The Screen Guild Radio Programs

Background

The Screen Guild programs were some of Radio's longest running charity programs. Why charity? From the outset, the various Screen Guild programs were conceived, produced and broadcast for the express purpose of raising money for the Motion Picture Relief Fund. Over the years, the Motion Picture Relief Fund appeal extended to raising funds for a Country Home and Hospital for retired, ill, indigent, or destitute Motion Picture Industry artists.

The history of the Motion Picture Relief Fund is particularly poignant. Orginally conceived in 1921 by Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and several other prominent Hollywood luminaries, the fund was established in response to recognition of the often brutal grist mill many elements of the early Motion Picture Industry had become. Working conditions were particularly egregious during the Silent Era, when the early studios were churning out hundreds of features a year and consuming twice as many artists in the process. Conditions were particularly ruthless when it came to working conditions. Early silent players often worked fourteen to sixteen hours, seven days a week on various sets, with few breaks, no applicable regulations and no unions to support the artists and technicians. If an artist or technician couldn't keep up with the pace, they were readily replaced by a long line of awaiting extras, hopefuls, and apprentices more than happy to double or triple their pay--in spite of the sweat shop conditions.

The relative handful of stars throughout that era were just as susceptible to getting ground under as the supporting players. But the pay scale for the stars was exponentially commensurate with their popularity and public demand. So it was that the stars could make thousands of dollars a month, while their supporting counterparts might make as little as a hundred dollars a week and be delirious to have it. This wasn't particularly novel to the Motion Picture Industry. The vaunted free marketplace that Republicans and Federalists have promoted throughout American History was working--in their view. And why shouldn't it? It was the same in virtually every industry. Child labor laws had only recently been implemented after a thirty year struggle and early union organizing efforts were still being met with Federally backed armed resistance. Industrialists of every industry from Hollywood to New York were paying their respective Senators, Representatives, Governors, mayors, assemblymen, police forces, and political functionaries very handsomely to keep the free marketplace sufficiently greased to their advantage.

The free marketplace then--as now--simply meant the law of jungle, survival of the fittest, and to the rich go the spoils--irrespective of how the rich got rich in the first place, which in those days was almost never through industry, ingenuity, or enterprise. Then, as always, there's was no room for morality in the free marketplace. It's simply not a factor. Indeed, morality is simply an impediment to the free marketplace. Of course the Motion Picture Industry wasn't the only bad actor by a long-shot, but it was rapidly becoming the most visible.

And so it was that thousands of early players and technicians fell on particularly hard times once their brief but brutal careers prematurely ended; as often from exhaustion and mental anguish as from poor health conditions aggravated by the relentless demand to keep up or be cast aside [no pun intended]. As is so often the case, the vast majority of the artists abused by the system simply disappeared into obscurity. But on rare occasions the story of a particularly famous artist, director, or producer would surface in the tabloids and public outrage--or simply schadenfreude--would be piqued. The Motion Picture Industry's dirty little secrets were very aggressively protected by a vast army of private security guards, armed detectives, publicity departments and lawyers. Yet whenever a particularly compelling tale of a destitute artist would surface, some aggressive reporter would invariably get the story out.

The fund took shape very humbly in the beginning. One of Mary Pickford's early attempts to add to the fund involved organizing what amounted to an early Thrift Store, selling her own, and other female artists' donated gowns, dresses, trinkets, and costumes to the public. While it reportedly added some $15,000 to the fund, it eventually closed after a year. Pickford, Fairbanks and Chaplin largesse notwithstanding, a far more organized fund would be the only way to keep up with the rapidly increasing demand on the early fund's limited resources.

At about the same time, influential early artists had formed the Screen Actors' Guild. Fashioned as a logical extension of the Actors' Equity Association (founded 1913), most of the early SAG organizers were long time members of Actors' Equity. Early efforts at collective bargaining for better working conditions didn't gain traction until an industry-wide strike in 1919 got the Industry's attention. With the support of other nascient--but more successful and organized--labor unions, the early AEA strike gained some ground, but the early gains began to fade after the Great Depression hit. Responding to Hollywood's waning Labor priorities, a group of both young and seasoned actors founded the Screen Actors' Guild in 1933. It was the right time for them to organize. The Motion Picture Industry was still reeling and reorganizing after the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Whole studios had been wiped out, or their assets gobbled up for pennies on the dollar by the few surviving studios.

The Screen Actors' Guild gained traction and by the late 1930s had become a force to be reckoned with. The 'Guild' part of the name of the Screen Guild productions is derived from the Screen Actors' Guild. It was the Guild's players that agreed to take often dramatically reduced fees--usually scale or no compensation at all--to appear in the twelve years of various Screen Guild productions for the benefit of their own Motion Picture Relief Fund. The profits realized from the difference between the sponsors' contributions to the programs over the years and the reduced production costs contributed by the performers and technicians went directly to the Motion Picture Relief Fund.

