Orson's Favorite Story, 1947

[Terry]

Here's an obscure entry into the oeuvre. While surfing for Old Time Radio shows, I happened upon a dramatization of 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. I was very surprised to hear Ronald Colman reading this at the opening of the show:

"Do you have a secret longing to go travelling across magic horizons? Our Favorite Story series transports you by the wonder of radio to mountain-tops in Tibet, drawing rooms of Queen Victoria's London, and even to the Moon. Well this week we travel into the depths of the oceans of the world to bring you Jules Verne's most imaginative adventure, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. It was picked as the Favorite Story of the celebrated actor/director/producer Mr. Orson Welles. Orson told us that he's always been a Jules Verne fan and the mysterious Captain Nemo is one of his favorite characters. So here it is, for Orson and for all of you, the story which astonished the world in 1866, chosen by the man who years later astonished the state of New Jersey with his invasion from Mars, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea."

This was from December 20th, 1947, more than a year after Welles' sudden and nearly permanent absence from American radio (probably do to his row with the town of Aiken, South Carolina, after Welles' crusade for justice for Isaac Woodard in the Orson Welles Commentaries series.) It's nice to know his name could still be mentioned on the radio after that, and even most flatteringly, though his absence from the airwaves in the late 1940s will always be a great loss.

Orson's Favorite Story

[Alan Brody]

Terrific program, Store Hadji. Thanks a lot.