9.3/1019 votes#1 - In This Crisis
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 12/24/1952
John Honeyman, American patriot, pretends to be a Tory in order to gain information that will mean Washington?s victory over the Hessians.
Director: Robert Stevenson
Writer: N/A
- 8.3/1014 votes
#2 - The Boy Nobody Wanted
Season 4 Episode 24 - Aired 5/29/1956
Billy Brandon's father is a good man, but also a professional gambler who doesn't have much time for his son. Left alone one day, he gets into a fight with a neighbor's boy who taunts him about his father being a gambler. The boy is accidently killed when he falls and hits his head. The boy's father, editor of the local newspaper, takes revenge by smearing Billy's dad in his paper. As a result, Nick Brandon is soon imprisoned and Billy is sent to an adoption agency. Luckily, he is adopted by an older couple and his life becomes filled with love. He grows to be an A student and a war hero. When his father is finally released from prison, Billy must make a hard decision.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.2/1016 votes
#3 - The Prison Within
Season 4 Episode 13 - Aired 1/17/1956
A girl is overcome with remorse when the soldier she refused to marry is killed in Korea. Her unusual guilt complex leads her to commit a series of crimes, for which she is imprisoned. Convicted forgery when she is paroled, her parole officer is troubled by her inexplicable behavior.
Director: John Meredyth Lucas
Writer: John Meredyth Lucas
- 7.8/1013 votes
#4 - Chain of Hearts
Season 4 Episode 6 - Aired 11/1/1955
The story of John Staniszewski, a Polish seaman who tried to gain American citizenship after World War 2.
Director: László Benedek
Writer: N/A
- 7.7/1014 votes
#5 - Woman's Work
Season 5 Episode 8 - Aired 11/20/1956
An elderly man lets his son and the boy's bride live in the family home. His intentions are to turn the girl into a household slave, but she has a different idea.
Director: William A. Seiter
Writer: N/A
- 7.3/109 votes
#6 - Danger on Clover Ridge
Season 4 Episode 22 - Aired 5/8/1956
Drifter winds up on the plains of the West.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
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- 6.9/1021 votes
#7 - The Frightened Witness
Season 5 Episode 21 - Aired 2/19/1957
Joe Kohler happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He witnesses a mob hit when a car deliberately runs over a pedestrian. When mob lieutenant Craig tells Joe that he had best keep quiet and even stops home with him to see his family, Joe gets the point. But Joe doesn't like being intimidated and goes to the police to tell his story and do the right thing.
Director: Anton Leader
Writer: Malvin Wald
- 6.9/1023 votes
#8 - Don Marshall's Brat
Season 5 Episode 23 - Aired 3/19/1957
Young Trudy Marshall is an 11-year old who dreams of ending the feud between her parents and maternal grandfather. When she saves the life of an elderly Mexican bandit, the Calaveras Kid, he decides to help her.
Director: Reginald Le Borg
Writer: N/A
- 6.8/109 votes
#9 - The Major of St. Louis
Season 4 Episode 25 - Aired 6/5/1956
Major Thomas D. Howie of the 3rd Battallion, 116th Infantry, 29th Division. He lies at rest between a Private and a General in the American Cemetery in Normandy, overlooking Omaha Beach. He was loved by his men, though an enigma to some, and loved reading verses from Edgar Lee Masters ""Spoon River Anthology"", ""These are the ghosts from the desolate coasts...would you go to them...only pursue them...whatever enshrined is within you ..is you.""
Director: Lewis R. Foster
Writer: N/A
- 6.5/1051 votes
#10 - The Blessed Midnight
Season 5 Episode 12 - Aired 12/18/1956
A youngster steals a cake from a bakery to give his aunt. With the help of a friend his own age, the boy tries to keep from being caught.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 5.8/108 votes
#11 - The Last Signer
Season 5 Episode 25 - Aired 4/2/1957
Citizen's of an American town are infuriated when a Czech immigrant signs his name to one of the historical copies of the Declaration of Independence.
