GE True

GE True
A screenshot from the opening sequence
Also known as	General Electric True
Genre	Anthology
Written by	Harold Jack Bloom Otis Carney John Kneubuhl Lou Morheim Dean Riesner Michael Zagor
Directed by	William Conrad Robert M. Leeds Jack Webb
Presented by	Jack Webb
Narrated by	Jack Webb
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	33 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Jack Webb
Producer	Michael Meshekoff
Cinematography	Daniel L. Fapp Bert Glennon Carl E. Guthrie Harold E. Stine
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	25 minutes
Production companies	Warner Bros. Television CBS Television Network
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	September 30, 1962 (1962-09-30) – May 26, 1963 (1963-05-26)

GE True (also known as General Electric True) is a 33-episode, American anthology series sponsored by General Electric. Telecast on CBS, the series presented stories previously published in True magazine. Articles from the magazine were adapted to television primarily by head writer Harold Jack Bloom; other writers included Gene Roddenberry, who co-wrote one episode. Jack Webb produced and hosted the episodes during his stint as head of Warner Bros. Television, through his Mark VII Limited company.

The series aired from September 30, 1962, until May 26, 1963, with repeats through September 1963.

Program overview

The show had a unique opening, of which there were at least two variants. Each opening featured a large "TRUE" sign, apparently several stories tall and shown at an oblique angle, initially in deep shadow. One variant began with Jack Webb voicing "Good evening. Your host, General Electric." with a large GE logo displayed next to the TRUE sign. Another variant lacked the GE logo, but included a superimposed quotation from Daniel Webster: "There is nothing so powerful as truth, and often nothing so strange." Strong symphonic music was featured as part of a majestic opening theme. Webb walked alongside the TRUE sign and stated either "And this, is true" (GE logo variant) or simply "This is true". The sign became brightly lit and the camera changed to a direct view of Webb, who then introduced the episode.

In an overview of the 1962 television season, Time noted:

Jack ("dum-de-dum-dum") Webb is back. This time he is retelling stories from the files of True magazine. The first one was set on a hospital ship off Okinawa, where a doctor (played by William Conrad) operated on a marine who had a live and sensitive shell in his body capable of blowing a six-foot hole in a steel deck. It was a hell of a moment, but Webb sank it. "At 1830 hours exactly," he intoned, "the operation began on a human bomb dead center in the circle of death." He hosts the program in an echo-chambered voice, while he stands beside the word TRUE, spelled out in block letters 22 feet high, or roughly 10 times as tall as Jack Webb.

Jan Shepard in "Gertie the Great", a GE True episode about a mallard duck in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which captivates the community

GE True aired at 9:30 p.m. Sundays, following the last season of the former ABC sitcom, The Real McCoys, starring Walter Brennan and Richard Crenna, renamed on the CBS schedule as The McCoys. GE True aired a half-hour later than a predecessor series, General Electric Theater, hosted by Ronald Reagan, which had aired at 9 p.m. from 1953 to 1962.

Several episodes were directed by William Conrad, Marshal Matt Dillon on radio's Gunsmoke and later the star of the CBS crime drama, Cannon. Like its preceding program, The McCoys, GE True faced opposition from the highly rated NBC Western series, Bonanza. Reruns of the series were subsequently syndicated under the title True.

The Jack Webb-hosted short film Red Nightmare (1962) had similarities to the GE True episode "The Last Day", although the former was explicitly presented as fantasy via a dream sequence.

In 2013, the Jack Webb Fan Club of Los Angeles started a campaign to get the series released on DVD.

