What’s A Radio Play?
Before television, the largest popular form of entertainment was the radio. Much like today, families would have their dinner and then sit around the radio waiting to hear either the news or their favorite radio program. These programs ranged from short stories about the same characters, much like a sitcom, or a full length play like a movie.
Radio shows were usually done by a small amount of actors playing multiple characters. For example if you were to do the story, The Three Little Pigs, the same actor might play the Wolf, the Narrator, and Pig 1, while another actor would play both Pig 2 and Pig 3. This was accomplished by the actors manipulating their voices for each character.
Along with the actors, there was a person responsible for all of the sounds created during the show. This person was called a Foley artist. Sounds might range from something large, like the sound of the house getting blown down, or something small, like the Wolf walking to the next Pig’s house. All of the sounds created by the Foley artist helped to make the experience of listening to the show as real as being in the story itself.
These same actors and artists were responsible for the advertisements played within the length of the program. “Commercial Breaks” were done by the same actors that enacted the plays!
In It’s a Wonderful Life Radio Play one is able to experience all of the inner workings of a radio play. This involved story will come to life with only a handful of actors doing all the work required of an actual radio show.