Theater Guild on the Air
Various
Episodes of the old-time radio anthology series "Theater Guild on the Air".
This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.
Chapters
Reviews
Radio Drama at It's Finest
30smovies
Theater Guild on the Air was a top quality radio drama series of famous plays and novels finely adapted for radio and superbly acted and hold up quite well today. Unlike many other "star" radio programs it's clear the cast here worked and rehearsed the script quite a bit for airtime. Adaptations include works by Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward, Tennessee Williams, Edith Wharton, and Jane Austen with such great stars of stage and screen as Alfred Lunt & Lynn Fontanne (making rare radio appearances), Helen Hayes, Maurice Evans, Judith Anderson, Katharine Hepburn, Shirley Booth, Maureen Stapleton, Gene Kelly, Gene Tierney, and Gertrude Lawrence.
A Class Act
davidinberkeley
A class act all around. The source is Broadway plays for the most part, which makes it a little more literate than the film adaptations that were so popular. (The material is very much of its era, so don't expect stuff quite as detailed or subtle as, say, a literary adaptation). This is worth downloading for a preview, then finding a vendor to get you the whole set.
very entertaining
A LibriVox Listener
great adaption, if you want to use this as a study aid it would be helpful but be aware it does not remain true to the literary adaption and often deletes and changes scenes.
What a find!
LibriVox populi
Davidinberkeley is spot on: these really are something different than the film adaptations, and we get to time travel to Broadway of 70+ years ago.
Tallulah in ALL ABOUT EVE
A LibriVox Listener
Much better than even the movie which is near perfect. Bravo!!
The Green Goddess
C. J. Berry263
Probably very un-PC, but still a fast-paced, tightly plotted melodrama.
These are fantastic
AncientAxim
Wow.. for one the audio (so far on the ones Ive listened to) is VERY good. I don't see dates on these, they were made in the 1940s. "They Knew What They Wanted" Oh man- I think this plot has been re-used and re-made into tons of movies made recently- the old switcheroo where the guy sends a picture of his buddy instead of himself to some girl, she falls in love with the cute guy, not realizing she's been communicating with the not-so-cute real old guy. This Italian wine grower gets all excited over this waitress who serves him once, so he starts flirting with her by mail and sends his farm hands photo instead of his own. The girl, well she is really low class and quite common, she ends up going to the farm and seeing the handsome "Joe" thinking oh this is my guy! Well, she quickly finds out the scam.. One day she approaches "Joe" the handsome one and demands to know whether he knew of the scam or not (he says no) but she seduces him "Hold me tight Joe.. REAL tight.." the very day before her wedding to Tony, the old guy! woooOOOOooo!~ well, she gets pregnant by this Joe person. Well you just gotta hear the story its really good. "The Silver Cord" emasculating overbearing mother tries to sabotage her son's new marriage. Some of these plays are comedies, some have music some don't. These all have the best acting and voice people on the planet. You won't be sorry.
Priceless
MPDMedia
But what's really sad is that the Theater Guild didn't continue recording these plays -- albeit in condensed format -- after 1953. We have to turn to the BBC for the 1954-21st Century to date plays. No offense at all to the Brits, but -we- should be recording our own plays and preserving them for future generations with the original casts intact. How daunting it would have been to do radio-friendly versions of Albee's, Kushner's, Wilson's, and Mamet's best work, especially.