Episode 40: The Screen Guild Theater - Miss Brown of Worcester
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Today we will travel back to 1939 for a Comedy Romance from Screen Guild Theater. This radio anthology series featured not only the biggest stars of radio at the time, but also of theater. The show had a variety format as you will hear, and eventually mostly relied on adaptations of major motion pictures. This was very difficult for the writers who had to cram full movies into 22 minute narratives. Despite its struggles in many episodes, Screen Guild theater had an astonishingly long run from January of 1939 to June 1952 with a total of 527 episodes.
Stars featured on the show were such as Ethel and Lionel Barrymore, Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, Bing Crosby, and even Frank Sinatra just to name a few. Instead of paying the actors, all revenue went toward the Motion Picture Relief Fund. In total, the show raised over $5 million dollars for the fund, which with almost 3000% Inflation since then, would be over $30 million today.
We will start with an early episode today, the second broadcast in fact where the show was still a variety show. Nevertheless it is a fun and intriguing story with only one short musical number at the end. In this episode, three stars, Herbert Marshall, Loretta Young, and Fred Astair will treat you to a tale of a love triangle.
So please, sit back, relax, and enjoy The Screen Guild Theater with Miss Brown of Worcester.
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