Editing John Frankenheimer (section)

==Television's "Golden Age": 1953–1960==
[[File:John Frankenheimer, TV director. Columbia Broadcasting Studio (CBS), publicity photo.jpg|thumb|left|Frankenheimer at [[CBS|Columbia Broadcasting Studios]] (CBS), 1952]]

During his years in military service, Frankenheimer strenuously sought a film career in Southern California. Failing this, at age 23, he returned to New York upon his military discharge to seek work in the emerging television industry. His earnestness impressed [[Columbia Broadcasting System]] (CBS) television executives, landing him a job in the summer of 1953 to serve as a director of photography on ''[[The Garry Moore Show]]''.<ref>Pratley, 1968 p. 21-24: See here of Frankenheimer's efforts to secure directorial position.<br>Walsh, 2002: "In 1953 he obtained a position with CBS television in New York as an assistant director and within 18 months of his discharge from the military he was co-directing a weekly dramatic series."</ref> Frankenheimer recalls his apprenticeship at CBS:

{{blockquote|When I stop and look back on [''The Garry Moore Show''] ... I was particularly well-suited for that job ... what you would do is prepare a shot for the director. He would tell you what he wanted and you would get it from the cameraman ... You'd also be responsible for the timing of the show. But I think&nbsp;– well, I know&nbsp;– I was born with a good eye for the camera and so the job really was playing right into what I would call my own strength.<ref>Pratley, 1968 p. 24</ref>}}

{{quote box|width=30em|bgcolor=cornsilk|fontsize=100%|salign=center|quote=Television scripts [of the 1950s] exploring problems at the societal level were systematically ignored (i.e. racial discrimination, structural poverty, and other social ills). Instead, critics complain, too many "golden age" dramas were little more than simplistic morality tales focusing on the everyday problems and conflicts of weak individuals confronted by personal shortcomings such as alcoholism, greed, impotence, and divorce, for example.... [I]t is important to note that the "golden age" coincided with the [[Cold War]] era and [[McCarthyism]] and that cold-war references, such as avoiding communism and loving America, were frequently incorporated in teleplays of the mid to late 1950s.{{snd}}Anna Everett in "Golden Age" [[Museum of Broadcast Communications]]<ref>Walsh, 2002: Anna Everett essay, "Golden Age" quoted here. See article http://www.americancentury.or ing/ag_tenthman.pdf</ref>}}

Frankenheimer was picked up as assistant to director [[Sidney Lumet]]'s for CBS's historical dramatization series ''[[You Are There (series)|You Are There]]'', and further on Charles Russell's ''[[Danger (TV series)|Danger]]'' and [[Edward R. Murrow]]'s ''[[Person to Person]]''. In late 1954 Frankenheimer replaced Lumet as director on ''You Are There'' and ''Danger'' under a 5-year contract (with a studio standard option to terminate a director with a two-week notice). Frankenheimer's directorial début was ''The Plot Against King Solomon'' (1954), a critical success.<ref>Pratley, 1968 p. 25-26, p. 28.</ref>

Throughout the 1950s he directed over 140 episodes of shows like ''[[Playhouse 90]]'' and ''[[Climax!]]'' under the auspices of CBS executive [[Hubbell Robinson]] and producer [[Martin Manulis]].<ref>Pratley, 1968 p. 29-30</ref> These included outstanding adaptations of works by [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], [[Eugene O'Neill]], [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]], [[Ernest Hemingway]] and [[Arthur Miller]]. Leading actors and actresses from stage and film starred in these live productions, among them [[Ingrid Bergman]], [[John Gielgud]], [[Mickey Rooney]], [[Geraldine Page]] and [[Jack Lemmon]]. Frankenheimer is widely considered a preeminent figure in the so-called "[[Golden Age of Television]]".<ref>Baxter, 2002: "It initiated a brilliant period of more than 100 productions, notably Playhouse 90 dramas..."<br>Walsh, 2002: "Between 1954 and 1960 Frankenheimer directed 152 live television dramas, including 42 episodes of the Playhouse 90 series. He is considered one of the leading figures of American television's so-called "Golden Age."<br>Barson, 2021: "one of the most important and creatively gifted directors of the 1950s and '60s."</ref><ref name="Rogerebert.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/john-frankenheimer-a-master-craftsman |title=John Frankenheimer: A Master Craftsman |publisher=Rogerebert.com |access-date=August 12, 2014}}</ref>

Film historian Stephen Bowie offers this appraisal of Frankenheimer's legacy from the "Golden Age" of television:

{{blockquote|Along with Sidney Lumet, John Frankenheimer was the major director to emerge from and be influenced by the aesthetics of live television drama, which [[Golden Age of Television|flourished briefly in the US]] ... Frankenheimer's later fame, and his oft-repeated nostalgia for live television, have designated him as the quintessential exponent of the form: this is a crucial misconception. The aesthetics of live television were defined by their temporal and spatial limitations: all that could be shown was what could be physically created within an hour or half-hour and photographed within the confines of a small space [emphasizing] cramped blue-collar settings ("kitchen drama") because these were the most easily staged for live broadcast ... [though] perfectly suited to this world of emotional intimacy and physical claustrophobia, Frankenheimer reacted instinctively against it. He sought material and visual strategies that expanded the boundaries of what could be done in live television ... As the live TV director who took the medium in an explicitly cinematic direction, Frankenheimer was actually the least typical.<ref name="Bowie, 2006">Bowie, 2006</ref>}}