Film is Fabulous! and De Montfort University’s Cinema and Television History research centre are pleased to announce the recovery of an episode of vintage television from the 1950s, which is missing from the official archives:

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Presents: Together (Broadcast: 13th June 1957)

The missing episode was the last in the dramatic anthology series, which ran for five seasons. Episodes were produced at Elstree Studios in England for NBC in the US, although this episode was set and filmed in Rome. It stars Luciana Paoluzzi (who would later play the part of Spectre agent Fiona Volpe in Thunderball) as the young woman, and Lee Patterson as the American graduate visiting Rome.

In addition to the completely missing episode, the Film is Fabulous! team also recovered two 16mm film recordings of other shows from the series. Considerable research has been undertaken with the official archives in the U.K., and those in the US and Canada, to ascertain the status of episodes. The only known copies of the two shows are poor quality recordings made on domestic videos. They are:

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Presents: The Story of Pan Yusef (Broadcast: 1st September 1956)

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Presents: Silent Snow (Broadcast: 9th July 1959)

The episodes were discovered in the collection of the late David Moore. They are among a number of missing and rare items of 50s and 60s television that have been found. Digital copies will be offered to the BFI for preservation purposes. The missing episodes will be screened at future Film is Fabulous! events, together with a host of other recently recovered vintage television items.

Film is Fabulous! Preserving film treasures for future generations.

13th December 2024