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Sarah Bernhardt in Performance

Thrill to the actual voice of the divine Sarah Bernhardt in all her available dramatic recitations recorded during the years 1902-1918. Titles include:

La Fiancee du Timbalier (1902) by Victor Hugo, recorded at Pathe, a thrilling lament from a woman to a chevalier soldier passing by in a parade.

Lucie (1902) by Alfred de Musset, recorded at Pathe, a dreamy poem spoken to a voluptuous woman singing and playing a harpsichord.

Le Lac (The Lake) (1903) by Sarah's son, Maurice Bernhardt, and recorded at Pathe, a beautiful poem about the Divine Worker and the creation of His lake under tropical skies.

La Samaritaine (1903), an excerpt from the play of the same name, a reflection from Photine, the woman who met Jesus at the well, and who was told by Him to go forth and love.

Les Vieux (The Old) (1903) written by Mme. Edmond Rostand, recorded in Paris, a poetic and tender look at two old lovers sitting under a trellis in the twilight years of their lives.

Un Evangel (A Gospel) (1903) by Francois Coppee, a moving tale of Jesus and Saint Peter helping a fisherman's widow and her little baby.

Phedre (1903) recorded by Pathe, the spine-tingling tirade from Phedre and her steaming, illicit passion for her step-son, Hippolyte, a Greek hero.

La Mort d'Izail (The Death of Izail) (1903) by Sarah's son, Maurice Bernhardt, an excerpt from the play of the same name, a tome to the death of Izail, the girl who died of love.

Le Reve de Theroigne de Mericourt (Theroigne de Mericourt's Dream) (1903) by Paul Ernest Herview, a tirade to revolution, during which Sarah's vocal gymnastics reach unnerving heights.

Un Peu de Musique (A Little Music) (1903) by Victor Hugo, the tale of a lady and a count riding into the mad mystery of love.

Les Buffons: La Brise Conte (The Clowns: The Breeze Tells) (1908) by Miguel Zamacois, the charming, whimsical story of a little, whirling zephyr who falls in love with a beautiful girl spinning wool, only to suffer in anguish as he watches her give her heart to a handsome Prince.

Phedre (1910) (4-minute long version) featuring Lou-Tellegen as Hippolyte, recorded at Edison, a 4-minute scene of forbidden love between Phedre and her stepson, Hippolyte. Lou-Tellegen, only a few years before his celebrated marriage to Geraldine Farrar, is heard in the role of Hippolyte. (He would later have great success as a silent film star playing opposite Pauline Frederick, Clara Bow, Geraldine Farrar, and many other silent film stars.)

La Samaritaine (1910) (4-minute long version) recorded at Edison, a lengthier rendition of the encounter between Jesus and Photine, the woman at the well.

L'Aiglon (The Eaglet) (1910) featuring a full cast in a 4-minute long scene from her famous play, with Sarah as the son of Napoleon languishing among the dying soldiers on the Plain of Wagram.

L'Etoile dans la Nuit (The Star in the Night) (1918) by Emile Guerinon and Henri Cain, a divine affirmation of faith expressed to a brilliant pedestal of light in the night sky.

Prier Pour Nos Ennemis (A Prayer for our Enemies) (1918) an excerpt from one of her last plays,

Champ d'Honneur, a patriotic speech told by Sarah as she portrays Marc, a wounded soldier, clutching his flag in the aftermath of a raging battle.

Laurette Taylor in Peg O' My Heart 

FULL CAST, MUSIC SCORE, and SOUND EFFECTS

This rare recording is an abridged version of the famous play that Laurette performed for many years. It was formatted especially for radio, and features a full cast, sound effects, and musical bridges. This CD is created with individual tracks for each of the main scenes.

These recordings were digitally mastered from very old recordings. On some tracks, you will hear slight, embedded surface noise, which cannot be removed without damaging the spoken words.  

John Barrymore in selections from

Hamlet and Twelfth Night 

FULL CAST, MUSIC SCORE, and SOUND EFFECTS

These 12 recordings were original performances of scenes from Shakespeare's plays, Hamlet and Twelfth Night. They feature a full cast, sound effects, and musical bridges.

