The Lives of Harry Lime
Season 13, Episode 01
January 20, 2025
Imaginative crimes and misadventures
Re-Imagined Radio samples the first and last episodes of The Lives of Harry Lime, "Too Many Crooks" and "Greek Meets Greek." Both episodes star Orson Welles as Harry Lime and the narrator. An episode of our Old Time Radio series. Thank you for listening.
Access the episode script
Background
The Adventures/Lives of Harry Lime
The Adventures of Harry Lime, radio series, syndicated, 1951-1952, provides a prequel to
the 1949 British noir film The Third Man. When the radio series was syndicated in the
United States it was re-titled The Lives of Harry Lime.
Produced by Harry Alan Towers
Directed by Tig Roe
Zither Music by Anton Karas
Orson Welles as Harry Lime
Episodic/serial radio series
30-minute episodes
52 episodes produced, 52 survive
Origins in Film
The Third Man, released in 1949, is one of Britian's most famous films. Directed by Carol Reed, from a screenplay written by Graham Greene, the movie features many memorable scenes and characters. Most memorable perhaps is Harry Lime. A con-artist—penicillin he stole from military hospitals during World War II, diluted, and sold on the black market killed many people—Lime is chased across Europe. In the movie's dramatic final scenes, he is shot and killed in the tunnels under Vienna, Austria. Despite being a villain, Lime is an attractive anti-hero, a rogue played to perfection by Orson Welles.
Movie to Radio
Following the movie's release, Greene wrote his novella, The Third Man, based on his screenplay. Left unsold in the publishing deal were the rights to use the name and character Harry Lime. Harry Alan Towers, an independent radio producer based in London, purchased both for a planned a radio series focusing on Lime's exploits. All he needed was the right actor to portray Harry Lime.
Enter Orson Welles
And then Harry Alan Towers, often called "the Orson Welles of England," met the real Orson Welles. It was 1948(?). Welles was in London to escape a listless Hollywood career, studio interference with his creative projects, and uncomfortable questions from the Internal Revenue Service.
Orson Welles, the well known American radio actor and director, was noted for his many appearances on The March of Time since 1935, his work with The Columbia Workshop on their production of "The Fall of the City" in 1937, and his starring role in The Shadow during its 1938 season. On 30 October 1938 he achieved international notoriety for his production, direction, and starring role in "The War of the Worlds" with The Mercury Theatre on the Air. Notoriety brought a sponser, and The Mercury Theatre on the Air was renamed The Campbell Playhouse. Welles remained until 31 March 1940. In 1941, 1942, and again in 1946, Welles starred in "The Hitchhiker," a radio drama written for him by Lucille Fletcher.
Learn more about Orson Welles.
Towers hoped to leverage Welles' creativity and radio drama experience into a successful radio series. Welles wanted to raise money for his independent film projects. Partnership offered benefits for both Towers and Welles.
But Harry Lime was killed at the end of The Third Man film. How to tell stories about a dead man? Welles suggested each episode dramatize a Lime misadventure prior to his death in Vienna.
A Deal Is Struck
Welles agreed to appear in three syndicated series to be produced by Towers, in London.
First, The Adventures of Harry Lime (52 episodes, 1951-1952)
Second, The Black Museum (52 episodes, 1952-1954.
Learn more about The Black Museum.
Third, an episode of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, "The Final Problem," featuring Sir John Gielgud as Holmes, Sir Ralph Richardson as Dr. Watson, and Welles as Professor Moriarty. The episode was broadcast 3 March 1955. Harry Alan Towers (producer), Tig Roe (director).
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was heard from 2 January 1954-5 June 1955. Harry Alan Towers (producer), Tig Roe (director). The six-episode series was broadcast by BBC Home Service on Children's Hour, Sundays. According to The DigitalDeli Too website, Welles further agreed to direct, write, and perform in various roles, including the recurring "plum" role of Professor Moriarty.
Listen to "The Final Problem"
Harry Lime Radio Series
Welles reprised his movie role, helped conceptualize the series, helped with the writing, and acted as both Harry Lime and the series narrator.
The The Adventures of Harry Lime)series was produced in London, England, by Harry Alan Towers, and became the first independently produced radio program broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Episodes began with music, the Third Man Theme, composed and performed on a zither by Anton Karas, abruptly cut off by an echoing gunshot. Then . . . Orson Welles intones . . .
That was the shot that killed Harry Lime. He died in a sewer beneath Vienna, as those of you know who saw the movie The Third Man. Yes, that was the end of Harry Lime . . . but it was not the beginning. Harry Lime had many lives . . . and I can recount all of them. How do I know? Very simple. Because my name is Harry Lime.
