''Action'' (aka ''Action Theater'') was a planned 1945 NBC

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

anthology series of action-adventure tales. However, the series went no further than the first audition drama, although an announcement on the show reveals an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's "Victory" (with Nancy Kelly and Roger Pryor) was scheduled, along with stories by

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

and

Jack London John Griffith London (; January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors t ...

. Performing before a live studio audience, Jane Wyatt and Robert Lowery starred in the pilot program, "High Explosive", with a supporting cast of Ralph Sanford and Tom Holland. It was adapted by writer-director Maxwell Shane (1905-1983) from Paramount's ''High Explosive'' (1943), a film scripted by Shane and Howard J. Green from a story by Joseph Hoffman. Produced by Irvin Atkins for Radio Creators, "High Explosive" aired January 15, 1945, with music by Gregory Stone. It was introduced by host William Gargan and announcer Art Baker with a commentary by Shane in the middle of the show. Best known in the 1940s for his '' Big Town'' screenplays and radio scripts, Shane later scripted ''City Across the River'', the 1949 film of Irving Shulman's ''The Amboy Dukes'', and he was a writer-producer for TV's '' Thriller'' (1960–62).

Listen to

Same Time, Same Station: ''Action'': "High Explosive" (January 15, 1945), heard after two other 30-minute shows

References

{{reflist American radio dramas 1940s American radio programs NBC radio programs