On This Day, August 30: Counterspy and Orson Welles' Twelfth Night
Also featured: Let's Pretend.
August 30 Update
This report documents the historical provenance, broadcast scheduling, commercial sponsorship, credited cast, production personnel, alternate circulating titles, and pure narrative synopses for broadcasts transmitting on August 30 across American network radio and Shakespearean broadcast history, Phillips H. Lord's David Harding, Counterspy breaking wartime and atomic espionage rings (1943, 1949), Orson Welles and Tallulah Bankhead starring in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night on the Columbia Shakespearean Cycle (1937), Nila Mack's Let's Pretend dramatizing Aladdin for Cream of Wheat (1947), and Lamont Johnson as Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1937–1952):
1. Broadcasts
| Title | Network, Airdate & Showtime | Sponsor & Commercial Ads | Credited Cast & Performers | Director, Writers & Crew | Genres | Story Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "The Case of the Suicide Pact" | NBC Blue (WJZ) 1943-08-30 9:00 PM EWT |
Mail Pouch Tobacco Kentucky Club Tobacco |
Don MacLaughlin, Kramer | Phillips H. Lord (Creator) | ["Espionage", "Counterspy", "World War II", "Phillips Lord", "Mystery"] |
David Harding uncovers an Axis espionage ring using coerced suicide pacts to silence compromised industrial chemists. |
| "The Case of the Cold-Blooded Professor" | ABC (WJZ) 1949-08-30 7:30 PM EDT |
Pepsi-Cola Company Pepsi-Cola Beverages |
Don MacLaughlin, Kramer | Phillips H. Lord (Creator) | ["Espionage", "Counterspy", "Cold War", "Atomic", "Phillips Lord"] |
Counterspies track an arrogant university professor attempting to sell classified atomic metallurgical research to foreign agents. |
| "The Ivory of the Black River (Tarzan's Mistake)" | Mutual (WOR) 1951-08-30 |
Sustaining Jungle Adventure |
Lamont Johnson (Tarzan) | Commodore Productions Staff | ["Adventure", "Jungle", "Action", "Drama", "Commodore"] |
Tarzan must rectify a tactical error after rogue ivory poachers exploit his truce to ambush an elephant preserve. |
| "Terror at Night" | Mutual (WOR) 1952-08-30 |
Sustaining Jungle Adventure |
Lamont Johnson (Tarzan) | Commodore Productions Staff | ["Adventure", "Jungle", "Action", "Mystery", "Commodore"] |
Tarzan investigates mysterious nocturnal attacks on remote trading outposts perpetrated by an elusive leopard-cult. |
| "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp with Cream of Wheat" | CBS (WCBS) 1947-08-30 11:05 AM EDT |
Cream of Wheat Corp. Cream of Wheat Cereal |
Sybil Trent, Grimes | Nila Mack (Dir / Writer) | ["Children's", "Fairy Tale", "Fantasy", "Nila Mack", "Cream of Wheat"] |
Aladdin discovers a magic lamp containing a mighty genie who helps him win the heart of the Sultan's daughter. |
| "Twelfth Night with Orson Welles and Tallulah Bankhead" | CBS (WABC) 1937-08-30 8:00 PM EDST |
Sustaining Shakespearean Cycle |
Orson Welles, Bankhead | Brewster Morgan (Director) | ["Drama", "Classics", "Shakespeare", "Comedy", "Orson Welles"] |
Shipwrecked Viola disguises herself as the youth Cesario in Illyria, sparking a tangled web of mistaken identities and romantic courtship. |