Radio Recap: Living Fiction

Living Fiction was apparently a short-lived series produced by NBC from January-May, 1954. The series was created at Northwestern University, the latest of several programs (such as NBC University Theater) in which NBC made use of talented university staff and students to produce radio dramas. I've no doubt it was cheaper than hiring radio professionals, but it also meant they were creating programs with different talents than what was heard elsewhere in radio. This wasn't Hollywood radio or New York radio. Consequently, none of my usual complains about 1950s NBC dramas holds here, as the people at Northwestern had their own library of music, rather than the repeated musical stings used in almost every other NBC show.

The series featured some very familiar fiction heard elsewhere in old-time radio like Robert Louis Stevenson's "the Suicide Club" and Oscar Wilde's "the Canterville Ghost" but also some tales less-frequently adapted like Sir Walter Scott's "the Heart of Midlothian," Stephen Vincent Benet's "the Devil and Daniel Webster" and Stephen Crane's "the Red Badge of Courage."

Living Fiction isn't as polished as other radio dramatic programs but the high-quality literature they chose helps elevate the series. It's an interesting, forgotten nugget.

The Old Time Radio Researchers have 16 episodes of Living Fiction at this link on their website.