Episode Details

Oscar Wilde was born on October 16, 1854. Tonight, the lights are on at the little station on Commercial Street, and we’re celebrating his birthday the way Chesterton Radio knows best: by listening.

In this special Listen with Gilbert, we open the radio archives and hear Wilde come alive through An Ideal Husband, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Canterville Ghost, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and several remarkable radio versions of The Happy Prince.

Why does Wilde work so extraordinarily well without a stage?

Perhaps because when the scenery disappears, we are left with the things he did best: voices, words, wit, rhythm and paradox.

But listen long enough and another Wilde begins to emerge—the writer concerned with conscience and forgiveness, suffering and sacrifice, beauty and goodness, mercy and love. The Happy Prince may take us closer to that Wilde than almost anything else he wrote.

And, naturally, Gilbert Chesterton has something to say along the way.

So come through the Open Door. Pull up a chair. The ON AIR light is glowing, and Oscar Wilde is on the radio.

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Come back whenever you like.

The light is on. The door is open. The radio is playing.

Chesterton RadioStories • Ideas • Wonder

An Ideal Husband - Oscar Wilde - Saturday Night Theatre

The Canterville Ghost - Margaret O’Brien - Oscar Wilde - Lux Radio Theater

The Importance of Being Earnest | Oscar Wilde | Saturday Night Theatre

The Picture of Dorian Gray - Living Fiction - Oscar Wilde

The Happy Prince - Railroad Hour - Gordon MacRae - Oscar Wilde

The Happy Prince - Orson Welles Theater - Christmas 1941

The Happy Prince | Lady Esther Presents Mercury Theatre | Orson Welles