Welles stars in Lives of Harry Lime

Some stories behind OTR

Podcasts about the War of the Worlds broadcast, the real Lone Ranger and the real Sherlock Holmes!  I've found and listened to these and give them my full approval.  I think you will enjoy these.

From the Stuff You Missed in History Class folks:

Orson Welles and the War of the Worlds

Who Was the Real Lone Ranger?

Who Was the Real Sherlock Holmes?

Gossip Jan. 1, 1939

Click to enlarge

He scared us to death (Orson Welles)

Random photo goodness

An interterview with Barry about Welles-era 'The Shadow'

The Shadow was an exciting show.  I've always enjoyed the Orson Welles - Agnes Moorehead teaming, the best.

I asked Barry ( Mr. Blog's Tepid Ride blog) back to talk about this era of the show and he came through with some terrific insight!

OTR BUFFET - Thanks Barry, for doing yet another interview with me. You are one of the few to do two interviews on the OTRr Buffet...

Barry - I'm very honored. There have been some very interesting and knowledgeable people interviewed here. I'm happy to be among them.
OTR BUFFET - You and I agreed in advance to talk about The Shadow and more generally, the Orson Welles years as the Shadow. Talk about how Welles carried out the characters of Lamont Cranston/The Shadow and how you feel it was different than the others who played the part.

Barry - Welles embodied the wealthy young man about town role better than anyone who came after. He had a patrician voice, slightly bored, and he simply sounded like the kind of disaffected playboy who would have traveled the world and studied strange secrets in the Orient. Bill Johnstone, who followed him, sounded more like the average man. Later Lamont Cranstons were sometimes henpecked by Margot. She'd drag Lamont to the opera or he'd follow her around on shopping trips, carrying her bags. Orson Welles' Lamont was too good for that.

His Lamont usually sounded like he knew more than he was telling. There was something in Orson's voice that simply sounded mysterious. And that carried over to the Shadow. A lot of the time the story would open and Lamont was already embroiled in the case, as in The Mine Hunters. Other times, like when a madman was disrupting shipping by torpedoing ships from a secret submarine (Death from the Deep) the authorities were powerless but The Shadow simply announced that he was on the job and went to work.

OTR BUFFET - I have only just come to the conclusion that listeners have taken for granted how lucky we were to have the Welles-Agnes Moorehead (as Margo Lane) team doing The Shadow in the late 1930's. If you think about what kind of careers both had and how noted each are for their acting abilities it's quite rare to have them teamed up in a production where we really got to hear them stretch themselves in something that wasn't serious acting. Can you talk about that team and the advantages they had working together as opposed to the other Cranston/Lane teams?

Barry - I think you have to appreciate Agnes Moorehead. She starred in one of the most famous OTR stories, Sorry, Wrong Number by Suspense. It was a one-woman tour de force. And while there were many talented actresses to play Margot Lane, Agnes Moorehead may have gone on to the most acclaim.

Orson Welles’ career is noted for the ownership he took over his roles and his productions, but The Shadow was just a job for him. He was such a busy man that often he'd rush into the studio a few minutes before the broadcast and the first time he'd see the script was when he was reading it. He had the great ability to scan only a couple of lines ahead on the page but still imbue the lines with the proper inflection, depth, and meaning. Playing opposite someone as talented as Agnes Moorehead must have made it that much easier for him.

It is no surprise that they both went on to the Mercury Theater on the Air. Orson assembled some great talent there, like Joseph Cotton, Hans Conreid, and Vincent Price, among others.

OTR BUFFET - Is there a favorite episode you have and why?

Barry - I have a few from Orson's era. They are all very different and each has a very unique feel.

Aboard The Steamship Amazon. The Shadow stops explosive smugglers aboard a luxury liner.

The White God. A madman enslaves the natives of a Pacific island and sets himself up as a god. He uses a giant magnet inside a volcano to cause airplanes to crash.

The Tenor with the Broken Voice. A crazed opera singer who lost his voice kills the singers who replaced him while they sing onstage.

