TV READER'S DIGEST - (1955 - 1956)

Aired January 17, 1955 to July 9, 1956

TV Reader's Digest  was a filmed anthology series that featured dramatic stories based on articles that appeared in Reader's Digest magazine.

The episodes, based on true stories, were varied in their themes, plots and content.  Stories included crime, heroism, mystery, romance and human interest.

The series was hosted by Hugh Riley and sponsored by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation.  The series was canceled when the automaker ran into financial troubles.

1- The Brainwashing Of John Hayes (aired 11-07-55)

The Communist Chinese government arrests and

imprisons American English teacher/Presbyterian

missionary John Hayes, claiming he is a spy.

2- The Great Armored Car Robbery (aired 4-25-55)

The man who master-minded a crime finds that "going straight" can be harmful to your health

3- Case Of The Uncertain Hand (aired 2-27-56)

A woman private detective, employed to defend a couple accused of grand larceny, tries to prove that the handwriting on a bank deposit slip is not that of

the accused wife.

4- My First Bullfight (aired 6-20-55)

An American artist is drawing bullfighting posters in Mexico City. After a little too much tequiila, he feels he has what it takes to battle a bull.

5- France's Greatest Detective (aired 5-16-55)

The story of Alphonse Bertillion, a low level employee of the French police, who developed a theory of identifying suspects by their unique physical measurements, like the size of the head. At first his superiors are skeptical, but statistics taken of a man in question exposes his guilt in a murder case.

6- Honeymoon In Mexico (aired 4-18-55)

A newlywed couple comes to a small Mexican village to spend a year painting. After helping an orphaned child with an injury, they unexpectedly end up as his parents. Once word gets around, other kids beat a path to their door hoping also to be adopted.

7- If I Were Rich (aired 11-28-55)

Longing to move up in the world and escape their ordinary lives, the Johnson family pin all their hopes on a sweepstakes ticket. When their ticket becomes one of twenty finalists, temptation to sell it before the prize is selected wears on them, but they win it. Afterward, what looked like a life of ease turns into problems and heartache.

8- A Matter Of Life & Death (aired 2-28-55)

A young boy considers the tradition of old Southern feuds to be distasteful. As an adult and a brain surgeon, he performs a serious operation on the grandson of his childhood enemy.

9- Anatomy Of A Graft (aired 5-30-55)

A naive attorney enters politics, intending to practice clean government. Unfortunately, others in positions of power do not share his idealism.

10- The General's Escape (aired 6-4-56)

During WWII French General Henri Giraund plans a daring escape from a Nazi prision in this dramatization of a true story.

11- Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson (aired 1-31-55)

Author Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife search for a healthy environment as he battles tuberculosis.

12- America's First Great Lady (aired 3-21-55)

Pocahontas is the "great lady" in this story of the two men she loved: tobacco planter John Rolfe and Captain John Smith