Indiana University website goes live today!

[Le Chiffre]

THE HAPPY HYPOCRITE is a Lady Esther show that is incomplete on the new website..
https://orsonwelles.indiana.edu/items/s ... 707%2C3255

My guess is that one of the transcription disc sides was too damaged to use, therefore they left it incomplete. I notice that they did transfer it to audio cassette some years ago, so maybe if worse came to worse, they could just use the tape to complete the show, even if the sound quality for the second half is lesser than the first half. It's an important broadcast because it's the only time that John Barrymore ever appeared on a Welles radio series (they did appear together on Fred Allen's show a couple of times), and the first half sounds great on the new Lilly website, both sound-wise and performance-wise.

[Dan_UK]

Unfortunately it looks like the tape is incomplete too.

From the list of archive holdings...

The Happy Hypocrite (Incomplete) Orson Welles Almanac (Lady Esther) 1/26/42
Tape number: 46/2

And it only lists it as being on one side of a disc, with no mention of another disc (damaged or otherwise).

31 / A) The Happy Hypocrite, by Max Beerbohm with John Barrymore... January 26, 1942 / B) Between Americans, by Max... Side 1

Of course however slim the chances, it's possible a copy might exist in some other archive.

[Le Chiffre]

That would be nice, although chances are slim as you said, and even slimmer that we'll ever hear it if it does. Too bad about the tape. Barrymore died about four months after this was broadcast, so there's a possibility that this was his final performance.

One thing I've noticed about the Lilly website is that many shows alternate between good and excellent sound quality every few minutes, which suggests that one side of the transcription disc is in better shape than the other. That is, if a transcription disc does have two sides; I'm assuming it does, based on this webpage on selling them:
http://www.ebay.com/gds/Selling-16-Tran ... 945/g.html

Large format transcription records are easy to spot - they're 16" across, rather than 12" across like a normal LP. They were typically issued in the 1930s through the 1950s...Most discs contain 15 minutes of material per side running at 33 1/3 rpm. Later discs use a microgroove needle and run at 30 minutes per side.

If that's the case, then the second half of The Happy Hypocrite might not be lost, only too damaged to transfer at this point. Someone correct me if I'm wrong about the two sides.

[Wich2]

>It's an important broadcast because it's the only time that John Barrymore ever appeared on a Welles radio series (they did appear together on Fred Allen's show a couple of times)<

With respect, Chief - I think you mean Rudy Vallee's show? (Where Lionel dropped by, too.)

>Too bad about the tape. Barrymore died about four months after this was broadcast, so there's a possibility that this (1/26/42) was his final performance.<

Jack did at least a few Rudys more after that point; he collapsed following a rehearsal (a recording exists) for the May 21, 1942 show, dying a week and a half later.

-Craig

[Dan_UK]

If that's the case, then the second half of The Happy Hypocrite might not be lost, only too damaged to transfer at this point. Someone correct me if I'm wrong about the two sides.

Yes the discs have two sides, Between Americans is on the other side of that particular disc (see my quote in my previous post.)

Most of the disc sides seem to run for 10 or 15 minutes, so a 30 min show is in 2 or 3 parts. For the Mercury/Campbell shows these are in 4 or 5 minute parts, perhaps because they're a few years older or they're on smaller discs.

One thing I noticed (mainly among the Mercury/Campbell shows) is that some discs included a little overlap and others didn't. The ones that included no overlap seemed to be not as professionally done. As one disc ends you hear a bump and the sound ends, in the next disc there's a corresponding bump where the sound starts. When joining them together these can be joined quite successfully, usually minus the bump except in some cases where the bump is over the start of the dialogue rather than preceding it so can't be omitted. Among the ones that have a short overlap I detected some to be copies of other discs rather than originals ... hard to explain but at the ends during the final moments of some of them I could detect a small microgap where you could detect the change from one disc to the next, and then a few more seconds of audio before the disc ended... it's as if the discs that it was being copied onto had a very slightly longer running length than the ones they were being copied from. I'm wondering if the person playing back a set of discs had to be very precise in starting the next disc at the right moment or if it was able to be automated somehow.

[Wich2]

One thing I noticed (mainly among the Mercury/Campbell shows) is that some discs included a little overlap and others didn't. The ones that included no overlap seemed to be not as professionally done. As one disc ends you hear a bump and the sound ends, in the next disc there's a corresponding bump where the sound starts.

Dan, believe it or not:

In COMMERCIAL releases, such little pauses and glitches are generally edited out; but in an ARCHIVAL setting, sometimes folks feel that the "purist" take requires keeping everything present in the original.

I'm wondering if the person playing back a set of discs had to be very precise in starting the next disc at the right moment or if it was able to be automated somehow.

Do you mean the person Back Then, or the person Today?

If Back Then:

Yes, on occasions when such discs were broadcast, the playback engineer had to be precise. (Though again: NETWORK-wise, discs were RARELY broadcast. In LOCAL STATION syndication, it was more common.)

If Today:

See note above. Also, considering the Digital work done now, there is no start/stop worry, as it is all done in the engineers own sweet time, with complete control of cleanup afterwards.

-Craig

[Le Chiffre]

Craig and Dan, thanks for the corrections and info.

