Episode Details

Tonight, The Common Room leaves the Little Station on Commercial Street and broadcasts from Brooklyn, Iowa — the small town where a boy named Marion Morrison once lived and attended first grade.

The world would come to know him as John Wayne.

But tonight we’re doing something different. We’re taking away Monument Valley, the horse, the hat, John Ford’s camera — even that famous walk — and asking:

What happens when all that’s left is the voice?

Join us for a special Common Room deep dive into four remarkable old-time-radio performances featuring John Wayne, including radio adaptations of Stagecoach, Red River, Fort Apache, and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.

We’ll hear Wayne revisit the role that helped make him a star, compare the very different John Waynes created by John Ford and Howard Hawks, discover the surprisingly subtle radio actor behind the screen icon, and explore the golden-age tradition when Hollywood’s biggest stars stepped before a microphone to recreate their movies for millions of listeners at home.

And through it all, we’ll keep coming back to where we’re sitting tonight:

Brooklyn, Iowa.

Before Hollywood.Before the Westerns.Before “The Duke.”

There was Marion Morrison.

And perhaps, if we listen closely enough to these old broadcasts, we can hear John Wayne becoming John Wayne.

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Stories • Ideas • Wonder

From the Little Station on Commercial Street — broadcasting tonight from Brooklyn, Iowa.