"The United States Steel Hour" No Time for Sergeants (1955)

Director:

Alex Segal

Writers:

Mac Hyman (novel)
Ira Levin (written for television)

TV Series:

"The United States Steel Hour" (1953)

Original Air Date:

15 March 1955 (Season 2, Episode 14)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Will Stockdale is a country bumpkin drafted into the Air Force and too dumb to realize he's driving everyone around him crazy -- no one more than Sgt. King.

Plot Keywords:

Air Force | Country Bumpkin | Latrine | Barracks | Sergeant

Cast

Andy Griffith	...	Will Stockdale
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Joe Brown Jr.	...	Infantry Sergeant
Alexander Clark	...	Captain
Harry Clark	...	Sgt. King
Robert Emhardt	...	Major
Bob Hastings	...	Lucky
George Kilroy	...	Soldier
Eddie LeRoy	...	Ben Whitledge
Adnia Rice	...	WAF Captain
G. Albert Smith	...	Colonel
Arthur Storch	...	Irving
Thomas Volk	...	PFC

Directed by
Alex Segal

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Mac Hyman		novel
Ira Levin		written for television

Produced by
John Haggott	....	associate producer

Film Editing by
S. Mark Smith

Production Design by
Albert Heschong

Art Direction by
James McNaughton

Costume Design by
Gene Coffin

Sound Department
William Blumel	....	audio

Camera and Electrical Department
Rolf Drucker	....	video engineer
Imero Fiorentino	....	lighting

Music Department
Glenn Osser	....	conductor

Other crew
George Weber	....	technical director

Produced by
Marshall Jamison	....	executive producer (1956-1958)
Marshall Jamison	....	producer (1956-1958)

Original Music by
Wladimir Selinsky

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jack Sameth	....	assistant director

Camera and Electrical Department
J.J. Lupatkin	....	camera operator

Production Companies

• Theatre Guild

Distributors

• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1955) (USA) (TV) (original airing)

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Theatre Guild

Trivia:

The stage production of "No Time for Sergeants" by Ira Levin opened at the Alvin Theater in New York on October 20, 1955 and ran for 796 performances.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Will Stockdale:[to the audience] Howdy, I'm Will Stockdale. I'm fixin' to tell you some of the things that happened to me in the draft.

Movie Connections:

Remade as No Time for Sergeants (1958)

One of the funniest shows I've ever seen...

"No Time for Sergeants" was very unusual, in that it was first a live teleplay, then a Broadway play and then a Hollywood movie. While a few teleplays were made into hit movies (such as "Marty", "Requiem for a Heavyweight" and "Days of Wine and Roses"), I can't recall one of these original TV plays ever going on to Broadway AND Hollywood--to great success. Plus, it made Andy Griffith a star, as he was in all three forms of this wonderful story.

As for the teleplay, it's amazing to see this and other teleplays of the era, as they were often broadcast LIVE (like this one). So, as millions of Americans watched, the show was done without a major hiccup--something even more amazing as several different shows produced similar teleplays each week from the late 40s up to about 1960. And the acting and writing was often as good or better than anything made in Hollywood at the time.

Unlike the movie version, this begins with a little introduction in which Griffith talks to the audience and then sings a bit--a much more folksy version than you see in the movie. And, throughout the teleplay, he stops to talk to the audience--delivering some hilarious lines. In many ways, this TV version was much more like Griffith's stand-up act in which he told humorous stories with a strong Southern slant (such as with his "What It Was, Was Football" bit). As far as the story goes, it's a lot like snippets of the movie--little vignettes here and there. And the sets are very stage-like--with Griffith walking from set to set as he talks to the audience.

Watching this telelplay was a lot of fun--even more so than the movie. In fact, my wife and I sat there laughing throughout--mostly due to Griffith's wonderful delivery as well as the great writing. To put it succinctly...it was fun! And, in an odd twist, this show was done in front of an audience--and you could hear from the laughter that they thought it was a heck of a lot of fun, too.