re: Best radio dramas, past and present(?)

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For decades, the only audio document of The Mercury Theatre on the Air production of Caesar has been a recording of a single rehearsal session.

Until now.

Radio sleuth Terry Wilson has uncovered a 48-minute audio file, which captures either a second, more polished rehearsal or an edit of the actual broadcast that aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System on September 11, 1938.

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The radio recording featured the same key players from Welles’ successful modern-dress Broadway production of 1937: Welles (Brutus), Martin Gabel (Cassius), George Coulouris (Antony) and Joseph Holland (Caesar). CBS newsman Hans von Kaltenborn provided commentary for the radio version.

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Happy Anniversary!

The Mercury Theater Of The Air - "The War of the Worlds" (October 30, 1938)



After the broadcast, Welles pleads his case to reporters.



All's Welles that ends Wells: Orson meets H.G. at a San Antonio radio station, 1940.

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“My name’s Pete Kelly. I play cornet. You’ll find us at 417 Cherry Street, Kansas City. It’s a standard speakeasy. We got 35 cases of cut whiskey and a seven-piece band. We start every night at 10 and we play ’till 6 in the morning. It’s not much, but the contract runs out in June 1924. After that there’s a place in South Chicago that may take us.

In the meantime we’re working here on Cherry Street. The lease is made out to George Lupo. His brother gave it to him after the funeral. The kind of music we play started out as a back-room exercise in a little swamp stop called Myrtle Grove. Laracca took his Dixieland Band to New York, but we got as far as Kansas City. It’s no place to get off a train unless you’re a sack o’ mail…because around here everyone works at the same job – staying alive. Half a buck buys a pair o’ socks, a spaghetti dinner or a down payment on murder.

So last night everything turned sour about midnight….”

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Pete Kelly’s Blues centers on Pete Kelly, a cornet player who heads a jazz combo, “Pete Kelly’s Big Seven” at a Kansas City speakeasy run by George Lupo in the 1920s. Kelly, played by Jack Webb, narrates every episode in the same fashion as classic noir voiceovers that grab you with catchy phrases and rapidly delivered cynicism. There is always music present helping to create a terrific backdrop to the crime-ridden days depicted, days that evolve as Kelly gets involved with all types of shady characters – bad guys, badges, booze and babes – resulting in what is (for my money) one of the more entertaining 30 minutes of classic radio available.

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Not only is it good, I’d say it’s my favorite of Webb’s shows, produced with the same attention the demanding perfectionist gave to everything he did... Most are familiar with Jack Webb and his unforgettable Sgt. Joe Friday on Dragnet, but if you’ve never listened to Pete Kelly’s Blues on radio you haven’t the full sense of how great this guy was. For all its Webb familiarity if you happen to enjoy Dragnet for instance, Blues adds another dimension to his career. Not only is the show a testament to the medium of radio, it seems to me a more personal endeavor for which he brought his insistence on truth in entertainment to another level. I can’t say it often enough – whether you’re a fan of the actor/director/producer, a fan of great music, a fan of noir or simply a fan of great entertainment – Pete Kelly’s Blues on old-time radio is a must.

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Happy Anniversary!

The Mercury Theater Of The Air - "The War of the Worlds" (October 30, 1938)



After the broadcast, Welles pleads his case to reporters.



All's Welles that ends Wells: Orson meets H.G. at a San Antonio radio station, 1940.

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Orson Welles told some great stories in his later years

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