Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951)

Stars: Chet Allen, Rosemary Kuhlmann, Andrew McKinley, David Aiken, Leon Lishner
Director: Kirk Browning & Gian Carlo Menotti
Runtime: 55 Minutes
Language: English
Color: Black & White
Format:  DVD-R (region free)
Rating: NR
Price: $14.95

Amahl and the Night Visitors
(1951)

Directors: Kirk Browning & Gian Carlo Menotti

Cast:
Chet Allen ... Amahl
Rosemary Kuhlmann ... The Mother
Andrew McKinley ... King Caspar
David Aiken ... King Melchior
Leon Lishner ... King Balthazar
Francis Monachino ... The Page
and
Melissa Hayden, Nicholas Magallanes & Glen Tetley

The Dec. 24, 1951 broadcast of the first opera ever written for television. Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera about a crippled shepherd boy who encounters the three kings on their way to pay homage to the newborn Jesus was a perennial holiday favorite for decades. This was a historical broadcast and has the advantages of freshness and spontaneity, not only in the music but in the very act of being on television, which was still relatively new in 1951. For many years, the soundtrack from this very same broadcast was a top-selling LP and compact disc for RCA-Victor, but the broadcast itself hasn’t been seen in 50 years. 55 minutes

From the TV Days Collection