Columbia Presents Corwin
Columbia Presents Corwin
Norman Corwin, considered by many to be the Bard of the Golden Age of
Radio, was recognized as for his great talents early on by CBS. In
1941, CBS devoted an entire block of the prestigious COLUMBIA
WORKSHOP series for his works, known by the title TWENTY SIX BY
CORWIN.
COLUMBIA PRESENTS CORWIN was another occasion when CBS offered the
listening audience a chance to hear Mr. Corwin's work. Although it
is seen by some as part or revival of the COLUMBIA WORKSHOP series,
the last show from the Worhshop was in 1942.
The 1944 COLUMBIA PRESENTS CORWIN series ran for 22 shows. The
following year, CBS again aired COLUMBIA PRESENTS CORWIN, this time
as an 8-show summer series. The first series consisted of original
works with some scripts borrowed from TWENTY SIX BY CORWIN. For the
second series, 5 original scripts were used and 3 scripts were
borrowed from previous airings.
One of the classic originals from Series 2 is "The Undecided
Molecule", a story, completely done in rhyme, of a molecule which
refuses to obey the laws of chemistry and physics. The all-star
cast includes Groucho Marx, Robert Benchley, Vincent Price, Sylvia
Sidney, Norman Lloyd, and Keenan Wynn.
Six of the shows from both series were selected for inclusion in a
1996 National Public Radio broadcast entitled THIRTEEN BY CORWIN,
including the above mentioned "The Undecided Molecule".
Norman Corwin's works are the best of what was the Golden Age of
Radio, and these two series are some of the best examples of why.
44/03/07 1 Movie Primer
44/04/18 7 Untitled
44/05/02 9 The Cliche Expert
44/05/09 10 Cromer
44/05/23 12 Tel Aviv
44/06/06 14 American Trilogy 1 - Carl Sandberg
44/07/04 17 Home for the Fourth
44/07/18 18 The Moat Farm Murder
44/07/25 19 El Capitan and the Corporal
45/07/03 1 Unity Fair
45/07/10 2 Daybreak
45/07/17 3 The Undecided Molecule
45/07/24 4 New York - A Tapestry For Radio
45/08/14 7 Fourteen August
45/08/21 8 L'affair Gumpert