{
  "title": "THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER",
  "category": "[SHORT-STORY]",
  "article": "When it was first published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1936, Stephen Vincent Benet’s short\nstory seemed to its initial readers—with its deft mixture of eerie fantasy, folklore and historic\npatriotism—an instant and archetypically American classic.\n“Raymond Massey (1. to r.) Cliff Carpenter, and Will Geer are playing the parts of Webster,\nJabez Stone and Mr. Scratch respectively, in \"The Devil and Daniel Webster\" one of the plays\npresented by the Protestant Episcopal Church in its series, GREAT SCENES FROM GREAT\nPLAYS. Each week scenes from important plays are presented, with stars of real magnitude in\nleading parts. Stage, screen and radio contribute outstanding personalities,with the Episcopal\nActors' Guild cooperating.”\n[La Crosse Tribune, December 2, 1948—\n“Church Offers 10th Program Friday Night.”] “\n“The crying need for greater understanding and neighborliness between nations as well as\nbetween individuals was the underlying reason, why \"The Devil and Daniel Webster\" by Stephen\nVincent Benet was chosen as the 10th radio presentation in the series \"Great Scenes from Great\nPlays\" to be broadcast over station WKTY on Friday from 7 to 7:30 p. m., and sponsored by the\nEpiscopal families in La Crosse.\n“Raymond Massey's portrayal of the \"Great Arguer,\" Daniel Webster, who had to take time out\nfrom his historic debates with Henry Clay over the Missouri Compromise to fight a very real and\npersuasive \"Mr. Scratch\" (the Devil) for his neighbor Jabez Stone's soul is excellent drama.\n“It adds another star to his many famous historic stage characterizations which began with\n\"Washington at Valley Forge\" and ended with \"Abe Lincoln in Illinois.\" He is equally well-known\nwell-known for his starring roles on the screen, such as the \"Scarlet Pimpernel,\" Arsenic and Old\nLace\"\" and the current \"Mourning Becomes Electra.’\nIn Benet's play, that great Christian, Daniel Webster, is portrayed as willing to risk his worldly\nwealth and even his soul to save Jabez Stone, a man he hardly knew . . . because he considered\nhim a good neighbor. He put the desperate need of Jabez before his own interests.”",
  "origination": "",
  "duration": "",
  "personnel": "",
  "extant_recordings": "",
  "chronology": "THE COLUMBIA WORKSHOP (WABC, NEW YORK—CBS)\n[Saturday—\nAugust 6, 1938\n“The Devil and Daniel Webster”\n[“…This whimsical tale deals with a farmer who sold his soul and then\nprocured the ghost [sic] of Daniel Webster to argue his case against the\ndevil when the latter appeared to close the deal…”]\nSCRIPT: Charles R. Jackson.\nPERSONNEL: Bernard Herrmann (musical director).\nEXTANT RECORDING\nTHE WHA PLAYERS (WHA, MADISON)\n[Thursday—4:02-4:30 PM]\nOctober 26, 1939\n“The Devil and Daniel Webster”\nTHE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS (KNX, HOLLYWOOD—CBS)\n[Sunday—\nNovember 12, 1939\n“The Devil and Daniel Webster”\n[“…Irving Reis, author of the famous radio play, ‘Meridian 7-1212,’ is to\ndirect Walter Huston in a Hollywood portion of this week’s production.\nHuston, star of stage, screen and radio, is to be heard in a Norman\nCorwin adaptation of Stephen Vincent Benet’s ‘The Devil and Daniel\nWebster’…”]\nSCRIPT: Norman Corwin.\nPERSONNEL: Irving Reis (director).\nCAST: Walter Huston, et al.\nTHE CAVALCADE OF AMERICA (KNX, HOLLYWOOD—CBS)\n[Monday—\nOctober 20, 1941\n“All That Money Can Buy”\n[“…Cavalcade of America will present one of the greatest galaxies of stars\never to be heard on a Cavalcade broadcast when Edward Arnold and\nWalter Huston, two of Hollywood's greatest character actors, co-star in\nthe production of ‘All That Money Can Buy’… Edward Arnold will be cast\nas Daniel Webster who said he had \"47 things to do and the Missouri\nCompromise to straighten out,\" but when his neighbor called for help he\nwent off to battle Mr. Scratch (the devil himself) who will be played by\nWalter Huston. Supporting these two stars, Jane Darwell, Motion Picture\nAcademy Award winner for her portrayal of Ma Joad in \"Grapes of\nWrath,\" will play the mother of Jabez Stone who sold his soul to the\nDevil. James Craig will be cast in the role of this calculating individual,\nwith Anne Shirley playing Mary Stone, Jabez' wife.”]\nCAST: Edward Arnold (Daniel Webster), James Craig (Jabez Stone), Jane\nDarwell (Ma Stone), Walter Huston (Mr. Scratch), Anne Shirley (Mary Stone).\nEXTANT RECORDING\nTALES FROM FAR AND NEAR (WCCO\n[Friday—4:00-4:30 PM]\nApril 4, 1946\n“The Devil and Daniel Webster”\nGREAT SCENES FROM GREAT PLAYS (WOR, NEW YORK—MBS)\n[Friday—\nDecember 3, 1948\n“The Devil and Daniel Webster”\n[“…Raymond Massey will play the leading role… The program will\ninclude Daniel Webster’s famous courtroom plea before the ‘jury of the\ndead’…”]\nCAST: Cliff Carpenter (Jabez Stone), Will Geer (Mr. Scratch), (Raymond Massey\n(Daniel Webster), et al.\nTHE FAMILY HOUR (\n[Sunday—\nSeptember 18, 1949\n“The Devil and Daniel Webster”\n[“…Edward Arnold…”]\nCAST: Edward Arnold, et al.\nAN HOUR OF SHORT STORIES (NORTH TEXAS RADIO FOR THE BLIND, DALLAS)\n[Sunday—1:00-2:00 PM]\nFebruary 25, 2007\n“The Raft” / “The Chaser” / “The Devil and Daniel Webster”",
  "sources": "",
  "gallery": "",
  "images": []
}