Radio Days

Theater of the Mind

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NBC University Theater

109 episodes · 1948–1951 · NBC, CBS · Drama

Illustration: a transcription disc label made for Radio Days, not an original disc
Illustration: a transcription disc label made for Radio Days, not an original disc

Play NBC University Theater on Radio Days

NBC's hour of great novels, from Main Street and Moby Dick to Hemingway and James Joyce, with a scholar or critic commenting on the book at the intermission. It ran from July 1948 to February 1951 and won Peabody and Ohio State awards along the way.

Sources: RadioGOLDINdex

Episodes

Tap a year to see its episodes, then a title to play it on Radio Days.

194821 episodes
  • Main Street (1948) July 30, 1948 · NBC · 59 min
    The first show: a portrait of small-town America, with Norman Cousins on life in 1920 at the intermission.
  • A Farewell to Arms August 6, 1948 · NBC · 59 min
  • Number One August 13, 1948 · NBC · 59 min
    The seamier side of Southern politics and corruption.
  • Noon Wine August 20, 1948 · NBC · 59 min
    A strange, hardworking Swede comes to a run-down dairy farm, with tragic results. Clifton Webb comments on the story.
  • The Romantic Comedians August 27, 1948 · NBC · 60 min
    A sixty-five-year-old Southern judge marries a twenty-three-year-old girl.
  • Candide (1948) September 3, 1948 · NBC · 30 min
    The best of all possible satires.
  • Peter Ibbetson September 10, 1948 · NBC · 30 min
    A prisoner finds happiness in his dreams.
  • The Purloined Letter September 17, 1948 · NBC · 30 min
  • Gulliver's Travels (1948) September 24, 1948 · NBC · 30 min
  • Lord Jim October 3, 1948 · NBC · 59 min
    Adventure at sea and in the jungles of the East.
  • An American Tragedy October 10, 1948 · NBC · 59 min
    A young man's rise, downfall and execution.
  • The History of Mr. Polly October 17, 1948 · NBC · 60 min
    An Englishman leaves his wife and starts a new life, a satire of English life.
  • They Stooped to Folly October 24, 1948 · NBC · 59 min
    A family melodrama.
  • Justice October 31, 1948 · NBC · 60 min
    A small forgery and the British system of justice at the turn of the century.
  • Arrowsmith November 7, 1948 · NBC · 60 min
    A dedicated doctor who wants only to do research, and the women in his life.
  • Of Human Bondage November 14, 1948 · 59 min
    Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
  • The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber (1948) November 21, 1948 · NBC · 60 min
    On safari in Africa, an American faces his fear of death and his vicious wife.
  • A Passage to India (1948) November 28, 1948 · NBC · 59 min
    Colonial India and the abuses of the British Raj.
  • Three Soldiers December 5, 1948 · NBC · 59 min
    The cruelty of the First World War, seen by three soldiers.
  • After Many a Summer Dies the Swan December 12, 1948 · NBC · 60 min
    A quest for eternal life in the culture of California.
  • Alice in Wonderland December 26, 1948 · NBC · 59 min
194942 episodes
  • Main Street (1949) January 2, 1949 · NBC · 60 min
    A bright, creative woman marries a dull doctor in Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, and is stifled by the town.
  • The Grapes of Wrath January 9, 1949 · NBC · 60 min
    The Okies' Depression-era search for the promised land of California.
  • All the Kings Men January 16, 1949 · 55 min
    Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
  • The Ministry of Fear January 23, 1949 · NBC · 60 min
    Murder and espionage in wartime London as a man hunts for secret microfilm.
  • Gulliver's Travels (1949) February 6, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    Gulliver's travels to Lilliput and other strange places.
  • Tom Jones February 13, 1949 · NBC · 60 min
    Love, lust and intrigue in old England.
  • Pride and Prejudice February 20, 1949 · NBC · 60 min
    A romance of British class consciousness.
  • The Heart of Midlothian February 27, 1949 · NBC · 60 min
    A Scottish woman is sentenced to hang for the murder of her child.
  • Tales of Edgar Allan Poe March 6, 1949 · NBC · 60 min
    Three Poe stories, including The Cask of Amontillado and The Fall of the House of Usher.
  • The Pickwick Papers March 13, 1949 · NBC · 60 min
    Mr. Pickwick is sued for breach of promise by Mrs. Bardell.
  • The Marble Faun March 20, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    An old-fashioned romance in which a primitive spirit enters the world of modern love.
  • The History of Henry Esmond, Esq March 27, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    A historical romance in the time of King James.
  • Jane Eyre April 3, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    A plain governess and her wealthy employer, and the secret in his house.
  • Moby Dick April 10, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    The hunt for the white whale.
  • The Way of All Flesh April 24, 1949 · NBC · 60 min
