By RAY KELLY
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. (The recently uncovered audio recording can be heard in its entirety at the end of this article).
The previously known rehearsal recording ran 66 minutes and contained the program theme, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor and intros and outros by the announcer, all of which are missing on this recording. Welles’ opening remarks also differ.
Wilson, who routinely scours the web for Welles radio rarities, struck gold during a visit to Old Time Radio Researchers Group, where he found this Caesar rarity. Old Time Radio Researchers are unable to provide Wellesnet with a history of the file, though it contains markings indicating it originated at Calfkiller OTR Download Archives, where only the more common 66-minute version can now be found.
This 48-minute find is likely a second rehearsal, Wilson surmised, since the quality is closer to a studio recording than an off-the-air broadcast and there is no station break or station ID.
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.
Wellesnet founder Jeff Wilson, an expert in Welles’ radio work, has examined the 48-minute recording and also believes it represents a second rehearsal session.
“My guess is that it’s a rehearsal as well, just one further along after they did some editing to the script, hence the much shorter run time,” he said. “Obviously, someone along the line edited the recording to remove the intro and ending material, along with presumably the station break, if there was one. I can’t imagine CBS having left that material off of any recording they made. Also, Welles may have needed multiple rehearsals to determine how best to use the Kaltenborn narration with the original text, which was the major change from stage to radio, and the main thing linking the fascist theme across the two versions. It’s unfortunate that no script exists – that I’m aware of, at least – that we could check this against to see how they compare.”
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