Just by coincidence, these are all from the syndicated Goodrich-sponsored 1938 summer season. The Shadow would get involved in the commercials, intoning how Goodrich tires kept you from swerving off the road in bad weather. The Shadow almost never got involved in other commercials.

OTR BUFFET - There are many episodes in the series that are very hard to listen to because of horrible sound. Do you skip those or do you try and listen to them anyway?

Barry - It takes a lot to make me skip an episode of any show, but I'll put up with more for a show I really enjoy like The Shadow. I prefer it when OTR is not pristine. A little hiss and some crackle add to the enjoyment. In my mind, especially the farther back you go, a great many people heard OTR that way. The technology just wasn’t that good yet. It may or may not be true, but I feel it is more authentic that way. Perfectly crisp and clean OTR sounds too new for my taste. The only way I give up on an episode is if it is simply unlistenable.

OTR BUFFET - Can you think of any performances on radio, TV or film that seem to have been inspired by Welles' portrayal of the Cranston/The Shadow combo?

Barry - The Avenger was a very thinly disguised knock-off of The Shadow, virtually a copy. It only ran for 26 episodes. It wasn’t a bad show, but because it sounds so much like The Shadow it just comes across like a poor imitation.

The Green Hornet is similar to The Shadow in that Britt Reid was cut from the same cloth as Cranston, a kind of wealthy playboy. The only difference was that he had a job running a newspaper, but even so, he was the young, single, rich owner. Even Batman, with his dark cape and penchant for staying the shadows owes a debt here as well. There is an issue of Batman from the 1970’s (#253) when DC owned the rights to The Shadow where the two characters met. Batman and said that The Shadow was one of his inspirations to become a crime fighter. Batman comics from the 1970’s are very much like the mysterious Shadow of the Orson Welles era, very dark and mysterious, often with a gothic feel and a seemingly supernatural menace.

 

I'm sure there are a whole slew of slouch hat-wearing mystery men who owe something to The Shadow.

OTR BUFFET - How do you rank Welles and Moorehead as far as radio/film actors go?

Barry - I believe that one of the problems with actors today is that they didn't work in radio. Radio forces actors to emote and use their voices in ways that they don't need to in movies or television. I think that working in radio helps you understand acting differently. Of course that doesn't mean that radio actors make the best movie stars. Visually, there are tons of non-verbal acting dynamics to master as well. And of course in radio you get to hold the script while you work!

Take Agnes Moorehead in The Twilight Zone episode The Invaders. Now take everything I said about radio acting and forget it. She is entirely silent throughout the episode. Clearly she has mastered the art of acting from every angle.  People who only know her as Endora in Bewitched need to see her in The Magnificent Ambersons or Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte. She had four Oscar nominations in her career.

And as for Orson Welles, better people than I have written about his talent. Simply imagine Citizen Kane if Welles had stayed behind the camera and let someone else star.

 
OTR BUFFET - Why do you think the Shadow is so often categorized as "horror?" And what genre would you put it in? Superhero? Detective?

Barry - I tend to put it in horror too, but it is hard show to categorize because while it would often do straight detective stories with gangsters or bank robbers, try to imagine Sam Spade in The Curse of Shiva, or Phillip Marlowe freeing mind-controlled slaves. Johnny Dollar never fought werewolves.

Many horror writers worked on the show, like Alonzo Dean Cole of The Witch's Tale and Arch Obler. Sci-fi writer Alfred Bester wrote for The Shadow.

Superhero doesn't quite fit either, because that genre is, in my mind, defined by over-the-top do-gooders like Superman or Spider-Man. The Shadow is more of an old-fashioned mystery man, a guy who is relatively powerless and more likely to punch-out the bad guy than use X-ray vision, True, Lamont Cranston had mental powers, but as every show opening pointed out, we could have them too if we'd travel to the Orient and study under a mystic for a good part of our lives.

OTR BUFFET - Thanks again Barry for your time and knowledge spent in answering these for the OTRr Buffet!

Barry - Thanks for asking me! I enjoyed doing this and I hope the readers enjoy it too.

©Jimbo 2010/2011

Orson Welles talks about War of the Worlds

Nazis or Martians?

