The Columbia Workshop: The Fall of the City—04/11/1937 by The WallBreakers

In April of 1937, CBS' flagship experimental drama program, called The Columbia Workshop, broadcast a play called "The Fall of the City" from the 72nd regiment armory in New York City . Perhaps their most famous episode, it was an allegory on fascism, written by Archibald MacLeish.

The play has the distinction of being the first verse play ever written for the medium of radio. The episode was selected by The New York Times as the outstanding broadcast of 1937. Time Magazine noted that it proved radio was science's gift to poetry and poetic drama.

Orson Welles, then just twenty-one years old, narrated from inside a sound booth, a piece of recording equipment very experimental for the time. His work on this broadcast helped catapult him to fame. Other members of the cast included Burgess Meredith and Kenny Delmar.

The massive 72nd regiment armory allowed for a massive chorus of extras. The entire directorial staff of CBS, which included Charles Vanda, William Spier, Norman Corwin, and William N. Robson, assisted head director Irving Reiss.