Campbell Playhouse

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The radio program that began as Mercury Theatre on the Air became Campbell Playhouse when the soup company deciding to come on board as a sponsor after the show’s rising fame which came as a result of the “The War of the Worlds” controversy.

The switch took place in November of 138, and under the new name, the series kept the tradition of the old version, airing classic and contemporary plays of high quality.
Here’s the roster of broadcasts:

12-9-38: Rebecca
12-23-38: A Christmas Carol
1-6-39: Counselor-At-Law
1-13-39: Mutiny on the Bounty
1-27-39: I Lost My Girlish Laughter
2-3-39: Arrowsmith
2-10-39: The Green Goddess
3-10-39: The Glass Key
3-17-39: Beau Geste
3-31-39: Showboat
4-14-39: The Patriot
4-21-39: Private Lives
5-5-39: Wickford Point
5-12-39: Our Town
5-19-39: The Bad Man
5-26-39: Things We Have
6-2-39: Victor Regina
9-10-39: Peter Ibbetson
9-17-39: Ah, Wilderness
9-24-39: What Every Woman Knows
10-1-39: The Count of Monte Cristo
10-8-39: Algiers
10-15-39: Escape
10-22-39: Liliom
10-29-39: The Magnificent Ambersons
11-5-39: The Hurricane
11-12-39: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
11-19-39: The Garden of Allah
11-26-39: Dodsworth
12-3-39: Lost Horizon
12-10-39: Venessa
12-17-39: There’s Always a Woman
12-24-39: A Christmas Carol
1-7-40: Vanity Fair
1-14-40: Theodora Goes Wild
1-21-40: The Citadel
1-28-40: It Happened One Night
2-11-40: Mr.Deeds Goes to Town
2-18-40: Dinner at Eight
2-25-40: Only Angels Have Wings
3-3-40: Rabble in Arms
3-10-40: Craig’s Wife
3-17-40: Huckleberry Finn
3-24-40: June Moon

Orson Welles' radio series was originally produced in New York, then moved to Los Angeles in Nov. of 39, to accomodate Welles while he worked on Citizen Kane.

Guest stars on the program included Katharine Hepburn (“A Farewell To Arms”), Helen Hayes (“Arrowsmith” and “Victor Regina”), Mary Astor (“Royal Regiment”).

Sources
Higham, Charles. Orson Welles: The Rise and Fall of An American Genius. New York: St.
Martin’s. 1985.

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