Counsellor at Law

Summary

1957 BBC Television production of Elmer Rice’s play Counsellor at Law. The Radio Times listing introduces this play as ‘A new production of Television Drama’s most successful play’ (6 December 1957, p. 11); it had first been produced by the BBC in 1951.

Theatre play

Counsellor at Law by Elmer Rice (1892-1967) [more information]

Play synopsis

Set in the high-powered law offices of Simon and Tedesco in New York, the play digs deeply into both the public life of the ruthlessly efficient criminal lawyer George Simon and his private life. Wikipedia offers the following synopsis: ‘The story focuses on several days in a critical juncture in the life of George Simon, who rose from his humble roots in a poor Jewish ghetto on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to become a shrewd, highly successful attorney. Earlier in his career, he allowed a guilty client to perjure himself on the witness stand because he believed the man could be rehabilitated if freed. Rival lawyer Francis Clark Baird has learned about the incident and is threatening to expose George, which will lead to his disbarment. The possibility of a public scandal horrifies his socialite wife Cora, who plans to flee to Europe with Roy Darwin. Devastated by his wife’s infidelity, George is about to leap from the window of his office in the Empire State Building when his secretary Regina, who is in love with him, comes to his rescue’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counsellor_at_Law).

Production history

Dated to 1931.

Date of transmission

Sunday 8 December 1957

Time

8.00-9.45pm

Series

Sunday-Night Theatre

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Rudolph Cartier

Playwright

Elmer Rice (1892-1967)

Adapted for Television by

Ian Dallas (1930- )

Designer

Stephen Taylor

Cast

Tamba Allen	Bootblack
Robert Ayres	Roy Darwin
Barbara Chilcott	Regina Gordon
Roger Delgado	John P. Tedesco
Brenda Dunrich	Goldie Rindskopf
Frank Ellement	Francis Clark Baird
Brian Hankins	Herbert Howard Weinberg
Mark Heath	Postman
Joyce Heron	Cora Simon
Kerry Jordan	Arthur Sandler
Natalie Lynn	Lena Simon
Vivian Matalon	Harry Becker
George Mikell	Johann Breitstein
Redmond Phillips	Peter J. Malone
David Rayner	David Simon
Kathryn Sadler	Lillian Larue
David Saire	Henry Susskind
Cyril Shaps	Charles McFadden
Eli Wallach	George Simon
Eileen Way	Sarah Becker
Patricia Webster	Bessie Green
Mary Laura Wood	Zedorah Chapman

Additional details

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

American drama; court-room drama

Print sources

Title

BBC Television: Counsellor at Law (Newspaper review)

Reference

The Times, 9 December 1957, p. 12

Title

Photogenic Flickering (Newspaper review)

Author/creator

Maurice Richardson (Reviewer)

Reference

The Observer, 15 December 1957, p. 10

Title

Radio Times, 6 December 1957 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing, p.11; articles, pp. 4 and 9