*in Twelfth Night, Sir Toby and Malvolio are both played by John Barrymore

These recordings were digitally mastered from very old recordings. On some tracks, you will hear slight, embedded surface noise, which cannot be removed without damaging the spoken words. 

John Barrymore in selections from

Richard III and Macbeth 

FULL CAST, MUSIC SCORE, and SOUND EFFECTS

These exciting scenes include some of the most famous moments from Richard III, as well as several selections from Macbeth. Although John never actually performed Macbeth on stage, these recordings leave the listener wishing that he had taken on the difficult role in its entirety. In the excerpts from both plays, his use of vocal variety, interpretive skill, and dramatic inflection are an inspiration to hear, and in many passages, his powerful performances are spine tingling.

These recordings were digitally mastered from very old recordings. On some tracks, you will hear slight, embedded surface noise, which cannot be removed without damaging the spoken words. 

Lionel Barrymore in A Christmas Carol

By Charles Dickens     Narrated by Richard Hale

Adapted and directed by Dailey Paskman

Original musical score by Samuel Timberg

FULL CAST, MUSIC SCORE, and SOUND EFFECTS

A Christmas Carol is not only a classic but one of the best-loved stories ever written. Lionel Barrymore took on the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in 1934, and for nearly twenty years, he performed the famous Dicken’s story for audiences at Christmas time. Originally each annual broadcast was a unique presentation. Even though listeners could not see him, Lionel always dressed for the part when he broadcast A Christmas Carol, sitting before the radio microphone in a heavy, Victorian cloak, and made up to look for the entire world like the nasty old miser. “Yes, Scrooge was a miserable, miserly, and mean a character as ever lived,” Lionel recalled. “He was completely without faith, friends, or love, nor did he want them. And yet I have always loved the old humbug, not for what he was, but for what he became. My biggest thrill of all comes when Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning to find that he’s alive . . . and that being really alive, for the first time, is a joyous thing. That’s the Scrooge I love. The Scrooge who says, humbly, ‘I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.’ ”

These recordings were digitally mastered from very old recordings. On some tracks, you will hear slight, embedded surface noise, which cannot be removed without damaging the spoken words. 

Silent Movie Stars Speak: The Lost Recordings

The compilation includes captivating interviews with Blanche Sweet, Lillian Gish, Harold Lloyd, Stan Laurel, Buster Keaton, Ethel Barrymore, John Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, and Bronco Billy. They reveal their lives and innermost feelings about their struggles to succeed in the film industry.

Ramon Novarro in a moving, romantic monologue

Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard 

FULL CAST, MUSIC SCORE, and SOUND EFFECTS

Hollywood’s obsession with its own past eerily echoes in this story of a struggling screenwriter, Joe Gillis, and silent film star Norma Desmond. The aging actress draws him into the creepy labyrinth of her twisted, neurotic mind as she pursues delusions of a film comeback. While Joe rewrites her clumsy Salome script that he knows will never be filmed, Norma, lonely and mentally unstable, falls in love with him and entices him to stay on as her “kept man.” The set-up crumbles when Norma’s hopes for a return to glory are crushed. In despair, she completely loses her weak grasp on reality as he attempts to leave. Death and madness are interwoven in this tale of a faded silent film star in her twilight years and the younger man whose cynicism is swept aside by her overpowering fantasies.

Gloria Swanson gives an unforgettable portrayal in this radio reprise of the film, which stunned critics and public alike. After 58 silent and 7 sound films, Gloria stepped up to the microphone to paint this memorable character portrait with her voice alone, performing live on the night of September 17, 1951.

Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard and The Last Dutchess

FULL CAST, MUSIC SCORE, and SOUND EFFECTS

This is the same presentation of Sunset Boulevard as in the other CD, but with the addition of another, eerily similar tale, The Last Dutchess. In this tale, Gloria Swanson etches a memorable portrait of another silent film star clutching frantically for a foothold on fame. When the vibrant and beautiful but nearly forgotten star learns that the plumb role she covets is scheduled to go to her rival, nothing will stand in her way to make cameras turn again on her legendary face. In this sensitive portrait, gut-wrenching desperation explodes into action in a race against time for a falling star to survive against all odds in Hollywood. 

