The DuPont Show of the Week is an American television anthology drama series that aired on NBC from September 17, 1961 to September 6, 1964. During its time on the air, the program "was NBC's late Sunday evening 'class' showcase".
Episodes
Most episodes dramatized events that had occurred in real life. Others were documentaries, musical revues, and light comedies. The variety of episodes included "Merrily We Roll Along" on October 22, 1961. It used film clips to review the history of the automobile, with Groucho Marx as narrator. Clips included early automobile racers, and nameplates of "virtually forgotten makes of cars" were shown.
In 1963, director Frank De Felitta and producer Irving Gitlin were nominated for an Emmy Award for their work on the documentary episode "Emergency Ward".
Season 1 (1961–1962)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Laughter USA" | September 17, 1961 |
| 2 | 2 | "Happy with the Blues" | September 24, 1961 |
| 3 | 3 | "Hemingway" | October 1, 1961 |
| 4 | 4 | "USO - Wherever They Go!" | October 8, 1961 |
| 5 | 5 | "The Ballet of the Paper Bullet" | October 15, 1961 |
| 6 | 6 | "Merrily We Roll Along" | October 22, 1961 |
| 7 | 7 | "The Ziegfeld Touch" | October 29, 1961 |
| 8 | 8 | "America's Music - Music of the Thirties" | November 5, 1961 |
| 9 | 9 | "The Wonderful World of Toys" | November 12, 1961 |
| 10 | 10 | "Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians" | November 19, 1961 |
| 11 | 11 | "America's Music - Chicago and All That Jazz" | November 26, 1961 |
| 12 | 12 | "Trick or Treason" | December 17, 1961 |
| 13 | 13 | "Hollywood - My Home Town" | January 7, 1962 |
| 14 | 14 | "Circus" | January 21, 1962 |
| 15 | 15 | "The Forgery" | February 4, 1962 |
| 16 | 16 | "Police Emergency" | February 18, 1962 |
| 17 | 17 | "America's Music - Regards to George M. Cohan" | March 4, 1962 |
| 18 | 18 | "Cops and Robbers" | March 18, 1962 |
| 19 | 19 | "The Beauty of a Woman" | April 1, 1962 |
| 20 | 20 | "The Action in New Orleans" | April 15, 1962 |
| 21 | 21 | "The World's Greatest Robbery: Part 1" | April 29, 1962 |
| 22 | 22 | "The World's Greatest Robbery: Part 2" | May 6, 1962 |
| 23 | 23 | "America's Fads and Foibles" | May 13, 1962 |
| 24 | 24 | "A Sound of Hunting" | May 20, 1962 |
| 25 | 25 | "Hurricane" | May 27, 1962 |
| 26 | 26 | "D-Day" | June 3, 1962 |
| 27 | 27 | "The Movie Star" | June 10, 1962 |
| 28 | 28 | "The Richest Man in Bogota" | June 17, 1962 |
| 29 | 29 | "Seven Keys to Baldpate" | June 24, 1962 |
Season 2 (1962–1963)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | 1 | "The Outpost" | September 16, 1962 |
| 31 | 2 | "The Interrogator" | September 23, 1962 |
| 32 | 3 | "Fire Rescue" | September 30, 1962 |
| 33 | 4 | "Big Deal in Laredo" | October 7, 1962 |
| 34 | 5 | "The Betrayal" | October 21, 1962 |
| 35 | 6 | "The Shadowed Affair" | November 4, 1962 |
| 36 | 7 | "Emergency Ward" | November 18, 1962 |
| 37 | 8 | "Mutiny" | December 2, 1962 |
| 38 | 9 | "The Ordeal of Dr. Shannon" | December 16, 1962 |
