Harvest (1953) was broadcast live on NBC on November 23, 1953, the thirteenth episode of the fifth season of the Robert Montgomery Presents program. Filmed in Studio 8H of NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan three days before Thanksgiving, Harvest told the story of a conflict in a farming family during the holiday. The parents want their sons to stay to help them on their small farm, but the boys want to escape to the city and what they believe will be a better life. Directed by James Sheldon for Montgomery's Neptune Productions, Harvest starred former silent screen star Dorothy Gish, Ed Begley, Vaughn Taylor, Rebecca Welles (billed as Reba Tassell) and James Dean.

James Sheldon had been asked to direct several episodes of Robert Montgomery Presents beginning in 1953, with Harvest his first. He decided to cast his friend, James Dean, who he had met while a supervisor at Young and Rubicam, one of the biggest advertising agencies in the entertainment business. Ralph Levy, who would go on to direct The Jack Benny Program among others, called Sheldon, saying, "There's a young actor coming to New York. A friend of mine asked if I could help to get him started. Will you talk to him?" The young actor was James Dean. Dick Van Patten was starring on the I Remember Mama program when he was drafted into the army. Sheldon thought that Dean might be a good replacement. "Jimmy comes into my office and we're chatting and he reminds me of the young Brando. He got the part of Nils, but Dick Van Patten got 4F'ed out of the army so he didn't leave. I was lending [Dean] money, he was becoming a pest almost." Sheldon decided to get Dean an agent and in late 1953, when he began at Robert Montgomery Presents, he "gave Jimmy his best part."

Robert Montgomery Presents was an hour-long anthology series that debuted on NBC on January 30, 1950 and ran an impressive seven years before its finale in June 1957. After twenty years as a movie star in Hollywood, Robert Montgomery had moved his family back to New York in 1949 specifically to develop, host, and occasionally star. His daughter Elizabeth, later to become a star on Bewitched got her acting start as part of the show's repertory company and remained on the program from 1951 to 1956. Like many early television shows, Robert Montgomery Presents did not begin as a weekly program. Until December 1951, it aired every three weeks on a rotation with Musical Comedy Time and Somerset Maugham TV Theatre. Despite the obvious attempt to present quality programs with a high production value, it could not compete with comedians like Lucille Ball and Milton Berle. Robert Montgomery Presents debuted in the 1950-51 season #11 in the Nielsen ratings, but by the following year, it was down to #26. For the rest of the run it would not chart in the top 30. Despite that, the show received two Emmy nominations and won the 1953 award for Best Dramatic Program.

By Lorraine LoBianco

SOURCES:

http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/
De Blois, Frank "TV Not What it Used to Be" TV Guide 17-23 Dec 55
http://ejones23.tripod.com/Filmography.html
http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/james-sheldon#
The Internet Movie Database
http://selvedgeyard.com/2013/10/18/james-dean-hollywoods-little-bastard-inside-the-young-actors-nyc-apartment/