More Orson Wellesian Radio Goodness For Your Weekend

Last week, I shared a really fun, old-timey radio broadcast featuring (among others) Orson Welles as Sherlock Holmes' ultimate/only nemesis: Professor Moriarity.

This week, thanks to OpenCulture, I've got more Welles-y goodness: Oscar Wilde's "The Happy Prince," narrated by the Wellesman himself, and accompanied by his pal, Bing Crosby.

Welles takes the Wildean role of the narrator. Crosby plays the titular prince immortalized in statue form without having ever, ironically, experienced happiness in life. Tuttle, a prolific actress of not just radio but vaudeville, film, and television, gives voice to the swallow who, left behind when his flock migrates to Egypt for the winter, alights on the prince’s shoulder.

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Welles, Crosby, and Tuttle’s performance of “The Happy Prince” debuted on the Philco Radio Hall of Fame on Christmas Eve 1944. It proved popular enough that two years later, Decca commissioned the actors for another performance of the story and put it out as a record album.

BONUS COOLNESS: This video was actually uploaded by BingCrosby.com, created by "the folks at Bing Crosby Enterprises, Inc., owned by the family of the late, great entertainer Bing Crosby." And that link quickly led me to Crosby Internet Radio, which is fascinating.

Attribution(s): "The Happy Prince" by Walter Crane (source) is in the public domain via Wikipedia.