Fifteen episodes were adapted for a short story collection, The Lives of Harry Lime (Pocket Books, Great Britain (London?), 1952). Three adaptations ("It's In the Bag" Episode #30, "The Golden Fleece" Episode #11, and "A Ticket to Tangier" Episode #4) are credited to Orson Welles, but his authorship is unclear.
Some think Welles used the radio series to experiment with ideas that might be developed further for television or movies. For example, episodes like "Man of Mystery" and "Murder on the Rivera" feature plot elements that Welles later expanded upon in his 1955 motion picture Mr. Arkadin.
Soon after The Adventures of Harry Lime series, Welles also starred in The Black Museum series. The fifty two episodes were also produced by Towers, and syndicated for broadcast 1952-1954.
Learn more about The Black Museum.
Distribution Challenges
During World War II, Towers started Towers of London, a company to repackage and distribute radio broadcasts via electrical transcriptions (ETs, record albums) to British military forces overseas. After the war, he developed a successful career as an independent radio, television, and film producer. Towers produced and syndicated The Adventures of Harry Lime radio series.
Distribution of The Adventures of Harry Lime was hampered by the state-owned British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC) ban against commercial broadcasts throughout the British Empire. Towers turned to the network of ET pressing operations and broadcast outlets around the world he had utilized during World War II as a way to distribute his program without violating BBC rules.
Broadcast History
August 3, 1951-July 25, 1952, Radio Luxembourg
52 episodes broadcast as The Adventures of Harry Lime via "pirate" Radio Luxembourg.
1 January 1951-30 December 1952 (with three month summer hiatus)
39 episodes licensed to MGM Radio Attractions and broadcast by Mutual Broadcasting System in the United
States (Tangent). Retitled as The Lives of Harry Lime. Episode
Inventory.
Works Cited
Truesdale, Dave. The
Black Museum—"A Lady's Shoe." Tangent, 16 Dec. 2023.
https://tangentonline.com/oldtimeradio/the-black-museum-a-ladys-shoe/
*** August 1951-*** July 1952
16 episodes broadcast by BBC (Ray Kelley). Titled The Adventures of Harry Lime, these were
the first dramatic episodes broadcast by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) that it did not
produce.
NOTE: The BBC broadcast five additional episodes of The Adventures of Harry Lime on Radio
Four Extra, 2019. These episodes, never before heard on BBC, where "Pearls of Bohemia," "A Night in a
Harem," "The Professor Regrets," "The Hard Way," and "Honeymoon." ("The Lives of Harry Lime.")
September 3, 1952-November 5, 1954
54 episodes (52 original plus 2 additional episodes) broadcast by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
(CBC).
Works Cited and References
Kelly, Ray. "'Study Guide To the Lives of Harry Lime' Sheds Light on Radio Series." Wellsnet.com. Aug. 14, 2017. https://www.wellesnet.com/study-guide-lives-harry-lime-sheds-light-radio-series/
The DigitalDeli Too, The Lives of Harry Lime,
https://web.archive.org/web/20230221012637/http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-Harry-Lime.html).
No longer available online except through Internet Archive, Wayback Machine.
The Lives of Harry
Lime. BBC Media Centre.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2019/18/the-lives-of-harry-lime
Additional exemplarly episode
"See Naples and Live"
Episode 02, 10 August 1951
In Naples, Harry plans to heist a beautiful emerald locket from a Neapolitan socialite. But, he is
harried by a disgruntled former associate.
Works Cited and Resources
Kroll, Robert. Study Guide To The Lives of Harry Lime. Self-Publication, 2017. ISBN-13:
978-1548358952.
Welles, Orson and Peter Bogdanovich. This Is Orson Welles. Jonathan Rosembaum, ed.
HarperPerennial, 1992.
Lives of Harry Lime—The Complete Old Time Radio Show by Old Time Radio Researchers Group.
The Lives of Harry Lime radio logs at Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs website.
The Lives of Harry Lime at Digital Deli Too website (available through Internet Archive, Wayback Machine).
Sherlock Holmes (1952 radio
series).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes_(1952_radio_series)
The DigitalDeli Too, https://web.archive.org/web/20230221012637/http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-Harry-Lime.html
Production
Contents
This episode of Re-Imagined Radio samples the first and last episodes of The Lives of Harry Lime. Both episodes star Orson Welles as Harry Lime and the narrator.
"Too Many Crooks"
Episode 01, 3 August 1951
Harry gets mixed up with a bank robbery attempt in Budapest where each member of the gang tries to
out-doublecross the other. In the end, Harry double-crosses them all, and collects sizeable rewards.
