T H E L I V E S O F H A R R Y L I M E ----- --------- --- --------- ------- 1951 - 1952 First Show: Aug 03, 1951 Last Show: Jul 25, 1952 Number Shows: 52 Audition Show: the movie Series Description: THE LIVES OF HARRY LIME was the radio follow-up to the movie THE THIRD MAN, a black and white classic 1949 film by screenwriter Graham Greene. Harry Lime, in the movie, is a manipulative black market drug dealer. In the radio series, his role is expanded to con-artist extrodinaire, who tackles almost anything illegal, with someone else always getting caught. The movie accentuated Lime's black side and the viewer feels little sympathy at his demise. The radio version of Harry Lime portrays him in a lighter touch. You know he's bad but you can't help liking him. The radio series was produced for in London by Harry Alan Towers (Towers of London) and syndicated in the US. It also aired over the BBC Light Programme. A series of eight shows aired from August 3, 1951 through September 21, 1952. Another series of eight shows aired from July 3, 1952 through August 21, 1952, again on the Light Programme. It is not known if these were eight new shows or repeats. Orson Welles played both the movie and the radio Harry Lime. The radio shows opened with the sound of a gunshot and this Welles monologue: "That was the shot that killed Harry Lime. He died in a sewer beneath Vienna, as those of you know who saw the movie, 'The Third Man'. Yes, that was the end of Harry Lime but not the beginning. Harry Lime had many lives and I can recount all of them. How do I know? Very simple, because my name is Harry Lime." The haunting theme music in both the film and radio series was per- formed by Anton Karas on an unaccompanied zither. Log Comments: Broadcast dates appeared very infrequently in catalogs. The only reference having all broadcast dates was Jerry Haendiges. Many listed show numbers (since they appear on syndication disks), making broad- cast ordering possible. Show titles were not announced at the start of shows but titles did appear on transcription disks. I assume that the majority of catalogs use the transcription disk titles. There were a few catalog titles that didn't match the most common titles. These are listed at the end of the list and are identified by lack of series number. Chronological Log: Date Num Title ------------ --- ----------------------------------- ... all shows aired on Fridays .... Aug 03, 1951 1 "Too Many Crooks" Aug 10, 1951 2 "See Naples and Live" Aug 17, 1951 3 "Clay Pigeon" Aug 24, 1951 4 "Ticket to Tangier" Aug 31, 1951 5 "Voodoo" Sep 07, 1951 6 "The Bohemian Star" Sep 14, 1951 7 "Love Affair" Sep 21, 1951 8 "Rogue's Holiday" Sep 28, 1951 9 "Work of Art" Oct 05, 1951 10 "Operation Music Box" Oct 12, 1951 11 "Golden Fleece" Oct 19, 1951 12 "Blue Bride" Oct 26, 1951 13 "Every Franc Has a Silver Lining" Nov 02, 1951 14 "Mexican Hat Trick" Nov 09, 1951 15 "Art is Long and Lime Is Fleeting" Nov 16, 1951 16 "In Pursuit of a Ghost" Aka: "El Zorro" Nov 23, 1951 17 "Horse Play" Aka: "The Racetrack" Nov 30, 1951 18 "Three Farthings For Your Thoughts" Dec 07, 1951 19 "The Third Woman" Dec 14, 1951 20 "An Old Moorish Custom" Dec 21, 1951 21 "It's A Knockout" Dec 28, 1951 22 "Two Is Company" Jan 04, 1952 23 "Cherchez La Gem" Jan 11, 1952 24 "Hands of Glory" Jan 18, 1952 25 "Double Double Trouble" Alt: "The Double Double Cross" Jan 25, 1952 26 "Five Thousand Pengoes and a Kiss" Feb 01, 1952 27 "Dark Enchantress" Feb 08, 1952 28 "Earl on Troubled Waters" Feb 15, 1952 29 "The Dead Candidate" Feb 22, 1952 30 "It's In The Bag" Feb 29, 1952 31 "Hyacinth Patrol" Mar 07, 1952 32 "Turnabout is Foul Play" Mar 14, 1952 33 "Violets, Sweet Violets" Mar 21, 1952 34 "Faith, Lime and Charity" Mar 28, 1952 35 "Pleasure Before Business" Apr 04, 1952 36 "Fool's Gold" Apr 11, 1952 37 "Man of Mystery" Apr 18, 1952 38 "The Painted Smile" Apr 25, 1952 39 "Harry Lime Joins The Circus" May 02, 1952 40 "Suzie's Cue" May 09, 1952 41 "Viva La Chance" May 16, 1952 42 "The Elusive Vermeer" May 23, 1952 43 "Murder on the Riviera" May 30, 1952 44 "Pearls of Bohemia" Jun 06, 1952 45 "A Night in a Harem" Jun 13, 1952 46 "Blackmail is a Nasty Word" Jun 20, 1952 47 "The Professor Regrets" Jun 27, 1952 48 "The Hard Way" Jul 04, 1952 49 "Paris Is Not The Same" Jul 11, 1952 50 "Honeymoon" Jul 18, 1952 51 "The Blue Caribou" Jul 25, 1952 52 "Greek Meets Greek" Alphabetical Listing: This list is intended to be used with the chronological list above. Therefore, not all information from the log above is included in this list. Note that the date format is year-month-day. Title Date Num --------------------------------- -------- --- Art is Long and Lime Is Fleeting 51-11-09 15 Blackmail is a Nasty Word 52-06-13 46 Blue Bride 51-10-19 12 Blue Caribou, The 52-07-18 51 Bohemian Star, The 51-09-07 6 Cherchez La Gem 52-01-04 23 Clay Pigeon 51-08-17 3 Dark Enchantress 52-02-01 27 Dead Candidate, The 52-02-15 29 