The Screen Guild Theater

Jack Benny,George Murphy,Joan Crawford andReginald Gardiner on the premiere of The Screen Guild Theater (January 8, 1939)[1]
Other names	The Gulf Screen Guild Show The Gulf Screen Guild Theater The Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater The Camel Screen Guild Players Stars in the Air Hollywood Sound Stage Hollywood On Stage
Genre	Anthology drama
Running time	30 minutes 60 minutes (1950–51)
Country of origin	United States
Language	English
Home station	CBS (1939–48) NBC (1948–50) ABC (1950–51) CBS (1951–52)
Hosted by	George Murphy (1939) Roger Pryor (1940–52)
Announcer	John Conte (Gulf Oil, 1939–42) Truman Bradley (Lady Esther Cosmetics, 1942–47) Michael Roy (Camel, 1947–50)
Written by	Bill Hampton Harry Kronman
Directed by	Bill Lawrence
Produced by	Bill Lawrence
Original release	January 8, 1939 – June 29, 1952
No. of series	14
No. of episodes	527
Audio format	Monaural sound

The Screen Guild Theater is a radioanthology series broadcast from 1939 until 1952 during theGolden Age of Radio. Leading Hollywood stars performed adaptations of popular motion pictures. Originating on CBS Radio, it aired under several different titles includingThe Gulf Screen Guild Show,The Gulf Screen Guild Theater,The Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater andThe Camel Screen Guild Players. Fees that would ordinarily have been paid to the stars and studios were instead donated to theMotion Picture Relief Fund, and were used for the construction and maintenance of theMotion Picture Country House.^[2][3]

Dinah Shore andGail Patrick in theCBS Radio studio at a rehearsal for "Belle of the Yukon" (February 12, 1945)^[4]

"Columbia Broadcasting System presented the first network radio broadcast of theScreen Guild Show on Sunday, January 8, 1939, at 4:30Pacific Time."^[5] - Special Research Collections,UC Santa Barbara Library

The Screen Guild Theater had a long run, lasting 14 seasons and 527 episodes. Actors on the series includedEthel Barrymore,Lionel Barrymore,Ingrid Bergman,Humphrey Bogart,Eddie Cantor,Gary Cooper,Bing Crosby,Bette Davis,Jimmy Durante,Nelson Eddy,Douglas Fairbanks Jr.,Clark Gable,Judy Garland,Gene Kelly,Sam Levene,Johnny Mercer,Agnes Moorehead,Dennis Morgan,Gregory Peck,Fred Astaire,Frank Sinatra,Shirley Temple, andDinah Shore.

The series began with a variety format, with mixed success. The program increasingly came to rely on adaptations of major motion pictures—presenting a considerable challenge to writers who had to compress the narrative into 22 minutes.^[6]: 601

Fees these actors would typically charge were donated to theMotion Picture Relief Fund, in order to support the creation and maintenance of theMotion Picture Country Home for retired actors. A 1940 magazine article noted thatThe Screen Guild Theater was "the only sponsored program on the air which gives all its profits to charity."^[7] Nearly $800,000 had been contributed by the summer of 1942.^[6]: 600

The first three seasons of the CBS series were sponsored byGulf Oil. With uncertainties in the oil market due toWorld War II, Gulf dropped the show, and in 1942 theLady Esther cosmetics corporation assumed sponsorship.The Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater was consistently one of the top ten radio programs. Reverses in the cosmetics industry led Lady Esther to withdraw in 1947, andCamel Cigarettes purchased a three-year contract. Changing time slots and networks brought about a decline in ratings. In the fall of 1950, the series returned to CBS, where it ran until its final broadcast June 30, 1952.The Screen Guild Theater earned a total of $5,235,607 for the Motion Picture Relief Fund.^[8]

"A table of highlights would run many pages", wrote radio historianJohn Dunning, who lists the following notable Screen Guild broadcasts:^[6]: 601