What actor once posed as a maintenance man? (Hint: it's not Art Carney)

1945

Mercury Summer Theatre (1946) - a review

The Mercury Theatre is well known. Even aside from The War of the Worlds, we know that the original team of actors (Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead, Everett Sloane, Vincent Price, Dolores del Rio, among others)  was much celebrated on stage, in film and of course, on radio.

By 1946, the stock company was full of decent, but unknown actors, aside from Welles. The Mercury Summer Theatre's productions are all centerpieces for Welles and he does not disappoint. After all, Welles is Welles and one need not say much else. He could be anything he wanted and was. In the Mercury Summer Theatre, he takes the lead in every story except one - and that's a story about him.

Welles is a dynamic theatrical force (and otherwise) and I'm convinced you will like the snthology as much as I did. While there are many plays dealing with romance, Welles even makes those quite easy to listen to. (If it sounds like I have a man-crush on Welles, it's because I simply admire him.)

There are adventure stories too, many you may know (Around the World in 80 Days, Man From Bali, etc.) and these too are handled perfectly. Welles' direction and acting are in top form.

The sound quality is good. I'm going to give 1946's Mercury Summer Theatre 4 ½ stars.

©Jimbo 2010/2011

...and Orson Welles, as God

May 7, 1940 Milwaukee Journal

Cool photo dump

Mercedes McCambridge (1936)

Orson Welles on the right

J-J-Jimmy Stewart

Red!

Agnes Moorehead (1935)

1935

Information Please; An interview with Tony Baechler

It's my pleasure to have Tony Baechler on the Buffet today talking about one of our favorite shows, Information Please.



OTR BUFFET: Tony, thanks for doing this interview with me. Can you tell us about the website you run?

Tony Baechler: Thanks very much for having me. I feel honored to be in such great company as Ian, Jim and Randy. I have great respect for them and what they're doing for the hobby. I'm constantly amazed at their generosity. I was really hoping to be interviewed and am thrilled to finally get the chance.

Actually, I'm working on several different sites, so I'm not 100% sure which site you mean. I'll start off with the podcast first as I assume that's the one in which your readers are most interested.

Back in 2009, I decided that I wanted to start a podcast. I had hopes of being in radio one of these days, but I realized that with modern radio being the way it is, it would probably never happen. At the time, I really missed the great shows done by John and Larry Gassman. They are among my OTR heroes and I really hope to start a Gassman fan club one of these days. Jerry Haendiges did an excellent job filling in, but it just wasn't the same. Anyway, I realized that I could potentially reach a much wider audience online with a podcast, so I started one called CARE, or Classic Adventures in Radio Entertainment. It only lasted a few episodes and I had no idea what I was doing. I had to quit due to many factors, not the least of which was that I couldn't keep to a weekly schedule. I still have all of the old episodes and plan on releasing them soon.

Let's move ahead two years to January, 2011. I had been pushing OTRR to start a podcast for a long time, but no one seemed interested in doing it. I wanted to, but I had some concerns, like not getting enough new shows. Jim Beshires has been very generous in this regard, sending me several DVDs, so that was settled. I had other issues, like my ongoing health problems, but I finally decided to go ahead and do it myself. Therefore, in March, I launched Radio's Best Years. It's at the exact same site as my old effort, but I think it's much better. A really nice guy by the name of Jimbo Mason did an incredible job redesigning it. I have no web design ability to speak of, so that was much appreciated. If you don't believe me, just look at my other sites. :-) At the moment, it's off for the summer, but I hope to start regular shows again in early September. It mostly depends on my health though. I'm in stage IV kidney failure and I often don't have the energy to do it every week. It takes a tremendous amount of time, work and energy just to create a single episode, very much like writing or any creative task. I hope people are actually listening to it and getting some enjoyment out of it. You can find it at: http://classicradio.us/podcast. 

 I'll briefly mention my other sites. I'm working on OMIT, or OTR Materials in Text. It hasn't had much done with it yet, but I hope to get back to it one of these days. It's at: http://classicradio.us/omit/ There's also my non-OTR site, batsupport.com, but there isn't anything there yet. I'm starting a business called BATS or Baechler Access Technology Support Services. It's primarily designed to offer tech support and a help desk service to the blind interested in trying, using and learning Linux. Linux is a free, open source operating system which is very accessible to the blind and is far more stable than Windows, not to mention that it runs well on older hardware.

