This is one of these pages. Click on one of the above for a different OTRR Lux Radio Theatre - Single Episodes page.
Lux Radio Theatre was indisputably the biggest, most important, most expensive drama anthology program on radio. It ran from October 14, 1934 until June 7, 1955, then continued on television as Lux Video Theatre until 1957. In all, some 926 episodes were broadcast, providing a record of the most important entertainment events in American theatre and, later, film.
Lux Radio Theatre was always broadcast live, with a studio audience and a full orchestra accompanying the performance and providing musical transitions between scenes. As many film actors were used to numerous takes and not live performance, they sometimes suffered acute stage fright before the show. However, since most received $5,000 for their performance – in addition to free publicity for upcoming pictures – actors appeared in their original screen roles if they were available. Indeed, production would halt if necessary on a film if performers were called to appear on Lux. When the actors were not available, others stepped in. The plays were assembled and rehearsed for a week, in sharp contrast to many other shows, which required a minimal of an actor’s time. Regular players for the series included Jim and Marian Jordan, otherwise known as Fibber McGee and Molly. Hosts included Cecil B. DeMille (1936-1945), William Keighley (1945-1952) and Irving Cummings (1952-1955). Directors included Tony Stanford, Frank Woodruff, Fred MacKaye and Earl Ebi.
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.
This is the Single Episodes Page. The Certified Set includes extras not found here. It is located at OTRR Certified Set. This Single Episodes page is provided in case you want to sample the shows.Note that in many cases, file names have been modified from the original OTRR names to conform to archive.org naming requirements.
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:
OTRR Maintained Set -- This set contains all known episodes in the best available audio condition with the most accurate dates and titles known to be in general circulation and based on current research at the time of release. Replaces OTRR Certified Accurate and OTRR Certified Complete.
OTRR Non-Maintained Set -- A collection of shows that has not gone through the OTRR Maintenance process.
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.
Also, beginning in 2019, the version numbers of our OTRR releases changed format -- instead of v1.0 or v2.1, we are now using a version number that reflects the year and month the set was released. The format used is a two-digit year followed by a two-digit month. For example, "v1906" indicates a set that was released in June 2019, or "v1910" indicates a set released in October 2019.
NOTE: There are no passwords for any of our ZIP files. If you are prompted for a password, before downloading the file again, try unzipping the file into a shorter full folder path name -- for example, unzip to "C:\" instead of "C:\Documents and Settings\your_Windows_ID\some_other_folder\". Sorry, some of our releases contain long folder and file names, which sometimes manifests itself on the Windows platform as prompting for a password for the ZIP file. Or try renaming the ZIP file itself to a shorter name before unzipping.