Old Radio Shows Bring Forward The Lost Horizon

Have you ever heard the term Shangri-La used to define paradise? It may interest you to know that the term has actually been used across a range of media, from publishing to the silver screen. It is in fact quite frequently used in everyday life.

Would you like to find out where this obscure term grew from?

James Hilton, an author, wrote a famous book called Lost Horizon. It is set in 1930s China. Shangri-La is said to be a utopia, and is a prominent location of the story, which was stumbled upon by the survivors of a plane crash in the Himalayas.

The film version was a masterpiece directed by Frank Capra and as was often the case in the time of the old-time radio, it quickly became a radio classic as well.

According to the story, Shangri-La was a place of perfect peace and people lived there much like immortals. It would seem that the survivors discovering the place was more than simply a happy accident. The high lama was over a hundred years old and needed someone of great wisdom to replace him and that person was to be the British diplomat Hugh Conway. But, the vice-consul to Conway, Mallinson, wanted more than anything to simply leave and take Lo-Tsen the beauty with him. Conway too wanted to leave and take Lo-Tsen’s hand, with Mallinson he shared a love for, and had the dilemma of deciding to go or staying in paradise.

As the drama unfolds, it is uncovered that each of the four characters has their own reasons for wanting to either stay or leave and this Tibetan paradise is more than what it seems. As such, Lost Horizon is seen to be a timeless classic that can be appreciated by many audiences.

Many old time radio shows were in fact developed based on the biggest films of the Golden Age of Radio, whereby the cast members of the silver screen version even returned to play their respective characters in the radio production. Radio theater production companies, ranging from the Theater of Romance and Lux Radio Theater, have always played a part in producing some of the biggest old time radio shows, including Lost Horizon.

In 1973, Lost Horizon crossed over once again as a musical. It flopped and failed to maintain the same audience that earlier versions of the story could easily draw.

If Lost Horizon is a story that greatly interests you, then it will please you to hear that these old radio shows recordings are very much out there.

In 1948 when Hallmark Theater produced their version of Lost Horizon the author James Hilton can be heard giving a message for the New Year. James Hilton can also be heard in a recorded commentary in the intermission of the NBC University Theater version which was broadcast on the 10th September 1950 four years before Hilton died from liver cancer in 1954.

When you give your ears the opportunity to listen to this old-time radio classic, you can be sure that Lost Horizon will live up to the fact even today.