CONTENTS OF THE CD:

Lillian Gish in Marry for Murder

FULL CAST, MUSIC SCORE, and SOUND EFFECTS

Broadcast as Episode #57 of Suspense on Saturday night, September 9, 1943, Lillian appeared before the mind’s eye of listeners some thirty years after her 1912 debut in silent motion pictures. She was a veteran of more than 78 silent and sound films before stepping up to the microphone to paint this unforgettable character portrait with her voice alone.

Ominous foghorns set the stage for the entrance of Lillian Gish as Letty Hawthorne, a frightened, neurotic creature who seems destined to be the perfect victim. Mark, her domineering husband, invites an attorney to draw up a new will for the couple. Letty is anxious about the affair, and when a friend speculates whether Mark plans to kill her and inherit her estate, imagined villainous intentions take hold of the edgy woman, and listeners are drawn into the gathering whirlpool of intrigue as Letty drowns in a struggle to keep hold of her slipping grasp on reality. A shocking twist unveils a surprising secret that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

FULL CAST, MUSIC, and SOUND EFFECTS                                         

Broadway legend Jane Cowl appeared on American radio on April 18, 1945, painting with her voice alone an unforgettable character portrait of a sinful woman and the price she paid to protect her only child.  

Madame X is based on Alexandre Bisson's sensational play, La Femme X, a hit in Paris in 1908, staged on Broadway in 1910 with Sarah Bernhardt, and recreated in many motion pictures with great stars such as Pauline Frederick, Ruth Chatterton, Gladys George, and Lana Turner. The story is virtually guaranteed to wring tears from audiences when it is performed in productions that solidly nail the key dramatic moments, and the cast of Jane Cowl’s company hit every note powerfully.

The story follows Jacqueline Floriot, her budding romance with a man her attorney husband once defended, and a scandal that forever banishes her from her home, husband, and only son. Jacqueline descends into a pitiful life of drugs, drink, and prostitution, and when she murders a man who threatens to expose her past and jeopardize her lost son’s future, she is placed on trial for the crime. A young attorney represents her in court, and when he turns out to be her lost son, the startling revelation leads to one of the most touching moments ever recorded in a drama.

In 1945, Jane Cowl had formidable competition from movies, radio, and the stage. That year, Bette Davis appeared in The Corn is Green, Katherine Hepburn starred in Without Love, Lillian Gish staged a come-back in Miss Susie Slagle, Ingrid Bergman delighted audiences with Saratoga Trunk, Joan Crawford won an Oscar for Mildred Pierce, Greer Garson was in The Valley of Decision, Laurette Taylor was triumphant in The Glass Menagerie, Gloria Swanson was on the stage in A Goose for the Gander, Tallulah Bankhead had a moderate hit with Foolish Notion, Gertrude Lawrence was in Pygmalion, and Katherine Cornell was touring Europe in The Barrets of Wimpole Street. Despite this rivalry, Jane stunned American audiences with her superbly controlled yet gut-wrenching characterization of Jacqueline in Madame X, and it is this stunning performance that is immortalized on this CD.

CONTENTS OF THE CD:

Agnes Moorehead in Sorry, Wrong Number

FULL CAST, MUSIC SCORE, and SOUND EFFECTS

Agnes Robertson Moorehead was born in Clinton, Massachusetts, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. Graduating with a Master’s Degree in English from Muskingum College, New Concord, Ohio, she continued her studies in New York at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. With Joseph Cotton and Orson Welles, she was founder and charter member of the famed Mercury Theater Players, receiving many accolades for her radio work.

On May 25, 1943, she first performed Lucille Fletcher’s heart-pounding play, Sorry Wrong Number, during a broadcast of the Suspense radio series. She earned the Golden Mike Award, and a Golden Record for the recording made of the drama. Sorry, Wrong Number would eventually be presented a total of eight times, the last being on February 14, 1960, with Agnes performing live for each and every one of them.

The story follows Leona Stevenson, an invalid who impatiently tries to locate her henpecked husband by telephone. When wires accidentally cross, she overhears a telephone conversation between two men plotting to murder a bedridden woman at precisely 11:15 pm. Desperate to thwart the crime, she frantically tries to get both the telephone operator and the police to do something to prevent it from happening but is dismissed as a crank. Alone and trapped in her lush apartment, the shocking identity of the victim takes a spine tingling twist when Leona realizes the thugs are coming for her. Agnes Moorehead gives a tour-de-force performance.