The Guild was understandably proud of their contributions to the fund over the years. Moreso since great demands were being placed on them from their own Government for much of the same time they were contributing their talent and resources to the Screen Guild programs. World War II had them volunteering--or being volunteered--for many of the patriotic variety and drama productions of the early 1940s. Indeed, throughout this period in Entertainment history several stories would surface from time to time about a particular artist's reluctance to give even more to the War effort. But there's only so much many of them could give and still make a meaningful contribution to their own parochial interests--like the Motion Picture Relief Fund.

In that respect this series is often eclipsed by the memory of World War II era entertainment productions. But this effort, more than any other during those years, went directly to support their own fellow artists--and predecessors, mentors, pathfinders and ground-breakers of their industry. The Guild artists had every right to value their contributions to their own, as much as they contributed to the various War efforts and appeals.

Insofar as the details of the various productions over the years are concerned, it goes without saying that the talent, the production values, the writing, and the sound engineering were all top-notch for their time. The staggering array of the Entertainment Industry's finest artists that appeared in these 500+ programs showcased the very finest performers--and performances--in the history of Radio.

The Guild, Gulf Oil and CBS bring The Screen Guild Show to the air

The Gulf Oil Corporation sponsored the first four seasons, from 1939 to the Summer of 1942. The program was called The Gulf Screen Guild Show for its first season, and The Gulf Screen Guild Theatre for Seasons Two through Four. The reasoning for the name change was simply a natural progression in the type of productions the Guild was mounting. The 1st Season was comprised of equal elements of Variety, Musical Comedy, and straight Dramas. And though the 2nd Season opened with yet another Variety Revue, the Variety productions eventually fell away in favor of Musical Comedies, Classic Stage productions and straight Drama productions or movie adaptations. The Gulf Corporation contributed $10,000 per program to The Motion Picture Relief Fund--a total of approximately $1.3M over the course of it's sponsorship. That's approximately $17.4M in today's dollars. That may help to put into perspective the Screen Actors Guild's continued dedication to this series over the years.

The Cosmetics House of Lady Esther took over sponsorship of Seasons Five through Ten, calling their productions Lady Esther Presents The Screen Guild Players. Lady Esther was looking for a prestigious vehicle to promote their new line of ladies' compacts and other feminine requisites and considering the inherent glamour underlying almost every production of The Screen Guild they couldn't have asked for a more appropriate advertising vehicle.

By the time World War II ended, Lady Esther's marketing priorities had changed and so it was that the next two seasons of The Screen Guild's productions were sponsored by R.J. Reynolds and its Camel Cigarettes brand. During this period the productions were named Camel Cigarettes' Screen Guild Players then Camel Cigarettes' Screen Guild Theatre, again recognizing the evolving transition from a mix of dramas, comedies, and musical comedies to straight motion picture adaptations. In addition, the transition to the Camel Cigarettes Screen Guild Theatre also saw the first change in network in eleven years. NBC took the reins of Camel's second season and third seasons of sponsorship of The Screen Guild productions

NBC's stewardship of Screen Guild lasted two seasons--one as Camel Cigarettes Screen Guild Players and one as Camel Cigarettes' Screen Guild Theatre, after which they relinquished The Screen Guild productions to the American Broadcasting Company for Season Thirteen, with ABC variously referring to the production as The ABC Screen Guild Players and The ABC Screen Guild Theatre. The production's last two seasons were transcribed and alternately sponsored by GM's Buick Motor Division or sustained by ABC. ABC also increased the program from its twelve-season30-minute format to a full hour-long program.

CBS reacquired the Screen Guild program for seven more months in 1951 and 1952, returning to the 30-minute format, and airing its final Screen Guild program June 29, 1952. CBS unaccountably referred to the Screen Guild Theatre as a double-header: Stars In the Air and Hollywood Sound Stage for its first thirteen programs [see sidebar]. Then just as inexplicably, CBS reacquired the name Screen Guild Theatre for the last seventeen programs, which ran back to back with the remainder of the Stars In the Air run. The on-air proof that both programs are one in the same is contained in the epilogue comments to Ivy, from March 13, 1952, wherein Joan Fontaine is referred to as already having performed in the 'CBS Screen Guild Season'--which could only have been her performance during Hollywood Sound Stage. We emphasize this point, since virtually every other source for 'OTR' information appears to either ignore Stars In the Air and Hollywood Sound Stage as Screen Guild Players derivatives entirely, or simple refers to each of them as isolated, separate programs. Even worse, commercial 'OTR Packagers' purport to provide a complete set of the Screen Guild runs without including these two, key components. That's not only misleading, it's cheating.

