On This Day, August 23: Orson Welles and Bela Lugosi
Also featured: Moby Dick Serial.
August 23 Exhaustive Update
This report documents the comprehensive provenance, broadcast scheduling, commercial sponsorship, credited cast, production personnel, serial multi-part narrative arcs, alternate circulating titles, and story synopses for historical broadcasts transmitting on August 23 across American network and public broadcasting history (1934–2010):
1. Broadcasts
| Title | Network, Airdate & Showtime | Sponsor & Commercial Ads | Credited Cast & Performers | Director, Writers & Crew | Genres | Story-First Plot Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "I'm a Fool (by Sherwood Anderson) & The Tell-Tale Heart (by Edgar Allan Poe)" | CBS (WCBS) 1946-08-23 10:00 PM EDT |
Pabst Brewing Co. Pabst Blue Ribbon ("33 Fine Brews") |
Orson Welles (Star / Host), Keenan Wynn, Mercedes McCambridge | Orson Welles (Producer & Director), Bernard Herrmann (Score) | ["Drama", "Horror", "Literature", "Anthology"] |
Orson Welles presents a brilliant literary double-bill, first dramatizing Sherwood Anderson's nostalgic tale of a boastful racetrack swipe in I'm a Fool, followed by Welles's terrifying, heartbeat-pulsing psychological performance as Edgar Allan Poe's obsessive murderer in The Tell-Tale Heart. |
| "Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra with Helen Jepson (Kraft Miracle Whip)" | NBC Red (WEAF) 1934-08-23 10:00 PM EDST |
Kraft-Phenix Cheese Kraft Miracle Whip & Velveeta |
Paul Whiteman (The King of Jazz), Helen Jepson (Soprano), Jack Fulton | J. Walter Thompson Agency, Ronny Mansfield (Announcer) | ["Music", "Variety", "Big Band", "Classical"] |
The King of Jazz Paul Whiteman conducts his massive orchestra from New York in symphonic jazz arrangements, featuring operatic soprano Helen Jepson performing 'Smoke Gets in Your Eyes' and tenor Jack Fulton for Kraft Miracle Whip. |
| "Edward Everett Horton with Guests Johnny Johnston, Kay Armen, and The Charioteers" | NBC (WEAF) 1945-08-23 9:00 PM EWT |
Kraft Foods Company Kraft Miracle Whip & Parkay |
Edward Everett Horton (Guest Host), Johnny Johnston, Kay Armen, Charioteers | Cal Kuhl (Producer), Ken Carpenter (Announcer) | ["Music", "Variety", "Comedy", "Pop"] |
Guest host Edward Everett Horton presides over the summer edition of Kraft Music Hall, trading fluttery comedy banter with singing stars Johnny Johnston and Kay Armen on 'Waitin' for the Train to Come In' alongside The Charioteers for Kraft Miracle Whip. |
| "The Mummy's Curse (Hosted by Bela Lugosi)" | Mutual (WOR) 1946-08-23 9:30 PM EDT |
Sustaining Commercial Co-op |
Bela Lugosi (Host / Mystery Master), Peter Capell, Ann Thomas | George Lowther (Writer), Jock MacGregor (Director), Carl Warren (Announcer) | ["Horror", "Mystery", "Supernatural", "Drama"] |
Horror icon Bela Lugosi introduces a macabre thriller about an archaeologist who transports a sarcophagus from Egypt to a private museum on Long Island, unearthing a series of asphyxiation murders linked to an ancient guardian curse. |
| "Moby Dick (Part 1 of 5) — Ishmael and Queequeg Sign Aboard the Pequod" | Mutual (WOR) 1948-08-23 4:30 PM EDT |
Sustaining Juvenile Classic Series |
John Griggs (The Storyteller / Multi-Voice Cast) | Herman Melville (Author), Oliver Barbour (Adapter & Director) | ["Adventure", "Children", "Literature", "Maritime", "Serial"] |
In Part 1 of a five-part serialization of Herman Melville's maritime epic Moby Dick, storyteller John Griggs portrays young Ishmael as he arrives in the whaling port of New Bedford, befriends the tattooed Polynesian harpooner Queequeg, and signs aboard the fateful whaling ship Pequod. |
| "Tomorrow's Child (Adapted from Ray Bradbury)" | NPR / BYU Radio 2010-08-23 (Bradbury Thirteen) |
CPB / BYU Corporation for Public Broadcasting |
Ray Bradbury (Introduction), Paul Frees (Narrator), Ron Frederickson | Mike McDonough (Adapter, Producer & Sound Designer) | ["Science Fiction", "Drama", "Anthology", "Speculative"] |
Author Ray Bradbury introduces a poignant science-fiction drama about parents whose newborn baby is born into a bizarre fourth dimension due to an experimental hospital birthing machine malfunction, leaving them with the heartbreaking choice of whether to undergo surgery to join their pyramid-shaped child in the other dimension. |