    Ernest Pontifex goes from gentleman to prisoner and back, a satire of human nature.
  • The Mayor of Castorbridge May 1, 1949 · NBC · 60 min
    A man's fall from success in the grain country of Wessex.
  • The Red Badge of Courage May 8, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    A frightened boy on a Civil War battlefield earns his red badge of courage.
  • Heart of Darkness May 15, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    A journey into Africa and the end of the trader Kurtz.
  • The Age of Innocence May 22, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    New York society of the 1870s, where one slip can ruin a woman.
  • The Ambassadors May 29, 1949 · NBC · 60 min
    A middle-aged man goes to Paris to bring home a young man entangled with a woman, and finds it harder than he expected.
  • The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber (1949) June 5, 1949 · NBC · 60 min
    A repeat of the award-winning broadcast: courage and cowardice on a lion hunt.
  • A Passage to India (1949) June 12, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    A Muslim doctor is accused of attacking an Englishwoman under the British Raj.
  • The Ides of March (1949) July 2, 1949 · NBC · 60 min
    Love and intrigue in ancient Rome, told through Julius Caesar's letters.
  • Goodbye, Mr. Chips July 9, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    The warm story of a Latin master at an English school.
  • Point of No Return (July 1949) July 16, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    A banker leads a life of quiet desperation, hoping for a promotion.
  • This Side of Paradise July 30, 1949 · NBC · 60 min
    F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel of the Jazz Age.
  • The Death of the Heart August 6, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    A young girl among people who dislike her keeps a diary that someone is secretly reading.
  • The Big Sky August 13, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    A mountain man's adventures and romance among the Blackfeet.
  • The Crusaders August 20, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    A clash of wills in the Army, in occupied Germany.
  • NBC University Theater, August 27 August 27, 1949 · 55 min
    Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists a broadcast on this date but gives no title.
  • Precious Bane September 3, 1949 · NBC · 60 min
    Rural Shropshire a hundred years ago.
  • Penrod September 25, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    Episodes from the famous tribute to boyhood.
  • The Portrait of a Lady October 2, 1949 · CBS · 60 min
    Isabel Archer comes into money and makes an unhappy marriage.
  • Sister Carrie October 16, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    The rise of Carrie and the fall of George.
  • The Romantic Comedian October 23, 1949 · 60 min
    Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
  • Dark Laughter October 30, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    A stream-of-consciousness story of a factory worker, the factory owner and his wife.
  • Dodsworth November 6, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    A Midwestern couple discovers Europe and looks for happiness.
  • Babylon Revisted November 13, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    After the Jazz Age, a father tries to win back his young daughter.
  • For Whom the Bell Tolls November 20, 1949 · NBC · 60 min
    Hemingway's Spanish Civil War.
  • Point of No Return (November 1949) November 27, 1949 · NBC · 59 min
    A New England banker of forty-three finds himself leading a life of quiet desperation.
  • The Wild Palms (1949) December 4, 1949 · NBC · 60 min
    A doctor and his lover try to start over in Chicago and at a Utah mine.
  • You Can't Go Home Again December 18, 1949 · NBC · 60 min
    A writer comes to grips with his own mortality.
195042 episodes
  • Great Expectations January 1, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    Pip and his mysterious benefactor.
  • Manhattan Transfer January 8, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    Lives in New York City, told as a collective novel.
  • The Ides of March (1950) January 15, 1950 · NBC · 59 min
    The last days of Julius Caesar.
  • At Heaven's Gate January 22, 1950 · NBC · 59 min
    A drama of love and power.
  • Flowering Judas," and "Pale Horse, Pale Rider January 29, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    Two short stories: a Mexican revolutionary, and the home front in the Great War.
  • The Track of the Cat February 5, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    Family conflict and a murderous black panther.
  • The Light That Failed February 12, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    A painter loses his sight after his masterpiece is defaced.
  • Victory February 19, 1950 · 59 min
    Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
