MGM came very late to radio. At the same time they syndicated MGM Theater of the Air they were also syndicating Crime Does Not Pay, Dr. Kildare, the Hardy Family and the Adventures of Maisie. I've heard from various radio scribes that the studio saw radio as part of their competition and so didn't normally want their stars or film adaptations to appear on radio. This was supposedly radio's loss because MGM was simply the greatest studio.
...Except I don't buy that; I like MGM's films just fine but I personally feel that MGM only obtained a reputation as the finest studio because they invested so much of their public relations money into convincing people that's what they were.
The MGM Theater of the Air kind of proves my point; by the time it entered the scene, Lux Radio Theater had long since established how to successfully adapt feature films into an hour-long radio drama. Lux Radio Theater featured adaptations of most of the greatest films that were made in the 30s, 40s and early 50. By the time of the MGM Theater of the Air they didn't seem to have that much left in their vaults that radio listeners hadn't heard done elsewhere, what with programs such as Screen Directors' Playhouse and Academy Award Theater appearing.
This is not to say that the MGM Theater of the Air is a bad program, just that you won't find the same verve and energy that the other three aforementioned programs had. Host Howard Dietz is an acceptable voice but lacking the hammy performance Cecil B. DeMille gave as host of Lux Radio Theater.
Most of the stories adapted on the MGM Theater of the Air seemed to be stories of marital troubles and drawing room conversations (ie, Riptide, Vacation from Marriage). It's exactly the sort of stiff, stuffy material I associate with MGM.
However, there are a few comedies, with Charles Laughton returning for an adaptation of the Canterville Ghost and Celeste Holm in an amusing version of Slightly Dangerous.
I'm a bit surprised that only 33 episodes of the show's 78-episode run. As it was a syndicated series, I'd imagine that most of the series must still exist in some OTR collector's vault, neglected and unloved. Perhaps one day they'll appear and I might then have to reassess the series, as the missing episodes include an adaptation of the films Escape with William Holden, the Count of Monte Cristo with Jose Ferrer, High Wall with John Payne and the Man in the Iron Mask with Brian Aherne.
You can hear the MGM Theater of the Air at the Old-Time Radio Researchers' Library.
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