First Aired: October 1st, 1952
Status: Ended
Genre: Drama
Network: ABC
Summary: Cavalcade of America is an anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company, although it occasionally presented a musical, such as an adaptation of Show Boat, and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially broadcast on radio from 1935 to 1953, and later on television from 1952 to 1957. Originally on CBS, the series pioneered the use of anthology drama for company audio advertising. Cavalcade of America documented historical events using stories of individual courage, initiative and achievement, often with feel-good dramatizations of the human spirit's triumph against all odds. This was consistent with DuPont's overall conservative philosophy and legacy as an American company dating back to 1802. The company's motto, "Maker of better things for better living through chemistry," was read at the beginning of each program, and the dramas emphasized humanitarian progress, particularly improvements in the lives of women, often through technological innovation.
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# of Episodes: 131
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Season 2
Episode 1: Sam and the Whale
Air Date: September 29th, 1953
Summary: Sam Mulford, a famous American whale hunter who resents the English tax on whales and the methods employed by the King's tax collectors along the coast of Long Island goes to England, where, with the help of Lady Montagu, he takes his complaint to the royal court. Time: 1712.
Episode 3: Breakfast at Nancy's
Air Date: October 13rd, 1953
Summary: In Georgia during the American Revolution, a beautiful girl and a gleaming rifle bring aid to the cause of freedom.
Messengers vital to the cause of the Colonies are hidden by Nancy Hart beneath the floor of her cabin in the Georgia hills. When the safety of one messenger is threatened, she uses cunning and force to protect him.
Episode 4: Sunset at Appomattox
Air Date: October 20th, 1953
Summary: A dramatization of the meeting of General Lee and General Grant at Appomattox based on detailed accounts of fourteen eye-witnesses to the surrender. The surrender of Robert E. Lee's army to the Union Army headed by U.S. Grant in 1865 ends the four years of war between the Union and the Confederacy.
Episode 5: And to Fame Unknown
Air Date: October 27th, 1953
Summary: Shows how a high school science teacher is helping to develop a better America for younger generations through his efforts in the field of science education. Explains that educators can alleviate the manpower shortage in scientific fields by stimulating the interest of exceptional high school students and encouraging them to pursue scientific careers.
Episode 7: Tiger's Tail
Air Date: November 17th, 1953
Summary: Becoming aware of corruption in politics in New York, Thomas Nast, known for his drawings of Santa Claus, initiates a series of cartoons in which Boss Tweed is symbolized as a snarling tiger. In spite of threats and slander the cartoonist continues his work and inflames the public to the overthrow of the corrupt Tweed political machine. Time: 1870's.
Episode 11: Riders of the Pony Express
Air Date: December 15th, 1953
Summary: A historical drama. The pony express era is initiated by Alexander Majors, one of the owners of a transport firm, who, in searching for methods of transporting mail and packages across the West, delves into history and adapts the relay courier system as used by Genghis Khan.
Episode 12: One Nation Indivisible
Air Date: December 22nd, 1953
Summary: The editor of the Tribune, Horace Greeley,(America's Titan of the Press) influenced by a conversation with President Lincoln, changes his views regarding Jefferson Davis and proceeds, with some risk to his career, to conduct a successful crusade to free the ex-Confederate president from prison. Time: latter half of nineteenth century.
Episode 13: Mr. Peale's Dinosaur
Air Date: December 29th, 1953
Summary: A drama relating the events which led to Charles Willson Peale's conception of the idea of establishing in Philadelphia a national museum of natural history and his efforts to provide the museum with noteworthy exhibits. Time: 1794. Painter Charles Wilson Peale risks his career and possessions to excavate and reconstruct a fossilized mastadon, the greatest skeleton ever seen in his day.
Episode 15: Smyrna Incident
Air Date: January 19th, 1954
Summary: A historical drama. The captain of an American ship, anchored in the Turkish port of Smyrna, risks of a battle with three Austrian ships when he demands the release of an Austrian-born prisoner who has applied for American citizenship. U.S. Naval Commander Ingraham defies the Austrian Navy to protect an American subject.
