All Episodes of Startime
Browse all episodes of Startime
Startime, an anthology of drama, comedy and variety, was one of the first American television shows broadcast in color.
Season 1
N/A/100 votesThe Wonderful World of Entertainment
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 10/6/1959
A musical variety show revolving around the music of the 1930s through 1950s, in which the history of show business—including motion pictures, radio, television, and vaudeville—is used as a thread to hold together the songs, sketches, and dances.
Director: Kirk Browning, Bob Fosse
Writer: Larry Gelbart
- 6.6/1057 votes
The Jazz Singer
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 10/13/1959
A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects to his career as a jazz singer.
Director: Ralph Nelson
Writer: Oliver Crawford
- 7.9/10112 votes
The Turn of the Screw
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/20/1959
In a mid-19th century Essex country house, a young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted by ghosts and that the children are being possessed.
Director: John Frankenheimer
Writer: James Costigan
- N/A/100 votes
The Secret World of Kids
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 10/27/1959
Art Linkletter's variety episode pays tribute to children with guests Richard M. and his mother Hannah Nixon; comedian Ed Wynn; motion picture actors Ann Blyth and Vincent Price; child performers Jon Provost of Lassie, Teddy Rooney, and Angela Cartwright of The Danny Thomas Show; the Mitchell Boys Choir; and animal performers Lassie and Jerry. Includes a modern television version of Tom Sawyer, a skit on the importance of the first baby, musical and dance numbers, interviews with children and with Richard Nixon and his mother on the Vice President's childhood, and Vincent Price's talented chimpanzee.
Director: Dick McDonough
Writer: Dick Wesson, Paul Henning
- 9.0/1015 votes
The Dean Martin Show
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 11/3/1959
An hour of songs, dances and comedy with Dean Martin as the host and his guests are Frank Sinatra, Mickey Rooney, and the dance team of Augie and Margo.
Director: Jack Donohue
Writer: Herbert Baker, Robert O'Brien
- 8.2/1024 votes
The Wicked Scheme of Jebal Deeks
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 11/10/1959
A disgruntled bank employee executes an elaborate corporate sabotage against his employers.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
Writer: John D. Hess
- 7.0/1015 votes
George Burns in the Big Time
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 11/17/1959
A musical variety episode featuring comedians and performers George Burns, Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor, and George Jessel reliving their early days in vaudeville.
Director: Dick Darley
Writer: Mac Benoff
- 10.0/101 votes
Merman on Broadway
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 11/24/1959
Ethel Merman presents showtunes from her Broadway hits, with Hollywood stars Tab Hunter and Fess Parker, and comedian Tom Poston. Bobby Sherwood's trumpet accompanies one Merman number.
Director: Greg Garrison
Writer: Joe Bigelow, A.J. Russell
- N/A/100 votes
Something Special
Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 12/1/1959
Two lonely singles are paired by a matrimonial bureau.
Director: Marc Daniels
Writer: Sol Saks
- N/A/100 votes
My Three Angels
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 12/8/1959
Three convicts escaping from Devil's Island take refuge with a struggling storekeeper and his family, and are able to help them out of their straits.
Director: Bretaigne Windust
Writer: Sam Spewack, Bella Spewack
- N/A/100 votes
Cindy's Fella
Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 12/15/1959
Peddler Azel Dorsey and a drifter wander into a town and help young Cindy find her prince, in this old-west take on the Cinderella fable.
Director: Gower Champion
Writer: Jameson Brewer
- N/A/100 votes
Christmas Startime with Leonard Bernstein
Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 12/22/1959
A musical Christmas celebration featuring Leonard Bernstein, the New York Philharmonic, Marian Anderson, the Schola Cantorum, the Choir of St. Paul's Cathedral in London and others.
