Lux Radio Theater, a long-run
classic radioOld-Time Radio and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the dominant home entertainment medium in the 1950s...
anthology series [NBC
Blue NetworkThe Blue Network was the on-air name of an American radio production and distribution service from 1942 to 1945, which traced its formal origins back to 1927...
(1934-1935);
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
(1935-1954);
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
(1954-1955)] which first adapted
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
stage works, and then films to hour-long radio programs performed live before studio audiences. It became the most popular dramatic anthology series on radio, broadcast for more than 20 years, and continued on television as the
Lux Video TheatreLux Video Theatre, a weekly television anthology series, was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays....
through most of the 1950s.
Broadcasting from New York, the series premiered at 2:30pm, October 14, 1934 on the NBC Blue Network with a production of
Seventh HeavenSeventh Heaven is a silent film and one of the first films to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture . The film was written by H.H. Caldwell , Benjamin Glazer, Katherine Hilliker and Austin Strong , and directed by Frank Borzage.The movie is a romance starring Janet Gaynor and...
starring
Miriam HopkinsEllen Miriam Hopkins was an American actress known for her versatility in a wide variety of roles.She was born in Savannah, Georgia and raised in Bainbridge, a town in the state's southwest near the Alabama border...
and
John BolesJohn Boles may refer to:*John Boles, Jr., American baseball executive*John Boles , American actor*John Boles *John P. Boles, auxiliary bishop of Boston in the 1990s...
in a full-hour adaptation of the 1922-24 Broadway production by Austin Strong.
Lux Radio Theater, a long-run
classic radioOld-Time Radio and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the dominant home entertainment medium in the 1950s...
anthology series [NBC
Blue NetworkThe Blue Network was the on-air name of an American radio production and distribution service from 1942 to 1945, which traced its formal origins back to 1927...
(1934-1935);
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
(1935-1954);
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
(1954-1955)] which first adapted
BroadwayBroadway Theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, is the theatre associated with the 40 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City...
stage works, and then films to hour-long radio programs performed live before studio audiences. It became the most popular dramatic anthology series on radio, broadcast for more than 20 years, and continued on television as the
Lux Video TheatreLux Video Theatre, a weekly television anthology series, was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays....
through most of the 1950s.
Broadcasting from New York, the series premiered at 2:30pm, October 14, 1934 on the NBC Blue Network with a production of
Seventh HeavenSeventh Heaven is a silent film and one of the first films to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture . The film was written by H.H. Caldwell , Benjamin Glazer, Katherine Hilliker and Austin Strong , and directed by Frank Borzage.The movie is a romance starring Janet Gaynor and...
starring
Miriam HopkinsEllen Miriam Hopkins was an American actress known for her versatility in a wide variety of roles.She was born in Savannah, Georgia and raised in Bainbridge, a town in the state's southwest near the Alabama border...
and
John BolesJohn Boles may refer to:*John Boles, Jr., American baseball executive*John Boles , American actor*John Boles *John P. Boles, auxiliary bishop of Boston in the 1990s...
in a full-hour adaptation of the 1922-24 Broadway production by Austin Strong. The host was the show's fictional producer, Douglass Garrick, portrayed by John Anthony. Doris Dagmar played another fictional character, Peggy Winthrop, who delivered the Lux commercials. Each show featured a scripted session with Garrick talking to the lead actors. Anthony appeared as Garrick from the premiere 1934 episode until June 30, 1935. Garrick was portrayed by Albert Hayes from July 29, 1935 to May 25, 1936, when the show moved to the West Coast.
Cecil B. DeMilleCecil Blount DeMille was a legendary American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies.-Early life:...
took over as the host on June 1, 1936, continuing until January 22, 1945. On several occasions, usually when he was out of town, he was temporarily replaced by various celebrities, including
Leslie HowardLeslie Howard Steiner , better known by his stage name Leslie Howard, was an English stage and film actor, director, and producer...
and
Edward ArnoldEdward Arnold was an American actor. He was born on the Lower East Side of New York City as Gunther Edward Arnold Schneider, the son of German immigrants Carl Schneider and Elizabeth Ohse.-Acting career:...
.
