Book Review - Twenty Seasons of Mobil Masterpiece Theatre 1971-1991
Twenty Seasons of Mobil Masterpiece Theatre 1971-1991 edited by Gregory Vitiello
Published by: Acme Printing Co.
Publication Date: 1991
Format: Hardcover, 112 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
Out of Print
Television needed something that was culturally significant. WGBH in Boston, underwritten by Mobil, brought us Masterpiece Theatre in 1971. A show to create a new golden age of television by airing the best that Britain had to offer. Not just shows by the BBC, but any British channel that produced quality could qualify. But they needed someone that would lend a gravitas and a voice to the show and that is where Alistair Cooke came in. Most known for his radio show, Letter from America, he was the voice of the Englishman abroad. Who better to be the standard bearer for this show that was being created? But he was extremely busy, but the brains behind Masterpiece Theatre were extremely persistent. Soon he was watching the shows wherever he was in America working on his thirteen-part documentary, America: A Personal History of the United States. He'd work out his thoughts, do research, and fly into Boston to film his bits making it the busiest time of his life. Aside from thinking that The First Churchills was filled with too many bewigged men who didn't know which direction the camera was facing, he knew they had something special. A feeling of the literary, a feeling of the theatrical, brought right into people's homes. A story they could follow over time that became the place to be. A place that was popular, and received many accolades in it's early years, but went stratospheric when they picked up a show that was their first wholly original show not based on historical figures. That show was Upstairs, Downstairs. Jean Marsh reminisces on how she and Eileen Atkins approached British executives about their idea for a show and how the only writer they could think of was Harold Pinter the playwright. While it was John Hawkesworth who helped bring the show to life with his stable of writers whose name you would see year after year on Masterpiece Theatre, Harold Pinter eventually did get a look in with The Heat of the Day which has a stunning poster by Bernie Fuchs. Upstairs, Downstairs ran for five seasons and won numerous awards and had Americans spellbound by the tales of the Bellamy family and their servants. It all came crashing down with the stock market crash of 1929, but the show had solidified itself as a classic of television. Year in and year out, Masterpiece Theatre was broadcasting shows that Americans were voracious for. Before the age of binge television they were the gold standard of event television. Though whomever scheduled Talking Heads: Bed Among the Lentils to repeat on New Year's Eve had a sick sense of humor. Masterpiece Theatre, no matter what it's name now, will forever be a masterpiece.
I feel so validated! Alistair Cooke didn't like The First Churchills either! And no, I did not buy this book off eBay to validate my opinion, it was just a happy coincidence that he trashed a show I deeply disliked in his introduction. I bought this book off eBay because I wanted the full color reproductions of twenty-six of the gorgeous posters Mobil commissioned for the series. Some of them I had never even seen before. In fact, there were around two-hundred movies and miniseries that aired while Mobil was a partner with PBS, and if they all had artwork that means despite my due diligence I have only seen around forty percent of them. Many of which I want on my walls. And I really want the Bleak House one with Diana Rigg if anyone is looking to buy me something really expensive. And until someone finally creates the definitive book of all the poster art over the years done by artists from Symor Chwast to Bernie Fuchs to Al Hirschfeld this is the next best thing. Other than the posters this book is thin on content. Aside from Alistair Cooke's "A Personal Memoir," Allen E. Murray, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mobil Corporation, does the forward, Brendan Gill, a journalist for The New Yorker, has a piece called "By Way of Homage," while the remembrances of Jean Marsh are probably the only writing in this book readers actually cared for as she talks about Master James polishing her Wellies. The book is organized chronologically and lists the original airdates and repeats of every single show aired over the first twenty seasons of Masterpiece Theatre. Each season has one but never more than two shows spotlighted with a paragraph or two on each and exactly three pictures. This is very much in the vein of guides you'd buy of shows before the internet era so that you'd know all the episode names and interesting facts, like the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Watcher's Guide, but on nicer paper and with less detail. So IMDb in book form. Life was so much harder before IMDb. Though I have to say some of the seasons when they went with a theme this book actually lists the titles far more accurately than any website I've consulted over the years. So take that IMDb! What I took away from this book, besides lots of pleasant memories of shows I have watched and all the posters I want to own, is that in the early days they really formed Masterpiece Theatre around literature and it's importance. How by airing a story over many weeks worth of Sunday nights they gave viewers the same experience of readers back in the day when a story was serialized by the like of Dickens in his literary magazine All the Year Round. They wanted to make a televisual event where they connected with their audience and created a cultural experience. There was no binging, there was a bringing together of like-minded individuals at a certain place and time. And all these years later as I make it my goal to watch every episode of Masterpiece Theatre, many of which are sadly impossible to find, I still feel that connection. That cultural zeitgeist that took hold of a nation before I was even born is alive and well.
