Carmen
- Synopsis
- Radio comedy series written by and starring Fred Allen. Maurice Evans and Allen joke about the misfit between lowbrow radio and highbrow culture (Shakespeare). Evans performs an extract from the ghost scene in Hamlet (I v). Allen says Evans acts in the classics so he can avoid paying the writer; this observation leads to a sketch whereby Shakespeare writes for radio only to have the script returned for a re-write from the advertising executives. Suggestions that the play be turned into a soap opera occasions Shakespeare’s suicide. His dying words are ‘to be or not to be’ and the advertising executive decides to do a quiz show. [With acknowledgement to Lanier op cit for the description of content].
- Series
- Fred Allen Show, The
- Language
- English
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Radio
- Transmission details
- 31 Jan 1946 (Channel: NBC)
- Duration
- 29 mins
Credits
- Director
- Howard Riley
- Writer
- Fred Allen
- Contributor
- Fred Allen
- Cast
Maurice Evans Hamlet
Additional Details
- Production type
- Sitcoms/Variety
- Plays
- Hamlet
- Subjects
- Drama
- Keywords
- advertising; radio broadcasting; satire; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)
Notes
- Reviews
- Lanier, Douglas ‘WSHX: Shakespeare and American Radio’ in Burt, Richard (ed) Shakespeare After Mass Media. (New York: Palgrave, 2002), pp. 204-5. Lanier writes ‘although the sketch spoofs the conventions of sponsored radio programming, it also reinforces the sense that ‘commercial’ is a fundamental obligation from which no performer may be exempt’.
Production Company
- Name
NBC
Online Retailer
- Name
otrsite.com
- Contact
- Jerry Haendiges
- jerry@otrsite.com
- Web
- http://www.otrsite.com External site opens in new window
- Phone
- 562-696-4387
- Fax
- 562-696-4387
- Address
- 1308 Sunset Drive
Whittier
CA 90602
USA
How to cite this record
Shakespeare, "Carmen". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av67411 (Accessed 26 Nov 2024)