Sunday, December 19, 2010

Tucson: TOMORROW, Don't Miss MAYOR BOB WALKUP in Old Time Radio Theatre's "A Christmas Carol"

Don’t Miss Beowulf Alley’s Old Time Radio Theatre with
MAYOR BOB WALKUP!

Monday, December 20

Beowulf Alley Theatre, 11 South 6th Avenue, (between Broadway and Congress)

Two wonderful holiday stories, The Great Gildersleeve Christmas Show (December 22, 1948) and A Christmas Carol (December 24, 1934),FEATURING MAYOR BOB WALKUP will be presented for a family holiday treat.

 The Great Gildersleeve ran on radio from 1941–1957 and was one of broadcast history's earliest spin-off programs. Built around Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve, a character who had been a staple on the classic radio situation comedy Fibber McGee and Molly, The Great Gildersleeve enjoyed its greatest success in the 1940s. Actor Harold Perry played the character during its transition from the parent show into the spin-off and later in a quartet of feature films released at the height of the show's popularity.

 On Fibber McGee and Molly, Peary's Gildersleeve was a pompous windbag who became a consistent McGee nemesis. "You're a haa-aa-aa-aard man, McGee!" became a Gildersleeve catch phrase. The character was given several conflicting first names on Fibber McGee and Molly, and on one episode his middle name was originally revealed. Gildy admits as much at the end of "Gildersleeve's Diary" on the Fibber McGee and Molly series. In this episode, Gildy invites the Judge to Christmas dinner, and a simple dinner turns into the party of the year.

Tickets are still available online http://www.beowulfalley.org/html/tickets.html#OTRT, or the box office, 520-882-0555.

Admission is $8 cash at the door for adults, $5  for children 6-13 years and children under 6 are free. And something new! Tickets purchased at least one day in  advance online only via PayPal and Google will receive a $1 discount on each adult ticket purchased. The box office phone number is (520) 882-0555.

Directed by Sheldon Metz, the OTRT Ensemble Company includes:  Ryan Amstutz, Jon Benda, Janet Bruce, Butch Bryant,  Gerri Courtney-Austein, Laura Davenport, Samuel De Jesus, Evan Engle, Sydney Flynn, Vince Flynn, Audrey Ann Gambach, Barbara Glover, Bill La Pointe, Elizabeth Leadon, Butch Lynn, Steve McKee, Whitney Morton, Joan O'Dwyer, Shannon Brooke Rzuildo, Mike Saxon, Jeff Scotland, Danielle Shirar, Ina Shivack, Terry Thune, Pat Timm, Jared Stokes, Brian Wees and John Vornholt .

 

Back before television, a holiday season tradition in America was listening to A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens as performed on radio by Lionel Barrymore and narrated by Orson Welles with the Mercury Theatre group. The music was composed and conducted by the legendary Bernard Herrmann. Few actors ever gave more meaning to the character of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge than Lionel Barrymore who first took on the radio role in 1934.

Originally aired live on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1934, this radio broadcast will live in the memories of those that heard it for a lifetime. If you remember listening, and want to recapture those magical days of your childhood Christmas, or have never heard it, but want to experience the magic of live radio theatre and create new memories for you and your family, Beowulf Alley Theatre presents this special holiday treat and allows you and your family to use your imagination in recreating one of classic literature’s most read pieces.  “God bless us, everyone.”

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