Theater Guild on the Air


(4.5 stars; 12 reviews)

Episodes of the old-time radio anthology series "Theater Guild on the Air".

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.

License

Chapters

Jacobowsky and the Colonel 59:29
The Guardsman 50:19
Ah, Wilderness 58:10
Sing Out, Sweet Land 1:00:40
At Mrs Beam's 1:02:31
Emperor Jones / Where the Cross Is Made 58:37
Pride and Prejudice 56:37
Mornings at Seven 59:30
Elizabeth, the Queen 1:01:32
Ned McCobb's Daughter 59:21
The Royal Family 54:43
Little Women 59:02
Knickerbocker Holiday 58:38
Three Men on a Horse 59:30
The Silver Cord 52:01
The Second Man 54:45
On Borrowed Time 55:03
Dead End 59:30
Strange Interlude Part 2 59:15
Seven Keys to Baldpate 42:48
Green Pastures 59:30
Mary of Scotland 58:31
Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary 58:35
Payment Deferred 58:16
They Knew What They Wanted 57:15
Boy Meets Girl 57:54
Call It a Day 58:22
You Can't Take It with You 54:40
Green Goddess 59:29
Last of Mrs Cheyney 59:12
The Man Who Came to Dinner 1:06:14
Burlesque 55:16
A Bill of Divorcement 58:55
The Old Maid 58:46
Papa Is All 58:11
The Great Adventure 58:41
A Doll's House 57:28
Men in White 50:24
Blithe Spirit 58:53
What Every Woman Knows 59:54
No Time for Comedy 58:34
The First Year 59:00
Ladies in Retirement 59:44
Still Life 59:01
Importance of Being Ernest 59:08
Age of Innocence 59:08
Escape 57:44
Macbeth 58:58
Cyrano De Bergerac 58:54
Lady in the Dark 59:26
Old English 58:51
The Corn Is Green 58:08
For Love or Money 58:40
The Winslow Boy 57:10
Rip Van Winkle 59:21
Payment Deferred 52:29
Street Scene 59:30
Alice Adams 59:30
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde 52:28
David Copperfield 57:33
State Fair 58:07
The Third Man 55:20
Hamlet 1:23:59
The Glass Menagerie 50:21
Allegro 59:30
An Ideal Husband 59:58
The Silver Whistle 56:09
The Bishop Misbehaves 56:15
All About Eve 1:00:15
The Damask Cheek 1:00:16
The Unguarded Hour 59:49
State Fair 47:39
Great Expectations 54:49
1984 51:57

Reviews

Radio Drama at It's Finest


(5 stars)

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


(5 stars)

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


(5 stars)

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!


(5 stars)

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


(5 stars)

Much better than even the movie which is near perfect. Bravo!!

These are fantastic


(5 stars)

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


(5 stars)

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.