Director: Roger Englander
Writer: Leonard Bernstein
- N/A/100 votes
Meet Cyd Charisse
Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 12/29/1959
A musical variety show starring dancer Cyd Charisse, with guest stars Eve Arden; James Mitchell; Charisse's husband, singer Tony Martin; and a company of over twenty dancers. Includes Charisse and Mitchell in a dramatic ballet set on the Hong Kong waterfront, involving an ill-fated romance between an Oriental entertainer and a thief; Charisse and Mitchell in a romantic dance story set to Gershwin's 'Love Walked In'; Martin in song and dance numbers with Charisse and two featured dancers; and Arden and Ray Kellogg educating coffeehouse beatniks on the culture of the flapper generation.
Director: Jack Donohue
Writer: Irvin Graham
- 7.8/1028 votes
The Man
Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 1/5/1960
In a small town, elderly Mrs. Gillis, who in a large Victorian home, receives a visit from a man just out of the army. He's seeking a job and a place to stay, and he knew the woman's late son, so she gives him room and board and small tasks to do. Slowly though, he becomes more and more aggressive and paranoid until it's obvious he's a psychopath that wants to get rid of her and take over the house.
Director: Robert Stevens
Writer: James P. Cavanagh
- N/A/100 votes
The Dean Martin Show
Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 1/12/1960
Dean Martin returns to host; appearing in this show: musical comedy star Nanette Fabray, pianist André Previn, and singer Fabian.
Director: Jack Donohue
Writer: Unknown
- N/A/100 votes
Crime, Inc.
Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 1/19/1960
A survey employing dramatic recreations show how organized crime has infiltrated legitimate business and labor organizations.
Director: Delbert Mann
Writer: Luther Davis
- N/A/100 votes
The Wonderful World of Jack Paar
Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 1/26/1960
Jack Paar hosts a show in the casual style of his late-hours stanza. Guests include singer Pat Suzuki, comics Jonathan Winters and Alice Pearce, dancer Betty Bruce, pantomimist Harry Minno, mimic singer Duke Hazlett, a novelty act called the Strong Brothers, and Jack's young daughter Randy.
Director: Greg Garrison
Writer: Paul Keyes, Bob Howard
- N/A/100 votes
The Greatest Man Alive
Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 2/2/1960
An elderly inhabitant of a dingy Manhattan apartment, decides that his life has been a failure and prepares to hang himself when a researcher calls.
Director: Bretaigne Windust, Gordon Rigsby
Writer: Tony Webster
- N/A/100 votes
The Swingin' Years
Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 2/9/1960
Ronald Reagan hosts a celebration of the big band era of the 1930s and 1940s.
Director: Barry Shear
Writer: Frank Waldman, Tom Waldman
- 8.9/1017 votes
Closed Set
Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 2/16/1960
Hollywood starlet Julie Forbes has used ruthless and vindictive tactics to reach the top and maintains her popularity in the same manner. After a succession of stereotyped films, she decides to make a 'quality' film and hires a young, sensitive director, Cliff Harriston. However, when he rebuffs her advances, she aims to ruin him by using her power and influence to turn the film into 'just another Julie Forbes picture'.
Director: Robert Stevens
Writer: Gavin Lambert
- 1.2/10110 votes
Talent Scouts
Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 2/23/1960
Dave Garroway hosts this showcase for several talented young show-business professionals, each 'sponsored' by an established performer.
Director: Grey Lockwood
Writer: George Foster
- N/A/100 votes
Jeff McCleod, the Last Reb
Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 3/1/1960
Set within the twenty-four hours of April 17, 1865, in and around the Tressler farm in Missouri, Confederate soldier Captain Jeff McCleod has been wounded and left for dead on a small Missouri battlefield. He is found by 15-year-old Yankee boy Jannie, and brought home to a household of women who, reluctantly, hide McCleod in the cellar and lie about his presence to a search party of Union soldiers.
Director: Paul Nickell
Writer: Douglas Heyes, William D. Gordon
- N/A/100 votes
The Swingin', Singin' Years
Season 1 Episode 23 - Aired 3/8/1960
Ronald Reagan returns to hosts anotjer celebration of the big band era of the 1930s and 1940s that recall the greatest recordings made during the swing era.