OTR BUFFET: I wanted to start off with you about what I think is the King of all quiz shows, Information Please. This show doesn't seem to be very popular with today's OTR enthusiasts but I'm sure you'll agree with me that the show is not only for trivia, it's got more than it's share of funny moments.

Tony Baechler: Yes, it does. It's one of my favorite shows. The Whistler and Our Miss Brooks are also favorites, but in different ways. I really don't know why Information Please is so unpopular. I wouldn't really call it a quiz show though, since the audience is trying to stump the experts instead of the other way around. Even in its day, it wasn't really popular. It had a long run, but I don't think it ever really had a big audience. To me, the funny moments are special. I definitely agree with you that I like it for trivia, but I really like the interactions between the guests. They were obviously very relaxed and, being that it was unscripted, anything could happen. Interestingly, It Pays to be Ignorant is very popular and also had a long run. Personally, I can't stand that show, but maybe whatever it is that people don't like about Information Please attracts them to It Pays to be Ignorant since they're opposites. It Pays to be Ignorant was, of course, a spoof on Information Please where no one ever got anything right. Maybe Information Please is over too many peoples' heads. 

The thing that immediately stands out about Information Please is the sense of class. From the rooster at the beginning to the guests being introduced through to the closing, everything was of high quality and was done well. Milton Cross was also an opera announcer, so having him as announcer was significant. He obviously enjoyed doing the show, as did they all. Even the early Canada Dry commercials were pleasant to listen to, not at all like the later Lucky Strike commercials. 

OTR BUFFET: Between the 3 regulars on the show, Franklin P. Adams, John Kieran and Oscar Levant, which one do you think was the smartest?

Tony Baechler: I don't know, I think they were all about equal in different ways. In terms of general knowledge about almost everything, I would say Adams. Even though Kieren was the sports expert, he still knew a lot about other subjects. Maybe I have Adams and Kieran reversed. That's the problem, they were both considered "experts." Likewise, Adams knew a lot about music. That's very hard to say though in terms of actual I.Q. It would be interesting to find out which had the highest I.Q if such information could be found. I guess I would still say that "F.P.A" was the smartest because he wrote a weekly newspaper column. Then again, often times Levant would come up with an answer to something totally unrelated to music that I didn't think he would know.

OTR BUFFET: Between the 3 regulars on the show, which one do you think was the funniest?

Tony Baechler: I would definitely say Levant. He was also the quietest, but when he said something, it was often funny and unexpected. The shows with Levant are definitely a treat for me, both for his musical ability and for his whit. I wish he would've been on more shows and wouldn't have left the series. He's funny and pleasant to listen to on other shows in which he was a guest as well. I wish I could go to one of his concerts. 

Clifton Fadiman

OTR BUFFET: The host, Clifton Fadiman was smart and funny himself, What are your thoughts about him and the way he handled the show?

Tony Baechler: I think he was perfect. One of the very early shows had someone else instead and it was terrible! The show dragged on endlessly and not even the guests were their usual selves. I don't think there was anyone else who could host that kind of a show in that way. His daughter, Anne (or Ann?) is also very funny and wrote many articles, often talking about her father. He was about the same in person as he was on Information Please. I heard him as a guest on Duffy's Tavern and he wasn't nearly as funny. It was obviously scripted and he was trying too hard. He was at his best when he was relaxed, comfortable and around people who he knew well. That was the case with Information Please. I can almost imagine a bunch of old friends agreeing to meet at their club every week. The club was the show to which we were all invited. They never let the audience get in the way of the show or them having a good time. Unlike a lot of other book reviewers and critics, he wasn't snobbish and didn't make a point of showing off. He was an expert in his own right, but he never let himself, his ego, or his personality get in the way. Paraphrasing what NPR said on his passing, he was able to draw out the experts and get them to say things which they wouldn't otherwise. He could relax and nudge them in such a way that they would want to answer, leading to many of the funniest moments. 

