Radio Credits
The Hound of Heaven

Radio play / broadcast over MBS on February 21, 1951

Family Theater was one of the most successful shows on radio, running for 22 years over the Mutual Broadcasting System and featuring half hour dramatizations with religious themes sandwiched between Christian messages about God and prayer. Their shows seem dated today with blatantly zealous religious content and overblown music, but they were immensely popular during the 1940s and 50s and not only their radio plays but the accompanying messages featured major actors of the day.

Mel Ferrer starred in a very special play that was used several times during the show's two decades. The hero was a real person - Francis Thompson - one of England's most revered 19th century authors, whose greatest work was a poem entitled "The Hound of Heaven". In this dramatization based on his life, Francis Thompson is a lost soul, living on the streets of London, hopelessly addicted to opium and unable to secure a job. Two diverse people offer him assistance - a cobbler named Nick McMasters and a prostitute named Ann.  Nick gives him a job along with food, a place to live and an undemanding friendship, but Francis wanders away from the cobbler when it becomes clear he'll never be able to learn the trade. Running from the footsteps that constantly haunt him, he collapses in front of Ann, whose gentle nursing brings Francis back to reality inspiring him to write again. But when he proposes to her she disappears from his life, knowing he has greatness in him that's beyond what she can offer. Instead of following up on his manuscript, Francis vainly searches for Ann and finally - alone and completely defeated - he realizes that the footsteps he's hearing are the hound of heaven representing his loss of faith and that only God can help him.

Francis Thompson is a marvelous role, and Mel Ferrer's reading is beautifully nuanced. He's greatly assisted by Ronald O'Connor's narrator, who represents the voice of God in a surprisingly prominent role. Jane Withers not only enacts Ann, but offered up the religious messages before and after the play, all of which were done in front of a live audience. The radio play was written by Frederick Lipp and the entire show was directed by Joseph F. Mansfield.

The entire collection of Family Theater Classic Radio is available on CD.

For further information:

Francis Thompson The Hound of Heaven Family Theater Classic Radio

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