Academy Award
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- Publication date
- 2018-03-03
ACADEMY AWARD
Academy Award was a CBS radio anthology series which presented 30-minute adaptations of plays, novels or films. The program's title is listed in one source as Academy Award Theater.
Rather than adaptations of Oscar-winning films, as the title implied, the series offered "Hollywood's finest, the great picture plays, the great actors and actresses, techniques and skills, chosen from the honor roll of those who have won or been nominated for the famous golden Oscar of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences."
With that as a guideline, any drama could be presented as long as the cast included at least one Oscar-nominated performer. For example, Robert Nathan's 1940 novel Portrait of Jennie was not released as a film until 1949. David O. Selznick, having acquired the rights to Nathan's novel in 1944, was spending much time and money in his efforts to bring it to the screen. Thus, Academy Award's December 4, 1946, adaptation of Portrait of Jennie, with John Lund and Oscar-winner Joan Fontaine, had a promotional aspect, concluding with host/announcer Hugh Brundage revealing, "Portrait of Jennie is soon to be a Selznick International picture starring Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten."
The program initially aired on Saturdays at 7pm (Eastern) through June, then moved to Wednesdays at 10pm (Eastern). Frank Wilson scripted the 30-minute adaptations for producer-director Dee Englebach, and Leith Stevens provided the music. Frank Wilson was the script writer. The sound effects crew included Gene Twombly, Jay Roth, Clark Casey and Berne Surrey.
The series began March 30, 1946, with Bette Davis, Anne Revere and Fay Bainter in Jezebel. On that first show, Jean Hersholt spoke as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, welcoming the E.R. Squibb & Sons pharmaceutical company "The House Of Squibb" as the program's sponsor. It was an expensive show to produce since the stars cost $4,000 a week, and another $1,600 went each week to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the use of their name in the show's title. This eventually became a factor in Squibb's decision to cancel the series after only 39 weeks.
Dramas in which actors recreated their original film roles included Henry Fonda in Young Mr. Lincoln, Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon, Cary Grant in Suspicion, Gregory Peck in The Keys of the Kingdom, and Ronald Colman in Lost Horizon. Of the 39 episodes, only six actors recreated their own Oscar-winning roles: Fay Bainter, Bette Davis, Paul Lukas, Victor McLaglen, Paul Muni and Ginger Rogers.
The series ended December 18, 1946, with Margaret O'Brien and one of the series' frequent supporting players, Jeff Chandler (appearing under his real name, Ira Grossel) in Lost Angel.
The material for this series synopsis was originally published at www.wikipedia.com.NOTE: Updated Release! Version 4: all new encodes (1-Mar-2018).
NOTE: Updated Release! Version 3.1: renamed the series from Academy Award Theater to Academy Award, as announced in each show; corrected file names; new audio briefs, documents, and artwork; and other miscellaneous changes (14-Jun-2012).
NOTE: Updated Release! Version 3: upgraded sound encodes for 6 episodes; added script for 46-07-03 The Maltese Falcon; added Hear It Now program in extras; and other minor miscellaneous changes (07-Mar-2011).
NOTE: Updated Release! Version 2: upgraded sound encodes to 18 episodes; ten Academy Award Ceremony Broadcasts; five documents about the Academy Awards; two links to sites; and six additional programs about Academy Awards (23-Nov-2008).
OTRR Release Information:
Series Name: Academy Award
Release Status: OTRR Certified Complete
Release Date: March 1, 2018
Release Version: Version 4
Number of CDs: 5
From the Old Time Radio Researchers Group. See "Notes" Section below for more information on the OTRR.
Notes
OLD TIME RADIO RESEARCHERS GROUP
This is a production of the Old Time Radio Researchers (OTRR) Group located at Old Time Radio Researchers Website (www.otrr.org), Old Time Radio Researchers Facebook Group, and Old Time Radio Researchers Group.
It contains the most complete and accurate version of this series in the best sound possible at the time of creation. An updated version will be issued if more episodes or better sounding ones become available.
If you are interested in preserving Old Time Radio (OTR), you may wish to join the Old Time Radio Researchers Group at Facebook and Groups.io.
Relax, listen, and enjoy!
OTRR Definitions:
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Pre-2019 OTRR Definitions:
OTRR Certified Accurate -- A series that was "Certified Accurate" indicated that all the episodes were properly identified and labeled based on current information but that the series did not contain all known extant episodes.
OTRR Certified Complete -- A series that was "Certified Complete" achieved the highest level of certification available under the OTRR Certified Standards. This certification level implied that all the files in the series were "Certified Accurate" and also indicated that the series was as complete as possible and included all circulating episodes.
OTRR Non-Certified -- A collection of shows that has not gone through the OTRR Certification process.
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- Addeddate
- 2006-12-26 05:41:10
- Boxid
- OL100020404
- Identifier
- OTRR_Certified_Academy_Award_Theater