REHEARSAL of "The Man Who Was Thursday"

tadao · Post by **tadao** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 8:14 am

Does anyone have a copy of this that they'd like to email me (via yousendit.com or equivalent)? Apparently the recording date is 38-09-04 (the day before the Mercury broadcast), and it runs for approx 90min, with material not in the broadcast version. I could really use it ASAP...

I have a few OTR related British shows I could offer by way of thanks:- excellent recent hour-long specials on Norman Corwin and Arthur Miller, or a couple of other retrospective shows, some with a segment on Welles.

PM me if you'd be able to send me a copy

Thanks

Tashman · Post by **Tashman** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 10:52 am

I never knew about a rehearsal for this. Interesting that it has material not broadcast, because I seem to remember someone in "Theater of the Imagination" saying how really short they were on this episode--maybe it was Houseman speaking--because Welles insisted on writing it himself and procrastinated up to last minute.

Glenn Anders · Post by **Glenn Anders** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 5:32 pm

Dear tadao: If you will go to:

www.mercurytheater.info/

And scroll down, you will find near the bottom of the list the rehearsal for "The Man Who Was Thusday" (and also Julias Çaesar0 in Real Audio, MP3 and something called "checksum" (which I don't understand.) I've found that they download beautifully.

Glenn

Terry · Post by **Terry** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 6:03 pm

That's a great story that Houseman tells, but the rehearsal does run 90 minutes and is dated the day before the actual broadcast. There have been some surmises about what episode Houseman was really remembering, but only that.

Welles' part is read by another actor for the first half of it - then Welles takes over. The other guy has a marvelous voice. I don't know who he is, though he appears on the Shadow episode Death from the Deep, playing the evil submarine captain.

Terry · Post by **Terry** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 6:06 pm

I have a dial-up (not DSL) and it takes me 8 hours to download off Kim's site.

The checksum thing refers to the Bit Torrent option. I tried that once, but it said it would take 48 hours to download, so I didn't try further.

tadao · Post by **tadao** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 8:24 pm

I think you may be mistaken, Glenn, the other rehearsal on Kim's site is "The 39 Steps", not "The Man Who Was Thursday". For some reason "TMWWT" rehearsal doesn't seem to be in as general a circulation as the others, and doesn't seem to be available to download anywhere, or on the OTR CDs of Welles' work offered on eBay etc. I've only found one vendor offering it, by snail-mail, split across 2 audio CDs.

Glenn Anders · Post by **Glenn Anders** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 10:52 pm

Curses! I may never be able to depend upon my memory again!

You are right, tadao, but I shall not be denied in my service to you, sir.

Go to this page of Radio of Yesteryear (or simply Radio Yesteryear, as I remember it, forty years ago):

http://www.originaloldradio.com/xxxframes.html

There you will find two listings for "The Man Who Was Thursday." My guess is that the first listed is the "rehearsal" you want. I know that they once had it.

38-09-04 The Man Who Was Thursday
38-09-05 The Man Who Was Thursday

The story is weird and wonderful, indeed, Welles' favorite, according to Houseman. As Hadji points out, the story Houseman tells about the production can't be true, if the rehearsal ran thirty minutes long, the day before the broadcast.

My candidate for the story told by Houseman (who must have had a memory as bad as mine) is "There's Always a Woman," an original effort by Welles, in which he starred with the buxom Marie Wilson. The show evidences considerable distress.

Glenn

tadao · Post by **tadao** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 4:15 pm

Thanks Glenn, will put in an order with them next week.

Don't let yourself feel bad about the ol' memory, I'm sure I'm only one of many who visit this board, who benefit from your fascinating insights and recollections, and your generosity in sharing them. If the location where you once found an mp3 file escapes you, it's only to save room for something more important! :;):

If any kind person with DSL and a copy of the show wants to email it to me in the meantime (during the fortnight it'll take to send a money order from the UK, and get the CD back), I'd be very grateful... PM me and I'll send ya something nice to say thanks...