He took great delight in trying to find the oddest, strangest and most unusual questions and asked them in such a way as to challenge the experts to get them correct without being pushy. You could hear him, for example, take great delight when all of them got the question wrong about reciting the opening announcement spoken at the start of every show by the announcer. He liked to make them think and got their wheels turning. I would have liked to meet him, but I think he would have been much more reserved in person around people he didn't know. 

As you probably know but your readers might not, he eventually became blind in his later years. That was at first distressing to him because he thought he would have no way to read books. Fortunately, both the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) and an organization called Choice Magazine Listening make books and articles available on cassette and now for download. I have been a subscriber to Choice Magazine Listening for several years as was he, so I am in good company. They featured a lot of the articles by his daughter. You can find them at: http://www.choicemagazinelistening.org/. 

To give a brief idea of his personality, he would correct mistakes in restaurant menus. I don't know if he pointed them out to the manager, but he would actually take a pen and fix misspellings and incorrect grammar. He did that with other books as well. He always had to have something to read.

OTR BUFFET: Information Please was a tough quiz show but it was very entertaining as well, mostly because of the zaniness and comedic abilities of the panel and Fadiman. Your thoughts on the puns, songs, limericks, etc...?

Tony Baechler: I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at here. They were all funny in their own ways. I especially liked Levant and his musical ability, but it was the unrehearsed, relaxed atmosphere which made it what it was. I've often thought it would be great to recreate at a convention, but it wouldn't work because there was no script. I think it would be very hard to find a similar group of people with that blend of personalities. Once the audience got the point of the show, the questions became more interesting, so the series got better with time. The Lucky Strike shows are better than the Canada Dry shows, I think. Partially it was because the sponsor had more money, but also because the show had been around long enough to attract a regular following. The audience was as much a part of the game as the experts. The "game" wasn't just trying to stump the experts, but it was to make them say and do funny things in the process. For example, make Kieran sing even though Levant is the musical expert.

OTR BUFFET: Each week there was at least one noted star or writer who filled in to make up the 4 spots. Some of these people showed just how brilliant they were. Would you talk about the show's guests and those who have made an impression on you?

Tony Baechler: I haven't heard every show, but a few that immediately come to mind are Rex Stout, Fred Allen, Gracie Allen and Orson Welles. I of course knew who Rex Stout was from his Nero Wolfe novels, but I didn't know what he sounded like. He actually did a fair amount of radio work, almost none of which seems to be in circulation. He was very active during the second world war, completely giving up writing novels to help the war effort with his radio work. If any of it exists, I haven't found it, but I would really like to hear it. He was obviously very educated and you could hear it in how he answered. He was also very quiet, which I didn't expect. I somehow thought he would sound loud and fat, similar to how Wolfe sounded on radio. Instead, he's so soft-spoken that you can hardly hear him. In addition to writing, he was also a gourmet cook and invented a school banking system. He was well-read on many different subjects and seemed to have a broad range of knowledge. 

Orson Welles was Orson Welles, no matter where he was. I wouldn't say he dominated the show, but he certainly had a presence. He did very well as I recall and was able to answer quite a few questions. 

Gracie was also not at all like her character. She was bubbly on the show, however she was anything but an airhead. She had this odd way of answering. She sounded like she wasn't ever quite sure if she was right or not, but thought she would speak up anyway. George Burns said that part of why her character worked is because she was somewhat naturally that way. I mean that she had her own odd logic which made its own sense. I can definitely hear some of that on her all too few guest appearances. She was very pleasant to listen to and often surprised the audience with her correct answers. I think she surprised herself as well. 

Fred Allen was basically himself. He was also quiet. He almost mumbled a little and one wondered how involved he really was. He obviously knew a lot, but didn't say much. I got the impression that he was holding back so as to not take over the show. He wasn't very funny at all and his attempts at humor sounded forced. I think he felt uncomfortable without a script and didn't fit well into the show format. 

OTR BUFFET: Levant's knowledge has made a huge impression on me. Yes, he was a musical genius, without doubt. However, he was just as spooky-brilliant in many other areas. Surprisingly, Levant was someone who had mental problems later in life. What are your feelings about Levant?

