Omnibus Season 5, Episode 5: Let There Be Farce

The American Musical Comedy

Androcles and the Lion

The Last Day of Manolete

My Heart's in the Highlands

Moliere's School for Wives

The program has two segments: (1) "Moliere's School for Wives" (comedy play by Moliere), and (2) "Skull Session" (survey of college football in the U.S.).

Plays of the Irish Renaissance

The program has three segments: (1) "Plays of the Irish Renaissance" (scenes from works by Irish playwrights), (2) "The Era of Wonderful Nonsense" (documentary on crazy ways of making a living in the 1920s), and (3) "On the Bowery" (showing of an excerpt from a 1956 film dealing with the life of down-and-outs in a downtown area of New York).

The Blue Hotel

The program has three segments: "The Blue Hotel" (adaptation of a Stephen Crane story), "The Children's Party" (comic monologue), and "Vest-Pocket Symphony" (harmonica music).

55 min

A Man Without a Country

The Fine Art of Murder

Rex Stout appeared in this presentation of a homicide as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allan Poe and Rex Stout would variously present it.

The Christmas Tie

The program has four segments: (1) "The Christmas Tie" (re-staging of the William Saroyan play produced in Season 1), (2) "The Spirit of Freedom" (re-enactment of Sandor Szabo's flight from Communism), (3) "Drug Store, Sunday Noon" (story), and (4) "Szabo Interview" (interview with the subject of segment 2).

Madeline Visits Omnibus

The program has five segments: (1) "Madeline and the Bad Hat" (adaptation of a children's story), (2) "Columbus Boychoir" (Christmas songs), (3) "Susie's Night Out" (film of a pet shop at night), (4) "Bill Baird's Marionettes" (puppet parody of Omnibus), and (5) "The Star of Bethlehem" (scientific explanation of the star in the Nativity story).

The Art of Choreography

The program has two segments: (1) "The Art of Choreography" (tracing the history of choreography from earliest times), and (2) "Master Gunmanship" (comedy feature on the art of pistol-shooting).

Oedipus, the King

The program has two segments: (1) "Oedipus, the King" (play by Sophocles), and (2) "Solo Khumbu" (excerpts from a film documentary on social life and customs in Nepal).

Introduction to Modern Music

The program has three segments: (1) "Introduction to Modern Music" (Leonard Bernstein discusses modern music and composers, including Bartok, Berg, Hindemith, Ives, Prokofiev, Schoenberg and Stravinsky), (2) "Out" (showing of a 1957 UN documentary about the influx of Hungarian refugees into Austria as a result of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution), and (3) "John Hersey Interview" (interview with the writer of segment (2))

Lee at Gettysburg

A verse drama treatment of the critical battle of the American Civil War.

The Big Wheel: the Burlesque Entertainment of Yesterday

The program has two segments: (1) "The Big Wheel" (a survey of the age of burlesque, featuring examples of acts of the period), and (2) "The Message" (showing of a 1956 UK film drama on the moral and ethical aspects of war).

The Theatre Breaks Loose

The Trial of Captain Kidd

How the F-100 Got Its Tail

The Fall River Legend: the Trial of Lizzie Borden

The program has two segments: (1) "The Trial of Lizzie Borden" (dramatization of the murder trial of Lizzie Borden), and (2) "The Fall River Legend" (dramatic ballet presentation of the Lizzie Borden story).

The Music of Johann Sebastian Bach

The program has two segments: (1) "The Music of Johann Sebastian Bach" (Leonard Bernstein analyzes Bach's music and techniques, illustrated with an excerpt from 'The St. Matthew Passion' and other choral and orchestral works), and (2) "A Maine Lobsterman" (repeat showing of a feature from Season 3 about lobster-fishing in Maine).