John Newland(1917-2000)
- Director
- Actor
- Producer
Tall, dignified-looking Newland began in show business as a
song-and-dance man with a vaudeville troupe ('The Vikings'), whose trade-mark was wearing gold capes. He acted in stock with the Stuart Walker
Company, then found work on the New York stage in tandem with
Milton Berle at the Roxy, Capitol and
Loew's State Theatres. He also acted in radio and resumed touring
nationally on the vaudeville circuit, as well as performing on the
legitimate stage in such respected plays as "The Petrified Forest". After
wartime service in the Army Air Corps, Newland embarked on a short film
career under contract to Warner Brothers, which -- by his own account --
was an 'immediate failure'.
He instead turned his hand to directing early television and became
best known for his paranormal anthology series
One Step Beyond (1959), which he also hosted in his distinctively mellifluous voice and deadpan fashion. This
was a good (though rather less well-known) contemporary of
The Twilight Zone (1959).
It was shot on the MGM lot with full access to the studio's wardrobe
department and with a respectable budget of $30,000 to $50,000 per
episode. In addition to high production values, the series consistently
boasted good actors, including a young
Warren Beatty,
William Shatner and
Suzanne Pleshette. An attempt to
resurrect the franchise
(The Next Step Beyond (1978))
nearly twenty years later with the same production team failed to
re-ignite public interest.
Though he considered his work on 'One Step Beyond' as the highlight of
his career, Newland continued to be in demand for many more years as a
busy television director in a variety of other genres: from soap opera
(Peyton Place (1964)), to
espionage
(The Man Who Never Was (1966));
from westerns
(Daniel Boone (1964)) to cop
shows (Police Woman (1974)).
Until the mid-70's, his sonorous voice also continued to resound on
radio's CBS Mystery Theater.
song-and-dance man with a vaudeville troupe ('The Vikings'), whose trade-mark was wearing gold capes. He acted in stock with the Stuart Walker
Company, then found work on the New York stage in tandem with
Milton Berle at the Roxy, Capitol and
Loew's State Theatres. He also acted in radio and resumed touring
nationally on the vaudeville circuit, as well as performing on the
legitimate stage in such respected plays as "The Petrified Forest". After
wartime service in the Army Air Corps, Newland embarked on a short film
career under contract to Warner Brothers, which -- by his own account --
was an 'immediate failure'.
He instead turned his hand to directing early television and became
best known for his paranormal anthology series
One Step Beyond (1959), which he also hosted in his distinctively mellifluous voice and deadpan fashion. This
was a good (though rather less well-known) contemporary of
The Twilight Zone (1959).
It was shot on the MGM lot with full access to the studio's wardrobe
department and with a respectable budget of $30,000 to $50,000 per
episode. In addition to high production values, the series consistently
boasted good actors, including a young
Warren Beatty,
William Shatner and
Suzanne Pleshette. An attempt to
resurrect the franchise
(The Next Step Beyond (1978))
nearly twenty years later with the same production team failed to
re-ignite public interest.
Though he considered his work on 'One Step Beyond' as the highlight of
his career, Newland continued to be in demand for many more years as a
busy television director in a variety of other genres: from soap opera
(Peyton Place (1964)), to
espionage
(The Man Who Never Was (1966));
from westerns
(Daniel Boone (1964)) to cop
shows (Police Woman (1974)).
Until the mid-70's, his sonorous voice also continued to resound on
radio's CBS Mystery Theater.