Written by Orson Welles (Wells and Bogdanovich 408).
Cast
Orson Welles as Harry Lime
Credits
Produced by Harry Alan Towers
Directed by Tig Roe
Zither Music by Anton Karas
"Greek Meets Greek"
Episode 52, 25 July 1952
Harry, while in Greece hoping to steal some art, contracts the measles. Confined to his hotel room,
Harry contends with Andrea, a mysterious woman with a gun claiming she is having an affair and her
husband is trying to kill her, and the man she is with. Her story, however, does not make sense. Some
say this episode, the last of the series, was the story basis for Welles's 1951 motion picture,
Mr. Arkadin.
Cast
Orson Welles as Harry Lime
Credits
Produced by Harry Alan Towers
Directed by Tig Roe
Zither Music by Anton Karas
Credits
Written, Produced, and Hosted by John F. Barber
Sound Design, Original Music Production, and Post Production by Marc Rose
Promotional Graphics by Holly Slocum and Evan Leyden
Social Media by Rylan Eisenhauer
Significance
The fifty-two episodes of The Lives of Harry Lime radio series, while lean on action and sound effects, are rich with tight writing, playful concepts, and fast-paced back and forth narratives between Lime and other characters. They depict Lime's many misadventures and provide a prequel to Welles' role as con-artist Harry Lime in the 1949 British noir film The Third Man.
Producer's Notes
Today, more than a half-century since they were produced and first heard on radio, what do we make of The Lives of Harry Lime radio series? Well, listening to Welles narrator and voice Harry Lime we hear an artist working his craft to perfection. Welles' voice is famous, and he uses it for maximum effect.
Listening to each episode we hear a narrative formula playing out. In the beginnings, Welles, as Lime, has nothing but his wits to put money in his pockets. As each episode develops, Lime works a new "get rich" scheme. Inevitably, each scheme is plagued by misadventure, and fails to play out as imagined by Lime. He is left in the same situation as he started.
Despite his roughish efforts, and lack of success, Harry Lime was popular with listeners. Episodes were
well written, and certainly well acted by Welles. The stories were engaging. The Lives of Harry
Lime radio series provides a prequel to Welles' role as con-artist Harry Lime in the 1949
British noir film The Third Man and remains a popular example of radio storytelling.
— John F. Barber
The Adventures/Lives of Harry Lime Episode Inventory
NOTE: This episode order and original broadcast dates are drawn from Robert Kroll's Study Guide To The Lives of Harry Lime, who in turn credits "original airdates by Radio Luxembourg (via the Lives of Harry Lime entry at The Digital Deli Too)" (6). With some minor differences in titles, The Lives of Harry Lime. Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs (https://www.otrsite.com/logs/logl1004.htm) supports Kroll's episode chronology.
Sources
Kroll, Robert. Study Guide To The Lives of Harry Lime. Self-Publication, 2017. ISBN-13:
978-1548358952
"Too Many Crooks"
Episode 01, 3 August 1951
In Budapest, Harry gets mixed up with a bank robbery attempt where each member of the gang tries to
out-doublecross the other.
"See Naples and Live"
Episode 02, 10 August 1951
In Naples, Harry plans to heist a beautiful emerald locket from a Neapolitan socialite. But, he is
harried by a disgruntled former associate.
"Clay Pigeon"
Episode 03, 17 August 1951
Governor James Hadley offers Harry $15,000 to recover the negatives of some highly scandalous
photographs and free him from a blackmail plot.
"A Ticket to Tangier"
Episode 04, 24 August 1951
In Paris, down on his luck, Harry reads a classified ad in a newspaper directing him to go to Tangier
for an unspecified purpose.
"Voodoo"
Episode 05, 31 August 1951
In Haiti, Harry sells a local religious artifact to an American industrialist, not fully realizing the
consequences of his action.
"The Bohemian Star"
Episode 06, 7 September 1951
In London, Harry's interest in the crown jewels of Bockanovia gets him mixed up with a pair of jewel
thieves who aren't in a sharing mood.
"Love Affair"
Episode 07, 14 September 1951
In Saudi Arabia, Harry is set to make a deal with the government. A rival government wants him to do the
same for them instead. Harry finds a murder and a double-cross in oil.
"Rogue's Holiday"
Episode 08, 21 September 1951
Crossing the Atlantic on the Princess Ann, Harry plans to scam Lady Barbara Follet out of a
string of pearls. But, what about her mysterious companion?
"Work of Art"
Episode 09, 28 September 1951
In Buenos Aires, Harry is hired to swindle an original Rubens from its owner, a German expatriate of
dodgy political associations.
