It Should've Been on a Saturday: Shirley Temple's Storybook (1958)

 With her movies airing in syndication in much of the country, actress-singer Shirley Temple signed on to host an anthology series for NBC.

Shirley Temple's Storybook only produced two seasons (1958 and 1960-1), with a lengthy gap in between. Reruns of season 1 found their way to ABC in 1959, but the series resumed first run production---in color---on NBC the next year. Henry Jaffe, who was Dinah Shore's producer, was the showrunner the first year, but in season 2, with the title change to The Shirley Temple Show, it became a network production.

With only 38 episodes produced, you can understand why it wasn't in syndication, even with the hour-long format, and the show merited an Emmy nomination after season 1.

Following is an adaptation of "Ali Baba & The Forty Thieves", with Nehemiah Persoff & a pre-Untouchables Bruce Gordon.

No rating. Just a public service.