The O. Henry Playhouse

The O. Henry Playhouse was an early American anthology television series which featured television adaptations of short stories written by 19th-century author O. Henry and primarily set in New York City. The series was both hosted and narrated by Thomas Mitchell,^[2][3][4] who portrayed the title character,^[5] and featured several television and film stars during its run such as Maureen Stapleton, Charles Bronson, DeForest Kelley, Ernest Borgnine, Tom Conway, Stanley Clements, Otto Kruger, Dave O'Brien, Jane Nigh, Louis Hayward, Marsha Hunt, John Carradine, and Richard Arlen.

The syndicated series began running in 23 regional markets in late 1956.^[6] When General Cigar Company of Baltimore signed on as a sponsor in May 1957, the series was contracted to 188 markets.^[7] The O. Henry Playhouse generally received very good ratings and became one of the top 10 filmed series in some markets, ranking as high as #6 in Atlanta^[8] and #2 in Los Angeles and Minneapolis-St. Paul.^[9]

The O. Henry Playhouse became popular among educators. Tom Gibbons, who owned WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, asked Gross-Krasne if film prints of the series could be shown to high school English classes. Gross-Krasne worked out a more practical plan where students were instructed to watch the program on WAFB and discuss the program the following day. Thomas Mitchell himself made a personal appearance in Baton Rouge, to speak before the students. Mitchell's interactions with the students were so stimulating that Gross-Krasne arranged for the actor to tour other schools nationwide.^[10]

Unseen for decades and largely forgotten, The O. Henry Playhouse received a DVD release in 2021. Video distributor Classic Flix^[11] restored the 39 episodes of the series and released them in 2021.

The website for the DVD release features plot summaries of each episode, along with links to online texts of the original stories so viewers can compare O. Henry's writings and the television adaptations. The site also includes cast and crew information for each episode and a video sample from the episode. The overall description of the series recounts its unusual story telling method:

Veteran character actor Thomas Mitchell stars in each episode as writer O. Henry himself as he relates his stories to his publisher, his barber, a bartender, or the cop on the beat. In some episodes, O. Henry meets his characters as he discovers firsthand the story he will later write. This rather unique storytelling method is made possible by the fame of the author himself and the O. Henry audience's desire to learn where each story came from.^[12]

Several years before the DVD release Ron Hall, an entrepreneur specializing in public domain video material,^[13] related how he received a large collection of original 16mm prints of the series. He posted a video sample of the "Two Renegades" episode, along with general discussion of the series' history, copyright status, number of episodes, and sometimes unexpected casting.^[14]

• Castleman, Harry and Walter J. Podrazik. Harry and Wally's Favorite TV Shows. New York: Prentice Hall Press, 1989. ISBN 0-13-933250-2
• Borgnine, Ernest. Ernie: The Autobiography. New York: Citadel Press, 2008. ISBN 0-8065-2941-5

• The O. Henry Playhouse at IMDb
• The O. Henry Playhouse at https://www.ohenryplayhouse.com/
• The O. Henry Playhouse at CVTA with episode list