Movie Adaptations
After writing about Frank Capra last week, I've been reminded of how many blockbuster movies were adapted for radio - with many of the stars reprising their original roles.
Old time radio has a tradition of bringing drama adaptations of popular movies to the listening audience. If you didn't see the movie, then you get the essence of the story and if you did see the movie you get to enjoy the story again, just in a shorter amount of time.
Lux Radio Theater is the obvious one which comes to mind, as all 931 broadcasts were based on popular films and had the biggest stars of Hollywood playing the parts, with a massive following of around 40 million listeners.
However, many other series also contributed, such as the Screen Guild Theater, Screen Director's Playhouse, Campbell Playhouse, Studio One, Theater of Romance and NBC University Theater.
I have to admit that I'm an old romantic at heart, and one of my favorite movies of all time was also a perfect fit for radio. I mean, is there any other film which has more quotable dialog than Casablanca?!
"Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine."
"We'll always have Paris."
Or well-known as one of the most widely misquoted lines in cinema history...
"Play it again, Sam"
The actual line in the film is 'Play it, Sam'. Or something approaching 'Play it again, Sam' is first said by Ilsa Lund in an exchange with the piano player 'Sam'. "Play it once, Sam. For old times' sake."
Heck, just reading those lines zips you right back to being at the movies, when the emotion and patriotism on screen spilled over into the audience. It was far more than just a film!
I saw in the news recently that the last living performer of Casablanca, French actress Madeleine Lebeau, passed away on May 1. She was 92 years old.
In her role as Yvonne, a French refugee trapped in Vichy-controlled Morocco, Madeleine had in real life, lived through experiences as harrowing as those of the film's lead character.
In June 1940, ahead of the advancing German invasion, she and her actor husband Marcel Dalio (who played Emil the croupier in Casablanca) were forced to flee Paris. They travelled through Spain to Portugal, before obtaining visas to Chile. Their journey across the Atlantic ended abruptly in Mexico when it was discovered that their papers were forgeries, but they were eventually able to obtain Canadian visas which they used to enter the United States.
Casablanca is an exciting story of romance and intrigue in war time Africa, and there are several radio adaptations on RUSC. However, the broadcast from the Screen Guild Theater which stars Humphrey Bogart stars as Rick Blaine, Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund and Paul Henreid as Victor Laszlo - the same leading roles they made famous in the original film - is the one I'd recommend!
Happy listening my friends,
