The Campbell Playhouse - without Welles? - I never heard this one before

[Store Hadji]

I just listened to a long intro about Welles' radio work which preceeded a rebroadcast of The Immortal Sherlock Holmes. It made some claims I've never heard before, so I thought I should try to verify them here.

One claim, which doesn't amount to much, is that Welles stopped doing The Campbell Playhouse in order to concentrate on his film commitments. I thought it was because he was fighting with Campbell's over what stories he could air. No biggie either way.

The big claim was that The Campbell Playhouse series continued without Welles for a season, directed by Zachary ____ (the audio skipped) and written by John Houseman and Wyllis Cooper. While no recordings survived, it featured episodes such as "Air Mail to Red Riding Hood" with Miriam Hopkins and Humphrey Bogart, "Kind Lady" with Gladys George and Herbert Marshall, and "My Client Curly" with Beatrice Kaye.

The speaker cites as his source Art Pierce.

Perhaps Campbell fired Welles and brought Houseman back, if this story is true. I'm sure Campbell sponsored other shows, but this source was claiming it was the same series, simply minus Welles. And if that's the case, it could have continued with the Mercury actors and still been broadcast from Hollywood. Or maybe it moved back to New York and had a different cast. Or maybe there was no such final series of the Campbell Playhouse.

Interesting, anyway.

[Store Hadji]

Wikipedia tells the same story, stating that Houseman stayed on after Welles left. I thought that Houseman left before Rebecca (the first episode in that series) had even aired, after that sterno incident.

Wikipedia states the last episode was broadcast June 13, 1941.

Wow, I just don't know this story.

[Eve]

Store Hadji - correct if I'm wrong, but I think that Welles' involvement with The Campbell Playhouse began in 1938, shortly after and as a result of "War of the Worlds" and that the "incident" ocurred in 1939? I thought that "There's Always a Woman" was Houseman's 'last show' ...

One claim, which doesn't amount to much, is that Welles stopped doing The Campbell Playhouse in order to concentrate on his film commitments. I thought it was because he was fighting with Campbell's over what stories he could air. No biggie either way.

I guess it must have been a combination of both ...
Didn't Campbell sponsor a 'similar' series before they settled on Welles?

[Jeff Wilson]

The series did continue for one further season after Welles left, but none of the shows are in circulation, if they still exist at all. The director was George Zachary.

[Store Hadji]

Do we know if any of the Mercury cast carried over? It seems that some may have, or some may have boycotted if Welles was no longer involved - unless they were under contract that is.

Thanks, Jeff.

[Jeff Wilson]

I believe Welles had the Mercury folks brought out to California when the show moved out there, and they were under salary to RKO also, so they didn't need to do the radio gig any longer.

[Store Hadji]

Well, it really wasn't the same show any longer, if all the Mercury people were gone.

I've also just read (in Callow) that while Orson was doing Five Kings, he was doing his live on-air parts of the shows from a different location than the rest of the group, who were still in New York. I haven't verified which shows those might have been, but it seems like the fact that he wasn't there may be noticable. It seems like the acoustics of Welles' voice would be different, and that there could be more miscues between him and the other actors or music or sound effects. I'll have to listen to the shows from that timeframe again with an ear for this situation. I'll look up the dates in TIOW.