CLASSIC RADIO SPOTLIGHTS: ORSON WELLES Volume 1

Starring Orson Welles and many others (9 radio episodes / 6 hours via digital download)

Armed with the nickname “The Boy Genius,” Orson Welles graduated from the New York stage to expand his creative talents in the radio industry, hoping to use the audio medium to promote his stage ventures. Welles followed the edict that most stage actors applied – he played roles in hundreds of radio dramas produced by advertising agencies and the radio networks. After creating a minor panic in the minds of radio listeners with his 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast, Welles attracted the attention of a movie studio that offered the actor the spotlights of tinsel town… resulting in Citizen Kane. Making the move to California, Welles continued to appear on radio programs, now established as a Hollywood actor, and made numerous guest appearances on variety, comedy and dramatic programs. In 1941, and again in 1946, Welles starred in a chilling story titled “The Hitch-Hiker,” scripted by Lucille Fletcher, which 13 years later was adapted into a television episode of The Twilight Zone. In the early fifties, when Welles was momentarily “blacklisted,” the actor moved to England and narrated the radio program, The Black Museum, and starred in The Lives of Harry Lime, a sequel to the Carol Reed classic, The Third Man, now regarded as one of the 100 best movies ever made. This collection of Orson Welles radio dramas (each 30 minutes unless noted) are among his very best.

The Mercury Theatre On the Air 8/8/38 Three Short Stories (1-hour)

The Campbell Playhouse 1/13/39 Mutiny on the Bounty (1-hour)

Suspense 6/13/44 The Marvelous Barastro

The Black Museum 1952 The Champagne Glass

The Lux Radio Theatre 9/11/44 The Break of Hearts (1-hour)

This Is My Best 4/3/45 The Diamond as Big as the Ritz

The Mercury Summer Theatre 6/21/46 The Hitch-Hiker

The Lives of Harry Lime 11/9/51 Art is Long and Lime is Fleeting

The Lives of Harry Lime 11/16/51 In Pursuit of a Ghost