J. EDGAR! (RADIO)
Summary
This dark musical satire examines the life of J. Edgar Hoover -- the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1924 to 1972. The musical begins with Hoover on his deathbed and depicts the events of his life through flashback. Targets of barbed musical satire include the following: Hoover's secret relationship with "lifetime assistant" Clyde Tolson; Hoover's meetings with eight different U.S. presidents; the FBI chief's participation at a gala transvestite ball hosted by McCarthyite lawyer Roy Cohn; Hoover's affiliation with mob figures who blackmailed him to avoid investigations into their illicit activity; his harassment of civil rights leader Martin Luther King; and Hoover's obsession with maintaining his own hallowed public image.
Details
- NETWORK: NPR National Public Radio / KCRW-FM (Santa Monica, CA)
- DATE: April 2, 1994
- RUNNING TIME: 1:45:02
- COLOR/B&W: N/A
- CATALOG ID: R:11028
- GENRE: Radio - Comedy; Radio - Music
- SUBJECT HEADING: Federal Bureau of Investigation; Musical revues, comedies, etc.; Satire
- SERIES RUN: KCRW (Santa Monica, CA) - Radio, 1994
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Susan Albert Loewenburg … Executive Producer
- Robert Robinson … Associate Producer
- Harry Shearer … Director, Writer
- Tom Leopold … Writer
- Peter Matz … Music by, Instrumentalist , Pianist
- Sidney Joe Leman … Instrumentalist, Synthesizer
- Tom Leopold … Cast, Thad Avery
- John Goodman … Cast, Clyde Tolson
- Kelsey Grammer … Cast, J. Edgar Hoover
- Dan Castellaneta … Cast, Breck Nolan, Senator Joseph McCarthy, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the Attorney General
- Ethan Glazer … Cast, J. Edgar Hoover (as a boy)
- Christopher Guest … Cast, Agent Cowley, Principal Hardfork, the Camp Counselor, Harry Truman, James Cagney, and Roy Cohn
- Rudy Hornish … Cast, the Newsreel Announcer, the Stork Club Man, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and Victor
- John Kapelos … Cast, John Dillinger and Lyndon B. Johnson
- David L. Lander … Cast, the Track Announcer, the Bank Teller, the Puerto Rican Valet, and the Anarchist
- Michael McKean … Cast, the Maitre d', Tony Clownpants, Agent Watson, and the Singer
- Marian Mercer … Cast, Hoover's mother and the Film Actress
- D.W. Moffett … Cast, Agent Pervis
- Marnie Mosiman … Cast, Helen and the Stork Club Woman
- Judith Owen … Cast, the Lady in Red
- Julie Payne … Cast, Carole Lombard, the Casting Lady, Mazie, Mrs. Ackerman, and the Little Girl
- Harry Shearer … Cast, Walter Winchell and the Attendant
- Roy Cohn
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
- J. Edgar Hoover