Opening Night

Orson Welles presents his radio adaptation of George S. Kaufman's play I Lost My Girlish Laughter, a satire of Hollywood, on The Campbell Playhouse, broadcast January 27, 1939. Playwright John Tussler meets film producer Sidney Brand, who wants to buy his play Sinners in Asylum for the screen. Brand's studio, Superfilms, plans to star the European actress Saya Tarn, and Tussler is brought in to write the screenplay. The studio's demands and Brand's chaotic working methods begin to clash with Tussler's wish to keep his play intact.

With Sidney Brand, John Tussler, Saya Tarn, Roy, Palmer, Leland, Madge, Miss Lawrence.

Listen for: The Hollywood studio scenes, where Brand's demands for changes to Tussler's play escalate.

First aired on January 27, 1939.

Episode notes written with AI from the recording itself; the audio is the original broadcast.

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Harry Lime, a smooth dealer in objets d'art, sets out to take the valuable emerald locket worn by the wealthy Mrs. Donaldson in prewar Naples. He works his way into her circle with help from Amy Collins, her hired companion, while his former partner Rubio pursues him. The story is part of the radio series The Lives of Harry Lime, which follows the character created for the film The Third Man, and this episode's broadcast date is August 10, 1951. Orson Welles is the actor named in the opening, and the episode's details are drawn from the transcript as given.

With Harry Lime, Mrs. Donaldson, Amy Collins, Rubio.

Listen for: Harry Lime's charm and his deliberate efforts to win the trust of Mrs. Donaldson and Amy Collins while planning to take the emerald locket

First aired on August 10, 1951.

Episode notes written with AI from the recording itself; the audio is the original broadcast.

Free, complete and restored, no modern ads. A new episode every week: The Lives of Harry Lime on Stupid Potato, every episode so far and the episode guide.

Stupid Potato restores classic radio and TV audio and runs 60 free 24/7 channels and 188 podcasts: old-time radio westerns, detectives, comedy, science fiction and suspense, vintage TV, Saturday-morning cartoons, Halloween and Christmas. No modern ads. Listen free at stupidpotato.com.

Captain Bligh commands the armed vessel Bounty, carrying breadfruit trees from Tahiti to the West Indies, and tensions rise among his crew. Bligh is harsh and quarrelsome with his officers, especially the mate Fletcher Christian, and rations food and tightens discipline. Men gather in protest over a stolen cheese and punishments follow. The ship reaches Tahiti, where the crew enjoys shore life and Christian forms an attachment to a local woman, Tahani. When the ship prepares to sail, Bligh begins strictly controlling the gifts and goods the crew has collected, and a dispute over stolen coconuts arises as the voyage resumes. The Campbell Playhouse presents Orson Welles' radio version of the sea story Mutiny on the Bounty, the broadcast opening with a court-martial hearing.

With Captain Bligh, Fletcher Christian, Mr. Fryer, Samuel, Morrison, Thomas Burkett, Mills, Tahani.

Listen for: The growing friction between Captain Bligh and his officers and crew, and the scene on Tahiti where Christian and the local women are introduced

First aired on January 13, 1939.

Episode notes written with AI from the recording itself; the audio is the original broadcast.

Free, complete and restored, no modern ads. A new episode every week: The Campbell Playhouse on Stupid Potato, every episode so far and the episode guide.

Stupid Potato restores classic radio and TV audio and runs 60 free 24/7 channels and 188 podcasts: old-time radio westerns, detectives, comedy, science fiction and suspense, vintage TV, Saturday-morning cartoons, Halloween and Christmas. No modern ads. Listen free at stupidpotato.com.

Harry Lime is summoned to Budapest by Mr. Fakety, a bank official who offers him twenty thousand pengos to catch robbers before they strike. Fakety explains that his junior officer, Fodor, is in a secret romance with Lulu, a flower shop owner, and that a tunnel links her shop to the bank vault. Lime visits Lulu, who warns him to leave, and he later learns more about the scheme from Fakety and Lulu's own account. He begins to suspect that everyone in the plot is trying to cheat everyone else. The story follows the plans of the gang, the bank staff and Lime as the robbery approaches.

With Harry Lime, Mr. Fakety, Fodor, Lulu, Corelli.

Listen for: Harry Lime's questioning of Fakety and his conversations with Lulu about the planned robbery

First aired on August 3, 1951.

Episode notes written with AI from the recording itself; the audio is the original broadcast.

Free, complete and restored, no modern ads. A new episode every week: The Lives of Harry Lime on Stupid Potato, every episode so far and the episode guide.

Stupid Potato restores classic radio and TV audio and runs 60 free 24/7 channels and 188 podcasts: old-time radio westerns, detectives, comedy, science fiction and suspense, vintage TV, Saturday-morning cartoons, Halloween and Christmas. No modern ads. Listen free at stupidpotato.com.