• The Blue Bird withShirley Temple andNelson Eddy (December 24, 1939)^[9][10]
• High Sierra withHumphrey Bogart (January 4, 1942)^[9][10]
• Sergeant York withGary Cooper andWalter Brennan (January 19, 1942)^[9][10]
• Yankee Doodle Dandy withJames Cagney,Rita Hayworth andBetty Grable (October 19, 1942)^[4][10]
• Command Decision withClark Gable,Walter Pidgeon,Van Johnson,John Hodiak,Edward Arnold andBrian Donlevy (March 3, 1949)^[10][11]

Shirley Temple's parents declined an offer of $35,000 for her to perform a radio version ofThe Blue Bird on a commercial broadcast; instead, she presented it on the Screen Guild program without payment.^[6]: 601 An attempt was made on her life during the show. As Temple was singing "Someday You'll Find Your Bluebird", a woman in the audience rose from her seat and pulled out a handgun, pointing it directly at her. The woman hesitated and was disarmed. It was later discovered that she had lost a child on the day it was publicly stated that Temple was born, and blamed her for stealing her daughter's soul.^[12]

During its 1950–51 season on ABC, the series was expanded to an hour.^{[citation needed]}

At least 364 episodes at theInternet Archive,^[13] and 97 disc recordings (atUCSB^[5]) of broadcasts^{[6]: 601 [14]} include:

• Twelve O'Clock High withGregory Peck,Ward Bond,Reed Hadley,Millard Mitchell,John Kellogg andHugh Marlowe (September 7, 1950)^[10][15]
• Ninotchka withJoan Fontaine andWilliam Powell (September 14, 1950)^[10][15]
• Champagne for Caesar withRonald Colman,Vincent Price,Audrey Totter,Barbara Britton andArt Linkletter (October 5, 1950)^{[6]: 601 [10][15]}
• Tell It to the Judge withRosalind Russell andRobert Cummings (November 2, 1950)^[10][15]
• Birth of the Blues withBing Crosby,Dinah Shore andPhil Harris (January 18, 1951)^{[6]: 601 [10][15]}

The Screen Guild Theater was hosted byGeorge Murphy in 1939, and Roger Pryor for the remainder of its Gulf-sponsored run.^[6]: 600

• CBS (January 8, 1939 – June 28, 1948), as:

• The Gulf Screen Guild Show (1939–40),
• The Gulf Screen Guild Theater (1940–42),
• The Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater (1942–47), and
• The Camel Screen Guild Players (1947–48)^[6]: 600

• NBC (October 7, 1948 – June 29, 1950), asThe Camel Screen Guild Players^[6]: 600
• ABC (September 7, 1950 – May 31, 1951),^[6]: 600 asThe Screen Guild Players^[14]
• CBS (December 13, 1951 – June 14, 1952), asStars in the Air^{[6]: 600 [14]}
• CBS (December 13, 1951 – March 6, 1952), asHollywood Sound Stage andHollywood On Stage^{[6]: 600 [14]}
• CBS (March 13–June 29, 1952), asThe Screen Guild Theater^{[6]: 600 [14]}
• AFRS Playhouse 25^[14]
• AFRTS Screen Guild Theatre^[14]
• AFRS The Frontline Theatre^[14]
• AFRS The Globe Theatre (hosted byHerbert Marshall)^{[14][16][17][18]}
• AFRTS Hollywood Sound Stage^[14]

Physical media

• Screen Guild Players 1942–1948 recordings at theUniversity of California, Santa Barbara

Metadata

• Screen Guild Theater at Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs
• Screen Guild Theater at Digital Deli (archived)

Digital audio

• Screen Guild Theater:1939–1951 and1939–1952 at theInternet Archive

• American radio dramas
• CBS Radio programs
• 1930s American radio programs
• 1940s American radio programs
• 1950s American radio programs
• NBC radio programs
• ABC radio programs
• Anthology radio series

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