The Armed Forces Radio Service also broadcast many of the Screen Guild programs under the following AFRS and AFRTS program names:

• Screen Guild Theatre [AFRS END-3]
• Frontline Theatre [AFRS H-5]
• The Globe Theatre [AFRS H-5] with Herbert Marshall as Host
• Playhouse 25 [AFRS Network Series and R- Series]
• AFRTS END 691 Hollywood Sound Stage

The effort wasn't in vain--not for the following sixty years, anyway. The Motion Picture Relief Fund broke ground on the existing facility in Woodland Hills, California in 1948 under the supervision of Jean Hersholt. For the following sixty years the Motion Picture Relief Fund Country Home and Hospital served retired, destitute and health-compromised artists and technicians from every facet of the Entertainment industry, while managing to preserve both the privacy, memory, and legacy of hundreds of the Entertainment world's often most highly celebrated artists. Indeed the discretion and respect offered to the residents was at least as important to them as the excellent care they received.

A Disturbing Postscript

Tragically, as of January 19, 2009, the governing board of the Motion Picture and Television Relief Fund has reluctantly determined that they can no longer sustain the Country Home and Hospital. They've begun the process of relocating all of the residents of the Country Home and Hospital to other long-term care facilities. In an age when the Motion Picture Industry can lavish $20 Million gala events like the Academy Awards and the Emmy Awards on itself, not to mention multi-million dollar promotions of virtually every new film they issue, one has to wonder how they can reconcile abandoning their older, less fortunate brethren. Perhaps this is yet another example of all that we lost with the passing of the thousands of decentralized Radio and Television outlets dotting every community across America throughout the Golden Age.

Power, prestige, wealth, and responsibility in the Entertainment Industry have become distilled, concentrated, consolidated, and compressed down to a relative handful of multi-national corporations with no discernable moral compass, no corporate memory of their roots, no sense of gratitude, nor any concern whatsoever for their heritage. . . Let alone responsibility for the trillions of dollars they've made on the backs of the tens of thousands of actors, technicians and artisans that they often drove into the ground before unions began protecting workers' interests. That's the difference between a Corporate Republic and a Democratic Republic. And so it seems that the free marketplace has triumphed yet again--in the most predictably reprehensible manner.

Please visit the Saving The Lives or Our Own website to learn what you can do about this travesty, if the Motion Picture and Television industries won't.

Series Derivatives:

48-10-07 395 Call Northside-777

Camel Cigarettes Screen Guild Theatre [NBC]:

49-10-06 433 Homecoming

ABC Screen Guild Players:

50-09-07 01 Twelve O'Clock High

Stars In the Air [CBS]:

51-12-13 01 It's A Wonderful Life

Hollywood Sound Stage [CBS]:

51-12-13 01 The Dark Mirror

The Screen Guild Theatre [CBS]:

52-03-13 01 Ivy

Notes on Provenances:

All above cited provenances are in error in one form or another. Stewart Wright and the radioGOLDINdex were the most helpful.

OTRisms:

All 'revues' in the various programs should be spelled 'Revue' not 'Review'. A Revue is a variety production. A Review is either a military formation, a journalism product, or an assessment of quality, accuracy or some other measure.

Program #387, dated, 48-05-10 should be titled The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer, not The Bachelor and the Bobysoxer.

Some confusion seems to arise from the three Flesh and Fantasy broadcasts during the Lady Esther run of Screen Guild. The three broadcasts are neither repeats nor rebroadcasts. They are the three episodes of Flesh and Fantasy, broadcast in reverse order of their presentation in the 1943 Universal film:

• The 'Great Gaspar' episode airs first on 45-04-23
• The 'Palmist' episode airs second on 45-07-16
• The 'Mardi Gras Night' episode airs last on 45-09-03

[NOTE: We apologize to the numerous commercial otr concerns who've downloaded our--we thought--pristine set of Screen Guild Theatre--in violation of our subscriber agreement--for resale or posting to archive.org. During this latest scrub of our Screen Guild Theatre holdings we identified numerous poorly encoded and internally defective recordings. We've corrected all thirty-seven of them, cleaning and editing them as necessary in the process. We also added thirteen more correct AFRS exemplars and upgraded another 170 of our own exemplars from our cassettes and reels. All we can offer by way of apology to those of you who've so handsomely profited from selling our collection is--oops!

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The Screen Guild Radio Programs Logs

The Gulf Screen Guild Show Program Log

The Gulf Screen Guild Theatre Program Log

The Lady Esther Presents The Screen Guild Players Program Log