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Theater Of Romance

1943–1946 · 69 episodes · 7 listens

Theater of Romance, sometimes referred to as simply Romance, was a romantic drama anthology series that aired on radio from 1943 to 1957. The show featured adaptations of classic love stories as well as original romantic dramas, with a focus on high-quality production values and performances by some of the biggest stars of the era.

The series was sponsored by Colgate-Palmolive and aired in various time slots, often as a filler program to replace other shows. Despite its relatively short half-hour format, Theater of Romance managed to deliver compelling and emotional stories that captivated listeners. The show’s format allowed for a wide range of romantic tales, from historical dramas to contemporary tales of love and heartbreak.

The Stars

The series boasted an impressive roster of acting talent, with stars like Gregory Peck, Ida Lupino, Edward G. Robinson, Errol Flynn, and Humphrey Bogart gracing the Theater of Romance stage.

In addition to these Hollywood heavyweights, the show also featured some of radio’s most talented character actors, including Elliott and Kathy Lewis, Peter Leeds, Lurene Tuttle, and Gerald Mohr.

The show’s host, Frank Graham, provided a warm and inviting presence, guiding listeners through the romantic narratives.

Key Dates

  • Theater of Romance debuted on April 19th, 1943 and ran for over a decade.
  • Final episode aired on January 5th, 1957

Other Information

The show underwent several changes during its run, including a move from New York to Hollywood in the summer of 1945, which allowed for the inclusion of a live audience and even more star power. The series was initially sponsored by Colgate Tooth Powder, but the sponsorship later shifted to the Colgate Company more broadly.

In addition to its impressive roster of acting talent, Theater of Romance also featured strong production values, with attention to detail in the sets, costumes, and sound effects. The show often incorporated musical elements, with incidental music used to heighten the emotional impact of the stories.

While Theater of Romance may not have achieved the same level of fame as some of its contemporaries, such as Lux Radio Theater, it nonetheless carved out a unique niche in the world of old-time radio.

The series’ focus on romantic narratives, combined with its high-quality performances and production values, made it a beloved and enduring part of the golden age of radio.

There are over 200 episodes extant.

