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Let's Pretend

50 episodes · 1942–1954 · CBS, Armed Forces Radio Service · Juvenile

Play Let's Pretend on Radio Days

Let's Pretend was radio's great children's theater: fairy tales performed by children, every Saturday on CBS from March 24, 1934, to October 23, 1954. Nila Mack created and directed it until her death in 1953. Arthur Anderson joined at 13 and was on almost every week until the end. Cream of Wheat sponsored it, and it won two Peabody Awards.

Sources: Let's Pretend, Wikipedia

Episodes

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1942

• Why the Sea Is Salty August 22, 1942 · CBS · 29 min
  Why the sea is salty.
• The Little Mermaid August 29, 1942 · CBS · 29 min
  Hans Christian Andersen's tale of the mermaid who gives up her voice for a chance at life on land, played by the children of Let's Pretend.
• The Elves and the Shoemaker September 5, 1942 · CBS · 30 min
  The shoemaker and the elves who help him at night.
• The Water of Life September 12, 1942 · CBS · 30 min
  The quest for the water of life.
• Prince Gigi and the Magic Ring September 19, 1942 · CBS · 29 min
  Prince Gigi and a magic ring.
• The House of the World December 26, 1942 · CBS · 30 min
  A Christmas story.

1943

• King Midas and the Golden Touch January 23, 1943 · CBS · 27 min
  King Midas and his golden touch.
• Princess Moonbeam March 20, 1943 · CBS · 29 min
  Mother Moon sends her own daughter to Earth to a childless couple.
• Sleeping Beauty (Uncle Ted) November 27, 1943 · 21 min
  The Archive copy has no date; Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists this title on November 27, 1943, the date used here.

1944

• The Six Swans August 3, 1944 · CBS · 25 min
  The show accepts Billboard's award as best children's program, its sixteenth, before the story of the six swans.

1946

• Donkey Skin February 2, 1946 · 24 min
  The Archive copy has no date; Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists this title on February 2, 1946, the date used here.
• Hop O My Thumb April 27, 1946 · 23 min
  The Archive copy has no date; Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists this title on April 27, 1946, the date used here.
• The Yellow Dwarf July 27, 1946 · CBS · 23 min
  A wicked dwarf kills two young lovers, but a good fairy turns them into trees and saves them.
• The Goose Girl August 3, 1946 · 19 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• The Story of Faithful John August 10, 1946 · CBS · 25 min
  The Grimm brothers' tale of a servant who keeps his promise to a dying king, whatever it costs him.
• Snow White and Rose Red August 24, 1946 · 23 min
  The Archive copy has no date; Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists this title on August 24, 1946, the date used here.
• Jack and the Beanstalk October 26, 1946 · CBS · 25 min
  Jack trades the cow for magic beans and climbs to the giant's castle in the clouds.

1947

• How Six Traveled Through the World May 3, 1947 · 25 min
  The Archive copy has no date; Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists this title on May 3, 1947, the date used here.
• Bluebeard June 21, 1947 · 19 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• Thumbelina June 28, 1947 · CBS · 26 min
  Hans Christian Andersen's tiny girl, her adventures with a field mouse, and a mole who wants to marry her.
• Brother and Sister July 5, 1947 · 24 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• The Brave Little Tailor July 12, 1947 · 25 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• The Chinese Nightingale July 26, 1947 · CBS · 20 min
  An emperor prefers a mechanical songbird to the real nightingale.
• The Youth Who Learned to Shiver and Shake August 16, 1947 · CBS · 19 min
  A young man who doesn't know what fear is.
• Melilot August 23, 1947 · CBS · 25 min
  A witch turns three brothers into half-frogs.
• Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp August 30, 1947 · CBS · 21 min
  Aladdin and the genie of the lamp.
• The Twelve Months September 6, 1947 · CBS · 20 min
  A fairy tale about a kind girl, her cruel stepmother and stepsister, and the twelve brothers who are the months of the year.
• The Donkey, the Table, and the Stick September 13, 1947 · CBS · 26 min
  A young man goes to seek his fortune and comes home with three wonderful gifts.
• The Enchanted Frog September 20, 1947 · 19 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• Cinderella September 27, 1947 · CBS · 20 min
  Cinderella and her fairy godmother.

1948

• Snowdrop and the Seven Dwarfs December 18, 1948 · Armed Forces Radio Service · 32 min
  The fairy tale of Snowdrop and the seven dwarfs.

1949

• The Princess and the Pea April 3, 1949 · Armed Forces Radio Service · 31 min
  How do you pick a queen? Test her with a pea under the mattress. A different recording of a similar script.
• The Tinderbox July 9, 1949 · Armed Forces Radio Service · 31 min
  A soldier cheated by the king gets his revenge in a strange way.

1952

• King Thrushbeard June 21, 1952 · Armed Forces Radio Service · 26 min
  Proud princess meets King Thrushbeard.
• The White Cat August 16, 1952 · 26 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• One Eye, Two Eye, Three Eye November 29, 1952 · CBS · 21 min
  Three sisters and a Prince Charming, in a story much like Cinderella, where goodness wins again.
• The Husband Who Was to Mind the House December 27, 1952 · CBS · 27 min
  A farmer and his wife trade jobs for a day.

1953

• The House in the Woods August 22, 1953 · 26 min
  The Archive copy has no date; Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists this title on August 22, 1953, the date used here.
• Ceres and Proserpina November 28, 1953 · CBS · 25 min
  The Greek myth of how winter came to be.
• The Snow Queen December 12, 1953 · CBS · 24 min
  A girl with love in her heart sets out after her friend, carried off by the ice-hearted Snow Queen. From Hans Christian Andersen.
• The Night Before Christmas December 19, 1953 · CBS · 24 min
  The famous poem told by three mice who dare to stir when not a creature is supposed to be stirring.

1954

• Robin Hood January 9, 1954 · CBS · 25 min
  Robin Hood and his men outwit the Sheriff of Nottingham.
• The Magic Cuckoo April 10, 1954 · CBS · 27 min
  A wish-granting bird gives two shoemakers wealth and happiness. Which is the greater gift?
• Beauty and the Beast June 5, 1954 · CBS · 27 min
  A daughter goes to live with a beast to save her father.
• Ondine June 19, 1954 · CBS · 29 min
  A water nymph in love, where magic is no help.
• From Vinyl - Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves September 4, 1954 · 24 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• Dick Whittington and His Cat September 25, 1954 · Armed Forces Radio Service · 25 min
  The Bow Bells promise a poor servant boy success and love.
• King Arthur and How He Won His Sword October 2, 1954 · CBS · 27 min
  How Arthur won Excalibur and met the Lady of the Lake.
• Hansel and Gretel October 9, 1954 · 25 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• Jorinda and Joringel October 23, 1954 · CBS · 29 min
  The last broadcast, after twenty-three years on the air. A witch who loves birds turns a flock of pretty young women into birds. The script had been done before, on May 4, 1946.