HELLO AMERICANS: THE ISLANDS (RADIO)
Summary
One in this series of programs about Latin America featuring Orson Welles. This program, a documentary on Haitian history narrated by Welles, focuses on three important figures in Haiti's past -- Toussaint-Louverture, Henri Christophe, and Napoleon. Welles appears in scenes dramatizing major episodes in Haitian history (not presented in chronological order). Included are: Toussaint-Louverture leading the slaves of Haiti to freedom; Simon Bolivar in France, reflecting on Napoleon's tyranny; the rule of the ruthless and greedy Henri Christophe, self-proclaimed emperor of Haiti; and Toussaint-Louverture's betrayal and death, ordered by Napoleon. Throughout the program, Napoleon's influence on Haiti is used as an example of how dictators like Hitler may affect countries far from their own. In closing, Welles and a West Indian man discuss the Haitian belief in zombies and compare a witchdoctor's power over a zombie with Hitler's over the Axis countries.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: November 29, 1942 Sunday 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:30:00
- COLOR/B&W: N/A
- CATALOG ID: R88:0194
- GENRE: Radio - Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Haiti
- SERIES RUN: CBS - Radio series, 1942-1943
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Orson Welles … Host, Narrator
- Napoleon I, Emperor of France
- Simon Bolivar
- Adolf Hitler
- Toussaint-Louverture
- Henri Christophe