cover image The Man in the Shadows: Fred Coe and the Golden Age of Television

The Man in the Shadows: Fred Coe and the Golden Age of Television

Jon Krampner. Rutgers University Press, $32.95 (264pp) ISBN 978-0-8135-2359-0

Coe will be familiar to students of TV's early years: he produced NBC's Philco-Goodyear Playhouse for several years in the 1950s, produced Mary Martin's Peter Pan as well as producing the Broadway version of The Miracle Worker, starring Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke. But thanks to Krampner's diligent and inviting treatment of this pioneer who so strongly influenced the medium, knowledge of Coe's resume is completely non-essential. Krampner views postwar America through the lens of the iconoscope, just as Coe did, and weaves Coe's story with solid writing, subtle humor and a slavish devotion to detail. Krampner re-creates the impact of McCarthyism in casting Coe's live dramas, the enormous impact of the televised debate between JFK and Nixon on the 1960 election; how Jack Ruby's murder of Lee Harvey Oswald also killed a play. Hardly any stray person shows up here without a telling anecdote, retold memories are followed by dissenting points of view, and excerpts of reviews and interviews (many conducted by Krampner) abound. Although Krampner indulges in too many comparisons of Coe's life with those of both real and fictional characters, and can be defensive on the subject of his narrative, he makes a compelling case for Coe's artistic vision having defined the medium. And although, in Krampner's telling, Coe's exploits are squeaky clean, there's a bit of dirt, and enough famous guest stars to fill a miniseries. Illustrations. (Feb.)