Behind the scenes of ABC's 1953 - Motorola TV Hour "The Thirteen Clocks

One of television's finest achievments in make-believe came last week when the Motorola TV Hour (ABC) put on a musical version of James Thurber's fairy tale, The Thirteen Clocks. The 13 clocks are frozen into inaction in a castle by an evil duke who has captured a young princess. When a prince comes to win the princess, he must find 1.000 jewels and unfreeze the 13 clocks. Thank to a friendly Golux the prince escapes the perils of a Todal, a terrifying monster which gleeps, and gets the princess. Thanks to the deft acting of an all-star cast, a gently melodic score by Mark Bucci and Thurber's elfin epigrams, the production achieved real distinction. Audience and critics, feeling it was high time TV got this far, began looking with renewed hope to the new yar for more Thurber, more fantasy and many repetitions of The Thirteen Clocks.