1953
The Last Voyage
Hallmark Television Playhouse (NBC)
half-hour drama
Robert Florey, director
Bruce Fowler, assistant director

Benjamin Franklin's escapades in Paris are lesser known in the U.S. than his civic, scientific and bibliographic accomplishments in Philadelphia, but this half-hour show (11/29/53) encapsulates his importance in engaging the French help for the American colonies and negotiating peace with the British. Maurice Manson played Ben the Quaker, Richard Garland co-starred, and Sarah Churchill introduced the program for Hallmark Cards Inc. A former silent-era assistant director to Charles Chaplin, Josef von Sternberg and other luminaries and a prolific director of 1930s action films, Florey became one of the first notable directors to embrace the TV medium.