Upon a Time in America, Salvador, Nixon, Ghosts of Mississippi, Casino, and in the television legal drama Shark. He has won three Emmy Awards, and has gained...
, remains the most honored two-hour movie in the history of network television, winning five Emmys, two Golden Globes, a Peabody award, a Humanitas Prize, and a Christopher Award.
Through the 1980s and 1990s,
Hallmark Hall of Fame films often had twice the budget of other network films. Hallmark movies also ran (in some cases) approximately 10–15 minutes longer (or up to 110 minutes minus commercials) because Hallmark Cards fully sponsored the films and took fewer commercial breaks. Unlike most network movies of the period, Hallmark always filmed on location, and usually shot for 24 days, compared to 18–20 days for most other TV-movies.
Post-NBC
For nearly three decades, the series ran on NBC, but dropped it in late-1978 due to declining ratings. Since then, the series was seen on
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
from 1979 to 1989 (except for one episode, which was seen on
PBSThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
in 1981), then on
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
from 1989 to 1995, then back to CBS from 1995 until 2011, when that network cancelled the series due to low ratings.
On November 27, 2011,
Hallmark Hall of Fame returned to ABC with
Have a Little FaithHave a Little Faith is a Hallmark Hall of Fame television movie. The film debuted on ABC on November 27, 2011; it was the first Hallmark Hall of Fame film broadcast since CBS cancelled the series earlier in 2011; it was also the first Hallmark Hall of Fame film broadcast on ABC since...
, which debuted to very low viewership ratings for the night. Encore broadcasts of these ABC episodes will air on
Hallmark ChannelThe Hallmark Channel is a cable television network that broadcasts across the United States. Their programming includes a mix of television movies/miniseries, syndicated series, and lifestyle shows that are appropriate for the whole family...
a week after its initial airing on ABC. These films will also be available for streaming on SpiritClips.com a few days after airing on ABC.
Many recent
Hall of Fame movies repeat on the company's
Hallmark ChannelThe Hallmark Channel is a cable television network that broadcasts across the United States. Their programming includes a mix of television movies/miniseries, syndicated series, and lifestyle shows that are appropriate for the whole family...
and
Hallmark Movie ChannelHallmark Movie Channel is a digital cable channel that is a spin-off of its sister network Hallmark Channel that airs family friendly movies and other television programming.-Hallmark Movie Channel HD:...
and are available on home video and DVD, distributed through Hallmark Gold Crown Stores and online at
Hallmark Hall of Fame.
Episode list
Only a small number of
Hallmark Hall of Fame programming (considering how long the series has lasted) has been released to VHS and DVD. The 1960 production of
the Tempest appeared on VHS, but is not yet on DVD. The 1954
Macbeth has been available on a bootleg DVD, but not on an official one.
External links
- Hallmark Hall of Fame episodes
- Streaming Hallmark Hall of Fame episodes
- Hallmark Hall of Fame at TV.com
TV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...
- 50 Years of Hallmark Hall of Fame at the UCLA Film and Television Archive
The UCLA Film and Television Archive is an internationally renowned visual arts organization focused on the preservation, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles. It holds more than 220,000 film and television titles and 27 million feet of...