We commemorate the birthday of the renowned gay Irish writer Oscar Wilde (October 16, 1854- November 30, 1900) with the play he was writing in October, 1891 — Salomé.

Before we get to the play, listen to Brian DeShazor’s 2014 interview with the erudite Mr. Nimoy and his wife Susan more than fifty years after the play’s original broadcast, and learn how a chance encounter on the sidewalk outside of KPFK Los Angeles with the station’s Arts and Literature Director Ruth Seymour developed into almost certainly the first radio broadcast performance of Wilde’s 1891 classic tragedy.

In this extended podcast edition, we feature the full-length production directed for Pacifica Radio by a “pre-Spock” Leonard Nimoy.

Cast: Gail Kobe, Barry Atwater, Jeanne Bates, Andre Tayir, Peter Baldwin, Susan Bay, Gerald Renolds, Alan Montaigne, Lee Whiting, Marcel Ober, Milt Kogen, Charles Reyolds

Produced for Pacifica Radio Gerald Zellinger

Courtesy of Pacifica Radio Archives