Tallulah Bankhead in All About Eve

Featuring Beatrice Pearson, Kevin McCarthy, Mary Orr, Don Briggs, Allen Hewitt, and Florence Robinson.

FULL CAST, MUSIC SCORE, and SOUND EFFECTS 

Tallulah Bankhead won a beauty contest at age 16, and encouraged by this accomplishment, she moved to New York to attempt a career as an actress. Success eluded her, so she moved to London in 1923. Popular for several years, she was lured back to America when Hollywood began making talking pictures.

An incident in Tallulah’s life was the inspiration for Mary Orr to write a short story, The Wisdom of Eve, which was adapted into All About Eve, a motion picture script by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Actress Bette Davis won the role of Margo in the film, All About Eve, after having played in motion picture versions of two of Tallulah Bankhead’s most success roles: Judith Traherne in Dark Victory, and Regina in The Little Foxes. In an ironic twist, Tallulah finally played the role of Margo in this stunning radio adaptation produced by the Theatre Guild of the Air, broadcast on November 16, 1952.  Mary Orr, writer of the original story, is heard in the role of Karen Richards.

The story follows aging stage star, Margo Channing, and the innocuous flattery lavished on her by a brilliant but scheming young actress, Eve Harrington. Ambitious, and plotting to worm her way into Margo’s life, she blackmails Margo’s friend, Karen Richards, into helping her get a part in a new play. Eve climbs the ladder of success by using her wiles and stepping on the very people who help her win an important award and a Hollywood contract. In an ironic twist, she then becomes the target of another scheming young actress who plots to find fame using the same kind of devious trickery.

Tallulah Bankhead in Dark Victory

Featuring  David Brian, Lynn Allen, Norma Varden, Stan Waxman, and Ralph Moody

FULL CAST, MUSIC SCORE, and SOUND EFFECTS

Tallulah Bankhead won a beauty contest at age sixteen, and encouraged by this accomplishment, she moved to New York to attempt a career as an actress. Success eluded her, so in 1923, she moved to London. Popular for several years, she was lured back to America and Broadway, and then when Hollywood began making talking pictures, she made a number of films.

Dark Victory was first a play in which Tallulah starred. It was written by George Emerson Brewer, Jr., and Bertram Bloch. It premiered at the Plymouth Theater on November 7, 1934, and then closed in December after only fifty-one performances.

Actress Bette Davis won the role of Judith Traherne in the Warner Bros. film, which was released five years later in 1939. It was directed by Edmond Goulding. On February 15, 1951, Goulding was recruited by the Screen Director’s Playhouse to direct a radio dramatization of the story starring Tallulah Bankhead reprising her original role. Twenty-seven years had passed, but Tallulah’s soul-searching performance had lost none of its luster.

Jack Ruben adapted the story for this production. It follows twenty-three-year old, Judith Traherne, a wealthy sportswoman. Dr. Frederick Steele, a renowned surgeon, discovers that she has glioma, a deadly brain tumor. His insists on performing surgery, and afterwards, hides his negative prognosis from her. She discovers the truth when casually glancing at her medical file. Shocked, and in denial of the reality that she has only six months to live, she retreats into drunkenness and promiscuity. The only thing she knows for certain is that when the end comes, it will be heralded by a sudden loss of vision. When the caring doctor becomes in love with her, Judith undergoes a complete transformation. They marry, and she finds happiness for the first time in her life. When he leaves for a New York conference, Judith suddenly experiences a darkening of her vision, an omen that the end is near. She bravely faces the moment so long dreaded and expected, and quietly retreats to bed, content that she had at least some time to experience true love before dying. 

SPECIAL ADDED BONUS TRACK:

TALLULAH BANKHEAD SINGING  “I’LL BE SEEING YOU.”

Helen Hayes in The Glass Menagerie

By Tennessee Williams

With Montgomery Clift, Katherine Bard, and Karl Malden

FULL CAST, MUSIC SCORE, and SOUND EFFECTS

Delight to the excitement and thrilling characters in The Glass Menagerie. Based on Tennessee Williams’ own early short story, Portrait of a Girl in Glass, a semi-autobiographical tale of his upbringing in Saint Louis, Missouri, the story follows a faded southern belle, her rebellious son, her crippled daughter, and a Gentleman Caller who accidentally shatters a glass unicorn and their fragile dreams.

