The Campbell Playhouse

*The Campbell Playhouse*
Genre	Anthology drama
Running time	60 minutes (seasons 1-2) 30 minutes (season 3)
Country	United States
Languages	English
Home station	CBS
Hosts	Orson Welles
Starring	Bea Benaderet, Frank Reddick, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, George Coulouris, Georgia Backus, Everett Sloane, Edgar Barrier; other radio, film, and theater personalities
Writers	Howard Koch Wyllis Cooper
Directors	Orson Welles George Zachary
Producers	John Houseman
Air dates	December 9, 1938 to June 13, 1941
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	85
Audio format	Monaural sound
Opening theme	Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor

The Campbell Playhouse (1938-40) was a CBS radio drama series directed by and starring Orson Welles. Produced by John Houseman, it was a sponsored continuation of the Mercury Theatre on the Air.

1 History
2 Episodes
3 Other programs with the same name
4 See also
5 References
6 Listen to
7 External links

History

As a direct result of the front-page headlines Welles generated with his Halloween, 1938 production War of the Worlds production, Campbell's Soup signed on as his sponsor. The Campbell Playhouse began December 9, 1938, offering 60-minute adaptations of classic plays and novels, plus some adaptations of popular motion pictures.

The same creative staff stayed on, but the show had a different flavor under sponsorship. This was partially due to a guest star policy which relegated the Mercury Players to supporting roles. There was a growing schism between Welles, still reaping the rewards of his Halloween night notoriety, and Houseman, who became more like an employee than a partner. The primary writer, as during the unsponsored run, was Howard Koch.

Productions included The Citadel (with Geraldine Fitzgerald), Rebecca (featuring an interview with Daphne du Maurier), A Christmas Carol (broadcast once with Lionel Barrymore as Scrooge, and once with Orson Welles himself in the role), a non-musical version of Show Boat (with Margaret Sullavan as Magnolia, Orson Welles as Cap'n Andy, Helen Morgan as Julie, and author Edna Ferber herself as Parthy), A Farewell to Arms (with Katharine Hepburn), Mutiny on the Bounty, Arrowsmith (with Helen Hayes), Les Misérables (with Walter Huston), Our Town, Ah, Wilderness, Dodsworth, Lost Horizon (with Ronald Colman), Dinner at Eight (with Hedda Hopper and Lucille Ball), Liliom (with Orson Welles in the title role and Helen Hayes as Julie), and Huckleberry Finn^{[disambiguation needed]} (with Jackie Cooper).^{[citation needed]}

When Welles left the series in 1940 to begin his movie contract with RKO Radio Pictures in Hollywood, Houseman stayed as producer for the final season, and the focus shifted to more obscure fare, still with casts drawn from the ranks of film actors. The writer during this final season was Wyllis Cooper (he and Campbell announcer Ernest Chappell would go on to create Quiet, Please) .

The final broadcast of The Campbell Playhouse was on June 13, 1941.

Episodes

#	Date	Title
1	Dec 09, 1938	"Rebecca"
2	Dec 16, 1938	"Call It a Day"
3	Dec 23, 1938	"A Christmas Carol"
4	Dec 30, 1938	"A Farewell to Arms"
5	Jan 06, 1939	"Counselor at Law"
6	Jan 13, 1939	"Mutiny on the Bounty"
7	Jan 20, 1939	"The Chicken Wagon Family"
8	Jan 27, 1939	"I Lost My Girlish Laughter"
9	Feb 03, 1939	"Arrowsmith"
10	Feb 10, 1939	"The Green Goddess"
11	Feb 17, 1939	"Burlesque"
12	Feb 24, 1939	"State Fair"
13	Mar 03, 1939	"Royal Regiment"
14	Mar 10, 1939	"The Glass Key"
15	Mar 17, 1939	"Beau Geste"
16	Mar 24, 1939	"Twentieth Century"
17	Mar 31, 1939	"Show Boat"
18	Apr 07, 1939	"Les Misérables"
19	Apr 14, 1939	"The Patriot"
20	Apr 21, 1939	"Private Lives"
21	Apr 28, 1939	"Black Daniel"
22	May 5, 1939	"Wickford Point"
23	May 12, 1939	"Our Town"
24	May 19, 1939	"The Bad Man"
25	May 26, 1939	"American Cavalcade" (subtitled "Things We Have")
26	Jun 02, 1939	"Victoria Regina"
27	Sep 10, 1939	"Peter Ibbetson"
28	Sep 17, 1939	"Ah, Wilderness"
29	Sep 24, 1939	"What Every Woman Knows"
30	Oct 01, 1939	"The Count of Monte Cristo"
31	Oct 08, 1939	"Algiers"
32	Oct 15, 1939	"Escape"
33	Oct 22, 1939	"Lilliom"
34	Oct 29, 1939	"The Magnificent Ambersons"
35	Nov 05, 1939	"The Hurricane"
36	Nov 12, 1939	"The Murder of Roger Ackroyd"
37	Nov 19, 1939	"The Garden of Allah"
38	Nov 26, 1939	"Dodsworth"
39	Dec 03, 1939	"Lost Horizons"
40	Dec 10, 1939	"Venessa"
41	Dec 17, 1939	"There's Always A Woman"
42	Dec 24, 1939	"A Christmas Carol"
43	Dec 31, 1939	"Come And Get It"
44	Jan 07, 1940	"Vanity Fair"
45	Jan 14, 1940	"Theodora Goes Wild"
46	Jan 21, 1940	"The Citadel"
47	Jan 28, 1940	"It Happened One Night"
48	Feb 04, 1940	"The Broome Stages"
49	Feb 11, 1940	"Mr. Deeds Goes to Town"
50	Feb 18, 1940	"Dinner at Eight"
51	Feb 25, 1940	"Only Angels Have Wings"
52	Mar 03, 1940	"Rabble In Armes"
53	Mar 10, 1940	"Craig's Wife"
54	Mar 17, 1940	"Huckleberry Finn"
55	Mar 24, 1940	"June Moon" (first program before a live audience)
56	Mar 31, 1940	"Jane Eyre"

Other programs with the same name

Campbell Playhouse was also the title of a television series aired on NBC between 1952 and 1954 as a replacement for The Aldrich Family. It was also known as Campbell Soundstage. Scriptwriters for that anthology series included Rod Serling.