Hi everyone!
As you might have noticed, I created pages for several Anne of Green Gables radio dramas a few days ago. I found them only by accident - I was looking for info about Phyllis Shumway and I managed to find the BBC TV/Radio archive with all the adaptations they've made. I decided to continue with this project and add the other radio dramas based on AoGG.
I knew that Toby Tarnow, who played Anne in the 1956 film, had portrayed Anne in a radio drama on CBC Radio. That's all I knew. And that's all Google knew. I figured out that the adaptation must have been made after 1950 (when apparently Toby started her career) and before March 1956 (when the film was broadcast). I tried everything I could and somehow I found this article from Ottawa Citizen (January 2, 1954): [1] (fourth column) It says that Andrew Allen (a famous person in Canadian radio) adapted Anne of Green Gables and that it would be broadcast every week beginning next Friday afternoon.
Next Friday afternoon was on January 8, 1954, and Ottawa Citizen mentioned the radio drama in their radio programme (January 7 edition: [2]). Sadly, there's not a lot of old Ottawa Citizen newspapers, but there were another mentions in February programmes: Part 5 and Part 6. I don't think it had more than 8 episodes as there was no mention of another episode in the early March edition.
To sum up:
- There is a 1954 radio drama.
- It certainly had 6-8 parts (30 mins each).
- It was broadcast in January and February 1954.
- Andrew Allen adapted it.
- It might be the Toby Tarnow radio drama.
My question is: Is this the radio drama where Toby Tarnow was the voice of Anne? Or is it something else? Can you provide us the information about cast members and confirm whether Tarnow was there or wasn't?
Thank you!
Edit: During my research I found a mention of Anne of Green Gables radio drama in Australian newspapers. This is article published in August 1947: [3] And this comes from Tasmanian (?) newspaper (1950): [4].
I also found a photo of Sonny Bridges in The Age published in September 1947 in Australia. Appararently she portrayed Diana in the 1947 adaptation: [5]