This is the first of four consecutive weeks starring Orson Welles. William Spier was the first to employ Welles in radio when he hired him for The March of Time in 1933, making this the tenth anniversary of Welles on radio. He did not have steady employment in the medium until 1934 or 1935, but Spier recognized his talent and happily cast him when he could. This is noted in news releases as an anniversary of sorts, but it is clear that Welles and Spier admired each other greatly and that Welles had great appreciation for Spier’s influence in his early career. With Spier trying to build the Suspense Hollywood franchise, Welles was there to help. Welles liked using classic stories on Mercury Theater and in his various appearances on other series. William Spier was likely of the same mind when Welles was on Suspense.
This broadcast’s story is a famous one, adapted by “Private Jacques Anson Finke” from Richard Connell’s short story that originally appeared in the 1924-01-19 edition of Collier's magazine. A master hunter is bored of it all and wants to hunt smarter and more cunning prey: humans. The story was so popular it found its way into anthologies and classrooms for decades, and was adapted for films and television in direct and indirect ways. Its 1932 film version only made it more popular.
Adaptor Finke was obviously in the Army but was still submitting scripts to radio programs. His career was somewhat under the radar as radio prominence went because his employment varied between working steadily in movie studio script departments and freelance work for various radio series. This Suspense production (and its repeat production in 1945 with Joseph Cotten) used Finke’s treatment. The story was newly adapted for Escape by Irving Ravetch. Many have a preference for the Escape version as it is closer to the original story. There is a sense of “too much Welles” here and he overpowers what is already a strong story. But it’s Welles, and that’s almost what people expect and usually want when he’s in a production.
Welles was 28 for this broadcast, with great and notable successes already behind him. Co-star Keenan Wynn, son of radio and movie star Ed Wynn, however, was 27, in the early stages of his Hollywood rise. Keenan started in theater and his very long and successful career in film, radio, and television was still to come. Many people associate Keenan and Ed together because of their 1956 joint appearance in Requiem for a Heavyweight, the famous Playhouse 90 television broadcast and considered Rod Serling’s ultimate script. Keenan played a boxing promoter and Ed was in a rare and surprising straight drama role as “a corner man” who patches up boxing wounds between rounds. The role opened up a new and unexpected phase of Ed’s career.
LISTEN
TO THE PROGRAM or download in FLAC or
mp3
https://archive.org/details/TSP430923
THE CAST
ORSON WELLES (General Zaroff), KEENAN WYNN (Sanger Rainsford), Harry Lang? (Ivan), unknown (vocal effects), Joe Kearns (Man in Black)
The original story can be found at https://ia802708.us.archive.org/9/items/TheMostDangerousGame_233/connell_richard_edward_1893_1949_most_dangerous_game.pdf
Historical background of the story is at this Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Most_Dangerous_Game
The 1932 movie with Joel McCrea is at YouTube https://youtu.be/_DXLTw22HOQ
There are two surviving recordings, a network and an Armed Forces Radio recording. The network recording is the better sounding of the two.
###