Lux Radio Theater strove to feature as many of the original stars of the original stage and film productions as possible, usually paying them $5,000 an appearance. In 1936, when sponsor
Lever BrothersThe British manufacturer Lever Brothers was founded in 1885 by William Hesketh Lever and his brother, James.-History:In 1885 they bought a small soap works in Warrington. Using glycerin and vegetable oils such as palm oil, rather than tallow, to manufacture soap, they produced a good,...
(who made Lux soap and detergent) moved the show from
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
to Hollywood, the program began to emphasize adaptations of films rather than plays. The first
Lux film adaptation was
The Legionnaire and the Lady, with
Marlene DietrichMarlene Dietrich was a German-born American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself. In 1920s Berlin, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
and
Clark GableWilliam Clark Gable was an American film actor, nicknamed "The King of Hollywood" in his heyday. In , the American Film Institute named Gable seventh among the greatest male stars of all time....
, based on the film
MoroccoMorocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is Rabat, and its largest city is Casablanca. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the...
. That was followed by a
Lux adaptation of
The Thin ManThe Thin Man was the first of six comic detective films starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles, a flirtatious married couple who banter wittily as they solve crimes with ease. Nick is a hard drinking retired detective and Nora a wealthy heiress...
, featuring the movie's stars,
Myrna LoyMyrna Loy was an American actress. Trained as a dancer, she devoted herself fully to an acting career following a few minor roles in silent films. Originally typecast in exotic roles, often as a vamp or a woman of Asian descent, her career prospects improved following her portrayal of Nora Charles...
and
William PowellWilliam Horatio Powell was an American actor, noted for his sophisticated, cynical portrayals.A major star at MGM, he was paired with Myrna Loy in fourteen films, including the popular Thin Man series in which Powell and Loy played Nick and Nora Charles...
.
Many of leading names in stage and film appeared in the series, most in the roles they made famous on the screen, including
Abbott and CostelloWilliam Abbott and Lou Costello performed together as Abbott and Costello, an American comedy duo whose work in radio, film and television made them the most popular comedy team during the 1940s and 50s...
,
Jean ArthurJean Arthur was an American actress and a major film star of the 1930s and 1940s. She remains arguably the epitome of the female screwball comedy actress. "No one was more closely identified with the screwball comedy than Jean Arthur...
,
Lauren BacallLauren Bacall is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her husky voice and sultry looks....
,
Lucille BallLucille Désirée Ball was an American comedienne, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy...
,
Ethel BarrymoreEthel Barrymore was an American actress and a member of the famous Barrymore family.-Early life:Ethel Barrymore was born Ethel Mae Blythe in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second child of the actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew...
,
John BarrymoreJohn Sidney Blyth Barrymore was an American actor, frequently called the greatest of his generation. He first gained fame as a stage actor, lauded for his portrayals of Hamlet and Richard III...
,
Lionel BarrymoreLionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, radio and film. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in A Free Soul .-Early life:...
,
Ingrid BergmanIngrid Bergman was a Swedish actress. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress in the first Tony Award ceremony in 1947. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
,
Humphrey BogartHumphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor.After trying various jobs, Bogart began acting in 1921 and became a regular in Broadway productions in the 1920s and 1930s. When the stock market crash of 1929 reduced the demand for plays, Bogart turned to film...
,
Charles BoyerCharles Boyer was a French actor, who had appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After having a dramatic education, Boyer started on the stage, but he found his success in European and Hollywood movies during the 1930s. Although moving to the U.S., he kept up the connection with...
,
James CagneyJames Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American film actor. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of roles, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time.For his first performing...
,
Claudette ColbertClaudette Colbert was a French-born American stage and film actress.Born in Saint-Mandé, France and raised in New York City, Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the 1920s, progressing to film with the advent of talking pictures...
,
Ronald ColmanRonald Charles Colman was an English actor.-Early years:He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he...
,
Gary CooperFrank James “Gary” Cooper was an American film actor. He was renowned for his quiet, understated acting style and his stoic, individualistic, emotionally restrained, but at times intense screen persona, which was particularly well suited to the many Westerns he made...
,
Joseph CottenJoseph Cheshire Cotten was an American actor of stage and film. He is best remembered for his association with Orson Welles, which led to appearances in Journey into Fear, which Cotten wrote, Citizen Kane, The Third Man, and The Magnificent Ambersons.Cotten first achieved prominence on Broadway,...
