Counsellor at Law

Summary

1949 BBC Television live studio production of Elmer Rice’s play Counsellor at Law, revived with broadly the same cast 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 16 January 1949

Time

8.30-11.00pm

Series

Sunday-Night Theatre

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Eric Fawcett

Playwright

Elmer Rice (1892-1967)

Sets / Settings

James Bould

Cast

Madeleine Burgess	Zedorah Chapman
Alfred Burke	Arthur Sandler
Cecilia Eddy	Goldie Rindskopf
Lynn [or Lyn] Evans	John P. Tedesco
Patricia Jessel	Regina Gordon
Alan Keith	David Simon
Sidney [or "Sydney"?] Keith	Charles McFadden
Carla Lehmann	Cora Simon
Launce Maraschal	Francis Clark Baird
Hugh McDermott	Roy Darwin
Tucker McGuire	Bessie Green
Clara Meisels	Sarah Becker
Peter Mendoza	Henry Susskind
Helen Misener	Lena Simon
Barbara Murray	Lillian Larue
Bennett O’Loghlen	Postman
Dermot Palmer	Herbert Howard Weinberg
Macdonald Parke	Peter J. Malone
Harry Quashie	A Bootblack
Harold Reese	Harry Becker
Abraham Sofaer	George Simon

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Presented again at 8.00pm on Thursday 20 January 1949, and then revived in 1951, when it was presented at 8.30pm on Sunday 4 February and again at 8.30pm on Thursday 8 February.

Notes

Cast list is for the 1951 revival. In 1949 certain roles were taken by different actors: Michael McCeag (Henry Susskind); William Taylor (A bootblack); Gordon Tanner (Arthur Sandler); Maxine Cooper (Lilian Larue); Peter Williams (Roy Darwin); and the additional role of Johan Brietstein was played by Edgar Whitburn

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

American drama; court-room drama

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 14 January 1949 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing, p. 26; article by J.C. Trewin, p. 25

Title

Radio Times, 2 February 1951 (Magazine)

Linking notes

illustrated article and listing on p. 48

Title

Radio Times, 28 January 1949 (Magazine)

Linking notes

viewers letters, p. 25