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The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2012 : Issue 56
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Bela Lugosi's broadcast debut? [ "R. R. King" <kingrr@[removed]; ]
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Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:33:23 -0500
From: "R. R. King" <kingrr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Bela Lugosi's broadcast debut?
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Here's an excerpt from _Lugosi: His Life in Films, on Stage, and in the Hearts
of Horror Lovers_ by Gary Don Rhodes (McFarland & Company, 1997, 2006):
***
... Dracula, late 1927-early 1928
In a July 24, 1929, article printed while he was performing in San Francisco,
Lugosi commented that one broadcast had been made of the tale when he was
still in New York City, placing it presumably during the run of the Broadway
version. Lugosi told the _San Francisco Call_ that Dracula was aired only once
because of listeners' indignation. One woman supposedly telephoned the station
in an attempt to stop the broadcast, claiming she had six terrified children
at home. ...
***
And here's a clipping from the March 30, 1928 Hartford Courant:
***
Stars of the Broadway cast of "Dracula" will have the leading roles in the
radio version of this play which will be broadcast over WJZ, this afternoon at
3:30.
The play, which was produced in New York in October, was dramatized by
Hamilton Deane and John Balderston from Bram Stoker's novel of the same name.
The broadcast version was prepared by Mortimer Stewart, director of the
"Stardom of Broadway" series at WJZ, in which "Dracula" will be the fourth
[sic] production.
***
Programming a horror story at 3:30 in the afternoon probably helped to inspire
the "listeners' indignation," I'm guessing.
Rhodes' Lugosi book lists this as the actor's first radio appearance. It was
part a weekly NBC series that featured half-hour "condensations of outstanding
Broadway shows." Judging by the newspapers I looked at, the show seems to have
first aired in 1927 over WEAF as "Stardom of Broadway" and was then revived
the following year on WJZ (promoted briefly as "Radio Matinees" before
reverting to the original title).
Looking at previous weeks' newspaper listings, "Dracula" was scheduled to be
the fifth episode of the 1928 season, not the fourth as stated in the above
article. But, as we all know, you can't always trust those old newspaper
listings.
Interestingly, the May 6, 1927 broadcast was scheduled to be an adaptation of
"The Devil in the Cheese," another Broadway play in which Lugosi appeared. I
wonder if he might have taken part in that earlier broadcast.
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End of [removed] Digest V2012 Issue #56
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