Luxradiotheatre1937 12 06 153thesethree

# These Three

As December's chill settled over American living rooms in 1937, listeners who tuned their dials to the Lux Radio Theatre that evening were treated to a searing drama of adolescent betrayal and shattered innocence. Based on Lillian Hellman's controversial stage play, "These Three" unfolds in the intimate, whispered confines of a girls' boarding school, where a single lie—malicious, calculated, and utterly believable—threatens to destroy the lives of three women bound by profession and friendship. The radio adaptation crackles with psychological tension as jealousy festers and reputations crumble, transforming what could be mere schoolroom gossip into a tragedy of Sophoclean proportions. Cecil B. DeMille himself presides over the proceedings with his characteristic flair, guiding the stellar cast through each devastating revelation with the precision of a master dramatist.

The Lux Radio Theatre occupied a unique and coveted space in American entertainment during the 1930s and 1940s. Sponsored by Lux soap and broadcast live every Monday night, the program brought the glamour of Hollywood directly into homes across the nation, featuring A-list motion picture stars performing abridged versions of famous stage plays and recent films. What distinguished Lux from mere entertainment was its artistic ambition—DeMille insisted on quality scripts and respected source material, elevating radio drama beyond pulp and melodrama. To appear on Lux was to receive cultural validation; listeners knew they were experiencing legitimate theater, merely compressed for the medium and enriched by stellar casting.

Gather your family close to the radio set and prepare yourselves for an evening of compelling drama. "These Three" stands as a testament to radio's golden age, when storytelling depended entirely upon the voice, the word, and the listener's imagination—where truth itself becomes the most dangerous weapon of all.