Double Double Cross, The 52-01-18 25 Double Double Trouble 52-01-18 25 Earl on Troubled Waters 52-02-08 28 El Zorro 51-11-16 16 Elusive Vermeer, The 52-05-16 42 Every Franc Has a Silver Lining 51-10-26 13 Faith, Lime and Charity 52-03-21 34 Five Thousand Pengoes and a Kiss 52-01-25 26 Fool's Gold 52-04-04 36 Golden Fleece 51-10-12 11 Greek Meets Greek 52-07-25 52 Hands of Glory 52-01-11 24 Hard Way, The 52-06-27 48 Harry Lime Joins The Circus 52-04-25 39 Honeymoon 52-07-11 50 Horse Play 51-11-23 17 Hyacinth Patrol 52-02-29 31 In Pursuit of a Ghost 51-11-16 16 It's A Knockout 51-12-21 21 It's In The Bag 52-02-22 30 Love Affair 51-09-14 7 Man of Mystery 52-04-11 37 Mexican Hat Trick 51-11-02 14 Murder on the Riviera 52-05-23 43 Night in a Harem, A 52-06-06 45 Old Moorish Custom, An 51-12-14 20 Operation Music Box 51-10-05 10 Painted Smile, The 52-04-18 38 Paris Is Not The Same 52-07-04 49 Pearls of Bohemia 52-05-30 44 Pleasure Before Business 52-03-28 35 Professor Regrets, The 52-06-20 47 Racetrack, The 51-11-23 17 Rogue's Holiday 51-09-21 8 See Naples and Live 51-08-10 2 Suzie's Cue 52-05-02 40 Third Woman, The 51-12-07 19 Three Farthings For Your Thoughts 51-11-30 18 Ticket to Tangier 51-08-24 4 Too Many Crooks 51-08-03 1 Turnabout is Foul Play 52-03-07 32 Two Is Company 51-12-28 22 Violets, Sweet Violets 52-03-14 33 Viva La Chance 52-05-09 41 Voodoo 51-08-31 5 Work of Art 51-09-28 9 Additional: Although not part of the series, there are a few other Harry Lime related shows. * Steve Kelez' Radio Showcase catalog lists the U.S. STEEL HOUR production of "The Third Man", 01-07-51, a one hour show staring Joseph Cotten in his original role as Holly Martins. * The BBC aired adaptations of "The Third Man" three times. The first was on December 26, 1950, a 60 minute show at 2:10 PM on The Home Service. The second was on August 3, 1959, at 10 PM, again on the Home Service. This may have been a repeat of the 1950 broadcast. On November 13, 1971 an 88 minute long version aired at 8:30 PM. * Ed Carr's catalog listed a BBC production of "The Third Man". The broadcast data is not known but it's believed that the part of Harry Lime was played by Ed Bishop. Mr. Bishop also played Phillip Marlowe on BBC Radio in the late 1970's. Since it's 60 minutes long, it is probably one of the two mentioned above. * Titles of the shows that aired on the BBC's 1951 and 1952 series are not known. A list of 25 possible titles follows. Since there were 16 possible shows, some may be different titles for the same show. Art Collection Nazi Loot Business In Tangier Opium Coins Parachute Drop Contraband Return To New York Counterfeit Slow Boat To China Double Cross In Oil Smugglers El Ciqina The Boxer Espionage The Clown General Valdez The Emerald Affair Gold The Reward Kidnapped The Spy Matched Pearls The Swindle Music Box Murders * From January, 1959 through August 1965, the BBC produced a TV series under the title "The Third Man". Michael Rennie played the part of Harry Lime for the full run of 77 30-minute episodes (4 did not air). References: * "The Ultimate History of Network Radio Programming and Guide To All Circulating Shows", by Jay Hickerson, 27436 Desert Rose Ct., Leesburg, FL 34748 * "BBC Radio Mysteries, 1920-2000" by Gary E. Marsa * OTR club and vendor catalogs or web sites: * Crabapple Sound, Henry Hinkel, 254 Florida Ave., Amsterdam, NY 12010 * Great American Radio, Gary Kramer, PO Box 504, Genesee, MI 48437 * Jerry Haendiges Productions, Jerry Haendiges, 13808 Sunset Dr., Whittier, CA 90602 * Memories Of Radio, Dick Judge, PO Box 67800, Rochester NY 14617 * North American Radio Archives, 134 Vincewood Dr., Nicolasville, KY 40356 * Radio Historical Association of Colorado, PO Box 1908, Englewood, CO 80150 * Radio Memories, Ted Davenport, 1600 Wewoka St., North Little Rock, AR 72116 * Radio Showcase, Steve Kelez, PO Box 4357, Santa Rosa, CA 95402 * Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety And Comedy, PO Box 7177, Van Nuys, CA 91409-7177 * Vintage Broadcasts, Andy Blatt, PO Box 50065, Staten Island, NY 10305 Other Logs or Books: * THE LIVES OF HARRY LIME log, Jerry Haendiges Productions, 13808 Sunset Dr., Whittier, CA 90602 (http://www.otrsite.com) Reader Feedback: * Tom Fetters identified "El Zorro". * Dick Judge provided show title typo corrections. * Jim Sanderson identified "The Racetrack" as an alternate title for "Horse Play" * Gary Marsa sent me a copy his London "Times" BBC compilation, listed above in "References". Last Update: Jul 25, 2007 This log is informational only. It does not imply that I or my references have these shows for trade or sale. The shows may still be protected under copyright law and should be obtained only from authorized dealers. The log may be freely reproduced and published on a no-profit basis. Please send error corrections or additional information to Frank M. Passage, 109 Elmwood Road, Verona, NJ 07044 (email: wb2ntp@arrl.net).