Today is the 74th anniversary of recording The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1944).

“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” with Robert Benchley. Recorded for CBS on Dec. 20, 1944. Based on the 1939 short story by James Thurber, this is the full radio dramatization. It comes from “This Is My Best” radio series. Thurber praised Benchley’s performance, and didn’t like the 1947 Danny Kaye musical comedy version. Mogul David Selznick approached Benchley in 1940 about making a short film based on the Mitty story that first appeared in The New Yorker, but it didn’t work out. Less than a year after this recording was made, Benchley died in New York. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is included in “Thurber Writings and Drawings” (Library of America series).

From The Algonquin Round Table New York: A Historical Guide (Lyons Press, 2015), by Kevin C. Fitzpatrick, with a foreword by Anthony Melchiorri.