Encore Theater

Encore Theater

Encore Theater brought to the air one of the best dramatic series that radio had to offer. The show first aired in 1946 as a summer replacement series and was based on true stories that had a medical premise.

Such big name stars as Lionel Barrymore, Lurene Tuttle, Ronald Colman and Loretta Young made up the cast of the Schenley Labs, Inc. sponsored program. Encore Theater ran throughout the 1946 summer season and then aired again in the summer of 1949.

Bill Lawrence produced and directed Encore Theater for Schenley Labs and the announcer for the show was Frank Graham. Music was produced by Leith Stevens and the dramatic stories were written and adapted by some of radio’s top talents – Jean Holloway, Lloyd C. Douglas, Sidney Kingsley and Milton Geiger.

Some of the shows in the series that you might recognize are Magnificent Obsession, starring Cornel Wilde and Lurene Tuttle, among others, The Life of Louis Pasteur, with a cast that included Paul Lukas, George Zucco and Lurene Tuttle and Yellowjack, featuring Ronald Colman, Edwin Max and Norman Field.

Green Light, another Encore Theater drama, starred Robert Young, Cathy Lewis, Jim Backus and Lurene Tuttle and others. Dark Victory, the story of a socialite who was slowly losing her sight and her life starred Susan Peters and Franchot Tone. Dark Victory was later made into a movie starring Bette Davis.

Other Encore Theater radio shows also spawned popular movies of the era, including Magnificent Obsession, Now Voyager and A Man to Remember. Superstars of the time clamored to star in these popular dramas.

All of the shows were based on medical research or personal stories of people who had gone through some medical drama or tragedy. Medical dramas have always fascinated the public and today, many popular television shows and movies also have a medical theme.

Encore Theater ended its summer series on August 27th, 1946 with Disputed Passage starring Dennis O’Keefe, Hume Cronyn and Lurene Tuttle. It was immediately replaced with Cresta Blanca Hollywood Players (also known as The Hollywood Players Company).

The second Encore Theater summer series was broadcast in 1949 on Sundays rather than Tuesdays as the other series. Very little information exists about the second Encore Theater series, but we do know that Encore Theater made a huge impact in radio and set the stage for medical-based series on television.

Happy listening my friends,