What happens to a great screen actress when you take away the camera?
In this Listen with Gilbert Deep Dive, we hear Barbara Stanwyck across seven remarkably different radio performances: The Lady Eve, Ball of Fire, Remember the Night, Double Indemnity, Dark Victory, The Great Man’s Lady, and The Other Love.
Without the famous look, the gesture, or the close-up, Stanwyck has only her voice—and it turns out to be an extraordinary instrument. She can be funny, tender, sophisticated, vulnerable, dangerous and heartbreaking, sometimes with surprisingly subtle changes in timing and tone.
Along the way, we pay particular attention to her remarkable partnership with Fred MacMurray. Across Remember the Night, Ball of Fire, and Double Indemnity, essentially the same two voices create three completely different relationships: tenderness, comedy, and finally seduction and murder.
Seven performances. One unmistakable actress.
When we can no longer see Barbara Stanwyck, what is it that still makes her unmistakably Barbara?
Listen with Gilbert is a Chesterton Radio companion to the great stories, plays and performances of classic radio.
The Lady Eve
Ball of Fire
Double Indemnity
Dark Victory
The Great Man’s Lady
The Other Love
Remember the Night
