The Wizard of Oz (LXRT)

Dorothy, a girl from Kansas, is transported into a fantasy world where she quickly runs afoul of an evil witch and must seek the help of a powerful wizard to return home.

This adaptation, sponsored by Lux soap, is a fair reproduction of the movie, but it unfortunately illustrates how much of the success of the film relied on its visuals. In other words, it's a lot more fun to watch The Wizard of Oz than to listen to it.

Also, this production comes 11 years after the movie. Some of the voices haven't aged well and others are weaker replacements. On the plus side, I always love hearing the audience reactions during these Lux shows.

Lux Radio Theater #726
The Wizard of Oz
25 Dec 1950
19501225(726)_LXRT_TheWizardOfOz.mp3
William Keighley (host), John Milton Kennedy (announcer), Rudy Schrager (music director), Herb Vigran, Edwin Max, Herb Butterfield, Betty Lou Gerson, Noreen Gammill, William Johnstone, Ruth Perrott, Gil Stratton, Charles Smith, Charles Woolf, Jay Novello, Marion Richman, Edward Marr, Norman Field, David Light (as a dog), Georgia Stark (chorus), Betty Rome (chorus), Barbara Van Brunt (chorus), Cornelia Glover (chorus), Arnold Markusson (chorus), Burton Dole, Eloise Rawitzer (choral soloist), Roy Zobel (choral soloist), Harry Stanton (choral soloist), Ernest Newton (choral soloist), Gloria Wood (choral soloist), Dorothy Lovett (commercial spokesman: as "Libby"), Paula Stone (intermission guest: MGM Radio writer/producer), Noel Langley (screenwriter), Florence Ryerson (screenwriter), Edgar Allen Wolfe (screenwriter), L. Frank Baum (author), Earl Ebi (director), Sanford Barnett (adaptor), Charlie Forsyth (sound effects), Hans Conried, Judy Garland.