The Campbell Playhouse - "A Christmas Carol" (1939) - Part 1

The Campbell Playhouse - "A Christmas Carol" (1939)
Director: Orson Welles
Scrooge: Lionel Barrymore

Next we have another audio adaptation of "A Christmas Carol," as presented on the radio anthology series "The Campbell Playhouse" on December 24, 1939.

The show was overseen by Orson Welles, who was probably the most noteworthy radio personality at that time. This was only about a year after his (in)famous broadcast of "War of the Worlds" that set off a panic (of some degree) among unsuspecting listeners.

Welles was only 24 years old at the time, but at the peak of his radio powers. And he had recently signed a movie contract with R-K-O Pictures, which would ultimately lead to the release of "Citizen Kane" about a year and a half later. So, an interesting place in a legendary career.

What makes this particular broadcast even more special is that we have Lionel Barrymore playing Scrooge. That's big because Mr. Barrymore, was the radio Scrooge. He played Scrooge on the air for the first time in 1934 and the last in 1953. These things can be hard to follow at times, but I think he played the part 18 times over that 20 years. So, basically for the entire span of the golden age of radio, one thing listeners could look forward to was hearing Lionel Barrymore play Scrooge every Christmas season!

I believe this 1939 broadcast is the fourth time he appeared as Scrooge, having missed 1936 due to his wife's sudden death when his brother John took over the role (that must have been something!) and 1938 due to a conflict with MGM's movie version (Lionel was an MGM star) when Orson Welles assumed the role in what's considered the official run.

All of which brings us to 1939, which seems to be the first surviving broadcast with Lionel Barrymore playing Scrooge. Add in the Orson Welles factor and you've really got something!

There are different versions floating around out there, but as you can imagine, I think one needs to listen to a complete broadcast with the intro and outro and greetings from Campbell's Soup and all to put oneself back in 1939 and enjoy it as audiences did back then.

The link below has one such version. Give it a listen and we'll talk about it later...