{
  "title": "ALTER EGO",
  "category": "[RADIO-SCRIPT]",
  "article": "Arch Oboler’s radio play of opposing personalities housed in one body achieved a prominence\nbeyond its initial broadcast on Lights Out in 1936.\nInterestingly—and perhaps indicative of the short shrift given radio by many entertainment\nhistorians—no Davis biography even mentions “Alter Ego”—except for Whitney Stine’s Mother\nGoddam, which directly quotes the actress in acknowledging that she “received more acclaim\npublicly from two of [Oboler’s] plays than from many of my films. One was titled Alter Ego…the\nother was Beloved Friend… [In Alter Ego] I played two characters—and with only the use of my\nvoice this was a tremendous challenge.”\nThe instant fame of the broadcast made it fair game for spoof, as Jack Haley did two weeks later.\nOboler was rather disingenuous about explaining the use of the script on his series in 1939.\n[Capital Times, 6/18/39] “Arch Oboler, in five years on radio you have smashed idols and defied\nsacred taboos… You violated the rules and sinned in translating a thoroughly-documented\nscientific case history into vital human drama. The actress was Hollywood’s inimitable Bette\nDavis and your radio vehicle was ‘Alter Ego.’ (This was chosen the prize radio play of 1938.)”\nFor the 1947 holiday season Benny released an commercial record album containing six of his\nbest routines including “Schizophrenia,” which was described in advertisements: “an adaptation\nof a radio drama by Arch Oboler called ‘Alter Ego’ splits Jack into two Bennys.”\n[Time, September 3, 1945] “Bewitched is a double-personality melodrama with double-medium\nantecedents. Directed by radio’s Arch Oboler, who adapted it from his own ‘best original air\ndrama of 1938,’ the picture both gains and loses by its crossbreeding… By giving the inner voice\n(and numerous subsidiary mental voices) unusual expressiveness, Arch Oboler has, at best,\nachieved cinema’s first really effective use of internal monologue. At worst, he goes so far with the\ntrick of building intensity through reiteration that it recalls Fred Allen’s parody of Norman\nCorwin…”]\nVariant titles: “Another World,” “The Voice Within Me.”\nPERSONNEL: Bill Bacher (producer—1938, Texaco Star Theater), David Broekman (music—1938, Texaco Star Theater),\nArch Oboler (scriptwriter—1936, Lights Out; scriptwriter, director—1939, Arch Oboler’s Plays; producer—1941, Bundles\nfor Britain), Max Reinhardt (director—1938, Texaco Star Theater).\nCAST [1938, Texaco Star Theater]: Bette Davis, et al.\nCAST [1939, Arch Oboler’s Plays]: John Brown, Betty Garde, Frank Lovejoy, Gilbert Mack, Arnold Moss, Hester\nSondergaard.\nCAST [1945, The Philco Radio Hall of Fame]: Mercedes McCambridge, Ann Shepherd.",
  "origination": "",
  "duration": "",
  "personnel": "",
  "extant_recordings": "“Alter Ego” [audition recording] (Texaco Star Theater, 9/28/38), “Alter Ego” (Texaco Star\nTheater, 10/5/38), “Alter Ego” (Arch Oboler’s Plays, 7/29/39), “Alter Ego” (The Philco Radio Hall of Fame, 4/22/45).",
  "chronology": "LIGHTS OUT (WMAQ, CHICAGO)\n[Wednesday—11:30 PM-12:00 MIDNIGHT]\nNovember 18, 1936\n“Alter Ego”\n[“…A woman with a dual personality, whose lifelong struggle with the\nnegative side in her character ends in defeat as she is led by a strong\ninner force to commit a horrible crime for which she is sentenced to be\nelectrocuted, is the central character…”]\nTEXACO STAR THEATER (KNX, HOLLYWOOD)\n[Wednesday—\nOctober 5, 1938\n“Alter Ego”\n[EXTANT RECORDING]\n[“Featured in the sketch with Miss Davis will be Adolphe Menjou, regular\nemcee of the program, and members of the Max Reinhardt Workshop…”]\nTHE WONDER SHOW (\n[\nOctober 2?, 1938\n[“Alter Ego” spoof]\n[EXTANT RECORDING]\nARCH OBOLER’S PLAYS (WEAF, NEW YORK)\n[???day—9:30-10:00 PM]\nJuly 29, 1939\n“Alter Ego”\n[EXTANT RECORDING]\nBUNDLES FOR BRITAIN (KECA, LOS ANGELES)\n[Wednesday—\nJanuary 1, 1941\n“Schizophrenia”\n“A group of Hollywood’s leading actors, actresses, comedians and singers\nwill combine their talents in a special New Year’s Day broadcast on NBC\nto present a full hour of fun and nonsense on behalf of the Bundles for\nBritain committee. Arch Oboler, leading radio script writer and producer,\nwill write and produce Wednesday’s broadcast… Jack Benny will present\nhis interpretation of Bette Davis’ version of Oboler’s version of ‘Alter\nEgo.’ Miss Davis will be on hand to introduce Benny to the radio\naudience…”]\nINNER SANCTUM MYSTERIES (WJZ, NEW YORK)\n[Sunday—8:30-9:00 PM]\nMay 9, 1943\n“One Must Die”\n[“…jarring tale of a girl with a schizophrenic personality who is torn\nbetween the forces of good and evil as a result of her psychosis… Anne\nSeymour stars as the girl’s better nature with Lesley Woods as the evil\npersonality…”]\nTHE PHILCO RADIO HALL OF FAME (WJZ, NEW YORK)\n[\nApril 22, 1945\n“Alter Ego”\n[EXTANT RECORDING]",
  "sources": "Stine, Whitney. Mother Goddam.",
  "gallery": "Bette Davis",
  "images": []
}