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	"Circle of Death"	Jack Webb	Dale Wasserman	September 30, 1962 (1962-09-30)
During the Battle of Okinawa, a doctor (William Conrad) operates on a marine with a live projectile shell in his body.
2	"V-Victor 5"	Robert M. Leeds	Gene Roddenberry and Harold Jack Bloom	October 7, 1962 (1962-10-07)
In 1933, an off-duty police officer (Karl Held) attempts to apprehend five wanted criminals in Hell's Kitchen.
3	"Harris Vs. Castro"	William Conrad	Harold Jack Bloom	October 14, 1962 (1962-10-14)
4	"Code Name: Christopher (Part 1)"	Jack Webb	Otis Carney	October 21, 1962 (1962-10-21)
In late 1942, a Marine Corps captain (Jack Webb) is sent to assist with the sabotage of a Nazi chemical plant in Norway.
5	"Code Name: Christopher (Part 2)"	Jack Webb	Otis Carney	October 28, 1962 (1962-10-28)
Conclusion; see above.
6	"The Handmade Private"	William Conrad	Dean Riesner	November 4, 1962 (1962-11-04)
7	"The Last Day"	William Conrad	John Joseph (John Furia Jr.) & Harold Jack Bloom	November 11, 1962 (1962-11-11)
What appears to be a typical American town is actually a Russian spy school.
8	"Man With a Suitcase"	William Conrad	Harold Jack Bloom	November 18, 1962 (1962-11-18)
9	"Mile Long Shot To Kill"	William Conrad	Harold Jack Bloom	November 25, 1962 (1962-11-25)
During the Civil War, a Union Army officer develops a telescopic sight.
10	"Cheating Cheaters"	Robert M. Leeds	Harold Jack Bloom	December 2, 1962 (1962-12-02)
11	"UXB (Unexploded Bomb)"	Robert M. Leeds	Harold Jack Bloom	December 9, 1962 (1962-12-09)
12	"The Wrong Nickel"	William Conrad	Harold Jack Bloom	December 16, 1962 (1962-12-16)
13	"The Amateurs"	William Conrad	Dean Riesner	December 30, 1962 (1962-12-30)
14	"Open Season"	William Conrad	Harold Jack Bloom & Barry Oringer	January 6, 1963 (1963-01-06)
James Best portrays the courageous Wisconsin game warden Ernie Swift, who faces the reprisal of the mob after he tickets gangster Frank MacErlane (David McLean) for illegal fishing.
15	"Defendant: Clarence Darrow"	William Conrad	Harold Jack Bloom	January 13, 1963 (1963-01-13)
Clarence Darrow (Tol Avery), the Chicago lawyer who later clashed with William Jennings Bryan in regard to the theory of evolution, is accused in 1912 of having attempted to bribe a juror. Darrow argues passionately over legal procedures with his own lawyer, Earl Rogers (Robert Vaughn).
16	"O.S.I."	William Conrad	Harold Jack Bloom	January 20, 1963 (1963-01-20)
17	"Firebug"	William Conrad	John Kneubuhl	January 27, 1963 (1963-01-27)
Victor Buono plays Charles Colvin, a barber in Los Angeles, who is by night a pyromaniac. The United States Forest Service believes that one arsonist is causing a series of fires. The episode also stars Keith Andes and Arch Johnson.
18	"Little Richard"	Jack Webb	Harold Jack Bloom	February 3, 1963 (1963-02-03)
19	"Escape (Part 1)"	William Conrad	Louis Morheim	February 10, 1963 (1963-02-10)
20	"Escape (Part 2)"	William Conrad	Louis Morheim	February 17, 1963 (1963-02-17)
21	"The Moonshiners"	William Conrad	John Kneubuhl	February 24, 1963 (1963-02-24)
Walter Kopek (Gene Evans), an agent of the United States Treasury Department assumes an undercover role to halt a bootlegging operation in Florida, run by mobster Bill Munger (Robert Emhardt). James Griffith is cast in this episode as Stan Woolman.
22	"Security Risk"	William Conrad	John Kneubuhl	March 3, 1963 (1963-03-03)
George Ellsworth (Charles Aidman), an official with the United States Embassy in Warsaw, Poland, in 1960, is blackmailed through a romantic affair with a young woman named Erica (Erika Peters) into passing secret information to the communists at the height of the Cold War. He confessed his guilt despite the protection of diplomatic immunity. Karl Swenson and Parley Baer also appeared in this episode.
23	"The Black Robed Ghost"	William Conrad	Harold Jack Bloom & Maxine Robinson & John Robinson	March 10, 1963 (1963-03-10)
24	"Ordeal"	William Conrad	Harold Jack Bloom	March 17, 1963 (1963-03-17)
25	"Pattern for Espionage"	William Conrad	Harold Jack Bloom	March 24, 1963 (1963-03-24)
In 1954, a United States Army colonel, Harvey Madison (Rex Reason), is approached by a former Russian comrade-in-arms to spy for the communists. Instead, he covertly cooperates with the FBI to uncover a spy ring operated by the Soviet Union. Anthony Eisley and Gregory Walcott also appeared in this episode.
26	"The Tenth Mona Lisa"	William Conrad	Louis Morheim	March 31, 1963 (1963-03-31)
Italian farmer Vincenzo Perugia (Vito Scotti) in 1911 steals the Mona Lisa from the Louvre Museum in Paris, but is apprehended by a French detective when he attempts to unload the painting on an art dealer.
27	"Gertie The Great"	Robert M. Leeds	Harold Jack Bloom	April 14, 1963 (1963-04-14)
A mallard duck in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, captivates the community.
28	"Black Market"	Alan Crosland Jr.	Michael Zagor	April 21, 1963 (1963-04-21)
29	"Nitro"	John Peyser	Harold Jack Bloom & Les Pine	April 28, 1963 (1963-04-28)
An employee of an electroplating business in Kansas City, Missouri, accidentally makes 9 US gallons (34 L) of nitroglycerin while mixing chemicals.
30	"Heydrich (Part 1)"	William Conrad	John Kneubuhl & Harold Jack Bloom	May 5, 1963 (1963-05-05)
Nazi chief of the Reich Security Main Office, Reinhard Heydrich, is assassinated by Czech resistance, and Adolf Hitler takes revenge on a village.
31	"Heydrich (Part 2)"	William Conrad	John Kneubuhl & Harold Jack Bloom	May 12, 1963 (1963-05-12)
Conclusion; see above.
32	"Commando"	William Conrad	Michael Zagor	May 19, 1963 (1963-05-19)
A safecracker (Sean McClory) is recruited to assist in a commando raid in Rome during World War II.
33	"Five Tickets to Hell"	Robert M. Leeds	Harold Jack Bloom & Richard Harbinger	May 26, 1963 (1963-05-26)
In the series finale, John Quigley (Bing Russell), a Chicago mobster travels to Chihuahua, Mexico, where he robs the mint of $500,000 and kills seven men in the commission of the crime. Police Lieutenant Juan Garcia (Carlos Romero) tracks down Quigley and his three accomplices. Barbara Luna appears in this episode as Cotita.

Guest stars

In addition to the aforementioned, other notable persons who guest starred on GE True include:

• Anna-Lisa
• Philip Abbott
• Lloyd Bochner
• James T. Callahan
• Philip Carey
• James Doohan
• Don Dubbins
• Ron Foster
• David Frankham
• James Griffith
• Kevin Hagen
• Stacy Harris
• Jonathan Hole
• Arte Johnson
• Russell Johnson
• Werner Klemperer
• Robert Knapp
• Sean McClory
• James Millhollin
• Mort Mills
• Jeanette Nolan
• Albert Paulsen
• Chris Robinson
• Jacqueline Scott
• Simon Scott
• Malachi Throne
• Jerry Van Dyke
• Pat Woodell

External links

• GE True at IMDb