Radio Recap: Anthology

Anthology was a half-hour program on NBC from February 28, 1954 to June 12, 1955. It featured readings of poetry, most of them culled from recording (occasionally they played snippets from plays such as the works of Shakespeare, although the emphasis remained on the poetic nature of the works). Some times the poems were read by the original poets; other recordings were read by well-known performers. Other times they featured interviews with poets who read from their recent publications.

Poets heard in recordings on Anthology included Elizabeth Bishop, Claire Bloom, Noel Coward, T. S. Eliot, Archibald MacLeish, Carl Sandburg and Edith Sitwell. Famous names heard reading poems on Anthology included John Carradine, Ronald Colman, George Coulouris, Bing Crosby, Jose Ferrer, Sir John Gielgud, Frank Lovejoy, Agnes Moorehead, Tyrone Power, Vincent Price, Basil Rathbone and Orson Welles.

The series was hosted by Harry Fleetwood, produced by Steve Wright and directed by Draper Lewis. Obviously, if you don't like poetry you won't want to check out this series, but I think it's unusual enough that you should give it a chance. Some episodes feature seasonal themes such as Halloween and Christmas, which you might want to add to your own seasonal playlists.

Many of the recordings feature music behind the orator of the poems. I find it distracts from the poems and I wasn't alone - Fleetwood frequently read from listener mail in which listeners complained about the music and he discussed the matter with his guests, with opinions heard either side of the issue. Personally, I think music leading in and out is fine but when it plays under the spoken words it tends to interfere with the words' impact.

You can hear 57 episodes of Anthology at the Old Time Radio Researchers Library at this link.