Director: George Archainbaud
Writer: Frederick Brady
- NaN/100 votes
#12 - Poor Richard
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 10/1/1952
Dramatized incidents are used to show how Benjamin Franklin delayed a conference between Lord Howe and John Adams until the spring rainy season commenced, thereby allowing General Washington to extricate his troops from Long Island under the cover of a storm. This drama sent the ""old and obstinate"" Franklin to delay American surrender talks with the British, thereby allowing General George Washington to escape capture to fight another day.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#13 - All's Well with Lydia
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 10/15/1952
The Revolutionary War story of Lydia Darragh, American patriot and Philadelphia widow, who by her cleverness gained information instrumental in an American victory.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#14 - The Man Who Took a Chance
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/29/1952
The story of an 19th century genius who adapted 20th century methods to solve an American problem, Eli Whitney first begins to manufacture muskets.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#15 - A Romance to Remember
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 11/12/1952
The tale of the two beautiful Peabody Sisters who become rivals for the love of Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#16 - What Hath God Wrought
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 11/26/1952
The story of how Samuel Morse, after many hardships, gained recognition for the first telegraph.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#17 - No Greater Love
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 12/10/1952
A story about Clara Louise Maas, a Spanish-American War nurse who allowed herself to be bitten by a Stegomyia mosquito in order to further the experiments which were being conducted in the Las Animas Hospital in Havana under the direction of Dr. William C. Gorgas during a yellow fever epidemic at the turn of the century.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#18 - The Arrow and the Bow
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 1/7/1953
The career of Andrew Johnson, who, starting as a tailor, became the 17th President.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#19 - What Might Have Been
Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 1/21/1953
The story of the tragic romance and marriage of Jefferson Davis and Sarah Knox Taylor.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#20 - New Salem Story
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 2/4/1953
The legendary tale of Abe Lincoln and his great love for Ann Rutledge.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#21 - A Matter of Honor
Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 2/18/1953
A historical drama portraying the misunderstanding between Sam Houston and his wife, Eliza, which resulted in Houston's resignation of the governorship of Tennessee. The story of Sam Houston, hero of the Alamo, who gave the woman he loved a locket engraved with one word, ""integrity"" but had she earned the right to wear it?
Director: Arthur Hilton
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#22 - Experiment at Monticello
Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 3/4/1953
Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States, uses himself as a guinea pig and is inoculated with the germs of small pox in a heroic effort to establish control of the disease.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#23 - Mightier Than the Sword
Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 3/18/1953
A pre-Revolutionary War drama. The freedom of the press is upheld through the trial and acquittal of John Peter Zenger, a New York newspaper publisher who was imprisoned for printing the truth about corruption of the British administration. Story of John Peter Zenger in the famous trial that established American freedom of the press.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#24 - The Indomitable Blacksmith
Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 4/1/1953
A story about Thomas Davenport, a blacksmith, and his long struggle to invent and perfect the electric motor. Setting: Brandon, Vt., in the 1830's. The story of how Thomas Davenport neglected his blacksmith trade and failed in business, but won immortality in science by inventing the first electric motor.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#25 - The Gingerbread Man
Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 4/15/1953
A true story about Christopher Ludwick, the baker, who came to America in 1776 from Germany. He made a most unusual gingerbread man which later became famous in America. He lived with his wife in Philadelphia. A comedy-drama about an elderly German baker who persuades 123 Hessian soldiers to desert the British Army during the American Revolution.
Director: Robert Stevenson
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of Cavalcade of America
Every episode of Cavalcade of America ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Cavalcade of America!
Cavalcade of America is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented a musical, such as an adaptation...
Genre:Drama
Network:ABC
Episodes
131
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Best Episodes Summary
"In This Crisis" is the best rated episode of "Cavalcade of America". It scored 9.3/10 based on 19 votes. Directed by Robert Stevenson and written by N/A, it aired on 12/24/1952. This episode scored 1.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "The Boy Nobody Wanted".
