"The Mayor of the Town" (December 23, 1943) - Part 1

"The Mayor of the Town" (1943)
Scrooge: Lionel Barrymore

We move from the Barrymore-less "A Christmas Carol" from 1938's "The Campbell Playhouse" to Lionel Barrymore's own radio show "The Mayor of the Town" in 1943.

At least this was presumably 1943, but a lot of references show the year of this broadcast as 1942, but in 1942, Lionel Barrymore played Scrooge on Rudy Vallee's show.

In any event, Lionel started a new tradition at some point by leaving the format of "The Mayor of the Town" for one episode each Christmas to play his accustomed role of Scrooge for the listening audience.

A lot of shows from the golden age of radio were not preserved. They were broadcast and then they were gone. However, a good many shows were recorded and edited by the AFRS (Armed Forces Radio Service) to be shared with military personnel.

We are fortunate to have the AFRS version of one of the episodes of "The Mayor of the Town" featuring Lionel Barrymore as Scrooge in an adaptation of a "A Christmas Carol"

Give it a listen and then we'll discuss...