You Are There (1953–1957)

Walter Cronkite hosted the reenactments of historical events. Shows included "The Landing of the Hindenburg", "The Salem Witchcraft Trials", "The Gettysburg Address", "The Fall of Troy", and "The Scuttling of the Graf Spee".

Stars:

Walter Cronkite, Paul Birch, E.G. Marshall

Won 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Walter Cronkite	...	Himself - Host - Narrator (113 episodes, 1953-1971)

Storyline

Walter Cronkite hosted the reenactments of historical events. Shows included "The Landing of the Hindenburg", "The Salem Witchcraft Trials", "The Gettysburg Address", "The Fall of Troy", and "The Scuttling of the Graf Spee".

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Plot Keywords:

reenactment | scene based on painting | based on radio series

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Genres:

Drama | History

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 February 1953 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Quotes

[last lines]
Narrator: What sort of day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times... and you were there.

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Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Castle of Fu-Manchu (1992)

User Reviews

Where's the 1971 version?

I, too, remember seeing an episode of the original "You Are There" in elementary school in 1973 (I don't remember which episode, however). And since selected episodes of the original 1950's series are now on DVD, I hope to check out some of them.

But, having been born in April 1962 - and *this* is the one I *really* remember, having seen it on some Saturday afternoons when I was a kid - I'd like to know:

*What about the 1971-72 revival of "You Are There?"*

I recently saw just the opening and closing of one episode from the "You Are There" revival on YouTube; it was the one about the Alamo. According to the credits, Fred Gwynne of "The Munsters" had a brief role in this segment (for some strange reason, the poster of that video *didn't* include the body of that episode in his submission).

Also, I discovered some episodes of the 1971 "You Are There" were made available for school use; following the closing credits, a title card read: "Distributed by BFA Educational Media." I did some research on Google and found out BFA morphed into a company now called The Phoenix Learning Group, Inc.; when I went to PLG's website, I checked to see if any episodes of the 1971 "You Are There" were still available on DVD or VHS. Sadly, PLG is *no longer* printing any episodes of the 1971 "You Are There" on DVD or other formats, including the above-mentioned "Alamo" episode. (The 1971 revival of "You Are There" was recorded on videotape rather than film; perhaps that's another reason hampering a DVD release of this version? I can only hope not, since that "Alamo" episode was converted to film from videotape without any problem.)

So, CBS, if you and your sister company Paramount Home Entertainment don't want to release the 1971 version of "You Are There" on DVD yourselves, why don't you lease it out to Shout! Factory, Real Gone, or some other "Classic TV" DVD company? I'm sure there are others who remember the 1971 revival of the show and might enjoy seeing these episodes again, too (hopefully you still have the 1971 "You Are There" in your archives and didn't let the copyrights expire)!

In the meantime, I hope to purchase some of those original 50's "You Are There" episodes on DVD and watch them. After viewing the brief snippet of that one 1971 episode on YouTube, that made me want to see other episodes of the original series even more!