Candide

and Elliot Lewis on stage. I'm the radio appearing each week in their own theater, starring in a repertory of France-Brod stories of their own and you are choosing radio's foremost players in radio's foremost plays.

Ladies and gentlemen, Elliot Lewis. Good evening. May I present my wife, Kathy. Good evening. During this series on stage, we haven't done a classic. Until tonight. We've done a Henry James story, a novel by Leonard Merrick, East Lin and our American cousin, but we haven't done what we've all learned to consider a classic.

Until tonight. Until tonight. Because tonight you are going to hear Candide or the Optimist by Voltaire, and that's a real honest-to-goodness classic. And to tell you the story, we have a guest. His name is Larry Thor.

So first Fred Steiner, and then Larry Thor to tell you the story of Candide. It happened a long time ago in Germany. In the castle of Baron Thundgren's trunk lived the youth in Dauvar the most gentle territory.

He was honest by instinct and very simple minded, which accounted for his being named Candi. The Baron was very rich and powerful. The Baroness weighed 350 pounds and therefore was very respected. The Baron's daughter, Junigong, was young, well-formed, and very beautiful.

It was only natural for Candide to fall in love with Mademoiselle Junigong. But because of his character, he was never bold enough to tell herself. The most intelligent person in the castle was Dr. Pernbloss, the tutors.

Candide listened to his teachings with reverence and respect. Everything is made for an end. Since this is the best of all possible worlds, everything is made for the best in. Is that clear, members of the kilogones?