The Tragedy of Julius Caesar

Alternative title
Julius Caesar
Synopsis
Video recording of a stage play, the first to be presented on the stage of the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C. The players are from the Amherst College Drama Department under the direction of Curtis Canfield. The recording was transmitted live by NBC.
Language
English
Country
United States
Medium
Television
Transmission details
3 Apr 1949 at 15:30 (Channel: NBC)
Duration
90 mins

Credits

Director
Garry Simpson
Producer
Owen Davis
Writer
William Shakespeare
Contributor
Curtis Canfield
Cast
George BlissJulius Caesar
Raymond McDonnellMark Antony
Arch TaylorDecius Brutus
Donald RobertsCaius Cassius
James MaxwellMarcus Brutus
Peter KlaussenCasca
Roger NeuhoffTrebonius

Additional Details

Theatre
Elizabethan Theatre, Folger Shakespeare Library
Theatre company
Amherst College Dramatic Society (The Masquers)
Production type
Stage Recordings
Historical period
Elizabethan
Plays
Julius Caesar
Subjects
Drama
Keywords
Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

Notes
Kenneth Rothwell in Shakespeare on Screen: An International Filmography and Videography (London: Mansell, 1990) notes: the Folger video cassette represents a copy of a blurry Kinescope, of such poor quality that often the picture more resembles a negative than a print’.
General
The Folger Shakespeare Library holds a mimeographed typescript
of the shooting script of the NBC broadcast. Includes (after 1st leaf) the 2-leaf "Remarks to audience by Louis B. Wright ... during the Intermission. (not broadcast)".

This is the first performance presented on the Elizabethan stage of the Folger Shakespeare Library. The broadcast profiles the Folger Library and its founder, Henry Clay Folger, president of Standard Oil.
History
Intermission presentation by Charles W. Cole, President, Amherst College, and Louis B. Wright, Director, Folger Shakespeare Library, on Shakespeare in America, Henry Clay Folger, and the Folger Library.
Reviews
Jack Gould ‘Programs in Review’, New York Times 10 April 1949 X9. Gould believed the production ‘amateurish’ and ‘ill-advised’, ill-suited to the Folger stage. Rothwell, becoming nostalgic at an early point in television history, comments in Shakespeare on Screen `... there is a sense of nostalgia for a lost television era. Those were the last days of the lost dream of high culture for the masses’.

Production Company

Name

NBC

Sponsor

Name

Socony-Vacuum Oil Company

Archive

Name

Folger Shakespeare Library

Email
reference@folger.edu
Web
http://www.folger.edu External site opens in new window
Phone
(202) 544 4600
Fax
(202) 544 4623
Address
201 East Capitol Street, SE
Washington
DC 20003
USA

How to cite this record

Shakespeare, "The Tragedy of Julius Caesar". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av37297 (Accessed 12 Nov 2024)