Radio appearances by Joan Crawford
In addition to her work as a film actress, Joan Crawford also appeared in radio programs as a radio play speaker.
background
On the advice of her second husband, the actor Franchot Tone worked Joan Crawford from the mid-1930s reinforced with radio broadcasts. She tried to expand her range of roles by appearing in radio play adaptations of well-known stage plays and classics such as Nora or a doll's house . The film studio MGM , with which she was under contract, had used the actress in lavishly produced, but not always demanding romances and triangular stories such as In Golden Chains in recent years .
Shows like Lux Radio Theater established themselves as an integral part of the radio program from the middle of the decade. These were so-called anthology shows , which told a different story with each broadcast instead of showing a continuous story as a plot. The characteristic of these programs was the adaptation of successful cinema films, in which the respective stars repeated their roles in the radio version. Occasionally the producers even managed to get two stars in front of the microphone who had not previously been seen on the screen in this combination. So were Marlene Dietrich and Clark Gable in 1936 in The Legionnaire and the Lady , the radio play version of Dietrich's first US hit, Morocco , on. Crawford himself played alongside Ronald Colman for the first and only time in 1939 .
The producers of these shows, whose name usually refers to the sponsor , in the case of the Lux Radio Theater it was the Lever Brothers, manufacturers of the well-known soap brand Lux , sometimes invested large amounts in the programs. Established Hollywood stars could expect fees of up to $ 5,000.
One of the most famous radio shows ever was the broadcast of the radio play version of HG Wells' novel War of the Worlds on October 30, 1938 on Mercury Theater Radio , directed by Orson Welles . The adaptation, conceived as a report, led to panic and hysteria in some areas of the USA.
The model of the anthology show became an integral part of the early days of television in the USA with examples such as The Loretta Young Show , Fireside Theater or Masterpiece Theater .
Radio appearances in detail
- October 11, 1935: Lux Radio Theater - Within the Law
- July 4, 1936: Shell Chateau Program
- July 27, 1936: Lux Radio Theater - Chained
- October 27, 1936: Rupert Hughes' Caravan Theater - Elizabeth the Queen by Maxwell Anderson
- May 10, 1937: Lux Radio Theater - Mary of Sotland
- February 7, 1938: Lux Radio Theater - Anna Christie - with Spencer Tracy as Matt Burke
- May 19, 1938: Good News of 1938
- June 6, 1938: Lux Radio Theater - A Doll's House ( Nora or a doll's house )
- October 20, 1938: Good News of 1938
- November 17, 1938: Good News of 1938
- January 8, 1939: The Screen Guild Theater
- May 7, 1939: Silver Theater - Train Ride
- October 15, 1939: The Screen Guild Theater - None Shall Part Us with Ronald Colman and Lew Ayres
- March 2, 1940: Arch Oboler's Plays - Baby
- November 22, 1940: Every Man's Theater - Two - a play about the last survivors after a war
- March 17, 1949: The Screen Guild Theater - Dark Victory
- June 2, 1949: Suspense - The Ten Years
- December 24, 1949: The George Fisher Show - Christmas With the Crawfords - Interview with Joan Crawford and the children on Christmas Eve
- April 17, 1950: United Nations Radio - Document A / 777
- May 26, 1950: Screen Director's Playhouse - Flamingo Road
- Jan 15, 1951: Hollywood Star Playhouse - Statement in Full
- March 22, 1951: Suspense - Three Lethal Words
- April 5, 1951: Screen Director's Playhouse - The Damned Don't Cry
- April 13, 1951: The Cancer Show
- May 10, 1951: The Screen Guild Theater - Secret Heart
- October 06, 1951: Stars Over Hollywood - I Knew This Woman
- March 1, 1952: Stars Over Hollywood - When the Police Arrive
- March 27, 1955: Cavalcade of Stars
- June 5, 1960: Eternal Light - Message to the World
- November 15, 1962: March of Dimes Recruitment
- Jan 21, 1964: Arthur Godfrey Morning Show