  • The Patrician February 26, 1950 · 60 min
    Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
  • Tono Bungay March 5, 1950 · 60 min
    Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
  • There Is No Conversation March 12, 1950 · NBC · 59 min
    A Paris romance of high finance and a nobleman, told from two points of view.
  • Angel Pavement March 19, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    A very British swindle.
  • Howard's End March 26, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    Manners, morals and class in turn-of-the-century England.
  • Mrs. Dalloway April 2, 1950 · NBC · 59 min
    British society, madness and suicide, with the characters' thoughts woven into the dialogue.
  • The Nazarine April 9, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    The last days of Jesus and the Crucifixion.
  • A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man April 23, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    James Joyce's novel of his student days at an Irish Catholic school.
  • Sons and Lovers April 30, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    A young miner comes of age.
  • England Made Me May 7, 1950 · NBC · 59 min
    A British brother and sister in Stockholm with no money and no honor. The show announces an Ohio State award.
  • Prater Violet May 14, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    A writer in Hollywood works for a German director on a story of old Vienna.
  • The House in Paris May 21, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    A love triangle told from a child's point of view.
  • Imperial Palace May 28, 1950 · NBC · 59 min
    A grand British hotel and the manager who devotes his life to it.
  • Gallions Reach June 4, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    An Englishman kills his boss, is shipwrecked, and hunts rare minerals in the Burmese jungle.
  • Monsieur Vincent June 11, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    The story of St. Vincent de Paul.
  • The Wild Palms (1950) June 18, 1950 · NBC · 59 min
    A doctor and his lover try to start over in Chicago and at a Utah mine.
  • The Doctor in Spite of Himself June 25, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    The farce of the woodcutter called upon to cure a strange case.
  • The Time of Man July 9, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    A rural romance in the hill country, delayed at the start by a Korean War bulletin.
  • The Treasure of Franchard July 16, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    An older doctor raises a young runaway, and both lives change.
  • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn July 23, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    Huck, Tom and Jim on the Mississippi.
  • Trents Last Case July 30, 1950 · 60 min
    Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
  • A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court August 6, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    A nineteenth-century American lands in the days of chivalry.
  • A High Wind in Jamaica August 20, 1950 · NBC · 59 min
    A group of children is captured by real pirates.
  • Hedda Gabbler August 27, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    The beautiful Hedda schemes to be rid of the husband she doesn't love.
  • The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard September 3, 1950 · NBC · 59 min
    An old scholar helps an orphan at a boarding school and finally adopts her.
  • Lost Horizon September 10, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    A visit to the Valley of the Blue Moon. Three minutes are missing from the middle.
  • Portrait in a Mirror September 17, 1950 · NBC · 59 min
    A young British painter comes of age.
  • Don Quixote September 24, 1950 · NBC · 59 min
    The famous tilter at windmills.
  • Jonathan Wild October 1, 1950 · NBC · 30 min
    The life of a criminal rogue in old England.
  • Candide (1950) October 8, 1950 · NBC · 30 min
    The story of "the best of all possible worlds."
  • Northanger Abbey October 15, 1950 · NBC · 30 min
    Manners and morals in old England.
  • Pere Goriot October 22, 1950 · NBC · 30 min
    An impoverished old man and his two rich, ungrateful daughters.
  • The Red and the Black November 2, 1950 · NBC · 60 min
    A peasant's rise to power and his fall.
  • The Gambler December 27, 1950 · NBC · 30 min
    The Russian fascination with Lady Luck.
19514 episodes
  • The Kreutzer Sonata January 3, 1951 · NBC · 30 min
    A Russian's violent jealousy flares when his wife is seen with a violinist.
  • Daisy Miller January 17, 1951 · NBC · 30 min
    A beautiful American at a Swiss resort.
  • The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg January 24, 1951 · NBC · 30 min
    A clever revenge on an entire town.
  • The Withered Arm February 14, 1951 · NBC · 30 min
    The last show of the series: witchcraft in old Wessex.