,
Joan CrawfordJoan Crawford was an American actress in film, television and theatre. Starting as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway, Crawford was signed to a motion picture contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1925...
,
Bing CrosbyHarry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American popular singer and actor whose career stretched over more than half a century from 1926 until his death....
,
Bette DavisRuth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theatre. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres; from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
,
Dan DuryeaDan Duryea was an American actor of film, stage and television. Duryea graduated from Cornell University in 1928. While at Cornell, Duryea was elected into the Sphinx Head Society...
,
Frances FarmerFrances Elena Farmer was an American actress of stage and screen. She is perhaps better known for sensationalized and fictional accounts of her life, and especially her involuntary commitment to a mental hospital...
,
Errol FlynnErrol Leslie Flynn was an Australian film actor, known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Background and early life:...
,
Ava GardnerAva Lavinia Gardner was an American actress.She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared in supporting roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers . She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, admired for her beauty, and highly regarded for her...
,
Judy GarlandJudy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist, and on the concert stage. Respected for her versatility, she received a Juvenile Academy...
,
Greer GarsonEileen Evelyn Greer Garson, CBE was a British-born actress who was very popular during World War II. As one of MGM's major stars of the 1940s, Garson received seven Academy Award nominations, winning the Best Actress award for Mrs. Miniver...
,
Cary GrantArchibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was a British-American actor...
,
Lillian GishLillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987. She was a prominent film star of the 1910s and 1920s, particularly associated with the films of director D.W. Griffith, including her leading role in Griffith's...
,
Charlton HestonCharlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television.Heston is known for having played heroic roles, such as Moses in The Ten Commandments, Colonel George Taylor in Planet of the Apes, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar in El Cid, and Judah Ben-Hur in Ben-Hur, for which he won the Academy...
,
Bob HopeBob Hope, KBE, KCSG was an American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO tours entertaining American military personnel...
,
Vivien LeighVivien Leigh, Lady Olivier was an English actress. She won two Best Actress Academy Awards for playing "southern belles": Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind and Blanche DuBois in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire , a role she had also played on stage in London's West End.She was a...
,
Fredric MarchFredric March was an American stage and film actor. He won an Oscar for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and in 1946 for The Best Years of Our Lives.-Early life:...
,
Agnes MooreheadAgnes Robertson Moorehead was an American actress. Although she began with the Mercury Theatre, appeared in more than seventy films beginning with Citizen Kane and on dozens of television shows during a career that spanned more than thirty years, Moorehead is most widely known to modern audiences...
,
Paul MuniPaul Muni was an American stage and film actor.-Early life and career:He was born Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund to a Jewish family in Lemberg, Galicia, a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now Lviv, Ukraine....
,
Vincent PriceVincent Leonard Price II was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:...
,
Donna ReedDonna Reed was an American film and television actress.-Early life:Reed was born Donna Belle Mullenger on a farm near Denison, Iowa, the daughter of Hazel Jane and William Richard Mullenger. The eldest of five children, she was raised as a Methodist...
,
Ginger RogersGinger Rogers was an American film and stage actress, dancer and singer.During her long career, she made a total of 73 films, and is noted for her role as Fred Astaire's romantic interest and dancing partner in a series of ten Hollywood musical films that revolutionized the genre...
,
Mickey RooneyMickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. During his career he has won multiple awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
,
Frank SinatraFrancis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became a successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, being the idol of the "bobby soxers." His professional career had stalled by the...
,
Ann SothernAnn Sothern was an American film and television actress with a career spanning six decades.-Early life and career:...
,
Barbara StanwyckBarbara Stanwyck was an American actress, a star of film and television, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors such as Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...
,
James StewartJames Maitland "Jimmy" Stewart was an American film and stage actor, best known for his self-effacing persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
,
Shirley TempleShirley Jane Temple , known for most of her adult life by her married name, Shirley Temple Black, is an actress, singer, and tap dancer, who is best known for being an American child actress of the 1930s...
,
Gene TierneyGene Tierney was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed as one of the great beauties of her day, she is best-remembered for her performance in the title role of Laura and her Academy Award-nominated performance for Best Actress in Leave Her to Heaven...
,
Spencer TracySpencer Bonaventure Tracy was an American theatrical and film actor, who appeared in 74 films from 1930 to 1967. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Tracy among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking 9th on the list...
