7 part radio dramatization of Les Miserables done by Orson Welles in 1937.

Les Miserables (YT) -- listen online

Les Miserables (Internet Archive) -- free download

Wikipedia

quote:
Les Misérables is a seven-part radio series broadcast July 23 – September 3, 1937 (Fridays at 10 p.m. ET), on the Mutual Network. Orson Welles adapted Victor Hugo's novel, directed the series and starred as Jean Valjean. The 22-year-old Welles developed the idea of telling stories with first-person narration on the series, which was his first job as a writer-director for radio.

Marking the radio debut of the Mercury Theatre, Welles's Les Misérables was described by biographer Simon Callow as "one of his earliest, finest and most serious achievements on radio".

The production costarred Martin Gabel as Javert, Alice Frost as Fantine, and Virginia Nicolson, Welles's first wife, as the adult Cosette. The supporting cast included Ray Collins*, Agnes Moorehead*, Everett Sloane*, Betty Garde, Hiram Sherman, Frank Readick, Richard Widmark, Richard Wilson* and William Alland*.

*Later worked with Welles on Citizen Kane

22 year old Orson Welles at the time of Les Miserables.

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Posted by Kafka

I am the moral conscience of TD

Member since Jul 2007

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Posted on 1/2/21 at 10:16 am to Kafka

Wikipedia

quote:
The Mercury Theatre on the Air is a radio series of live radio dramas created by Orson Welles. The weekly hour-long show presented classic literary works performed by Welles's celebrated Mercury Theatre repertory company, with music composed or arranged by Bernard Herrmann.

The show made headlines with its "The War of the Worlds" broadcast on October 30, one of the most famous broadcasts in the history of radio due to the panic it allegedly caused

Aside from the War Of The Worlds, notable episodes include Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness (the story Welles went to Hollywood intending to film; it was later done as Apocalypse Now), Julius Caesar (which Welles staged on Broadway, resetting it to modern-day Fascist Italy) and The Magnificent Ambersons (which would be Welles' second film)

Hear/DL episodes here