''NBC University Theater'' (also known as ''NBC University Theater of the Air'', ''NBC Theater of the Air'' or ''NBC Theater'') was a brand the National Broadcasting Co. applied to a category of radio programming. Although not actually a university, some colleges and universities collaborated in some of the programming, either contributing to its content or including the programming in their curriculum. ''NBC University Theaters most well-known radio series was ''The World's Great Novels''. NBC used the name "''University Theater''" or similar from about 1923–1947.
Description
Most NBC University Theater programming aired on NBC's
Red Network, but the
Blue Network
The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945.
Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the National Broadcasting Comp ...
(later to become ABC) also participated.
also distributed some of the programs. About 1948, NBC replaced this category with ''
NBC Presents''.
''The World's Great Novels''
''The World's Great Novels'' was one of the radio series included in NBC University Theater. The series was produced by
Margaret Cuthbert and directed by Homer Heck. It presented adaptations of
classic novels, often described as "Anglo-American literature." The show was born ''The World's Great Novels'' on WMAQ, Chicago, and NBC from 1944 to 1948, and adopted its better known name when it relocated to Hollywood in July 1948.It initially aired Saturdays at 7:00 pm CST during the first 1944–45 season and then moved to Fridays at 11:30 pm. Music for the series was composed by Emil Soderstrom ''(né'' Emil Otto Edvard Söderström; 1901–1972) and conducted by Bernard "Whitey" Berquist ''(né'' Bernard H. Berquist; 1903–1962).
The Chicago-based programs were a production of The NBC University of the Air. Through agreements with the
University of Louisville
The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one ...
, the
University of Tulsa
The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin to ...
,
Kansas State Teachers College
Emporia State University (Emporia State or ESU) is a public university in Emporia, Kansas, United States. Established in March 1863 as the Kansas State Normal School, Emporia State is the third-oldest public university in the state of Kansas. Em ...
, and
Washington State College, listeners could receive college credit through accredited, radio-assisted literature correspondence courses. A study guide, ''The Handbook of the World's Great Novels'', was available for 25 cents.
[Dunning, John. ''On The Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio''. Oxford University Press, 1998. ]
The series began October 28, 1944, with
Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English novelist, irony writer, and dramatist known for earthy humour and satire. His comic novel ''Tom Jones'' is still widely appreciated. He and Samuel Richardson are seen as founders ...
's ''
Tom Jones
Tom Jones may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer
*Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist
*''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in 1 ...
'', followed by
Voltaire
François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his '' nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—e ...
's ''
Candide
( , ) is a French satire written by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, first published in 1759. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled ''Candide: or, All for the Best'' (1759); ''Candide: or, Th ...
'' and
Jane Austen
Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
's ''
Emma''. Over the next four years, it aired adaptations of such novels as ''
Kidnapped
Kidnapped may refer to:
* subject to the crime of kidnapping
Literature
* ''Kidnapped'' (novel), an 1886 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson
* ''Kidnapped'' (comics), a 2007 graphic novel adaptation of R. L. Stevenson's novel by Alan Grant and Cam ...
'', ''
The Last of the Mohicans
''The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757'' is a historical romance written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1826.
It is the second book of the '' Leatherstocking Tales'' pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. '' The Pathfinde ...
'',
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Wor ...
's ''
The Mayor of Casterbridge
''The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character'' is an 1886 novel by the English author Thomas Hardy. One of Hardy's Wessex novels, it is set in a fictional rural England with Casterbridge standing in for Dorchester in D ...
'', ''
Moby-Dick'', ''
A Tale of Two Cities'' and ''
War and Peace
''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...
''. Since this was a half-hour program, many of the novels were serialized in multi-part adaptations of two to six 30-minute episodes.
Chicago actors
The group of Chicago actors heard on the series included Larry Alexander, Ernie Andrews, Everett Clarke, Johnny Coons, Maurice Copeland, Harry Elders, Sidney Ellstrom, Charles Flynn, Donald Gallagher, Hilda Graham, Ken Griffin,
Jonathan Hole, Geraldine Kay,
Eloise Kummer
Margery Eloise Kummer (June 17, 1916 - August 24, 2008) was an American radio and television actress.
Early years
Kummer was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Kummer. After graduating in 1933 from Sheboygan High ...
, Jack Lester,
Ken Nordine,
Hope Summers and Lee Young. Some episodes were narrated by Nordine. The announcers were Charles Chan, John Conrad and
Dave Garroway.
[
]
Guest commentators
Some shows in the series had guest speakers. Amy Loveman, an editor with ''The Saturday Review of Literature
''Saturday Review'', previously ''The Saturday Review of Literature'', was an American weekly magazine established in 1924. Norman Cousins was the editor from 1940 to 1971. Under Norman Cousins, it was described as "a compendium of reportage, es ...
'', was the guest commentator with the 1944 adaptation of ''Emma''. The novelist Ida Alexa Ross Wylie was the guest commenting on Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...
' '' The Pickwick Papers''. The adaptation of Theodore Dreiser's ''Free'' (July 9, 1948) featured a brief talk by the Dean of the University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
.
On July 23, 1948, the final program featured readings from different works by Thomas Wolfe
Thomas Clayton Wolfe (October 3, 1900 – September 15, 1938) was an American novelist of the early 20th century.
Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels as well as many short stories, dramatic works, and novellas. He is known for mixing highly origi ...
.
The series was retooled by Cuthbert and renamed ''NBC University Theater'' (aka ''NBC University Theater of the Air'', ''NBC Theater of the Air'' and ''NBC Theater'')[Passage, Frank ''The World's Great Novels''.]
/ref> In the new format, the program also included adaptations of short stories and plays in addition to novels and occasionally featured commentary on the original work by distinguished writers and critics. The new series won a Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
in 1948
Events January
* January 1
** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated.
** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect.
** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...
and was considered one of the most distinguished radio programs of its day; all the episodes from this period still survive.
The NBC University of the Air also produced a summer replacement series, ''American Novels'', which was broadcast when ''The World's Great Novels'' was off during the summers of 1947 and 1948.[
Some sources give the title of the 1944–48 series as ''The World's Greatest Novels'', but there is no evidence this title was ever used.][
]
List of NBC University Theater series
A partial list.
NBC University of the Air series
* 1923–26 NBC University of The Air Talk
NBC Inter-American University of The Air series
Between 1942 and 1946, NBC made a distinction between the "University of the Air" and the "Inter-American University of the Air". The former tended to be focused on the United States while the latter was more global.
See also
*Short story
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...
*'' NBC Presents: Short Story''
References
Listen to
Megalo: ''NBC University Theater'': ''A Farewell to Arms'' by Ernest Hemingway
External links
Frank M. Passage log
* ttp://www.current.org/coop/ History of Public Broadcasting in the United States: "Tuning Out Education" by Eugene E. Leach, Ph.D.br>The Digital Deli Too: "N" Radio Program logs Complete Archive for Download at archive.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:NBC University Theatre
1940s American radio programs
Plays based on novels
Peabody Award-winning radio programs
NBC radio programs