The Museum of Television & Radio

to screen television adaptations of Billy Budd

October 4 to 31, 2002

Screenings will be the Broadway play by Louis O. Coxe and Robert Chapman and the opera by Benjamin Britten

Theodor Uppman, star of NBC Opera Theatre: Scenes from “Billy Budd,” to attend a special fiftieth anniversary screening in New York

New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA—The Museum of Television & Radio will screen two televised adaptations of Herman Melville’s Billy Budd in both New York and Los Angeles from October 4 to 31, 2002. The famed novella, about the inner struggles of conscience and guilt, has been adapted several times for stage and screen. In 1951 there were two notable productions—a Broadway play by Louis O. Coxe and Robert Chapman, and an opera by Benjamin Britten that had its world premiere at Covent Garden. The Museum will screen these dramatic and operatic versions of Billy Budd as they appeared on television—on the Dupont Show of the Month and as an installment of NBC Opera Theatre. In addition to the screenings, Theodor Uppman, who played Billy in the NBC Opera Theatre: Scenes from “Billy Budd,” will attend a special fiftieth anniversary screening of the program in New York on October 19, 2002—exactly fifty years to the day and time that it was first telecast live++. Following the screening Mr. Uppman will take questions from the audience.

Billy Budd, the tale of a guileless, exuberant young sailor and the malevolent master-at-arms who deliberately sets out to bring about Budd’s ruin, was first published in 1924, more than three decades after the author’s death. (The manuscript was found among the author’s papers during the “Melville Revival” of the 1920s.) The Museum’s screenings will begin on October 4, 2002, with an adaptation of the Broadway play, telecast on the DuPont Show of the Month on May 25, 1959. The program, praised by Variety for its “honest staging” and top-notch cast, starred Don Murray as Billy, James Donald as Captain Vere, Alfred Ryder (an eleventh-hour replacement for Jason Robards, who was ill) as Claggart, Roddy McDowall as Squeak, and George Ebeling as Dansker. The dramatization was produced by David Susskind, written by Jacqueline Babbin and Audrey Gellen, and directed by Robert Mulligan.

NBC Opera Theatre: Scenes from “Billy Budd” begins screenings on October 18, 2002—fifty years after it was telecast live for a viewing audience of nearly ten million. It marked the American premiere of the Britten work, and gave viewers the opportunity to see a young homegrown talent, baritone Theodor Uppman, repeat his Covent Garden success in the title role. The opera was sensitively cut by producer Samuel Chotzinoff to fit its ninety-minute time slot, and Scenes from “Billy Budd” became one of the most successful productions in the history of NBC Opera Theatre. The cast includes Andrew McKinley as Captain Vere, Leon Lishner as Claggart, Robert Holland as Squeak, Kenneth Smith as Dansker, and Francis Monachino as Lieutenant Ratcliffe. The production was directed for television by Kirk Browning and conducted by NBC Opera Theatre artistic director Peter Herman Adler.

SCREENING TIMES

In New York:

DuPont Show of the Month: Billy Budd (1959; 90 minutes)

Friday, October 4 to Thursday, October 17, 2002

Tuesdays to Fridays at 12:30 p.m.

Saturdays and Sundays at 3:00 p.m.

NBC Opera Theatre: Scenes from “Billy Budd” (1952; 90 minutes)

Friday, October 18 to Thursday, October 31, 2002

Tuesdays to Fridays at 12:30 p.m.

Saturdays and Sundays at 3:00 p.m.

**Special Screening

October 19, 2002, at 3:00 p.m.

In Person: Theodor Uppman will attend a special anniversary screening of NBC Opera Theatre: Scenes from “Billy Budd”—fifty years to the day and time that it was first telecast live—and answer questions from the audience following the screening.

In Los Angeles:

DuPont Show of the Month: Billy Budd (1959; 90 minutes)

Friday, October 4 to Thursday, October 17, 2002

Wednesdays to Fridays at 12:30 p.m.

Saturdays and Sundays at 3:00 p.m.

NBC Opera Theatre: Scenes from “Billy Budd” (1952; 90 minutes)

Friday, October 18 to Thursday, October 31, 2002

Wednesdays to Fridays at 12:30 p.m.

Saturdays and Sundays at 3:00 p.m.

Screenings are included with suggested Museum admission: Members free; $10.00 for adults; $8.00 for senior citizens and students; and $5.00 for children under thirteen. Admission is free in Los Angeles.

The Museum of Television & Radio, with locations in New York and Los Angeles, is a nonprofit organization founded by William S. Paley to collect and preserve television and radio programs and advertisements and to make them available to the public. Since opening in 1976, the Museum has organized exhibitions, screening and listening series, seminars, and education classes to showcase its collection of more than 110,000 television and radio programs and advertisements. In 2001 the Museum initiated a process to acquire Internet programming for the collection. Programs in the Museum's permanent collection are selected for their artistic, cultural, and historic significance.

###

The Museum of Television & Radio in New York, located at 25 West 52 Street in Manhattan, is open Tuesdays through Sundays from noon to 6:00 p.m., until 8:00 p.m. on Thursdays, and Friday evenings until 9:00 p.m. (theaters only). The Museum of Television & Radio in California, located at 465 North Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills, is open Wednesdays through Sundays from noon to 5:00 p.m. and until 9:00 p.m. on Thursdays. Both Museums are closed on New Year's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Suggested contribution: Members free; $10.00 for adults; $8.00 for senior citizens and students; and $5.00 for children under thirteen. Admission is free in Los Angeles. The public areas in both Museums are accessible to wheelchairs, and assisted listening devices are available. Programs are subject to change. You may call the Museum in New York at (212) 621-6800, or in Los Angeles at (310) 786-1000. Visit the Museum’s website at http://www.mtr.org.