Cast & Crew

CColgate Tooth Powder

Ratings & reviews

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Episodes

Apr 10, 1945 · 24:41
Vienna 1870 and the streets were crowded with the thousands who were there to pay tribute along the route to a funeral…
Apr 25, 1944 · 28:39
Petticoat Fever is the hilarious comedy adapted by Jean Holloway for radio from a play by Mark Reed. It takes two…
Aug 1, 1944 · 24:48
The story you are about to hear is no ordinary one where a boy meets a girl while a violin plays in the moonlight and…
Aug 21, 1945 · 30:00
Henry Van Cleve though mostly happily married to Martha has had a life of womanising. When he dies he presents himself…
Aug 23, 1943 · 29:00
Theater of Romance presents one of the great romances of history the love story of Lady Hamilton starring Miss…
Aug 28, 1945 · 25:00
Mary Stuart, who was named Queen of Scotland when she was only six days old, is the last Roman Catholic ruler of…
Aug 29, 1944 · 24:22
Mrs Bennett wife of Mr Bennett of the Longbourn Estate in England was the mother of five daughters. Pride And Prejudice…
Aug 30, 1943 · 28:56
Mrs Moonlight is a story about Sara Moonlight a strange and lovely lady portrayed here by the distinguished Broadway…
Aug 7, 1945 · 25:04
My Sister Eileen is a comedy starring Shirley Booth in her original Broadway role as Ruth Sherwood. Ruth is a writer…
Aug 8, 1944 · 29:10
The love story of Emma Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson is one of the great romances of history. She was the greatest…
Dec 11, 1945 · 25:11
Terri McKay met Michael Marne on board the Napoli. He was walking along the deck, reading a radiogram message, when it…
Dec 18, 1945 · 24:45
"We met for the first time, Joan and I, at a bar in Hong Kong. There was no-one to introduce us, but there are times in…
Dec 19, 1944 · 24:13
Casablanca has always been one of the world’s great crossroads but it was never more so than in the months right after…
Dec 25, 1945 · 25:13
Edward Arnold stars as narrator and as George Frederick Handel in this special Christmas legend The Messiah broadcast…
Dec 4, 1945 · 25:14
Bobby Merrick is in the hospital, where everyone already considers him to be a drunken good-for-nothing playboy, but it…
Dec 5, 1944 · 24:17
Mary falls in love with Crown Prince Rudolph who is the future king of Austria and is married. Her mother is ashamed…
Feb 1, 1944 · 29:51
A Quiet Wedding by Esther McCracken is a story not so much of marriage itself but of the hectic times just before the…
Feb 12, 1946 · 25:01
Death is not on his usual mission tonight; no he is about to take a holiday. For the first time in history there will…
Feb 19, 1946 · 22:17
"The house stood proud and beautiful on the Devon cliff looking out to sea. My sister Pamela and I knew the moment that…
Feb 22, 1944 · 29:52
Adapted by Jean Holloway from Austin Strong’s stage play Seventh Heaven is a moving love story and wartime drama. set…
Feb 26, 1946 · 24:59
The Enchanted Cottage stars Herbert Marshall as blind composer John Hugo and Robert Young as Oliver Bradford. You will…
Feb 27, 1945 · 24:29
It was spring a time of peace and sunshine, that time of year when man is at peace with himself and his fellow man. Yes…
Feb 29, 1944 · 29:10
Lady In Love is the story of a small town girl who is forced to choose between two kinds of love. It follows Linda…
Feb 5, 1946 · 24:55
This is the story of Gentleman Jim Corbett, a wild Irishman who was just trying to be somebody in the better side of…
Feb 6, 1945 · 24:10
Based on the novel by James Hilton this story concerns Hugh Conway and the incredible adventure that befell him. Every…
Jan 1, 1946 · 25:06
WARNING: Whilst audible is rather like listening to a scratched record. Theater of Romance produces this Gene Holloway…
Jan 15, 1946 · 25:55
This is a story of supernatural romance and comedy starring the charming Cary Grant. It follows the ghostly adventures…
Jan 2, 1945 · 24:15
As a New Year gift Theater of Romance presents one of 1945’s most unusual pictures, It Happened Tomorrow starring Ralph…
Jan 22, 1946 · 24:55
Kid Galahad is a young ambitious bellhop who becomes a heavyweight fighter. It all started in a New York hotel where…
Jan 23, 1945 · 23:55
As the story opens we find ourselves at the Walter Lamb foundation in New York. Seven elderly professors and one…
Jan 25, 1944 · 30:13
Elizabeth Of Austria is a legend of royalty especially written for radio by Jean Holloway.
Jan 29, 1946 · 24:52
Always, people ask me, 'what was the convent like?' and when they do, I see again those cool, grey walls, and the nuns…
Jan 8, 1946 · 22:50
Douglas Fairbanks Junior plays both the parts of the twin brothers in Alexander Dumas’s thrilling story, The Corsican…
Jul 11, 1944 · 24:16
Godfrey was the last of the perfect butlers. He was elegant; he was tall, slim and handsome, not quite young,…
Jul 17, 1945 · 24:24
Johnny was handsome, charming and extravagant and Lena was deeply in love with him. After their honeymoon when they…
Jul 18, 1944 · 24:32
Romance isn’t always a girl and a boy holding hands in the moonlight, Cinderella and the prince, Romeo and Juliet,…
