Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Your Radio Theater - Tom, Dick and Harry

It has been brought to my attention that the radio version, starring Miss Ginger Rogers of Tom, Dick and Harry, listed with the Lux Radio Theater items isn't actually a Lux Radio Theater show.  I've listened to the show a few times and it escaped my notice.  That shows you the value of an ear witness, I guess.  The show SOUNDS just like a Lux show.  The introduction is the same style, the music is the same and good old Cecil B. Demille is the director/host BUT this particular version is actually a Your Radio Theater production.  A big give away that this is a different show is Harry James playing the trumpet, with his Music Makers, and Helen Forrest singing where the Lux soap ads would have been.  A bigger hint is the announcer actually saying, "From Hollywood, Your Radio Theater" followed by "for all of you men and women in the armed forces of the United Nations."  It was produced by the "Special Service" from Hollywood, California. 

It is possible that the show originated as a Lux episode and, with just a few changes to the beginning, middle and ending, was rebroadcast for the troops overseas as part of a request series with a different title.  I've looked through some Old Time Radio (OTR) logs and haven't found any listings for other Your Radio Theater shows made during World War II (there is an NBC series of the same name in the 1950's but it doesn't appear to be the same one).  If I find anything else out, I'll add it here.

In the meantime, here is a photo from the making of the movie Tom, Dick and Harry, starring Ginger Rogers, George Murphy and some other fellas, from Motion Picture magazine:

Motion Picture magazine    July 1941


If you are searching on archive.org, the radio show is listed with the Lux Radio Theater shows from 1941 and you can find it here:

http://archive.org/details/Lux06

or listen online here:

http://ia700307.us.archive.org/32/items/Lux06/Lux_41-09-08_Tom_Dick_and_Harry.mp3

For a list of Lux Radio Theater shows featuring Ginger Rogers, that can be found on archive.org, checkout this blog page:
http://thegingerrogersresouce.blogspot.com/2012/09/lux-radio-theater.html

For an alphabetical list of radio shows featuring Ginger Rogers, that can be found on archive.org, checkout this blog page:
http://thegingerrogersresouce.blogspot.com/2012/10/radio-shows-from-z.html


The Motion Picture magazine image above can be found here:
http://archive.org/stream/motionpicture61fawc#page/64/mode/2up

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