Playhouse 90 - The Velvet Alley Ernie rebuked clip 7 of 8

Having divorced his wife and lost his best friend to a fatal heart attack, TV writer Ernie Pandish (Art Carney) finally returns to New York to see his father (George Voskovec), hoping for redemption. It is not to be. From "The Velvet Alley," a third-season episode of CBS' "Playhouse 90" drama anthology.

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Tags:

• cbs
• Playhouse
• 90
• Voskoveck
• Carney
• vintage
• television
• Serling

[jakebarnes97]

powerful stuff. I sure wish TV was like this today. Then I'd watch it.

[byrd59]

Agreed. Thing was, even by 1959, television was already moving away from this level of sophistication. "Playhouse 90" was the last of the great live/taped anthologies. Mostly the medium was content to put on endless westerns and action/adventure shows, trying to reach the lowest common denominator. Overall I'd say there was far more quality TV then than there is today, but the bigger the audience became, the less room there was for great programs like "Playhouse 90."

[4MaryAnna]

I like how his father looked at him very quickly when he heard his son's voice break over the death of his friend(ex agent),as if the father just then said to himself"Oh good,my son hasn't turned into a "total"Hollywood robot"! 4:13

[tomkes100]

Margotdarby & those who dared KNOCk PLAYHOUSE 90 let this tv film rocknroll doo wop historian set the record straight. histiry has stated PLAYHOUSE 90 among the finest in televidion. Mr ed is tv Playhouse 90 is television. tops in acting script production. this is gOLDEN AGE and PLAYHOUSE 90 is coming out in November. Long overdue. THIS IS TELEVISION at its best like it or not. get a life here fellas. opinon is one thing FACT is altogether different. PLAYHOUSE 90 for the ages. TOMK i dont lie

[margotdarby]

I hope I wasn't being unfair to old Rod, but his stuff was derivative and formulaic, let's face it, the sort of stuff written by a guy who doesn't get out much but Wants to Be a Writer. I'm sure there are many good things in the script, but I'd have to see the whole thing at my leisure. These are not flattering excerpts. I still say Odets did it better!!

[papastathisjohn]

Noticed your comment and would like to reply. Note: that Gothic tradition of of the South(eg Welty,Faulter et al) are my speciialty). My special intel ininterest

[margotdarby]

Pretentious claptrap, windy scenes of serious men (and few women) clutching stiff drinks and dragging on cigarettes. This turkey could easily be restaged as a comedy. It is just so derivative and cliche-ridden. Clifford Odets did it better, earlier, and actually lived the experience. Odets's decline must have been legendary when Serling wrote this, though young Rod seems to be worrying more about himself.

[tramky]

Isn't it amazing to view these clips from dedicated television drama as it was 50 years ago! This is SO much better than anything on television today, it is almost heartbreaking.

And there is a comment by Earl Hamner, the creator of "The Waltons" in his long interview for the Archive of American Television in which he says he has gone back to a TV network with an idea for a new program, and he said he is told directly that "they don't want any of those old guys" doing shows anymore!

[gozzer84]

Did you know that the father in this clip was played by one of the most important avantguard playwrighters of the 20´s and 30´s in the world who - after the end of the II. World War and the beginning of the Could War - had no chance but to become "merely" a highly regarded and rewarded (!) Broadway actor? (Mr. Voskovec along with his fellow playwrither, Mr. Werich, founded the "Liberated Theater"). But who cares these days anymore... Let´s get all porno !

[joeyjojo4]

Where's Bonita Granville???

[joeyjojo4]

Wow. Great actors reading great lines. Now, THAT'S entertainment. This is television???

Thanks.