Lux Radio Theater

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Lux Radio Theater
Promotion for a Joan Crawford appearance on the show.
Genre	Anthology drama
Running time	1 hour
Country	United States
Language(s)	English
Home station	WJZ (10/14/34-06/30/35) CBS WABC (07/29/35-05/25/36) CBS (06/01/36-06/28/54) NBC (09/14/54-06/07/55)
Television adaptation(s)	Lux Video Theatre (1950-1957)
Host(s)	John Anthony, Albert Hayes, Cecil B. DeMille, William Keighley, Irving Cummings
Starring	100's of Broadway and Hollywood stars
Writer(s)	George Wells Sanford Barnett
Director(s)	Antony Stanford, Frank Woodruff, Sanford Barnett, Fred MacKaye, Earl Ebi, Norman Macdonnell
Recording studio	1934–1936 New York City 1936–1955 Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Air dates	October 14, 1934 – June 7, 1955
No. of series	21
No. of episodes	926
Audio format	Monaural sound

Lux Radio Theater, one of the genuine classic radio anthology series (NBC Blue Network (1934-1935); CBS (1935-1954); NBC (1954-1955)) adapted first Broadway stage works, and then (especially) films to hour-long live radio presentations. It quickly became the most popular dramatic anthology series on radio, running more than twenty years. The program always began with an announcer proclaiming, "Ladies and gentlemen, Lux presents Hollywood!" Cecil B. DeMille was the host of the series each Monday evening from June 1, 1936, until January 22, 1945. On one occasion, however, he was replaced by Leslie Howard.

Lux Radio Theater strove to feature as many of the original stars of the original stage and film productions as possible, usually paying them $5,000 an appearance to do the show. It was when sponsor Lever Brothers (who made Lux soap and detergent) moved the show from New York to Hollywood in 1936 that it eased back from adapting stage shows and toward adaptations of films. The first Lux film adaptation was The Legionnaire and the Lady, with Marlene Dietrich and Clark Gable, based on the film Morocco. That was followed by a Lux adaptation of The Thin Man, featuring the movie's stars, Myrna Loy and William Powell.

Many of the greatest names in film appeared in the series, most in the roles they made famous on the screen, including Abbott and Costello, Lauren Bacall, Lucille Ball, Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, Charles Boyer, Claudette Colbert, Gary Cooper, Joseph Cotton, Bing Crosby, Dan Duryea, Ava Gardner, Cary Grant, Bob Hope, Vivien Leigh, Agnes Moorehead, Vincent Price, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra, Ann Sothern, Barbara Stanwyck, James Stewart, Gene Tierney, John Wayne, Jane Wyman, Orson Welles and Loretta Young.

Who made the most appearances in Lux Radio Theater productions? Among the men, Don Ameche -- eventually a radio star in The Bickersons -- topped the list with 18 Lux appearances, just ahead of Fred MacMurray's 17. Among the ladies, the honor went to Barbara Stanwyck with 15 Lux appearances, including her re-creation of her hit film Sorry, Wrong Number -- itself born of an earlier radio production, on CBS legend Suspense). Loretta Young's 14 appearances were the second most among the ladies.

Some classic radio regulars also made the occasional appearance on Lux Radio Theater. Jim and Marian Jordan, better known as Fibber McGee and Molly, appeared on the show twice and also built an episode of their own radio comedy series around one of those appearances. Bandleader Phil Harris and his singing actress wife, Alice Faye, who had become radio comedy stars with their own show beginning in 1948, appeared in a Lux presentation. Fred Allen, Jack Benny (with and without his wife, Mary Livingstone), and George Burns and Gracie Allen were among the other radio stars who were invited to do Lux presentations as well. Lux Radio Theater even presented an adaptation of the film version of The Life of Riley, featuring William Bendix as the Brooklyn-born, California-transplanted aircraft worker he already made famous in the long-running radio series (and eventual television hit) of the same name.

Mercury Theatre on the Air -- which eventually made Orson Welles a force to be reckoned with, especially with the commotion his broadcast of The War of the Worlds (30 October 1938) provoked -- was initially a summer replacement series for Lux Radio Theater.

It was a clash over closed shop union rulings favoured by the old American Federation of Radio Artists that ended DeMille's term as Lux Radio Theater's host. AFRA assessed members a dollar each to help back a campaign to enact closed-shop rulings in California. DeMille, an AFRA member but a stern opponent of closed shops, refused to pay because he believed it would nullify his opposition vote. When AFRA ruled those not paying faced suspension from the union, and thus a ban from appearing on the air, DeMille was finished---because he also refused to let anyone else pay the dollar for him. Lux Radio Theater auditioned, on the air, several hosts over the next year, until they settled on William Keighley as the new permanent host, a post he held from late 1945 through mid-1955.

The Lux Video Theatre began as a live 30-minute Monday evening CBS series October 2, 1950, switching to Thursday nights during August, 1951. In September 1953, the show relocated from New York to Hollywood. In August, 1954, it jumped to NBC as an hour-long show on Thursday nights, telecast until September 12, 1957. James Mason was the host in the 1954-55 season.