Your Movietown Radio Theater

The kettledrum rolls, the music swells before going nearly silent as our charming host, the great Les Mitchell introduces this weeks' star of Your Movietown Radio Theater. Our Star greets the listening audience and then the broadcast breaks for a word from the local sponsor. After the commercial, Mr. Mitchell calls the action to begin as though he was a stage director, and this week's story, sometimes a light drama, more often a low-key romantic comedy, is beginning.

The key to the program was that local sponsor. Movietown Theater was a production of ZIV Syndications. Fred Ziv, who had trained as a lawyer before getting into the advertising game in his hometown of Cincinnati, hit on a formula which allowed him to produce radio (and later, TV) programs which were every bit as good as what was on the big networks, but he sold them to independent broadcasters.

The genius of this scheme was that once a show was produced, it could be sold several times. ZIV would likely recoup their production costs after pitching the show (often as part of a package) to stations unaffiliated with the major networks in big cities. Once the show's popularity began to wane in these larger markets, it could be repackaged and sold for a smaller amount in medium-sized cities. Some of ZIV's programs would sell for as little as $12 per episode, probably pitching ads for feed stores and filling stations in small towns across the country.

The introduction to Your Movietown Radio Theater sounded as glamorous as the opening night of a Hollywood blockbuster, but the show was relatively low-budget, although very well produced. The Stars were generally Hollywood B-Listers, names that the listening audience would recognize from the movies but could be hired relatively cheaply. During the intro, host Les Mitchell would tease the audience with the question he was going to ask the Star after the play, usually about the actor's current project of something from their personal lives. The scripts were adapted from short fiction, mostly unpublished before being adapted for the radio play.

In one 'memorable' episode, a couple is in the hospital after a car wreck.  The problem is that they both have amnesia and don't remember marrying each other!

Stars who appeared on this series include Jeff Chandler, Eddie Bracken, Eddie Albert, Jane Wyatt, Ginger Rogers, Kirk Douglas, Elliott and Cathy Lewis and many more. Les Mitchell hosted, directed, and produced Your Movietown Radio Theater.  The show featured Hollywood stars and starlets in a variety of 30 minute shows.  Each week features a different genre from comedy to drama each with a unique twist. 

Movietown Theater was broadcast more or less concurrently with ZIV's Favorite Story starring Ronald Colman. Although Favorite garnered better reviews, Movietown was probably the better show because it used original stories rather than adaptations. Both brought a lot of money in for ZIV.

See also Academy Award Theater, Hollywood Star Time, Cresta Blanca Hollywood Players, General Electric Theater, Theater of Romance, Your Movietime Radio Theater, and Skippy Hollywood Theater. See also: Lux Radio South African