"Operation Music Box"
Episode 10, 5 October 1951
In London, Harry meets a woman buying music boxes and smashing them.
"The Golden Fleece"
Episode 11, 12 October 1951
Harry uses forged papers to get a position as ship's captain on a yacht and learns it is smuggling a
very interesting cargo. A story that begins with a bullfight in Spain and ends with a naval engagement
in the China Sea!
"Blue Bride"
Episode 12, 19 October 1951
In Bordeaux, Harry's involved in a scheme to counterfeit 5,000 franc notes.
"Every Frame Has a Silver Lining"
Episode 13, 26 October 1951
In Tehran, Harry is given a package with $50,000 worth of opium by an old friend. Now he's looking for
some suckers he can uses to smuggle the drug into the United States.
"Mexican Hat Trick"
Episode 14, 2 November 1951
In Mexico City, Harry learns about some affidavits which would prove the innocence of a man who was
framed for murder. He attempts to locate them so he can extort some cash from the man's family.
"Art Is Long and Lime Is Fleeting"
Episode 15, 9 November 1951
In Paris, Harry buys a cheap painting and tries to pass it off as a Renoir to a pair of rich Brazilian
women. A former partner, who has been nursing a grudge, arrives to cause him grief.
"In Pursuit of a Ghost"
Episode 16, 16 November 1951 (aka "El Zorro")
In the Fall of 1945, Harry gets involved with a Central American revolutionaries. They think he is an
associate of the man who used to manage their finances, and stole most of the funds!
"Horse Play"
Episode 17, 23 November 1951 (aka "The Racetrack")
In Paris, Harry uses a "lost wallet" con, pretending to be part of syndicate that fixes horse races. The
"fix is in" and a wealthy American sucker is lined up!
"Three Farthings for Your Thoughts"
Episode 18, 30 November 1951 (Kroll says "November 20, 1971. A typo?)
In Liverpool, Harry's curiosity is piqued when a woman robs everyone in a pub at gunpoint but only takes
their farthings. The story of a farthing worth twenty thousand pounds Sterling!
"The Third Woman"
Episode 19, 7 December 1951
In London, Harry is sent to the Savoy Hotel to find out what happened to a spy who was supposed to
obtain information on a German rocket factory but has failed to do so.
"An Old Moorish Custom"
Episode 20, 14 December 1951
In Algiers, Harry's on the trail of golden cups and gold dust lost since 1504. Harry has just twenty
four hours to find the loot! The basic plot was also used for an episode of Hopalong
Cassidy, titled "An Old Spanish Custom."
"It's a Knockout"
Episode 21, 21 December 1951
In Havana, Harry has become J. Harrington Lime, Wall Street financier and Cuban sportsman. He plans to
swindle an American businessman with a rigged boxing match.
"Two Is Company"
Episode 22, 28 December 1951
In Sicily, Harry plans to reunite a woman with her grocery chain executive lover who she's come to
consider to be insufficiently romantic, for a considerable profit.
"Cherchez la Gem"
Episode 23, 4 January 1952
In Hawaii, Harry is after $75,000 in stolen jewels.
"Hand of Glory"
Episode 24, 11 January 1952
In a sleepy English village, Harry, hiding out after some shenanigans in Paris, gets entangled in the
arcane pursuits of two old men.
"Double Double Trouble"
Episode 25, 18 January 1952 (aka "The Double Double Cross")
Harry parachutes into England with smuggled currency and falls victim to the temperamental natures of
his partners.
"Five Thousand Pengoes and a Kiss"
Episode 26, 25 January 1952
In Hungary, Harry is hired to smuggle a beautiful singer out of Budapest.
"Dark Enchantress"
Episode 27, 1 February 1952
In Algiers, Harry notices the curious activities of the teenage daughter of a rich American, which he
figures can be turned to his profit.
"Earl on Troubled Waters"
Episode 28, 8 February 1952 (Kroll says "February 8, 2017." Typo?)
In London, Harry poses as a nobleman to smuggle $30,000 out of the country, but little Lord Randolph
himself takes a hand.
"Dead Candidate"
Episode 29, 15 February 1952
In the South American banana republic of Milenia, Harry seeks to advance the interests of a soda
company. Due to some curious rumormongering, the local dictator believes that Harry is a personal envoy
of the U.S. President.
"It's in the Bag"
Episode 30, 22 February 1952 (Kroll says, "February 15, 1952." Typo?)
Aboard the Orient Express, Harry meets a friendly Greek with a bag of black market money. Harry has
counterfeit money and hatches a scheme to switch it for the Greek's.