Bookstore: 
When I was little I didn't know what a bookstore was, being only familiar with libraries. When my family was on vacation in Door County, a good six hour drive from my home, we went to a bookstore and my parents bought me a Babar book. We were getting ready to go home and we were taking the book with us. I was so confused. I was so worried about how we'd get it back to the "library" on time, being convinced that no one could own a book outright. The revelation that you could have books that you kept obviously changed my life. So therefore I will now present to you "libraries" where you get to keep the books!
The Strand literally boasts miles and miles of books.While I personally have no way to confirm or deny the exact mileage of the books being eighteen, I can guess it is pretty accurate. The first time I saw The Strand I was down at Union Square Park and my friend Orelia and I were hungry and we wandered into a restaurant that happened to be right across the street from the bookstore. I don't know what reason prevented me from going in, but it wasn't until later that year when I returned to New York that I finally made the pilgrimage. 
What I remember most about The Strand is that on entering there was this lovely pillar and around it was where they displayed their more reasonably priced collector's edition. Needless to say I kind of hovered there and this is where most of my purchases were made. Signed editions of books, like Alistair Cooke's autobiography, which was actually a present for my father, made their way into my shopping cart. And yes, I do remember where I bought books almost a decade ago, don't you? 
The thing you have to realize on going into The Strand is that you are going into a maze. Plan ahead, bring provisions (aka lists of books you're looking for) or you might easily be overwhelmed. I am very lucky in that Madison is a veritable book haven, with amazing used stores such as 
The most interesting thing I found at The Strand was their rare book room. Having the room isn't strange, this is one of the biggest bookstores in the world, what I found strange was the rules. I had to check all my belongings, sign a waiver that if I did anything to any book I would pay for it. I was so scared at this point that I basically walked around the upper room with my hands tightly behind my back for fear of damaging something. The room felt too much like a library where you knew the librarian would never let you check out a book no matter how sweetly you asked, and yes, I had one such librarian at my grade school growing up, and yes, she was a nun, a very scary nun. As for the books on display on various tables? Traps to lure you into staying! Seeing as at this time I was applying for grad school I couldn't afford anything there, in fact even if I won the lottery I probably couldn't afford anything there, so I calmly backed out, made my more reasonable purchases and moved a few doors down to the comic shop, and yes, they do have a Forbidden Planet in New York! 
If you think that the store itself might be too tempting or overwhelming, or dare I say, too Downtown (note to self, stop typing Downton), there's a stall for you! The Strand operates a book kiosk on 5th Avenue on the Central Park side across from The Pierre Hotel (which has an awesome afternoon tea FYI, get their house blend and don't be afraid to ask for more sandwiches). So for those feint of heart or those easily tempted, make your way to 5th Avenue and East 60th Street, open 10AM to Dusk, weather permitting of course. But don't forget, that The Strand is just one of many bookstores, and I mean many. I had planned on checking out a great many of these, but, alas, it wasn't to be. But the joy of New York is just stumbling on a store and walking in, you can find the best places this way, places you never knew existed. Of course if you are more organized, as I obviously am to a psychotic degree, just google New York Bookstores and you will get an amazing array of places throughout the city, places that I hope you and me will one day visit.