Lawyer George Simon handles a series of cases in New York while his personal affairs grow tangled. His mother visits his office asking for money to cover his brother David's bad checks, and his secretary Miss Gordon appears troubled. Simon's partner John Frayn learns that a former client, Joanne Brightstein, is threatening to expose a false alibi from nine years ago, and a parole board member, Francis Clark Bayard, is looking into it. The episode is adapted from Elmer Rice's play Counselor-at-Law, broadcast on The Campbell Playhouse on January 6, 1939, with Orson Welles producing and Gertrude Berg and Aline MacMahon in the cast.

With George Simon, Mrs. Simon, David Simon, Miss Gordon, John Frayn, Charlie McFadden, Pete Malone, Joanne Brightstein.

Listen for: Simon's conversation with his partner John Frayn about the threatened exposure of the old alibi

First aired on January 6, 1939.

Episode notes written with AI from the recording itself; the audio is the original broadcast.

Free, complete and restored, no modern ads. A new episode every week: The Campbell Playhouse on Stupid Potato, every episode so far and the episode guide.

Stupid Potato restores classic radio and TV audio and runs 60 free 24/7 channels and 188 podcasts: old-time radio westerns, detectives, comedy, science fiction and suspense, vintage TV, Saturday-morning cartoons, Halloween and Christmas. No modern ads. Listen free at stupidpotato.com.

Lamont Cranston, a wealthy man who is also the Shadow, looks into a narcotics ring operating around town after the Women's Club raises concerns about drug peddling and deaths. At the Club Kalif, he watches the Indian dancer Sadie Belada perform with a cobra and suspects she is connected to the drug trade. Her interest in him and a dangerous warning soon follow. The Mercury Theatre on the Air presented this adaptation of the Shadow stories on October 24, 1937. The transcript ends partway through the story, so the full plot is not covered here.

With Lamont Cranston, The Shadow, Margot Lane, Sadie Belada, Jerry Gleason, Andrew Gleason, Commissioner Weston, Alexis.

Listen for: Sadie Belada's cobra dance and her exchange with the Shadow in her dressing room, which set up the central confrontation.

First aired on October 24, 1937.

Episode notes written with AI from the recording itself; the audio is the original broadcast.

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Stupid Potato restores classic radio and TV audio and runs 60 free 24/7 channels and 188 podcasts: old-time radio westerns, detectives, comedy, science fiction and suspense, vintage TV, Saturday-morning cartoons, Halloween and Christmas. No modern ads. Listen free at stupidpotato.com.

Lamont Cranston, a wealthy man about town, learns that District Attorney Stowe was threatened by a convicted killer, Peter Swift, who was hanged six months earlier. Margo Lane hears of a grave being opened and a body taken away, and she and Cranston begin to investigate. Their inquiry leads them to Dr. Craig, who had collected Swift's body from the prison. The episode is part of The Shadow series, broadcast on The Mercury Theatre on the Air, first aired on October 17, 1937, with Orson Welles as the lead.

With Lamont Cranston, Margo Lane, District Attorney Stowe, Peter Swift, Judge Klein, Dr. Craig, Taylor, Jenkins.

Listen for: The sinister doctor's claim to have discovered a secret of life over death, and the threats made against the men who sent Peter Swift to the gallows.

First aired on October 17, 1937.

Episode notes written with AI from the recording itself; the audio is the original broadcast.

Free, complete and restored, no modern ads. Two new episodes a week: Orson Welles on the Air on Stupid Potato, live around the clock.

Stupid Potato restores classic radio and TV audio and runs 60 free 24/7 channels and 188 podcasts: old-time radio westerns, detectives, comedy, science fiction and suspense, vintage TV, Saturday-morning cartoons, Halloween and Christmas. No modern ads. Listen free at stupidpotato.com.

The Shadow, a mysterious crime fighter, becomes involved when Paul Gordon, a jobless man, is convicted of robbery and murder after unknowingly driving getaway men. Gordon's wife Grace receives money from a stranger, and Margot Lane, the Shadow's associate, works to prove his innocence. Gordon is sentenced to death in the electric chair, and the Shadow uses his mental powers to reconstruct the crime and recover the lost evidence. This is an episode of The Mercury Theatre on the Air, first broadcast on September 26, 1937. The transcript is incomplete, and the cast is not named in it.

With The Shadow, Margot Lane, Paul Gordon, Grace Gordon, Red, Lefty, Commissioner, Warden.

Listen for: The Shadow's voice speaking to Gordon from the shadows as he reconstructs the crime in his mind.

First aired on September 26, 1937.

Episode notes written with AI from the recording itself; the audio is the original broadcast.

Free, complete and restored, no modern ads. Two new episodes a week: Orson Welles on the Air on Stupid Potato, live around the clock.

Stupid Potato restores classic radio and TV audio and runs 60 free 24/7 channels and 188 podcasts: old-time radio westerns, detectives, comedy, science fiction and suspense, vintage TV, Saturday-morning cartoons, Halloween and Christmas. No modern ads. Listen free at stupidpotato.com.