Carole Lombard and Claudette Colbert Across the Table
May 5th, 2006 by Andre Soares
Harry Heuser on broadcastellan: "Once you have exhausted the classics, you will find a worthwhile substitute in American radio theatricals like Lux [Radio Theater], which give you not only an opportunity to catch a different reading of films so familiar to you that they play before your mind’s eye, but also allow you to re-imagine them with alternate casts. What, for instance, if Suspicion had starred Olivia DeHavilland [sic], rather than her sister, Joan Fontaine? How would Barbara Stanwyck or Ida Lupino fare in Merle Oberon’s role [sic] as the title character of Jane Eyre? And what, if anything, could Loretta Young do when called upon to take over for Bette Davis in Jezebel? It all happened on the Lux program."
[A minor correction: Joan Fontaine, not Merle Oberon, played Jane Eyre. Perhaps Heuser was thinking of George Sand, who Oberon incarnated in the highly romanticized 1945 film version of Chopin's life, A Song to Remember. In case you're wondering, Cornel Wilde played Chopin and - inexplicably - received an Academy Award nomination for his non-performance.]
Heuser then goes on to talk about the Lux production of Hands Across the Table, starring Claudette Colbert in a role originated by Carole Lombard on the screen. Well worth a read.
On his personal site, Heuser has a Claudette Colbert photo page — no need for me to add that he’s a big-time Colbert fan. Well, no one can say the guy has poor taste.
Addendum: I just checked this excellent Lux Radio Theater site. Heuser must have been referring to Wuthering Heights. Merle Oberon plays Cathy in the 1939 film version; on Lux, Barbara Stanwyck starred in the 1939 presentation, and Ida Lupino in 1940. Oberon starred in a Lux presentation of Wuthering Heights in 1954.
Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights; her sister Charlotte wrote Jane Eyre. That’s probably why Heuser got confused.
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