''Arch Oboler's Plays'' is a radio
anthology series
An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...
written, produced and directed by
Arch Oboler. Minus a sponsor, it ran for one year, airing Saturday evenings on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
from March 25, 1939, to March 23, 1940, and revived five years later on
Mutual for a
sustaining summer run from April 5, 1945, to October 11, 1945.
Lewis Titterton, an executive at NBC, originated the program's title. Titterton was described as a man who "thought the future of radio depended on the vision of the writer."
With the launching of ''Arch Oboler's Plays'', Oboler became "the first writer accorded name-in-the-title status."
Christopher H. Sterling, in his book ''Biographical Dictionary of Radio'', wrote, "Oboler, writing about 'the terrors and monsters within each of us,' used his stream-of-consciousness technique to shattering effect and made radio a viable new art form."
[
Oboler used some of the scripts from ''Arch Oboler's Plays'' on his later series, '' Everyman's Theater''.][
Leading film actors were heard on this series, including Ingrid Bergman, ]Gloria Blondell
Gloria Blondell (August 16, 1915 – March 25, 1986) was a stage, film, and television actress who was the younger sister of actress Joan Blondell.
Family
She was born into a vaudeville family. Her parents and siblings, Edward Jr. and Joan, wer ...
, Eddie Cantor, James Cagney, Ronald Colman, Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Crawford was si ...
, Greer Garson
Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson (29 September 1904 – 6 April 1996) was an English-American actress and singer. She was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer who became popular during the Second World War for her portrayal of strong women on the hom ...
, Edmund Gwenn
Edmund Gwenn (born Edmund John Kellaway; 26 September 1877 – 6 September 1959) was an English actor. On film, he is best remembered for his role as Kris Kringle in the Christmas film ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (1947), for which he won t ...
, Van Heflin
Emmett Evan "Van" Heflin Jr. (December 13, 1908 – July 23, 1971) was an American theatre, radio and film actor. He played mostly character parts over the course of his film career, but during the 1940s had a string of roles as a leading man. H ...
, Katharine Hepburn, Elsa Lanchester
Elsa Sullivan Lanchester (28 October 1902 – 26 December 1986) was a British-American actress with a long career in theatre, film and television.Obituary '' Variety'', 31 December 1986.
Lanchester studied dance as a child and after the F ...
, Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre (; born László Löwenstein, ; June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian and American actor, first in Europe and later in the United States. He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before movin ...
, Frank Lovejoy
Frank Andrew Lovejoy Jr. (March 28, 1912 – October 2, 1962) was an American actor in radio, film, and television. He is perhaps best remembered for appearing in the film noir '' The Hitch-Hiker'' and for starring in the radio drama '' Night Beat ...
, Raymond Massey, Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith (November 16, 1907 – September 9, 1997) was an American actor and filmmaker whose career encompassed theater, film, and television.
Active for more than six decades, Meredith has been called "a virtuosic actor" and "on ...
, Paul Muni, Alla Nazimova
Alla Nazimova (Russian: Алла Назимова; born Marem-Ides Leventon, Russian: Марем-Идес Левентон; June 3 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._May_22.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>O ...
, Edmond O'Brien
Eamon Joseph O'Brien (September 10, 1915 – May 9, 1985) was an American actor and film director. His career spanned almost 40 years, and he won one Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
O'Brien w ...
, Geraldine Page, Hester Sondergaard, Franchot Tone
Stanislaus Pascal Franchot Tone (February 27, 1905 – September 18, 1968) was an American actor, producer, and director of stage, film and television. He was a leading man in the 1930s and early 1940s, and at the height of his career was known ...
and George Zucco.
In 2020, the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
included the November 18, 1939 episode, "The Bathysphere", among its inductees to the National Recording Registry
The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservati ...
for "cultural, historical and aesthetic importance to the nation’s recorded sound heritage."
See also
*'' Oboler Comedy Theater''
*'' Everyman's Theater'' was a one-season program, broadcast in 1940–41, much like ''Arch Oboler's Plays''.
References
External links
Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs: ''Arch Oboler's Plays''
Vintage Radio Script Library: Six ''Arch Oboler's Plays''
- plot summaries and reviews.
American radio dramas
1930s American radio programs
1940s American radio programs
Mutual Broadcasting System programs
NBC radio programs
Anthology radio series
1939 radio programme debuts
1945 radio programme endings
United States National Recording Registry recordings
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