Escape

[Wellesnet]

On 15 October 1939, Orson Welles's production of "Escape" was broadcast on "The Campbell Playhouse," CBS-Radio.



John Galsworthy's "Escape" is seen by some as the prototype for Carol Reed's classic film, "Odd Man Out". There was a recently rediscovered film of "Escape" from 1930, starring Gerald DuMaurrier, son of George DuMaurrier and father of Daphne. The guest star for the Campbell broadcast was Wendie Barrie, goddaughter of JM Barrie (author of "Peter Pan"). Welles later adapted Galsworthy's "The Apple Tree" for radio.

[Wellesnet]

Available, in good sound, at the new IU/Lilly website:
https://orsonwelles.indiana.edu/items/show/1997

[Le Chiffre]

According to Wiki, Welles had done this play for the Columbia Workshop in 1937:

A radio adaptation of play was broadcast in two parts August 15 and August 22, 1937, on the Columbia Workshop. Orson Welles starred as Captain Matt Denant.

The play was adapted for the October 15, 1939, episode of the CBS Radio series The Campbell Playhouse. The cast included Orson Welles (Matt Denant), Wendy Barrie (Lady in the hotel), Ray Collins (Murdered cop, Forgiving Judge, Unforgiving Farmer), Jack Smart (another Cop, Farmhand), Edgar Barrier (Priest and Cabbie), Bea Benaderet (Girl in park, Woman at picnic), Harriet Kay (Maid), Mabel Albertson (Bessie) and Benny Rubin (Man at picnic).

Like HEART OF DARKNESS, Welles would Americanize the British story. The Campbell version is well done, but not terribly involving.

Interesting things about the 1948 film version: Directed by Joseph Mankewicz (Herman's brother), who would, a couple of years later, direct ALL ABOUT EVE and JULIUS CEASAR, produced by John Houseman. Rex Harrison received acclaim for his performance in the 1948 ESCAPE, right around the time he was conducting a scandalous extra-marital affair with Carole Landis, the star of the 1940 film version of ONE MILLION B.C. (narrated by Orson Welles). Landis would later guest star on Welles's ALMANAC series, but unfortunately, that episode is now believed lost. She would commit suicide in 1948 over her affair with Rex Harrison, who found her body, but failed to notify police for several hours, a scandal that would haunt Harrison for the rest of his life. Harrison's wife at the time was Lili Palmer, who would later co-star with John Huston in DE SADE and Welles's THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND.

He watched a lover die rather than call for help, he drove two women to suicide, meet Rex 'the rotter' Harrison: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... rison.html

Two of Rex's women - his lover, the actress Carole Landis, and wife number four, the actress Rachel Roberts - killed themselves.

He was often amorously involved with an ex-wife, a current wife and a lover at the same time.

Hardly a surprise, then, that he frequently got their names mixed up when making love to them.

In the case of Landis, goosebumps of horror erupt as you read the accounts of their fling in 1947. She was in her 20s and had already been married several times.

She was said to be great company, free with her favours, if a tad unstable. Rex homed in on her like a shark, although he was married to his second wife, Lilli Palmer, at the time.

The following year, realising the affair was going nowhere, Landis took an overdose. Rex found her when she was still alive but her pulse was very weak.

Instead of immediately calling an ambulance, he spent half an hour thumbing through her address book looking for her private doctor, in the hope of keeping a scandal at bay. By the time he had found it, it was too late.

[Terry]

One Million BC narrated by Welles? Not the ten minutes I suffered through, at least.

[Le Chiffre]

Oops, wrong again. I was confusing it with SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON. I may have also been confusing Welles with D.W. Griffith, who did work on ONE MILLION BC, his last job in Hollywood.

BTW, Part 2 of the earlier 1937 version (broadcast August 22nd) of ESCAPE for the Columbia Workshop is available at the Old Time Radio site: https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/d ... ape-part-2

If part 1 is available online I can't find it.

[Wich2]

My first exposure to the story was the Merc's, and I enjoyed it. No, no classic; but a good story well told.

Which I think was always and ever Orson's main goal.

[Le Chiffre]

One problem is all Mercury players doing double or even triple duty here, which creates a confusing effect. But I'll give it another shot sometime.

According to Paul Heyer's MEDIUM AND THE MAGICIAN, ESCAPE was done on a return trip back in New York after the Mercury had moved to LA. Coming right after the more ambitious ALGIERS, Welles must have needed something relatively easy to produce. The fact that he had already done Escape for radio probably made it all the more inviting in this regard.

Another interesting fact from Wiki: guest star Wendy Barrie, was at one point the fiancee of the notorious gangster Bugsy Seigel. Don't know exactly when that was, though.