{
  "title": "DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY",
  "category": "[STAGE-PLAY; MOTION-PICTURE]",
  "article": "Italian play of melancholy romanticism by Alberto Casella, adapted for the English-speaking stage\nby Walter Ferris.\n“Casella, besides being an author, is a dare-devil speed demon, a noted duelist, a devil-may-care\nsoldier who entered the World War at the age of 15 and became the youngest man ever to hold the\nrank of captain.\n“At the height of one of the bloodiest battles on the Italian front, Casella got the idea for his play,\nwondering what would happen if Death were to go on a vacation for a few days. With fellow\nsoldiers dying all around him, Casella became so enraptured with the notion that he set to work\non it immediately after the Armistice was signed.\n“Before Walter Ferris adapted ‘Death Takes a Holiday’ to English, the play was presented on the\nContinent in leading cities. It came to Broadway in 1929 and made two more appearances there\nover a three-year period. In between its New York appearances, it toured all over the country,\nbeing presented in practically every large city in America.”\n“It was produced by Lee Schubert at the Ethel Barrymore theatre, New York, December 26,\n1929, and ran 180 performances.”",
  "origination": "",
  "duration": "",
  "personnel": "",
  "extant_recordings": "",
  "chronology": "THE FLEISCHMANN HOUR (WEAF, NEW YORK—NBC-RED)\n[Thursday—\nJuly 3, 1933\n“Death Takes a Holiday”\n[RADIOGOLDINDEX: “…Rudy introduces a scene from a play, which he\nsays, ‘is not really good radio material at all...”]\nPARAMOUNT MOVIE PARADE (TRANSCIPTION DISC)\nFebruary 25, 1934\n“Death Takes a Holiday”\nCAST: Fredric March, Gail Patrick, Kent Taylor, Evelyn Venable.\nTHE FLEISCHMANN HOUR (WEAF, NEW YORK—NBC-RED)\n[Thursday—\nOctober 11, 1934\n“Death Takes a Holiday”\nCAST: Boris Karloff, et al.\nTHE RADIO GUILD (WJZ, NEW YORK—WJZ, NEW YORK—NBC-BLUE)\n[Monday—\nOctober 15, 1934\n“Death Takes a Holiday”\nCAMEL CARAVAN (KHJ, LOS ANGELES)\n[Tuesday—6:30-7:30 PM]\nDecember 8, 1936\n“Death Takes a Holiday”\n[“…When the Caravan comes to the microphone you will hear Boris\nKarloff, famed ‘horror’ man of the movies. He will play the lead in the\n‘Caravan’s’ presentation of ‘Death Takes a Holiday.’ The story is based on\nthe poetic conception of Death suspending all activities for three days,\nduring which period he falls in love with a beautiful girl, and through her,\nrealizes why mortals fear him..”]\nCAST: Mary Jane Higby, Boris Karloff, et al.\nTHE LUX RADIO THEATRE (KNX, HOLLYWOOD—CBS)\n[Monday—\nMarch 22, 1937\n“Death Takes a Holiday”\nSCRIPT: George Wells.\nPERSONNEL: Walter Ferris (intermission guest), Charlie Forsyth (sound\neffects), Louis Silvers (musical director), Frank Woodruff (director).\nCAST: Daisy Belmore, Margaret Brayton, Arthur Q. Bryan, Florence Eldridge,\nCharles Emerson, Kay Johnson, Gene Lockhart, Fredric March, Lou Merrill,\nFrank Nelson, Bernard Phillips, Howard Phillips, Theresa Maxwell.\nGREAT MOMENTS FROM GREAT PLAYS (WABC, NEW YORK)\n[Friday—9:00-9:30 PM]\nJuly 25, 1941\n“Death Takes a Holiday”\nEVERYTHING FOR THE BOYS (KFI, LOS ANGELES)\n[Tuesday—9:00-9:30 PM]\nApril 25, 1944\n“Death Takes a Holiday”\nSCRIPT: Arch Oboler.\nPERSONNEL: Gordon Jenkins (musical director), Arch Oboler (director).\nCAST: Ingrid Bergman, Ronald Colman, Hans Conried, Luis Van Rooten.\nBROWNSTONE THEATER (WOR, NEW YORK—MUTUAL)\n???day—\nSeptember 2, 1945\n“Death Takes a Holiday”\nPERSONNEL: Clayton Hamilton (host), Sylvan Levin (music), Jock MacGregor\n(director).\nCAST: Jackson Beck, et al.\nEXTANT RECORDING: One-half of broadcast survives.\n(HOME SERVICE, LONDON)\n[Monday—9:15-10:45 PM]\nFebruary 17, 1947\n“Death Takes a Holiday”",
  "sources": "",
  "gallery": "",
  "images": []
}