Craig's Wife

[Wellesnet]

On 10 March 1940, Orson Welles's production of "Craig's Wife" was broadcast on "The Campbell Playhouse," CBS-Radio. Based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning play from 1925. It was broadcast during the time that the screenplay for "Citizen Kane" was being completed, and the story bears a bit of thematic resemblance to Kane in it's depiction of a beautiful but controlling, cold-hearted wife who cares more about fine objects than about people.

The recording at Archive.org has good sound quality, but is incomplete. Ditto for the version at Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04Iq5bLlL5c&t=3s

Guest-starred Anne Harding, who had co-starred with Gary Cooper in "Peter Ibbetson" (1936).

Made into a film four years earlier, with Rosalind Russell, and directed by Dorothy Arzner, one of the pioneering female directors in Hollywood. Arzner the next year directed the cult classic "Dance Girl, Dance", which was the young Lucille Ball's first starring role.

Scene from "Craig's Wife" (1936):
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/2190 ... sions.html

Remade in 1950 as "Harriet Craig", with Joan Crawford.

[Wich2]

The Archive copy is not only missing a Head and Tail, but sounds as if it may be pitched a hair fast. That could be part of the reason for the short R.T., as well.

-Craig

[Le Chiffre]

Looks like the version at Kim Scarborough's Mercury Theater site is only 44 minutes as well. And get this: it looks like the version that's actually being SOLD at Amazon is only 44 minutes too!:
http://www.amazon.com/Campbell-Playhous ... B004CAYJOM
Uh-oh, sounds like another purchase from Jerry H. I'll be broke by the end of the year.

[Wich2]

For some reason, there are several Campbells floating around cut to that length (they do seem to keep Story segments intact.)

I'm wondering if these date from the 1988 Campbells resyndication hosted by Helen Hayes, and someone snipped the new material.

-Craig

[Wich2]

(Correction: the year was 1986. And I'll bet this is indeed the provenance of these shortened shows.)

[Le Chiffre]

I have a few of those Helen Hayes hosted rebroadcasts on cassette. I can't remember exactly, but I figured they were from 1988, since that was the 50th anniversary of the Campbell series.

I purchased "Girlish Laughter" from Haendeges a few days ago, and the sound of the story segments is far better than I've heard before, a "9" on my scale, but Welles's intro and the soup commercial is only a "6", so my guess is that it was pieced together from two different sources. I wonder too if the H.H. rebroadcast is one of them.

[Wich2]

>I have a few of those Helen Hayes hosted rebroadcasts on cassette. I can't remember exactly, but I figured they were from 1988, since that was the 50th anniversary of the Campbell series.<

I have to dig deeper in my files (kinda swamped right now). That had been my recollection too, but newspaper publicity confirms the syndication as originally from '86 - in honor of Campbell's 90th. They may well have repurposed them in '88, with the new angle.

>I purchased "Girlish Laughter" from Haendeges a few days ago, and the sound of the story segments is far better than I've heard before, a "9" on my scale, but Welles's intro and the soup commercial is only a "6", so my guess is that it was pieced together from two different sources. I wonder too if the H.H. rebroadcast is one of them.<

Betcha so.

-Craig

[Le Chiffre]

Someone asked me privately last week whether there was a full 60-minute version of this available. I confess I never got around to ordering this from Jerry Haendiges. Now it looks like he may have retired. Too bad, as this is one of the few Campbell Playhouse shows that the University of Indiana website does not have, which is something I had failed to notice. So, it looks like the flawed 44-minute version remains the only one available, unless somebody knows of another.

[Wich2]

Yep, Jerry has hung up his radio spurs.

Merriest,
- Craig

[Le Chiffre]

Both of the film versions are online, and both are pretty good, although the 1936 version is closer to the Welles broadcast and, I would assume, closer to the original play.

Craig's Wife (1936):
https://m.ok.ru/video/313258150563

Harriet Craig (1950):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bbPEzRVInk