Episode 9505: Theater Guild On The Air - "The Unguarded Hour" (11-17-46)

The series originated on radio in the 1940s as Theater Guild on the Air. Organized in 1919 to improve the quality of American theater, the Theatre Guild first experimented with radio productions in Theatre Guild Dramas, a CBS series which ran from December 6, 1943 to February 29, 1944. Actress-playwright Armina Marshall (1895–1991), a co-administrator of the Theater Guild, headed the Guild's newly created Radio Department, and in 1945, Theatre Guild on the Air embarked on its ambitious plan to bring Broadway theater to radio with leading actors in major productions. It premiered September 9, 1945, on ABC with Burgess Meredith, Henry Daniell and Cecil Humphreys in Wings Over Europe, a play by Robert Nichols and Maurice Browne which the Theatrer Guild had staged on Broadway in 1928-29. Within a year the series drew some 10 to 12 million listeners each week. Presenting both classic and contemporary plays, the program was broadcast for eight years before it became a television series.


THIS EPISODE:


November 17, 1946. NBC net, KFI, Los Angeles aircheck. "The Unguarded Hour" (Aired November 17, 1946). Sponsored by: United States Steel. The series is also known as, "The United States Steel Hour." Harold Levey (composer, conductor), Homer Fickett (director), John Merryvale, Lawrence Langner (supervisor), Armina Marshall (executive producer), Bernard Merryvale (writer), Felix Debank, George Hicks (commercial spokesman), Guy Spaull, Leslie Reid (adaptor), Malcolm King, Mark Smith (editor), Michael Redgrave, Murray Matheson, Nina Foch, Norman Brokenshire (announcer), Sarah Burton, Theresa Helburn (supervisor), Van Johnson. 59:27. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.