The Magnificent Ambersons - October 29, 1939 - 00:55:42 - 63.7 MB

On October 29, 1939, Orson Welles and The Mercury Theater On The Air present
The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington. Cast: Orson Welles (George
Amberson Minafer), Walter Huston (Eugene Morgan), Nan Sunderland (Isabel
Amberson), Ray Collins (Fred Amberson), Eric Burtis (Young George Minafer),
Marion Burns (Lucy Morgan), Everett Sloane (Archie Malloch Smith), Richard
Wilson (Reverend Malloch Smith), Bea Benaderet (Mrs. Foster). Music by
Bernard Herrmann.

Welles interviews Walter Huston and Nan Sunderlund (Mrs. Walter Huston)
following the play.

Listen / Download Absolutely Free at wWw.OrsOnRaDio.cOm

Booth Tarkington won the 1919 Pulitzer Prize for The Magnificent Ambersons.
The book was adapted for film in 1925, notable now mostly for Ben Alexander
(Jack Webb's Dragnet sidekick Officer Frank Smith) in the role of young
George Minafer. Welles wrote the radio play for this 1939 Mercury Theater
production and adapted the novel again for the 1942 film version, his second
film as writer and director. The film was highly regarded and nominated for
four Oscars, including Best Picture, even after RKO took the editing away
from Welles and cut forty minutes of footage. The studio also shot and added
a happy ending. Composer Bernard Herrmann had his name removed from the film
because of studio cuts to the score.

Note that Mercury regular Ray Collins (later known for his role as Lt. Tragg
in the Perry Mason TV series) was the only actor other than Welles to work in
both productions. I used a shot from Welles' 1942 film here because I was so
blown away by Agnes Moorehead in this still.