CAMPBELL PLAYHOUSE: THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS (RADIO)
Summary
One in this weekly drama series featuring adaptations of popular and literary classics. This program features an adaptation of Booth Tarkington's novel "The Magnificent Ambersons," which Orson Welles later made into a film. Welles introduces and narrates the drama, set at the turn of the century in a Midwestern town built by the Amberson family, whose decline parallels the rise of the automobile. George Amberson Minafer, a snobbish young man disliked by many who await his "comeuppance," is at odds with Eugene Morgan, the automobile manufacturer in love with George's mother, Isabel. Home from college, George is appalled by the rapid changes occurring in his hometown. Meanwhile, Morgan and Isabel consider marriage. Rather than confront George's anger, however, Isabel breaks off the relationship and flees to Paris, where events take a tragic turn. In the end, George gets his long-awaited comeuppance, which leads him to realize how he wronged his mother. After the drama, Welles chats with Walter Huston and his wife, actress Nan Sunderland, and gives a preview of the following week's show, "Hurricane." Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: October 29, 1939 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:00:00
- COLOR/B&W: N/A
- CATALOG ID: R88:0156
- GENRE: Radio - Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama
- SERIES RUN: CBS - Radio series, 1938-1940
- COMMERCIALS:
- Radio - Commercials - Campbell's soup
- Radio - Promos - "Campbell Playhouse"
CREDITS
- Orson Welles … Producer, Host, Narrator
- Booth Tarkington … Writer, Based on the novel by
- Bernard Herrmann … Conductor, Music (Misc. Credits), Music arranged by
- Ernest Chappell … Announcer
- Orson Welles … Cast, George Amberson Minafer
- Walter Huston … Cast, Eugene Morgan
- Nan Sunderland … Cast, Isabel Amberson
- Eric Burtis … Cast, young George Minafer
- Ray Collins … Cast, Fred Amberson
- Marianne Burns … Cast, Lucy Morgan
- Everett Sloane … Cast, Archie Malloch Smith
- Richard Wilson … Cast, the Rev. Malloch Smith
- Bea Benaderet … Cast, Mrs. Foster