| 39 | 10 | "Windfall" | January 13, 1963 |
| 40 | 11 | "Two Faces of Treason" | February 10, 1963 |
| 41 | 12 | "Comedian Backstage" | March 10, 1963 |
| 42 | 13 | "Diamond Fever" | March 24, 1963 |
| 43 | 14 | "The Shark" | April 7, 1963 |
| 44 | 15 | "Prisoner at Large" | April 21, 1963 |
| 45 | 16 | "Something to Hide" | May 5, 1963 |
| 46 | 17 | "The Legend of Lylah Clare" | May 19, 1963 |
| 47 | 18 | "The Triumph of Gerald Q. Wert" | June 9, 1963 |
| 48 | 19 | "San Francisco Detective" | June 16, 1963 |
| 49 | 20 | "A Dozen Deadly Roses" | June 23, 1963 |
| 50 | 21 | "Opening Night" | June 30, 1963 |
Season 3 (1963–1964)
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 51 | 1 | "To Bury Caesar" | September 8, 1963 |
| 52 | 2 | "The Last Hangman" | September 15, 1963 |
| 53 | 3 | "Hold-Up!" | September 22, 1963 |
| 54 | 4 | "The Bachelor Game" | September 29, 1963 |
| 55 | 5 | "The Takers" | October 13, 1963 |
| 56 | 6 | "Manhattan Battleground" | October 20, 1963 |
| 57 | 7 | "The Silver Burro" | November 3, 1963 |
| 58 | 8 | "Miss America - Behind the Scenes" | November 17, 1963 |
| 59 | 9 | "Ride with Terror" | December 1, 1963 |
| 60 | 10 | "The Gambling Heart" | February 23, 1964 |
| 61 | 11 | "The Hell Walkers" | March 8, 1964 |
| 62 | 12 | "Jeremy Rabbitt - The Secret Avenger" | April 5, 1964 |
| 63 | 13 | "A Day Like Today" | April 19, 1964 |
| 64 | 14 | "Incident on Wilson Street" | May 3, 1964 |
| 65 | 15 | "More, More, More, More" | May 31, 1964 |
| 66 | 16 | "The Patient in Room 601" | June 7, 1964 |
| 67 | 17 | "The Missing Bank of Rupert X. Humperdink" | June 21, 1964 |
| 68 | 18 | "High Wire - The Great Wallendas" | July 19, 1964 |
| 69 | 19 | "Don't Go Upstairs" | August 16, 1964 |
| 70 | 20 | "Flight Deck" | August 23, 1964 |
| 71 | 21 | "Ambassador at Large" | August 30, 1964 |
Notable guest stars
Entertainers who have appeared on The DuPont Show of the Week include:
- Edie Adams
- Eddie Albert
- Dana Andrews
- Lauren Bacall
- Jack Benny
- Milton Berle
- Carol Burnett
- Art Carney
- Barbara Cook
- Bing Crosby
- Bob Cummings
- James Daly
- Ruby Dee
- Colleen Dewhurst
- Marlene Dietrich
- Douglas Fairbanks Jr
- Peter Falk
- Greer Garson
- Lillian Gish
- Merv Griffin
- Gene Hackman
- Bob Hope
- Lena Horne
- Danny Kaye
- Arthur Kennedy
- Frank Lovejoy
- Walter Matthau
- Lee Marvin
- Harpo Marx
- Ray Milland
- John Mills
- Lloyd Nolan
- Merle Oberon
- Dick Powell
- Claude Rains
- Debbie Reynolds
- Cesar Romero
- Martha Scott
- Zachary Scott
- Maureen Stapleton
- Rod Taylor
- Danny Thomas
- Tuesday Weld
- Gene Wilder
- Teresa Wright
Production
The show was broadcast from 10 to 11 p.m. Eastern Time on Sundays. Robert Bendix was one of the producers and directors. Writers included Philip Reisman Jr.
Critical response
A review in The New York Times described the episode about the history of automobiles as "primarily an affectionate report" with "fascinating film clips". It said that the musical score was "lively" and the script was "comprehensive", but the style of narration was "somewhat labored".
