On This Day, August 25: The Three Musketeers (Palmolive) and Marie Lloyd (Barbara Windsor)
Also featured: Imagination Theater.
August 25 Exhaustive Update
This report documents the comprehensive provenance, broadcast scheduling, commercial sponsorship, credited cast, production personnel, alternate circulating titles, serial multi-part narrative arcs, and story synopses for historical broadcasts transmitting on August 25 across American and British networks, Rudolf Friml's The Three Musketeers (Part 2) for Palmolive Soap, Barbara Windsor portraying music hall icon Marie Lloyd on BBC Radio 4, Hugh Walpole's macabre gothic classic The Old Ladies, and Jim French's modern audio theater double-bills spanning Sherlock Holmes, Harry Nile, and Raffles the Gentleman Thief (1937–2013):
1. Broadcasts
| Title | Network, Airdate & Showtime | Sponsor & Commercial Ads | Credited Cast & Performers | Director, Writers & Crew | Genres | Story-First Plot Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "The Old Ladies by Hugh Walpole (Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies — BBC Radio 4)" | BBC Radio 4 1984-08-25 8:30 PM BST |
Sustaining Victorian Gothic Drama |
Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, Fabia Drake | Hugh Walpole, Rodney Ackland, Graham Gauld | ["Drama", "Horror", "Gothic", "Psychological", "British"] |
"Saturday Night Theatre presents Rodney Ackland's dramatization of Hugh Walpole's macabre masterpiece The Old Ladies!" In a gloomy, drafty boarding house in an English cathedral town, three elderly spinsters share a floor, until sinister, ravenous Agatha Payne becomes pathologically obsessed with possessing her timid neighbor's prized amber heirloom. |
| "Marie Lloyd, Queen of the Halls (Barbara Windsor — BBC Radio 4)" | BBC Radio 4 1990-08-25 7:50 PM BST |
Sustaining Musical Biography |
Barbara Windsor (Marie Lloyd), Bernard Cribbins | Steve May, Marilyn Imrie | ["Biography", "Music", "Vaudeville", "British", "History"] |
"Saturday Night Theatre presents Marie Lloyd, Queen of the Halls, starring Barbara Windsor!" The tumultuous, vibrant life and tragic decline of Victorian and Edwardian music hall queen Marie Lloyd is dramatized, following her meteoric rise from the East End to theatrical superstardom, her defiant clashes with moral censors, and her stormy romances. |
| "The Three Musketeers (Part 2 of 2 — Rudolf Friml — Palmolive Soap)" | CBS (WABC) 1937-08-25 9:30 PM EDST |
Colgate-Palmolive Palmolive Soap & Shave |
John Barclay (D'Artagnan), Natalie Hall | Rudolf Friml, Kenneth MacGregor, Jean Paul King | ["Musical", "Adventure", "Operetta", "Historical", "Romance"] |
"The Palmolive Beauty Box Theater presents Rudolf Friml's operetta The Three Musketeers, brought to you by Palmolive Soap!" In Part 2 of this lavish musical adaptation, D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers dash across France to restore the Queen's diamond studs before Cardinal Richelieu can expose her secret to King Louis XIII. |
| "The Glory Hole & Trades (John Patrick Lowrie — Jim French Audio Theater)" | KIXI Seattle 1996-08-25 (Syndicated) |
Sustaining Modern Audio Drama |
John Patrick Lowrie, Mary Anne Dorward | Jim French (Dir.), Rick Turnoy | ["Drama", "Mystery", "Audio Theater", "Contemporary", "Anthology"] |
"Imagination Theater, created and directed by Jim French!" A compelling mystery double-bill featuring 'The Glory Hole', where an antique collector buys a locked trunk containing dangerous forgotten secrets, paired with 'Trades', a gritty modern urban drama of deception. |
| "The Strange Death of Lady Sylvia Eichorn & Crisis (John Patrick Lowrie — Audio Theater)" | KIXI Seattle 2002-08-25 (Syndicated) |
Sustaining Audio Theater Double Bill |
John Patrick Lowrie (Holmes), Lawrence Albert | M.J. Elliott, Jim French | ["Detective", "Mystery", "Victorian", "Suspense", "Audio Theater"] |
"Imagination Theater presents The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes alongside Crisis!" In 'The Strange Death of Lady Sylvia Eichorn', Holmes and Watson investigate a poisoned aristocratic dowager in an English manor, followed by 'Crisis: The Bus to Buena Vista', a high-tension suspense thriller about passengers trapped aboard a runaway desert bus. |
| "Harry Nile: The Sands of Time & Raffles: A Diamond for the Dead (Larry Albert)" | KIXI Seattle 2013-08-25 (Syndicated) |
Sustaining Audio Drama Double Bill |
Larry Albert (Harry Nile / Raffles), Pat French | Jim French, Larry Albert | ["Detective", "Hardboiled", "Audio Theater", "Mystery", "Classics"] |
"Imagination Theater presents The Adventures of Harry Nile alongside Raffles, the Gentleman Thief!" Seattle private eye Harry Nile unravels a baffling coastal inheritance dispute in 'The Case of the Sands of Time', followed by amateur cracksman A.J. Raffles and Bunny Manders infiltrating a high-society funeral to heist an irreplaceable diamond in 'A Diamond for the Dead'. |