Radio Recap: Behind the Scenes in Hollywood

Behind the Scenes in Hollywood was a transcribed radio program which ran in 1945. It was hosted by Bidwell McCormick and featured brief stories about Hollywood of the day. At times it was little more than gossip or an early radio version of those magazines you find at the movie theater.

Listening to this series it is remarkable how amateurish it sounds; Bidwell McCormick was apparently a publicist for RKO Pictures, but as a radio personality he's not quite there; his pitch is frequently too soft, he stumbles over words and has to repeat himself. Those bumbles are what's really odd about this series - I mean, it was transcribed. They could've gone back and fixed it every time McCormick made a mistake. It makes me wonder whether these programs even actually aired, or if this was just a proof-of-concept... or maybe only the outtake discs survived.

When I saw the show dated as being from 1945 at first I was dubious because the first episode has a story about the making of The Robe, a 1953 picture. But, indeed, not only was the Robe in production that early, the film rights had been snapped up before the book was even published!

Despite the issues I have with this show, I actually think it's an interesting radio program. For someone likke me who enjoys Hollywood history, it is an interesting snapshot of what the industry was like just as World War II was ending. The show occasionally took time to explain some of the technical details of how films were made such as sets and props, so it's not entirely without merit.

Old-Time Radio Researchers have a playlist for this program available on Youtube.