Tony Baechler: Really? I had no idea that he had mental problems. I pretty much expressed my feelings above. I always looked forward to him as guest and I always hoped to hear him play something. He was a guest on an episode of Kraft Music Hall and was great there as well. He obviously had a flare for comedy and could easily put on a show by himself. I really wish I could've gone to one of his concerts and I hope that more of his musical work survives. He was definitely an artist, and often times artists are known to be odd.

Orson Welles in action

Father's Day photo dump

Harlow Wilox, unknown, Marian and Jim Jordan

Bergen, McCarthy, Abbott and Costello

Dick Powell

Jack Benny

Kenny Baker

Alice Faye

Dick Powell

Bing

©Jimbo 2010/2011

Orson Welles often wrote op-ed pieces in the news

By all accounts, Orson Welles was a genius.  I'm sure you have read about his incredible life.

He appeared on the radio show, Information Please (by far, the toughest quiz show in radio history - and I dare say, tougher than any in television history as well) and not only answered every question about show business correctly but answered many other questions about other subjects. Welles was a knowledgable man, to say the least.

Also, he was he an incredible (probably the best ever) movie and stage actor, film director (again, probably the best in film history, when given creative range) and he was great at doing political editorial.

You may remember this piece here about the Lear programs that Welles did.  He also did other programs where he spoke his mind, be it about politics or whatever.

I found that he wrote op-ed newspaper pieces as well.

Here's an example:

Five things off the top of my head that changed radio

5. Comedians Who Used Silence as Humor - Comedians such as Jack Benny and Gale Gordon used silence as a comedy tool, unlike the machine gun repartee  of Burns and Allen and Milton Berle, Benny's pauses brought just as much laughter to audiences as a joke would.

4. The Rise of the Drama and Comedy over Music - Thanks to shows like Lux Radio Theatre, the drama changed radio by 1935 - from a news and music medium to a drama/comedy medium. 

3.  The Rise of the Kiddie Adventure - Crime fighters and adventures-seekers come in all shapes and sizes and a lot of them were geared at the child.  By the late 1930's, these shows were all over the dial.

2. The Rise of the Soap Opera - Lonely women, whose husbands and boyfriends were off fighting  on foreign soil, became captivated by the "soap opera" - radio melodrama whose commercials were geared at the woman (soap, breakfast cereals, hair products, etc.)

1. The Mercury Theater Presents The War of the Worlds  - No fault of their own, Orson Welles, Agnes Moorehead and company create panic on Halloween night in 1938, giving people a whole new understanding about the power of radio.

©Jimbo 2010/2011

War of the Worlds - Jimbo's opinion

Thinking back on October 31, 1938 - a very fateful day in the course of both Orson Welles and radio - I often wonder how a stunt like that might come off today, with our artificial world of CGI and computers and history that already foretells the outcome of such an event.

In this post 911 world (a very real -yet- still almost unbelievable event) we remain a people who believe (and want to believe!) the impossible.  Drama is drama no matter if it is real or imagined.  The world that surrounds us make us game for make-believe or real tragedies to enthrall and scare us.  We go to movies for just that purpose.

In 1938, the world was on the brink of a very terrible (and in many ways, unbelievable) war and every night these people would hear of Hitler and his Nazis, the Japanese, the Spaniards, the Greeks and on and on and on - world war was a match light away from happening.  Though America's stance was to stay out of it, I have a feeling that most intelligent people knew there would be a "Pearl Harbor" event - which was much like our 911 happenings.

Welles did not deserve to be crucified in the newspaper as he clearly was.  While he apologized for the outcome and the panic, he seemed to make no apologies for the drama.  "You don't play murder in soft words."  And he was right.

Welles was a scapegoat for the people's fear about what was happening in Europe.  That seems all too clear now.

©Jimbo 2010/2011

PANIC: Complete radio script of War of the Worlds +

This article from November 19, 1938 RADIO GUIDE magazine

See also my other posts: A war of the worlds, Learn from history: People truly are scared of an alien invasion and Another War of the Worlds, well almost