Royal Regiment (missing show)

[Wellesnet]

On 2 March 1939, Orson Welles's production of "Royal Regiment" was broadcast on "The Campbell Playhouse," CBS-Radio. Co-starring Mary Astor ("The Maltese Falcon"), the broadcast is now considered lost.

From a Kirkus review of Gilbert Frankau's novel:
"Revolves around the romance between a junior officer and the young wife of his superior, the clash between tradition, duty, loyalty -- and love. Through the love story is woven the pattern of England between the years 1936 -- 1938, with the royal romance as the crux of the matter, with rumblings of coming troubles in Spain, in Africa, in Palestine, on the Continent."

According to this 1939 article, it inaugurated a Book-of-the-Month series that turned out to be short-lived.

[Wich2]

Shades of Oprah's book club!

[Le Chiffre]

Another great OW.

It's too bad this show is lost, because, as far as I know, there was never a movie made from the book, so this was perhaps the only dramatization of it in any medium.

Interesting tidbit: Co-star Mary Astor had recently been tabloid fodder because of a messy divorce and custody battle, during which her husband turned over to the court her private diary, detailing her affair with George S. Kauffmann, a Welles favorite. The diary was never made public, but some 30 years later, Kenneth Anger published alleged quotations from it in HOLLYWOOD BABYLON, that have become somewhat legendary:
http://www.lostartofbeingadame.com/2014 ... rty-diary/

[Wellesnet]

Not that well known now, but the novel is online for anyone interested:
https://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/frankaug-ro ... lkTiDSBOr4

BTW, our very good friend Kathleen Spaltro, who spearheaded the sadly unsuccessful attempt to save Grace Hall (Orson Welles's dorm during his days at the Todd School in Woodstock) from destruction, has written a new book on Mary Astor:
https://www.wellesnet.com/great-lie-mary-astor/

[Wich2]

Well, we live in hope!

Over the decades that I've been collecting and creating Radio/Audio Drama, more and more vintage material has turned up... including Welles material... and modern retrieval and restoration techniques can render the near-unlistenable, better...

Also on the plus side, Welles generally recorded rehearsals, generally kept copies of shows, and sponsors like Campbell's got copies, too.

Best,
- Craig