After winning a writing contract at MGM Studios, Williams expanded the unforgettable story into a screenplay, The Gentleman Caller, which was roundly rejected. He decided the story would play much better in the theater, and rewrote his screenplay into a stage adaptation called The Glass Menagerie. It premiered at Chicago's Civic Theater on December 26, 1944, starring one of Broadway's biggest stars, Laurette Taylor, and quickly became regarded as an American masterpiece. In 1946, Sir John Guilgud directed Helen Hayes in a memorable London production. When the Theater Guild on the Air prepared to broadcast a slightly abridged reprise of Helen’s production, the cast rehearsed for several days before the event, and on Sunday, September 17, 1951, at 8:30 P. M., they performed the play live for millions of people. This recording superbly captures their memorable live performances. The CD is a new and digitally restored .

W. C. Fields in Poppy

Based on a Stage Play by Dorothy Donnelly

Co-starring Anne Shirley, John Payne, and Skeets Gallagher

FULL CAST, MUSIC SCORE, and SOUND EFFECTS

 W. C. Fields opened on Broadway in Poppy on September 3, 1923, and was a resounding success for more than a year. .The character he portrayed , a  fast-talking, super-slick, and slightly befuddled charlatan, Eustace McGargle, has a heart of gold that can only be seen by his daughter, Poppy.  The role soon became identified with Fields, who played variations on it for the rest of his life.

In 1925, W. C. Fields immortalized the role in a Paramount silent film directed by D. W. Griffith, and featuring Alfred Lunt. Eleven years later, the same film was re-made as a talking picture directed by Eddie Sutherland. Soon after, Fields gathered with a new cast to reprise the role again on radio in an abridged version produced for the Lux Radio Theater and directed by Cecil. B. DeMille. It is this live performance that has been captured on this CD.

Bonus Track One features W. C. Fields in a hilarious live performance of The Temperance Lecture.    

Bonus Track Two features W. C. Fields in a riotous live performance of a radio skit: Promotions Unlimited.

These recordings were digitally mastered from very old recordings. On some tracks, you will hear slight, embedded surface noise, which cannot be removed without damaging the spoken words.

Orson Wells and Agnes Moorehead in Dracula

plus the original broadcast of Frankenstein

FULL CAST, MUSIC SCORE, and SOUND EFFECTS

The Mercury Theater's original production of Bram Stoker's Dracula has never been so fully explored than in this one hour dramatization. Using all the resources available, Wells and cast create the entire story with spine-tingling realism.

The Frankenstein recording is from an unknown origin, but follows the same production values, as Mary Shelly's story is faithfully rendered in a dramatization that poignantly follows the good doctor's experiments, as they run awry. In the final act, you will thrill to the Monster's heartrending appeal to the doctor.

Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in a live recording of Pygmalion

FULL CAST, MUSIC SCORE, and SOUND EFFECTS

When the new production of Pygmalion opened in New York on September 21, 2007, with Claire Danes, Jefferson Mays, and Boyd Gaines, it followed the rich heritage of the original 1913 play by George Bernard Shaw. Based on Ovid’s tale of Pygmalion, Shaw's story follows Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics, who makes a bet with Colonel Pickering, his friend, that he can successfully pass off Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl, as a refined society lady by teaching her how to speak with an upper class accent and training her in etiquette. When Eliza is the hit of a ball, Henry thinks that his wager is won, but a surprising turn of events proves that his greatest challenge is still awaiting him.

One of the recently rediscovered gems in the heritage of Pygmalion productions is this outstanding version starring Broadway legends Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. They broadcast their radio version to America on the night of October 21, 1951*, and this live recording captures the delicious give-and-take between the real life husband and wife acting team. They obviously relished every moment of the often hilarious interplay between the unique characters. Join the audience with a front row seat to these great stars in a great play.

BONUS TRACK: Hear the soundtrack recording of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in their only performance as themselves in the memorable World War Two film, Stage Door Canteen.

CONTENTS OF THE CD: