Rebecca - December 9, 1938 - 00:59:56 - 27.4 MB

On December 9, 1938, Orson Welles and his radio players presented Rebecca
by Daphne du Maurier. Cast: Orson Welles (Max de Winter), Margaret Sullavan
(Mrs. de Winter), Agnes Moorehead (Mrs. Van Hopper), Mildred Natwick (Mrs.
Danvers), Alfred Shirley (Frith), Ray Collins (Frank Crawley), Frank Readick
(the Idiot). Adapted and directed by Orson Welles. Produced by John Houseman.
Music by Bernard Herrmann. An interview with Daphne du Maurier live (via
shortwave) from London follows the broadcast.

Listen / Download Absolutely Free - wWw.OrsOnRaDio.com

Daphne du Maurier wrote Rebecca between 1937 and 1938. The Welles radio play
was the first adaptation of the novel. du Maurier adapted Rebecca to a
successful stage play in 1940, the same year Alfred Hitchcock directed his
classic screen version, starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. Hitchcock
filmed du Maurier's 1936 novel Jamaica Inn in 1939 and more famously her 1952
short story The Birds in 1963.

Bernard Herrmann based his score for the 1943 film, Jane Eyre, starring Welles
and Joan Fontaine, on his main theme from Rebecca. "'It was absolutely beautiful,'
said associate producer Paul Stewart, 'and it was the first time to me that Benny
was something more than a guy who could write bridges.'" (wiki)

"Shortly after Rebecca was published in Brazil, critic Álvaro Lins and other
readers pointed out many resemblances to the 1934 book, A Sucessora (The Successor),
by Brazilian writer Carolina Nabuco. According to Nabuco and her editor, not only
the main plot, but also situations and entire dialogues had been copied...
Du Maurier denied having copied Nabuco's book, as did her publisher, pointing out
that the plot elements used in Rebecca said to have been plagiarized were quite
common." (wiki)

Rebecca was the first broadcast of The Campbell Playhouse, a sponsored continuation
of the Mercury Theatre on the Air.