,
Lana TurnerLana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy...
,
John WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , born Marion Robert Morrison, better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and has become an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive voice, walk and height...
,
Jane WymanJane Wyman was an American character actress of stage, film and television. She began her film career in the 1930s, and was a prolific performer for two decades...
,
Orson WellesGeorge Orson Welles was an American film director, writer, actor and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television, and radio. Welles was also an accomplished magician, starring in troop variety spectacles in the war years...
,
Loretta Young-Early life:She was born in Salt Lake City, Utah as Gretchen Young, of Luxembourgian descent.At confirmation, she took the name Michaela. She and her family moved to Hollywood when she was three years old. Loretta and her sisters Polly Ann Young and Elizabeth Jane Young worked as child actresses,...
and
Robert YoungRobert George Young was an American actor, best known for his leading roles of Jim Anderson, the father of Father Knows Best and physician Marcus Welby in Marcus Welby, M.D. ....
.
Radio regulars
Though the show focused on film and its performers, perhaps inevitably several classic radio regulars appeared in
Lux Radio Theater productions. Jim and Marian Jordan, better known as
Fibber McGee and MollyFibber McGee and Molly was a radio show that played a major role in determining the full form of what became classic, old-time radio. The series was a pinnacle of American popular culture from its 1935 premiere until its demise in 1959...
, appeared on the show twice and also built an episode of their own radio comedy series around one of those appearances. Their longtime costar,
Arthur Q. BryanArthur Quirk Bryan was a United States comedian and voice actor, remembered best for his longtime recurring role as well-spoken, wisecracking Dr...
(wisecracking Doc Gamble) made a few
Lux appearances as well. Bandleader
Phil HarrisPhil Harris was an American singer, songwriter, jazz musician, actor and comedian...
, a longtime regular on
Jack BennyJack Benny , born Benjamin Kubelsky, was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
's radio program, and his wife
Alice FayeAlice Faye was an American actress and singer. She is remembered first for her stardom at 20th Century Fox and, later, as the radio comedy partner of her husband, bandleader-comedian Phil Harris...
, who became radio stars with their own comedy show in 1948, appeared in a
Lux presentation.
Fred AllenFred Allen , born John Florence Sullivan, was an American comedian whose absurdist, topically pointed radio show made him one of the most popular and forward-looking humorists in the so-called classic era of American radio.His best-remembered gag was his long-running mock feud with friend and...
,
Jack BennyJack Benny , born Benjamin Kubelsky, was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film...
(with and without his wife,
Mary LivingstoneMary Livingstone , was an American radio comedienne and the wife and radio partner of comedy great Jack Benny . Enlisted almost entirely by accident to perform on her husband's popular program, she proved a talented comedienne...
),
George BurnsGeorge Burns , born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.His career spanned vaudeville, film, radio, and television, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three quarters of a century...
and
Gracie AllenGrace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen , better known as Gracie Allen, was an American comedienne who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns...
were among the other radio stars who were invited to do
Lux presentations as well.
At least once
Lux Radio Theater presented an adaptation of the film version of a radio series,
The Life of RileyThe Life of Riley, with William Bendix in the title role, was a popular American radio situation comedy series of the 1940s that was adapted into a 1949 feature film and continued as a long-running television series during the 1950s, originally with Jackie Gleason playing Bendix's role.The show...
, featuring
William BendixWilliam Bendix was an American film actor.-Early life:Bendix, named for his paternal grandfather, was born in Manhattan, New York City, the only son of Cleveland-born Oscar and London-born Hilda Bendix...
as the Brooklyn-born, California-transplanted, stumbling but bighearted aircraft worker he already made famous in the long-running radio series (and eventual television hit) of the same name.
But also at least once
Lux Radio Theater offered a presentation without any known performers---its adaptation of
This Is the ArmyThis Is the Army is a 1943 American motion picture produced by Hal B. Wallis and Jack L. Warner, and directed by Michael Curtiz, and a wartime musical designed to boost morale in the U.S. during World War II, directed by Sgt. Ezra Stone. The screenplay by Casey Robinson and Claude Binyon was based...
during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
featured a cast of American soldiers.
Mercury Theatre on the AirThe Mercury Theatre was a theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and John Houseman. After a string of live theatrical productions, in 1938 the Mercury Theatre progressed into their best-known period as The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a radio series that included one of the...
