P R O D U C T I O N   N O T E S

The thing I really like about the radio plays is that I don’t have to look at costuming or set design or anything like that. All I have to do is listen to the words. And at 45 minutes, to get the gist of this huge work across, that’s a challenge already. However, this thing started out with two (well, three) minor strikes against it, and one major one, to wit:

First, and second, it was produced in the early 50’s, and it’s American. There’s such a postwar vibe running through the script that it’s hard to ignore, but it’s definitely an interpretation of its time.

Third, it’s only 45 minutes long, and that not only includes the announcer introducing the show, there’s also two commercials. Well, not real commercials as we know them now. The actors stop the production, and start talking about the sponsor, which in this case is Lux soap.

And the major strike?

It's almost a direct copy of the 1952 Michael Rennie Movie, already reviewed.

That being said, this had the potential for being a total disaster, one of those reviews that I live for, the cathartic kind that makes the sting of the listening to the production all better. But…

For all its goofiness with the plot, including the what-we’ve-come-to-expect-made-up-character-to-befriend-Valjean-and-advance-the-plot, for all the brevity, for all the production values that are better suited for radio shows such as Your Truly, Johnny Dollar or Dragnet, it wasn’t that bad. Okay, let me rephrase that: it wasn’t as bad as the movie version.

I mean, it’s a radio production and it has issues, and the Orson Welles radio drama still has them all beat hands down, but this is not the worst radio version. This is a very period piece, a little slice of the early 50’s that is at the same time kitchy and classic. And mercifully shorter than the movie script it’s based on.

The whole point of the Lux Radio Theater show was to bring recent movies to a wider audience by having the original casts recreate the feel of the movie in a Reader’s Digest condensed version. For the time it makes a load of sense: when it started in the Depression, everyone already had a radio but movies cost money to go to. Produced originally by famed director Cecil B. Demille, stars couldn’t wait to be a part of this show because it was more exposure for them and free advertising for their movie, as well as a promotional opportunity to plug any current project they had going.

This episode originally aired on December 22, 1952, and presented as a “Christmas present to our audience.” Had I been among the original listeners, I think I would have preferred a lump of coal.

As for the other details of the plot:

• Some of the plot points from the execrable Fox movie are repeated here, such as the fact that Marius accuses Valjean of being in love with Cosette himself and demanding that Cosette choose between him and Valjean. Everybody say ick. And as in the movie version, Valjean has a sidekick. This one’s name is Robert, and he starts out being one of the workers in the Montreuil factory. He instantly dislikes Valjean (explained later when Valjean confesses his past to Robert and Robert says he knew about it because he saw the mark of the iron collar on Valjean’s neck) but later becomes his best buddy. Robert narrates the entire production, which saves us from hearing Victor "Omnipotent Narrator" Hugo do it, but still, it’s weird.
• Something that made me laugh was the fact that Valjean runs off to England for a bit, then comes back, then goes away again… especially while Cosette is in school. Like ten years’ worth of running off. Oh come on.

C A S T   N O T E S

• The main characters are voiced by two thirds of the 1952 movie, meaning that Debra Paget and Robert Newton are here reprising their roles as Cosette and Javert. The interesting thing is that Debra Paget gets billing over Newton although Newton has more voice time than she does and almost more than Valjean. For the part of Valjean, Michael Rennie might have been there the day the earth stood still but he was not here for this production, so they got one of the awesomest character actors of all time, Ronald Coleman, instead. In a way this is like saying that we couldn’t get that guy from the local community theater so we got that Oscar winner to cover for him (yeah, I know, Michael Rennie is not horrible, but Coleman is just that much better than him). Ronald Coleman once played the quintessential tragic hero Sydney Carton in the 30’s version of A Tale Of Two Cities, so he’s no stranger to the classics.
  
• Oddly enough, no other voice actors are listed on air, and that includes Robert. I’ve checked a few websites, but they only mention the main cast.

T H E  B E S T  T H I N G S  A B O U T  T H I S  V E R S I O N

Mercifully brief, no video, and oh yes Ronald Awesome-In-A-Can Coleman! 

T H E  W O R S T  T H I N G,  S I N G U L A R ,   
A B O U T  T H I S  V E R S I O N

Did I mention it used most of the script from the noxious 1952 movie version? Do you really need any more examples of the badness level?

T H E  S I L V E R  C A N D L E S T I C K  A W A R D S   ( " STICKIES® " )

And the award, singular, goes to....

• The Major Frank Burns Memorial Ugly American Award goes to the entire cast for their banter at the end of the show, when they’re congratulating each other on a job well done and how great they are and how wonderful the production is and how great it is to be Americans, well, except for the British members of the cast, like Robert Newton…

W H E R E  T O  F I N D  T H I S  V E R S I O N

There are a few websites offering them for download or sale. In the interest of protecting the public I'll say, try the search engine of your choice. If you want it that bad, you'll find it.