Lux Radio Theater
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Lux Radio Theater, one of the genuine classic radio anthology series (NBC Blue Network, 1934-1935; CBS 1935-1955), adapted first Broadway stage and then (and especially) films to hour-long live radio presentations and became the standard by which future radio and early television anthologies would be judged. Cecil B. DeMille was the host of the series each Monday evening from June 1, 1936 until January 22, 1945.
Lux Radio Theater strove to feature as many of the original stars of the original stage and film productions as possible, usually paying them $5,000 an appearance to do the show. It was when sponsor Lever Brothers (who made Lux soap and detergent) moved the show from New York to Hollywood in 1936 that it eased back from adapting stage shows and toward adaptations of films. The first Lux film adaptation was The Legionnaire and the Lady, with Marlene Dietrich and Clark Gable, based on the film Morocco. That was followed by a Lux adaptation of The Thin Man, featuring the movie's stars, Myrna Loy and William Powell.
Many of the greatest names in film appeared in the series, most in the roles they made famous on the screen, including Abbott and Costello, Lauren Bacall, Lucille Ball, Humphrey Bogart, Charles Boyer, Claudette Colbert, Gary Cooper, Bing Crosby, Dan Duryea, Ava Gardner, Cary Grant, Bob Hope, Vivien Leigh, Agnes Moorehead, Vincent Price, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra, Barbara Stanwyck, James Stewart, Gene Tierney, John Wayne, Jane Wyman, Orson Welles and Loretta Young.
Who made the most appearances in Lux Radio Theater productions? Among the men, Don Ameche---eventually a radio star in The Bickersons---topped the list with 18 Lux appearances, just ahead of Fred MacMurray's 17. Among the ladies, the honor went to Barbara Stanwyck with 15 Lux appearances (including and especially her re-creation of her hit film Sorry, Wrong Number---itself born of an earlier radio production, on CBS legend Suspense). Loretta Young's 14 appearances were the second most among the ladies.
Some classic radio regulars also made the occasional appearance on Lux Radio Theater. Jim and Marian Jordan, better known as Fibber McGee and Molly, not only appeared on the show twice but built an episode of their own hit radio comedy around one of those appearances. Bandleader/singer Phil Harris and his singing actress wife, Alice Faye, who had become radio comedy stars with their own show beginning in 1948, appeared in a Lux presentation. Fred Allen, Jack Benny (with and without his wife, Mary Livingstone), and George Burns and Gracie Allen were among the other radio stars who were invited to do Lux presentations as well. Lux Radio Theater even presented an adaptation of the film version of The Life of Riley, featuring William Bendix---as the Brooklyn-born, California-transplanted aircraft worker he already made famous in the long-running radio series (and eventual television hit) of the same name.
Mercury Theatre on the Air---which eventually made Orson Welles a force to be reckoned with, especially with the commotion his broadcast of War of the Worlds provoked---was initially a summer replacement series for Lux Radio Theater.
It was a clash over closed shop union rulings favoured by the old American Federation of Radio Artists that ended DeMille's term as Lux Radio Theater's host. AFRA assessed members a dollar each to help back a campaign to enact closed-shop rulings in California. DeMille, an AFRA member but a stern opponent of closed shops, refused to pay because he believed it would nullify his opposition vote. When AFRA ruled those not paying faced suspension from the union, and thus a ban from appearing on the air, DeMille was finished---because he also refused to let anyone else pay the dollar for him. Lux Radio Theater auditioned, on the air, several hosts over the next year, until they settled on William Keighley as the new permanent host, a post he held from late 1945 through mid-1955.
A television version of the show, Lux Video Theater, appeared for eight seasons in the 1950s.
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