— which eventually made Orson Welles a force to be reckoned with, especially with his broadcast of
The War of the WorldsThe War of the Worlds was an episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938 and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by Orson Welles, the episode...
(30 October 1938) provoked — was initially a summer replacement series for
Lux Radio Theater in 1938.
A famous
urban legendAn urban legend, urban myth, or urban tale, more properly a "'contemporary legend'" is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories thought to be factual by those circulating them...
claimed that actor
Sonny TuftsSonny Tufts was a United States film actor. He was born into a prominent banking family, whose patriarch had supposedly sailed to America from England in 1683. He broke with the family banking tradition by studying opera at Yale...
was slated to appear as a guest alongside
Joan FontaineJoan Fontaine is a British American actress. She became an American citizen in April 1943. She is the younger sister of actress Olivia de Havilland, also an Academy Award winner. Along with Luise Rainer, Gloria Stuart, Shirley Temple, Deanna Durbin and Olivia de Havilland, Fontaine is one of the...
for a production of
The Major and the MinorThe Major and the Minor is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Billy Wilder. The screenplay by Wilder and Charles Brackett is based on the play Connie Goes Home by Edward Childs Carpenter.-Plot:...
on
Lux Radio Theater. When
Joseph CottonJoseph Cotton aka Jah Walton is a reggae deejay active since the mid-1970s.-Biography:...
read the names of the next week's cast, he supposedly said, with a mixture of shock and astonishment, that listeners would hear "that new, talented personality...
Sonny Tufts?!" However, this never happened. The legend began as a fake segment on one of Kermit Shafer's popular "Bloopers" albums, which have been criticized for their "re-creations", fabrications and lack of accuracy. In actuality, Tufts was introduced by Cotton on the radio series
SuspenseSuspense is a feeling of uncertainty and anxiety about the outcome of certain actions, most often referring to an audience's perceptions in a dramatic work. Suspense is not exclusive to fiction, though. Suspense may operate in any situation where there is a lead up to a big event or dramatic...
, but Cotton's introduction was perfectly normal.
Clash by night
A clash over
closed shopA closed shop is a form of union security agreement under which the employer agrees to only hire union members, and employees must remain a member of the union at all times in order to remain employed....
unionA trade union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas, such as working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labor contracts with employers...
rulings favored by the American Federation of Radio Artists ended DeMille's term as host of
Lux Radio Theater. AFRA assessed members a dollar each to help back a campaign to enact closed-shop rulings in California. DeMille, an AFRA member but a stern opponent of closed shops, refused to pay because he believed it would nullify his opposition vote. When AFRA ruled those not paying faced suspension from the union, and thus a ban from appearing on the air, DeMille was finished in radio---because he also refused to let anyone else pay the dollar for him. In his 1959 autobiography, DeMille alleged that a former member of the American Communist Party later confided to him that the party had consciously orchestrated these circumstances of his exclusion from radio, as they considered him to be one of their two foremost enemies in radio.
Hosts
Lux Radio Theater employed several hosts over the following year, eventually choosing
William KeighleyWilliam Jackson Keighley was an American stage actor and Hollywood film director....
as the new permanent host, a post he held from late 1945 through 1952. After that, producer-director Irving Cummings hosted the program until it ended in 1955.
During its years on CBS in Hollywood,
Lux Radio Theater was broadcast from the Lux Radio Playhouse located at 1615 North Vine Street in Hollywood, one block south of the intersection of Hollywood and Vine. The theater was later renamed the Huntington Hartford Theater, the Doolittle Theater and is now the
Ricardo MontalbanRicardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG , was a Mexican-born American radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning seven decades and multiple notable roles...
Theater.
Television
The
Lux Video TheatreLux Video Theatre, a weekly television anthology series, was produced from 1950 until 1959. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays....
began as a live 30-minute Monday evening CBS series October 2, 1950, switching to Thursday nights during August 1951. In September 1953, the show relocated from New York to Hollywood. In August 1954, it jumped to NBC as an hour-long show on Thursday nights, telecast until September 12, 1957.
James MasonJames Neville Mason was a British actor who attained stardom in both British and American films. Throughout his career, Mason remained a powerful figure in the industry and he is now regarded as one of the finest film actors of the 20th century...
was the host in the 1954-55 season.
External links