Radio Recap: Romance

For much of the Golden Age of radio, CBS had three dramatic anthology programs whose single-word titles summed up what the audience could expect from the program. There was, of course, Suspense; then there was Escape. But how much attention have you paid to Romance?

Somehow, despite a healthy run on radio (1943-1957) and a large archive of episodes, Romance is a series I've seldom seen revisited by old-time radio fans. I first learned of the program's existence in John Dunning's On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio and his entry for Romance was pretty sparse and dismissive. He presented the data surrounding the program's timeslots and production credits but he didn't offer even one paragraph of commentary about the series itself.

Like all anthology programs, Romance was indeed a mixed bag, but the sheer scope of years and formats under which CBS presented Romance demonstrate that it's a program well worth seeking out. At times it was a sponsored program with big-name Hollywood stars; at times it adapted famous Hollywood movies (especially 1944-1946 when called Theater of Romance); sometimes it told romantic stories; other times it was "romantic" in a classical sense. In all its eras, it benefited from CBS' strong production values. And small wonder! The 1944-1946 programs (Theater of Romance) were produced by Charles Vanda of Suspense; the 1950-1953 programs were produced and written by Norman Macdonnell and John Meston just prior to their joint creation of Gunsmoke; and Suspense's Antony Ellis and William N. Robson oversaw the final years of the program, abetted by familiar names from Suspense and Escape like writers Kathleen Hite and E. Jack Neuman. Some scripts were even recycled from Escape, including "Wild Oranges," "Loup-Garou" and "the Cave."

During the period where it was called Theater of Romance it sounds like the same orchestra that performed on Suspense! Great radio performers like William Conrad, John Dehner, Harry Bartell, Georgia Ellis, Hans Conreid, Paula Winslowe and Lawrence Dobkin were heard on Romance through most of its history and the Theater of Romance included big name stars like Humphrey Bogart, Joseph Cotten, Cary Grant, Edward G. Robinson, James Stewart, Ray Milland, Vincent Price and Herbert Marshall.

The Theater of Romance era of the show is very interesting, although the movie adaptations are a bit odd - because the program's premise was that it was a romantic program, they would often strip the movie plots down to simply the romantic passages. The adaptation of "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," for example, is concerned more so with the titular Mr. Chips' relationship with his wife than his career as a schoolmaster.

Still, there are some especially fine programs during the Theater of Romance period. Be sure to check out Bogart in the murder story "Conflict" (September 11, 1945). From the rest of the series I recommend most strongly "Pagosa" (August 6, 1951), a western tale with William Conrad, Georgia Ellis, writer John Meston and producer Norman Macdonnell together prior to Gunsmoke; the sci-fi farce "the Strip Teaser and the Space Warp" (March 24, 1956); and the humorous "the Lady and the Tiger" (May 12, 1956).

You can hear the Old-Time Radio Researchers Group's collection of Romance episodes at the Internet Archive.