What's interesting is that the Lilly link for the 2/2/42 BETWEEN AMERICANS...
https://orsonwelles.indiana.edu/items/s ... 628%2C3201
...is actually the first half of THE HAPPY HYPOCRITE repeated. The BA script is there but the program isn't. The script for Hypocrite is there too, in it's proper place, so if anyone wants to know how the story turns out, they can read it.

In addition to being able to read Norman Corwin's script for Between Americans, one can also find Welles's much more momentous 12/7/41 (the day Pearl Harbor was bombed) broadcast of it for the Gulf Stream Guild Theater on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aoa2DKjKFCQ

I've actually never heard the 2/2/42 repeat broadcast, and am not entirely convinced it survives, despite Lilly's claim that it's part of their archive. It was Welles's last broadcast before he left for South America, so it would be good to find if it still exists. It does, according to the great Wikipedia page for the OW radio career:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Wel ... io_credits

In COMMERCIAL releases, such little pauses and glitches are generally edited out; but in an ARCHIVAL setting, sometimes folks feel that the "purist" take requires keeping everything present in the original.

Of course, if one wants the glitches out, it's a fairly simple matter with a sound editing program like Garage Band, or whatever the Windows equivalent is. I've taken the commercials out of about 15-20 Harry Lime shows that way so far.

Jack did at least a few Rudys more after that point; he collapsed following a rehearsal (a recording exists) for the May 21, 1942 show, dying a week and a half later.

Yes, that Barrymore recording is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4R208c1huI
...although it cuts out just before he collapses.

[Dan_UK]

In COMMERCIAL releases, such little pauses and glitches are generally edited out; but in an ARCHIVAL setting, sometimes folks feel that the "purist" take requires keeping everything present in the original.

Well, for myself I edited them back together as good as I could. Where a portion was repeated I chose to keep whichever part was the best quality. The only one where I kept an unedited version was "George Washington, American" because the repeated parts sounded like different performances, although the only explanation I have for that would be if the actors were actually stopping at that point and waiting for the next disc to be ready, then starting the performance again when the next disc was ready. I'm not sure how likely that is.

If Back Then:
...
If Today:
...

I meant back then. Obviously today there's digital editing software!
The reason I asked and explained poorly is that at the end of a disc, a few seconds from the end I could detect a small gap (and sometimes with a level and/or quality change) and then a few seconds later the disc ended. When copying a set of discs (to another set of discs) it would seem weird to carefully cue up the next disc just for the sake of fitting an extra 5 to 10 seconds of audio at the end of a disc, rather than doing a straight copy. One thing which might explain it is maybe these copies have been recorded off-air, from a broadcast that was itself being played from discs.

I've actually never heard the 2/2/42 repeat broadcast, and am not entirely convinced it survives

I'm sure I mentioned it before, the 2/2/1942 Between Americans is one of the unlisted files, and can be heard here...

https://orsonwelles.indiana.edu/wowza4/ ... .high.m3u8

(Remember those links only work with certain players.)
It's only the first half so you'll have to skip to the other version to hear the end.
They must have realised their error and uploaded it, but never got around to linking it.

One thing that surprised me is that it's a different performance rather than a rebroadcast of the Screen Guild Theater version like I'd been expecting.

[Le Chiffre]

Yes, you did mention it on page eight. I guess I missed that part, but then, it's worth repeating on a new page, thanks. Very nice to know this Between Americans is there, even though I think I would have rather had the second part, where Welles indicates that they are headed for South America. The words he speaks have been reprinted in several Welles books, though.

[Wich2]

One thing which might explain it is maybe these copies have been recorded off-air, from a broadcast that was itself being played from discs.

Dan-

Sometimes a prefect provenance can't be established, so long after the fact. But again:

In the "classic era," broadcasting from discs was almost unheard of, at the network level.

-Craig

[Le Chiffre]

I think the Lilly Library may have done some more work on the site. I noticed that the script function for some of the Campbell Playhouse shows is much easier to read now, and much better, with the full screen option now taking up the entire computer screen. I don't know whether or not I was using it properly before, but it seems much more enjoyable and useful now!

It's also interesting to see what was cut out of the scripts too, probably at the last minute.

[Wich2]

Cuts/adds, usually for time, happen right up to showtime.

[Le Chiffre]

Yes, what many either forget or fail to appreciate about these shows is that they were live theater (of the mind) performances, not constructs assembled piece by piece, like a movie. Not only that, but these OTR shows needed to fit perfectly into a set time frame, so they had to be done with one eye on the script and the other eye on the clock, and in Welles's case, since he was both director and star, a third eye on the entire cast and crew; a remarkable juggling act under enormous pressure. Was there anyone else on radio doing all this?

[Terry]

The other Triple Threats that come to mind were writers who didn't act: Arch Oboler, Wyllis Cooper, and William Speer, so they didn't face the same pressure on-air that Welles did (though if Simon Callow is correct, Welles the adrenaline junkie would have loved such a setup.) It's possible Fletcher Markle was a Quadruple Threat on CBC in the 1940s, but I have very little information on him.

Was Welles a Quadruple Threat? Occasionally, when he bothered to write the scripts himself.

[Le Chiffre]

Ambersons and Man Who Was Thursday, certainly. Can't think of any others offhand for sure. Julius Caesar probably. Dracula? Treasure Island? Most of the Campbell's were probably farmed out to other writers, but all agreed that Welles would come on the day before the broadcast and transform the chaos into clarity.

Which MTOTA and Campbell shows Welles wrote himself, thus becoming the quadruple threat, is a question worth answering.