"Radio is unquestionably a superior medium to television because it makes us use our imaginations. . . . In the days of radio, The Theatre Guild of the Air . . . was ever striving for quality, intelligence, and good taste. I have played many times for them and every time I was invited it was a worthwhile experience."
Basil Rathbone
Before I tell you
anything in this subject - listen to this. I have listened to it so many times that I know it in and out by now.
Broadcasted in 1939, Vivien Leigh and Basil Rathbone read love poems to each others,
here.
Listened? Okay. If you can be interested in anything else after that, you may go ahead:
Basil Rathbone worked a lot with radio broadcasts during his career. In those days it was common to do radio adaptions of popular films (often with the same actors as in the film), and so did Rathbone. For example he,
Errol Flynn and
Olivia de Havilland appeared in a radio play of
Captain Blood (1935), broadcasted in February 22nd, 1937 (listen to it on YouTube
here), and in May 1938 Rathbone narrated a radio adaption of
The Adventures of Robin Hood, the same year the film was released.
During the same years the Sherlock Holmes films were made, 1939-1946, Basil Rathbone and
Nigel Bruce aired a lot of radio plays of
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short stories about the famous detective (them being more true to the originals than the film adaption!).
I have included an example of a radio play below.
"I have been told by literally hundreds of people that when we were doing the Sherlock Holmes series they would turn out the lights or if they had a fire sit round it and let their imaginations go fancy free."