Episode 16: Man of Glass
Air Date: January 26th, 1954
Summary: Dramatizes the life of Henry William Stiegel, who came to America from Germany and rose from a worker in an iron foundry to be head of a large glass factory. Describes Stiegel's realization, following his financial ruin, that material success did not make him superior to other men, but that his greatness lay in the beauty of the glassware which he created. He built a church and received as rent, one red rose.
Episode 18: Margin of Victory
Air Date: February 16th, 1954
Summary: A historical drama about an American spy, posing as a loyal Tory, who is responsible for the strategic landing of French troops in America while British forces are being concentrated in New York City to withstand a supposed attack by General Washington.
The Culpers, famous spies, enable reinforcements to land in Rhode Island during the American Revolution.
Episode 21: The Splendid Dream
Air Date: March 16th, 1954
Summary: Dramatizes the life of William Penn from his early interest in the Society of Friends, which led to his imprisonment under the Conventicle act, to his ultimate success in founding in the New World a colony where religious freedom became a reality. Time: 1701
Episode 24: Riddle of the Seas
Air Date: April 6th, 1954
Summary: Relates the story of the life work of Matthew Fontaine Maury, founder of the United States Weather Bureau, who advanced and proved his revolutionary theory that the paths of the sea--winds, currents, and temperature--could be accurately predicted and charted. Time: mid-nineteenth century.
Episode 25: Crazy Judah
Air Date: April 13rd, 1954
Summary: The life of Theodore Judah portray his attempts to realize his dream of unifying the country with a railroad system. Portrays his trips from California to Washington by boat and burro, his initial failure in 1859 to secure help from Congress and from California businessmen, his work in surveying a route through the Sierra Mountains, the encouragement of Leland Stanford and Charles Crocker, the formation of a company to start work, and Judah's death before the fulfillment of his dream. ""Crazy Judah"" is the name Theodore Judah gets when he tries to sell his idea of a transcontinental railroad to the politicians of 19th century Americans.
Episode 26: A Strange Journey
Air Date: April 20th, 1954
Summary: A historical drama about the adventures of George Merchant, an American rifleman from the Virginia backwoods who is captured by the British at Quebec, sent to England as a prisoner, and released early in 1776 by colonial sympathizers to deliver to Hancock several letters which affect the decision of the Continental Congress to declare independence for the Colonies.
Episode 27: The Paper Sword
Air Date: April 27th, 1954
Summary: Dramatizes the story of James King, a fearless newspaper editor, whose murder because of his crusade against corrupt officials in the San Francisco government set into motion one of the most sweeping reform movements in American history. Time: 1855.
Episode 28: Saturday Story
Air Date: May 4th, 1954
Summary: Dramatizes the career of Mark Wilson, a high school football coach who taught principles of living as well as football fundamentals to his players, one of whom was Otto Graham of the Cleveland Browns. Frank Leahy, former Notre-Dame coach, introduces the story and participates in a closing interview with Mark Wilson and Otto Graham.
Episode 29: Spindletop
Air Date: May 11st, 1954
Summary: Dramatized incidents tell the story of the efforts of Captain Anthony Lucas, an Austrian mining engineer, to prove his theory regarding the feasibility of drilling for oil in the salt-dome formations of the Beaumont area. Describes the equipment and methods which he used in drilling, his unsuccessful attempts, and his ultimate success when the first big gusher in the Southwest came in at Spindletop, Texas.
Episode 30: Moonlight School
Air Date: May 18th, 1954
Summary: Dramatizes the experiences of Cora Wilson Stewart, a county superintendent and a teacher in a one-room school who succeeds in establishing a night class for adults in a backward section of Kentucky which is unsympathetic to book learning. Time: 1911.
Episode 32: The Skipper's Lady
Air Date: June 8th, 1954
Summary: Dramatized incidents portray the courage and skill of a captain's wife who was forced to assume command of a clipper ship sailing from New York to San Francisco with the annual allotment of supplies for the Indians of California and Oregon.
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