"A New Kind of Radio Show"
Part 2: Show Log: Orson Welles (Lady Esther)
Episode 1: 15 September 1941. "Sredni Vashtar," Mexican Independence," "An Irishman & a Jew," piano music by Meade Lux Lewis, Almanac segments with Jiminy Cricket. See description in overview for more detailed information about this episode. Dolores del Rio appears in the story of Mexican independence.
Episode 2: 22 September 1941. "The Right Side," "The Sexes," "The Golden Honeymoon." Believed lost. Script materials exist. Welles also performed Ring Lardner's "The Golden Honeymoon" on his Mercury Summer Theater series on August 2, 1946, and he would also work on a screen adaptation in the 1970s, which failed to be produced.
Episode 3: 29 September 1941. 'The Interlopers," "Song of Solomon," "I'm a Fool." Welles would perform Sherwood Anderson's "I'm a Fool" again on his Mercury Summer Theater series, on August 23, 1946. Last appearance of Jiminy Cricket as character on the show.
Episode 4: 6 October 1941. "The Black Pearl," "Annabel Lee." Dorothy Comingore guest starred in "The Black Pearl," a story of the greedy pursuit of the titular item, set in Mexico. Welles' reading of Poe's classic poem is in the grand declamatory style he sometimes used on radio and will certainly not be to the style of many modern listeners.
Episode 5: 13 October 1941. "If In Years to Come," Noah Webster sketch, Dorothy Parker poetry. Lucille Ball, whom Welles had wanted to cast in his planned comedy thriller Smiler With a Knife, guest starred to read the Parker poetry. "If In Years to Come" makes use of the Waldteufel waltz "Toujours ou jamais," used shortly thereafter in Ambersons, as part of its score.
Episode 6: 20 October 1941. "Romance," "Prisoner of Assiout," Almanac segments. Believed lost. Tim Holt and Anne Baxter, at the time working with Welles on The Magnificent Ambersons shoot, starred in "Romance," a comic look at the way a relationship progresses. "Prisoner of Assiout" cleverly worked its way from the studio to the actual story. As Mercury cast members chat about an almanac bit, Everett Sloane, as a character from the story, enters and begins telling his tale, as the cast comments upon it. The comments gradually fade as the story takes over into a full dramatic presentation.
Episode 7: 3 November 1941. (no broadcast previous week) "Wild Oranges," Almanac segments. This tale was the most popular of the shows surveyed by Pedlar and Ryan, though some still found it not to their liking. Its popularity may also have stemmed from it being the first show to feature one story for the entire running time of the program.
Episode 8: 10 November 1941. "That's Why I Left You," "The Maysville Minstrel." The latter story featured Joseph Cotten. Not in common circulation, but a copy resides at the Lilly Library.
Episode 9: 17 November 1941. "The Hitchhiker," readings from "Sonnets from the Portugese." Believed lost. This episode was the first presentation of what would become one of radio drama's most legendary thrillers, written by Lucille Fletcher, then Bernard Herrmann's wife. Welles would perform the story twice more: in 1942, for Suspense, and in 1946, for his own Mercury Summer Theater series.
Episode 10: 24 November 1941. "A Farewell to Arms." Believed lost. Starred Ginger Rogers; this was Welles' second time presenting the Hemingway novel on the air. The previous version, done for The Campbell Playhouse and starring Katherine Hepburn, is also lost. The script of the Lady Esther version still remains. Ray Collins and Agnes Moorehead played the supporting roles or Rinaldi and Ferguson, with Joseph Cotten as announcer.
Episode 11: 1 December 1941. "Something's Going to Happen to Henry," "Wilbur Brown, Habitat Brooklyn." See series overview for more details on this episode.
Episode 12: 8 December 1941. "Symptoms of Being 35," (adapted by Vera Eikel from Ring Lardner) readings from "Leaves of Grass."
15 December 1941: No broadcast due to war coverage, but this show was apparently to include Phillip Quayle Denny's adaptation of "Rip Van Winkle," a story originally announced for the previous week and then dropped for unknown reasons from any future broadcast.
Episode 13: 22 December 1941. "The Happy Prince," reading from Gospel of St Luke. Welles had previously performed this tale on The Columbia Workshop, in a version directed by Irving Reis, broadcast December 26, 1936. Welles would perform it yet again in the Philco Hall of Fame series starring Bing Crosby on December 24, 1944; this later version was released on record by Decca in 1946 and is easily available today.
Episode 14: 29 December 1941. "There Are Frenchmen and Frenchmen." Starred Rita Hayworth. See series overview for more information. Not in common circulation, but a copy resides within the Welles mss collection of the Lilly Library.
Episode 15: 5 January 1942. "The Garden of Allah." With Merle Oberon and Cedric Hardwicke. Welles originally performed this story in a 60 minute format on The Campbell Playhouse, on November 19, 1939.
Episode 16: 12 January 1942. "The Apple Tree." Adaptation by Roger Quayle Denny. This would see a later performance on Welles' Mercury Summer Theater series on September 6, 1946.
Episode 17: 19 January 1942. "My Little Boy." Welles' second broadcast of this Carl Ewald story, after its initial 1938 Mercury Theater on the Air version. Welles mentions before the performance that this story was the most popular the Mercury had done to that point, but whether that was actually true or not is hard to say.
Episode 18: 26 January 1942. "The Happy Hypocrite." (adapted from Max Beerbohm novel) Script materials exist, along with an incomplete audio copy, at the Lilly Library. Originally planned for earlier in the series' run, this story was postponed due to problems with the script.
Episode 19: 2 February 1942. "Between Americans." Welles performed Norman Corwin's "Between Americans" on the Gulf Screen Guild Theater series nearly two months earlier, on the day of the Pearl Harbor attack. This earlier version is in general circulation. The script for the Lady Esther version exists, and an incomplete copy of the show is held at the Lilly Library.
Posted 7 March 2005