Director: Barry Shear
Writer: Frank Waldman, Tom Waldman
- N/A/100 votes
Academy Award Songs
Season 1 Episode 24 - Aired 3/15/1960
Jane Wyman hosts a showcase of movie songs that won an Academy Award and features the five tunes nominated for this year's Oscar.
Director: Greg Garrison
Writer: Mac Benoff
- N/A/100 votes
Dear Arthur
Season 1 Episode 25 - Aired 3/22/1960
Sophisticated international rogue Fred Cortin has devoted a lifetime to the study and practice of imaginative confidence games. When he encounters his divorced, wealthy daughter, Edith Brooks, on the French Riviera, he devises a plan to protect her from a rash of unwanted suitors by creating a husband for her who doesn't exist. As the moneyed international set in Monaco and along the Riviera—led by Emerald Dane—tends to its fun and games, Cortin sets about achieving his greatest deception.
Director: Bretaigne Windust, Gordon Rigsby
Writer: Gore Vidal
- 7.6/1010 votes
The Young Juggler
Season 1 Episode 26 - Aired 3/29/1960
Medieval French monks find a freezing, ill juggler and take him in. Upon recovering, the impoverished man wishes to illustrate his tremendous gratitude.
Director: Ted Post
Writer: Ted Post
- 7.0/10262 votes
Incident at a Corner
Season 1 Episode 27 - Aired 4/5/1960
A school crossing guard reprimands the PTA president for careless driving. He is later dismissed from his job on the basis of an anonymous note accusing him of being too friendly with little schoolgirls.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writer: Charlotte Armstrong
- N/A/100 votes
Well, What About You?
Season 1 Episode 28 - Aired 4/19/1960
Figures from politics and entertainment join forces to get people to vote in November. The parties are represented by Vice President Richard Nixon, as well as by Paul Butler, Democratic national chairman; Massachusetts Sen. John Kennedy. Thruston Morton of Kentucky, Butler's Republican counterpart; Gov. Nelson Rockefeller of New York; and Adlai Stevenson.
Director: Greg Garrison
Writer: Dore Schary
- N/A/100 votes
Soldiers in Greasepaint
Season 1 Episode 29 - Aired 4/26/1960
A 20th anniversary tribute to the USO with host Bob Crosby and performances by singer Jane Morgan, comedian Don Adams, and the vocal group The Modernaires. Film clips are shown of USO entertainers doing shows behind the lines during WWII and in Korea.
Director: Grey Lockwood
Writer: Joe Bigelow
- N/A/100 votes
Fun Fair
Season 1 Episode 30 - Aired 5/5/1960
Celeste Holm hosts a salute to the American county fair. Her guests include Cliff Arquette as Charley Weaver, singers Marion Marlowe and Jaye P. Morgan, comedienne Hermione Gingold, character actress Margaret Hamilton, musical-comedy performer Peter Palmer, and magician Carl Ballantine.
Director: Gordon Rigsby
Writer: Jean Meegan, Robert Hilliard
- N/A/100 votes
Tennessee Ernie Ford Meets King Arthur
Season 1 Episode 31 - Aired 5/10/1960
Tennessee Ernie Ford is transported back to England in the time of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
Director: Lee J. Cobb
Writer: Roland Kibbee
- N/A/100 votes
Sing Along with Mitch
Season 1 Episode 32 - Aired 5/24/1960
Conductor-arranger Mitch Miller transfers his 'Sing Along with Mitch' format from records to television. In this program, he is joined by the vocal group Brothers Four, singers Leslie Uggams and Diana Trask, the Sing Along Chorus, and an aggregation of singing children. The studio audience is encouraged to participate.
Director: Bill Hobin
Writer: Gordon Cotler
- 10.0/101 votes
The Nanette Fabray Show
Season 1 Episode 33 - Aired 5/31/1960
An original musical, 'So Help Me, Aphrodite', with Nanette Fabray starring as Sally, a diner waitress owned by Ernest Jones, who earnestly wants to marry her. But Sally dreams of being famous — like Marie Antoinette or Pocahontas.
Director: Bob Henry
Writer: Danny Arnold