The Academy Award Theater program is a lost gem in Old Time Radio history. It only lasted one season, in 1946, but it had terrific headliner stars, usually in roles that they played in movies, and high production values. Just as examples, the first show starred Bette Davis in Jezebel. Other shows had Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon, Henry Fonda in Young Mister Lincoln, and Gregory Peck in the Keys of the Kingdom. These were the heavy hitters of Hollywood, and they appeared in these half hour shows on the radio.
Perhaps the reason the show only lasted one season is that getting these stars was expensive, a star could get up to $4,000 for a single episode, getting the rights to good scripts to showcase the stars was difficult, and this is the same territory as Lux Radio Theater and the Screen Guild Theater programs.
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