World War II was raging in Europe and the Pacific and radio networks were searching for ways to get all Americans firmly behind the war effort. NBC did this with Plays for Americans, a special series of shows written and produced by Arch Oboler. As mentioned in Jimmy Stewart on the Air, only three shows from the series seem to have survived; fortunately, one of those was the program of March 15, 1942. A Letter at Midnight starred Lt. James Stewart and co-starred Mercedes McCambridge. Below is a photo of the stars at the NBC microphone:
Here are two newspaper previews of the show. The first is from The Evening News, Harrisburg, Pa, on the day before the broadcast:
The second appeared on the day of the broadcast in the Amarillo Sunday News, Amarillo, TX:
The fact that Stewart had to be “borrowed” from the military did not go unnoticed. The March 11, 1942, edition of Variety made mention of it:
The recording of the show which is available is from a much later broadcast, with Arch Oboler himself introducing the show.
If you’d like to read this and other Oboler scripts, look for the book Oboler Omnibus (Duell, Sloan & Pearce, New York, 1945).
