AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Seemingly a distinct adaptation from the ABC's radio version of Chu Chin Chow (which had been broadcast in 1932), this version was adapted for radio by British script-writer Henrik Ege, and included Oscar Asche in the role that he had originated.
Production Details
-
1933:
First broadcast on the National Programme on 17 April 1933.
Producers: Harry S. Pepper and John Watt.
Cast members included Oscar Asche (Abu Hasan, The Shayk of the Robbers), Frank Cochrane (Kasim Baba, A Wealthy Merchant / Baba Mustafa, A Cobbler), Bobbie Comber (Ali Baba, Kasim's Poor Brother), Bruce Carfax (Nur At-Huda Ali, Ali Baba's Son), Norman Williams (Abdullah, Kasim's Steward), Marion Edwards (Alcolom, Kasim's Head Wife), Jessica Page (Mahbubah, Ali Baba's Wife), Ethel Lodge (Zanim, A Slave Dealer), Wynne Ajello (Marjanah), Margaret Rawlings (Zahrat Al-Kulub), Hector Abbes (The Story-Teller in the Market Place), and The Revue Chorus (Slaves, Robbers, Merchants, etc.)
Music: The B.B.C. Theatre Orchestra, conducted by Stanford Robinson.
Source: Radio Times, 14 April 1933, p.22 .
1944:
A second production was broadcast in 1944, with an almost entirely new cast: Bruce Carfax reappeared in the role of Ali Baba's son, but the remaining cast was new, with Harry Welchman taking the role of Abu Hassan.
Source: Radio Times, 13 October 1944, p.8.