"Hyacinth Patrol"
Episode 31, 29 February 1952
In wartime Panama, Harry breaks up a spy ring out to wreck the Panama Canal.
"Turnabout Is Foul Play"
Episode 32, 7 March 1952
In Bern, Harry sets up a German businessman wishing to rebuild his pre-war fortunes by baiting him with
some phony U.N. plans for the industrialization of Western Europe.
"Violets, Sweet Violets"
Episode 33, 14 March 1952
In Nazi-occupied Marseilles, Harry contacts the head of the local black market so that he can get a
piece of the action.
"Faith, Lime, and Charity"
Episode 34, 21 March 1952
In India, Harry runs a scam to skim some of the money he's collecting to rebuild an orphanage.
"Pleasure before Business"
Episode 35, 28 March 1952
In Venice, Harry enlists a beautiful acquaintance for a jewel robbery. But, she has a few ideas of her
own, like love. Script available here.
"Fool's Gold"
Episode 36, 4 April 1952
In Kuwait, Harry poses as an archaeologist to hijack some smuggled gold. But, he finds his assumed
identity more hassle than help.
"Man of Mystery"
Episode 37, 11 April 1952
Harry is summoned to Antibes by Gregory Arkadin, a wealthy man with amnesia for twenty years. He wants
Harry to learn as much as possible about his past life. Welles later used this plot as the basis for his
film Mr. Arkadin. Script
available here.
"The Painted Smile"
Episode 38, 18 April 1952
In Sicily, Harry attends a circus performance with one of the clowns, a friend from the underworld. The
clown is shocked when his daughter, unaware of either of his professions, runs away from her exclusive
private school to meet him.
"Harry Lime Joins The Circus"
Episode 39, 25 April 1952
In post-war Europe, Harry is working for a traveling circus. He learns that one of the clowns is Hans
Hessle, an escaped Nazi being sought by many of his victims for his atrocities during the war.
"Suzie's Cue"
Episode 40, 2 May 1952
In Vienna, Harry teams up with an impoverished countess to steal a diamond necklace formally owned by
Marie Antoinette.
"Vive le Chance"
Episode 41, 9 May 1952
In Paris, Harry plans to cheat an American named Henry Witherspoon with a scheme involving a treasure in
buried gold.
"The Elusive Vermeer"
Episode 42, 16 May 1952
Horace St. John Windemeer contacts Harry for help disposing of a Vermeer painting he's about to steal.
"Murder on the Riviera"
Episode 43, 23 May 1952
In post-war France, Harry's smuggling cigarettes. He meets a young a girl called "Stupid" with a corpse
and fifteen million francs. She's doing a bad job of disposing of the corpse and Harry decides to help
her, for a price!
"Pearls of Bohemia"
Episode 44, 30 May 1952
In Italy, Harry answers a curious ad for a multi-lingual agent. He meets Melody Johnson who enlists his
aid, ostensibly to win a beauty contest in Egypt, but really to smuggle pearls into Egypt.
"A Night in a Harem"
Episode 45, 6 June 1952
In a Middle East kingdom, Harry, a sharpie named Sam, and a real Arabian princess are set up for a
$100,000,000 oil concession pushover.
"Blackmail Is a Nasty Word"
Episode 46, 13 June 1952
In Marseilles, a dying crook gives Harry a name to share with an official in the post-War French
government. Doing so makes the official very cooperative, though Harry hasn't a clue why.
"The Professor Regrets"
Episode 47, 20 June 1952
Harry helps a fellow con artist expose a famous atomic scientist disloyal to America.
"The Hard Way"
Episode 48, 27 June 1952
Harry starts a charter airline business, using an old smuggling airplane. He meets the strange Mr.
Butterboy, wanting to fly to Zurich and finds his old reputation is not so easily left behind.
"Paris Is Not the Same"
Episode 49, 4 July 1952
In Paris, Harry Lime meets an old wartime flame. He soon uses a "Third Man" to work a perfume swindle.
"Honeymoon"
Episode 50, 11 July 1952
Harry and a Countess try to smuggle a most wanted bandit out of Sicily.
"The Blue Caribou"
Episode 51, 18 July 1952 (Kroll says, "July 11, 1952." Typo?)
In Italy, Harry is hired by a beautiful American to help her recover a valuable antique piece of pottery
and gets entangled in the doings of a retired Mafia boss.
"Greek Meets Greek"
Episode 52, 25 July 1952
In Greece, Harry contends with the measles, a dead body, and a mysterious woman with a gun claiming
someone is trying to kill her. Her story, however, does not make sense.
Promotion
Press
Graphics
