Radio Recap: Hello Americans

I'm a great fan of Orson Welles' work - especially his radio programs. And yet, I hadn't given much thought to his series Hello Americans, which aired from the fall of 1942 to the winter of 1943. The episodes I had heard seemed a little difficult to quantify... what exactly was Hello Americans? The disparite episodes I heard seemed to have little in common beyond a the subject of South America.

I've now heard all of Hello Americans and now know... it was disparite by design. Welles had been sent to South America before to help promote pan-Americanism during World War II; that turned out to be something of a disaster as none of the films he attempted to make were ever completed (the fragments were sown together as It's All True) while at the same time his excellent film the Magnificent Ambersons was edited against his wishes during his absence.

But Hello Americans leaves us with something positive from Welles' venture down south. This show lasted only 12 episodes - and Welles missed 2 of them! - but despite the scattershot nature of the contents it is fascinating to listen to, as well as quite educational. The series performed a quick overview of South American history and samplings of South American culture - most especially in terms of music, represented by guests such as Carmen Miranda and Sir Lancelot. When Welles missed two episodes the time was filled (brilliantly, IMHO) by all-music programs featuring some of the artists Welles had previously hosted.

The oddest ducks in this very odd flock by far are the three episodes given over to "the Alphabet," in which Welles attempted to discuss South America with a letter representing various significant topics. But that "various" means the episodes are not very focused - he provides multiple words for each letter, so that the first installment only covers letters A-C! At that rate he could surely have kept it going quite a bit longer, but instead he tore from C to S in the second episode, during which he started a lengthy side drama about slavery which continued into the third and final chapter.

Again, this is not a typical radio program; it's part music, part drama, part educational. If you like Welles or you enjoy a bit of samba and calypso, you'll want to hear this program.

Every episode of Hello Americans is available at the Internet Archive.