"The Campbell Playhouse" (December 23, 1938) - Part 2

The adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" from the December 23, 1938 broadcast of "The Campbell Playhouse" offers a different take from the usual production, as Orson Welles does double duty as both the narrator and Scrooge.

This is Orson Welles in his radio prime at the height of his notoriety. It wasn't even two months after his "War of the Worlds" broadcast that set off at least some level of panic among the population.

That notoriety landed Welles a sponsor, in the form of Campbell's Soup, and his former "Mercury Theatre on the Air" became "The Campbell Playhouse." This was actually only the third broadcast under the new arrangement.

Is it telling that in his closing remarks, Orson only refers to "my sponsor" and does not mention Campbell's?

Anyway, whatever the reason was that Lionel Barrymore could not play Scrooge, I'm sure Welles was excited to play Scrooge!

I think he does a better job as narrator, as he had a great voice for that sort of thing. I'm not sure his wacky "Old Man 101" voice for Scrooge is entirely successful.

And I'm also not sure it's different enough from his regular voice to make you forget it's the same person who's narrating.

I also think he was stuck for a voice for young Scrooge. He couldn't use his regular voice and just winds up sounding like old Scrooge.

I like his acting as Scrooge, though, and I'm sure his 1938 fans enjoyed the show. I imagine even he never thought anybody would be listening to it and critiquing his work 80-plus years later!

The rest of the cast is solid, as Orson Welles always seemed to surround himself with good actors.

Some of the same actors appeared on the 1939 "Campbell Playhouse" presentation of "A Christmas Carol," but there's one very notable exception who appears only on the 1938 version.

Playing the part of Scrooge's nephew Fred in 1938 is Joseph Cotten, Orson's good friend from earlier radio jobs.

When Welles took advantage of his radio fame to get a contract to make movies for RKO Pictures, he took along many of his radio actors and cast them in his landmark film "Citizen Kane" (1941).

One of the biggest roles was given to Joseph Cotten and next thing you know, he was a movie star!

It's really fun to hear him this early in his career and I knew his voice right away!

Another interesting bit of casting is former star of "The Shadow" Frank Readick. It's not the actor that's surprising, but the character. He appears as... the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, who actually gets a few lines here!

Frank graduated to the role of Bob Cratchit in 1939. A solid pro.

I hear tell that the "Anna Stafford" whom Orson says plays Belle is actually Virginia Nicolson Welles, his first wife! Hmmm...

Next we'll take a look at the script of the 1938 program and see how it compares to the one from 1939...