The Campbell Playhouse

Audio Classics_Ò Archive

The Campbell Playhouse

Following the success of The Mercury Theater On The Air, Campbell Soups offered sponsorship for the continuation of the series. The name changed to reflect the sponsor, as was often done in radio, and the series took off with a large radio audience. Orson Welles was the featured host on each broadcast.

Broadcast History:
Network: CBS
First Series: 12/09/38 to 06/02/39
Second Series: 09/10/39 to 03/31/40
Third Series: 11/29/40 to 06/13/41
Director:
Orson Welles (12/09/38 to 03/31/40)
George Zachary (11/29/40 to 06/13/41)
Producer:
John Houseman
Music:
Bernard Herrmann, Alexander Semmler (sub)
Writers:
Howard Koch (12/09/38 to 03/31/40)
Wyllis Cooper (11/29/40 to 06/13/41)
Host:
Orson Welles
Announcers:
Niles Welch, Ernest Chappell and Dan Seymour (12/09/38 to 03/31/40)
Del Sharbutt (11/29/40 to 06/13/41)
Sound Effects:
Bill Brown, John Cuomo, Harry Essman
Sponsor:
Campbell Soups
Theme:
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor
by Russian composer Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky (05/07/1840 – 11/06/1893)
Cast:
Bea Benaderet, Frank Readick, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, George Coulouris,
Georgia Backus, Everett Sloane, Edgar Barrier
Also heard:
Frank Morgan, Randolph Scott, Helen Twelvetrees, Eddie Cantor, Fred Allen,
Lionel Barrymore, Jack Benny, Freeman Cosden, Charles Correll, Jane Wyatt,
Margaret Sullavan, Burgess Meredith, Helen Hayes, Madeleine Carroll, Jane Wyatt,
Mary Astor, Laurence Olivier, Noah Beery, Walter Huston, Ida Lupino, Marie Wilson,
Arlene Francis, Wendy Barrie, Edna May Oliver, Cornelia Otis Skinner, Fredric March,
Jeanette MacDonald, George Raft, Frances Farmer and others.

Audience Ratings:
(First Season) C.E. Hooper 14.4 (1938 to 1939)
(Second Season) C.E. Hooper 12.8 (19 to 19)
(Third Season) C.E. Hooper 15.7 (1940 to 1941)


Each of the following broadcasts are 60 minutes in length.


Click here to see a broadcast log for this series.


To order, select the following CD number(s) of your choice:


Friday - 9:00 p.m. (60 Minutes each)


CD010288.
12/09/38 # 1 Rebecca w/Margaret Sullavan, Agnes Moorehead

CD010290.
12/23/38 # 3 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens w/Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten

CD010292.
01/06/39 # 5 Counselor At Law (VG+)

CD010293.
01/13/39 # 6 Mutiny On The Bounty w/Dorothy Hall, Burgess Meredith

CD010295.
01/27/39 # 8 I Lost My Girlish Laughter

CD010296.
02/03/39 # 9 Arrowsmith

CD010297.
02/10/39 #10 The Green Goddess (VG)

CD010298.
02/17/39 #11 Burlesque

CD010301.
03/10/39 #14 The Glass Key (VG-)

CD010302.
03/17/39 #15 Beau Geste w/Laurence Oliver, Jackie Kelk

CD010303.
03/24/39 #16 20th Century

CD010304.
03/31/39 #17 Show Boat (VG)

CD010306.
04/14/39 #19 The Patriot

CD010307.
04/21/39 #20 Private Lives (VG)

CD010309.
05/05/39 #22 Wickford Point (VG+)

CD010310.
05/12/39 #23 Our Town w/John Craven, Patricia Newton

CD010311.
05/19/39 #24 The Bad Man

CD010312.
05/26/39 #25 American Cavalcade

CD010313.
06/02/39 #26 Victoria Regina

CD010314.
09/10/39 #27 Peter Ibbetson

CD010315.
09/17/39 #28 Ah, Wilderness (VG+)

CD010316.
09/24/39 #29 What Every Woman Knows

CD010317.
10/01/39 #30 Count Of Monte Cristo (VG+)

CD010318.
10/08/39 #31 Algiers

CD010319.
10/15/39 #32 Escape (VG+) (slight wow)

CD010320.
10/22/39 #33 Liliom (End Clipped)

CD010321.
10/29/39 #34 The Magnificent Ambersons

CD010322.
11/05/39 #35 The Hurricane

CD010323.
11/12/39 #36 The Murder Of Roger Ackroyd

CD010324.
11/19/39 #37 The Garden Of Allah

CD010325.
11/26/39 #38 Dodsworth

CD010326.
12/03/39 #39 Lost Horizon (VG-)

CD010327.
12/10/39 #40 Vanessa: Her Love Story (VG-) (Incomplete ending)

CD010328.
12/17/39 #41 There's Always A Woman (VG+)

CD010329.
12/24/39 #42 A Christmas Carol w/Lionel Barrymore, George Coulouris

CD010331.
01/07/40 #44 Vanity Fair (Becky Sharp) (VG) (Commercials cut)

CD010332.
01/14/40 #45 Theodora Goes Wild (VG-)

CD010333.
01/21/40 #46 The Citadel w/Geraldine Fitzgerald, Everett Sloane

CD010334.
01/28/40 #47 It Happened One Night (VG+)

CD010335.
02/04/40 #48 Broome Stages (VG)

CD010336.
02/11/40 #49 Mr. Deeds Goes To Town (VG)

CD010337.
02/18/40 #50 Dinner At Eight (VG)

CD010338.
02/25/40 #51 Only Angels Have Wings

CD010339.
03/03/40 #52 A Rabble In Arms (VG)

CD010340.
03/10/40 #53 Craig's Wife (No Open / Close) (VG)

CD010341.
03/17/40 #54 The Adventures Of Huck Finn w/Jackie Cooper, Walter Catlett

CD010342.
03/24/40 #55 June Moon w/Jack Benny

CD010343.
03/31/40 #56 Jane Eyre (VG)




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Copyright © 2002 by Terry G. G. Salomonson. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States Of America. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.