1 9 5 1 – 1 9 5 3 (USA)
85 x 25 minute episodes
This ABC TV series – aired in the 9:30 – 10:00 pm slot on Friday evenings – has been described as “one of the earliest adult Science Fiction series'”, which is a slight misnomer because it also featured some excellent horror and mystery episodes.
Among enthusiasts of the anthology, two episodes are legendary: The Dark Angel, in which Meg Mundy starred as an eternally young woman and Frankenstein, in which Lon Chaney Jr appeared as the monster wearing horrific makeup designed by Vincent Kehoe.
The producers, Mort Abrahams and George Foley Jr, mixed classic and modern tales of strange and supernatural happenings – and among typical episodes were The Monsters, The Flying Saucer and a bold two-part version of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.
Top actors appeared in the series – Veronica Lake, Eva Gabor, Boris Karloff, Leslie Nielsen, Rod Steiger, Burgess Meredith, Cloris Leachman and Raymond Burr, to name just a few.
Such was the popularity of Tales of Tomorrow that for a time during 1953 a radio version was also being broadcast to American audiences.