The 39 Steps - August 1, 1938 - 01:02:52 - 14.3 MB

On August 1, 1938, Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater On The Air present
The 39 Steps by John Buchan on the CBS radio network with Welles playing
Richard Hannay.

At the end of the broadcast, Welles remarks that listeners expecting Madeleine
Carroll or the version of The 39 Steps presented by Alfred Hitchcock in his
1935 film adaptation might be surprised at the plot. Welles based his script
on Buchan's 1915 novel, not the Hitchcock film. (The Hitchcock version was
written by Charles Bennett, Hitchcock and Ian Hay.)

A 1937 radio play of the Hitchcock version on Lux Radio Theater starred Ida
Lupino and Robert Montgomery. The 2005 West End and Broadway play The 39 Steps
was adapted from both the Buchan novel and the Hitchcock film. The 2008 BBC
TV version (currently playing on Amazon Prime) with Rupert Penry-Jones, Lydia
Leonard, Patrick Malahide and Eddie Marsan depended more on the Buchan novel.

My Favorite Blonde (1942), starring Bob Hope, was loosely based on the Hitchcock
film. Reportedly, Hope saw Madeleine Carroll in The 39 Steps and asked his
writers (Melvin Frank and Norman Panama) to come up with a vehicle with Carroll
as his co-star.