NBC University Theater

First broadcast on July 30, 1948, NBC University Theater was a dramatic anthology that featured the stories of great novels on its shows and even provided college credits for some of its programs. The theater format included top stars from stage, screen and radio.

Hollywood stars such as Beulah Bondi, Angela Lansbury and David Niven were often cast with radio personalities such as Paul Frees, Marvin Miller and Doris Singleton. Among the most memorable shows on the NBC University Theater was Noon Wine, written by Katherine Ann Porter, A Passage to India, by E.M. Forster and Of Human Bondage, written by W. Somerset Maugham.

Since the show provided college credits, it became tagged as "educational" from the first broadcast. Most radio listeners were only interested in entertainment, so they weren’t apt to tune in to a program that might possibly make them "think."

That turned out to be a shame, because it was an extremely well done and critically acclaimed dramatic series based on some of the most moving literature of our time. When NBC first contacted universities with the idea of "college by radio," the schools were unconvinced at first, but after they saw the quality of the first few broadcasts, they quickly changed their minds.

Students were supplied with guides and had to send in reports on the shows. The stories kept to the script of the books and were usually new to radio. Intermissions were also informative, featuring authors or critics engaging in discussions about the writer whose book was featured on the broadcast.

Scripts for NBC University Theater were written in New York before being sent to Hollywood for broadcast. The writers were Claris Ross, Ernest Kinoy, George Lefferts and Jack Wilson – all part of the NBC writing staff.

Don Stanley was the commentator for the broadcasts and the music was arranged by Albert Harris and conducted by Henry Russell. Andrew Love was the director who strived to keep the broadcasts as close to the stories within the books as possible.

Because of the public’s reluctance to listen to an "educational" program, NBC dropped the word, University, for a while, but it was never well received by the general radio audiences. Target audiences loved it, however, and NBC University Theater was the forerunner to many other book-to-theater-format shows on television.

The run of NBC University Theater lasted until February 14, 1951. Today, the entire series can be listened to on RUSC with outstanding sound quality.

Happy listening my friends,