Jul 24, 1945 · 24:58
A dramatized radio adaptation of the 1938 RKO Radio Pictures production. In New York City at the museum of Natural…
Jul 4, 1944 · 23:30
James Hilton’s tender and moving story of the old school teacher whose life was enriched by one great love is known to…
Jun 12, 1945 · 24:33
Jimmy Dyke was in prison and was due to be executed that night for a murder he had committed. He had killed a man, a…
Jun 13, 1944 · 29:19
Theater of Romance presents Doris Dalton as Elizabeth Bennett who was too proud for love and Myron McCormick as Darcy…
Jun 19, 1945 · 24:50
When a wealthy heiress and a sharp-tongued reporter clash, sparks fly in unexpected ways. Their battle of wits and…
Jun 26, 1945 · 24:49
This story The Informer comes from those days when the rebellion was writing the headlines in Ireland. It's the story…
Mar 12, 1946 · 25:11
Cecile and Chris are newly married but his dedication to his work as a war correspondent takes him away from work for…
Mar 19, 1946 · 25:06
Step into a world of ambition, betrayal, and the relentless pursuit of stardom in this gripping radio drama. Ida Lupino…
Mar 20, 1945 · 24:50
The Citadel written by Dr A. J. Cronin is one doctor’s story about another doctor. A.J. Cronin has found for his hero…
Mar 26, 1946 · 22:13
The fact that he’d killed a man in self-defence didn’t lessen his horror at what he had done and even if a jury were to…
Mar 5, 1946 · 25:11
Written by James Hilton 'Random Harvest' is a captivating tale of mystery and romance. Don Ameche delivers a stellar…
Mar 6, 1945 · 24:02
A very famous writer and critic in the course of a lecture tour visited a small town in Ohio. There he accepted an…
May 22, 1945 · 24:19
One of the most notable stories to come from the Great War has been the late Alice Duer Miller's dramatic poem, The…
May 23, 1944 · 28:33
Love Songs is the dramatic love story of the great composer Robert Schumann and Clara Beek. It so happened that years…
Nov 1, 1943 · 29:45
Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster is a story of the gentle gracious time of the past in and era when wealthy gentlemen…
Nov 13, 1945 · 24:17
Once upon a time, in a small town just outside of Chicago, lived a very shy, young professor. The last living…
Nov 20, 1945 · 25:00
This is a delightful romantic comedy starring the incomparable Jimmy Stewart. As playwright Gaylord Easterbrook,…
Nov 21, 1944 · 23:00
Bachelor Mother is a romantic comedy. The story starts on Christmas Eve before Christmas 1941. Polly Parish has just…
Nov 27, 1945 · 25:00
This is an unforgettable love story of two people and their marriage and what it id to them and for them, Julie Carey…
Nov 28, 1944 · 25:04
A radio adaptation of the 1939 Selznick International Pictures movie, this is the story of a brilliant young concert…
Nov 6, 1945 · 24:37
Bill is a lawyer and has been a family friend to Jock and Mary since they were very young and was best man at their…
Oct 16, 1945 · 25:05
Based on the life of the French composer Claude Debussy, the story began in Paris on March 25th 1918. A shell from big…
Oct 2, 1945 · 24:52
Originally an RKO movie picture Vivacious Lady tells the story of professor Peter Morgan who is in New York looking for…
Oct 23, 1945 · 24:54
In 1932 Warner Brothers flashed upon the screen the forerunner of the bright musicals of the world, 42nd Street.…
Oct 25, 1943 · 29:02
Many stories have been written about Elizabeth of Austria, a legend of royalty, the empress of Austria, queen of…
Oct 30, 1945 · 30:00
When Joe Bell met Mabel they fell in love. Joe didn’t want Mabel to fall in love with him, as he knew it could never…
Oct 9, 1945 · 24:20
Quite naturally we had no guests. So few people were aware of the fact that the house on Angel Street, gloomy and…
Sep 11, 1945 · 25:08
Humphrey Bogart reprises his role as Richard Mason from the famous Warner Bros picture. On their fifth wedding…
Sep 18, 1945 · 24:35
He was as American as his birth place in Coventry, Connecticut. He lived for one principal. Freedom. And one day, when…
Sep 20, 1943 · 29:09
Dark Victory is a story of a woman Judith Traherene, a young woman who years before her time came face to face with…
Sep 25, 1945 · 25:00
In this romantic comedy ad man Stephen Dexter asks his secretary Kendall to marry him as a technicality in order to…
Sep 27, 1943 · 29:19
The story I'm going to tell you now is no ordinary one, where boy meets girl to the accompaniment of violins and…
Sep 4, 1945 · 25:07
It has been said that heaven is the place where the heart finds true happiness. There are no guideposts to help you…
Ned, your old-time-radio guide
Ned · your guide to the archive

Ah, Theater Of Romance — a fine choice. Let me set a few more down beside it that I think you'll take to.

Backstage Wife
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When A Girl Marries
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Grand Central Station
Both use romance as the primary dramatic engine with emotional human relationships at the center
Marriage The
Both center on romantic and marital relationships as the primary subject of ongoing drama