Les Misérables

Broadcast History: 23 July 1937 to 3 September 1937

This production of Victor Hugo's dramatic masterpiece was the radio equivalent of a TV mini-series today. In seven thirty-minute shows it followed the trials and tribulations of Jean Val Jean played by the rapidly rising star, Orson Welles, who also doubled up as the narrator for the passages that are read directly from the book.

Les Miserables is set at the end of the 18th century. It is a story populated with unforgettable characters like Javert, Fantine, Cosette, the Thenardiers, Marius, and Jean Val Jean, who spent nineteen years of his life in prison for stealing a loaf of bread. As the story progressed Val Jean transforms himself from a petty thief into an honest, resourceful, and valuable man who helps other victims of poverty and social injustice.