[4]: 368 [5] Orson Welles's variety show was auditioned in New York December 2, 1943, with the Compton advertising agency representing Mobilgas.

The cast included Welles (host) and Duke Ellington (music), with guest spots by Rita Hayworth and Jimmy Durante on an audition record.

[7] The wartime variety show presented readings from classic works, drama, music, sketch comedy, magic, mindreading and personal commentary by Welles.

[9]: 194 "Originating in Los Angeles, the program was only aired regionally, not at all in New York," wrote Welles biographer Bret Wood.

[9]: 243 [a] Within minutes Morden assembled Mutt Carey (trumpet), Ed Garland (bass), Jimmie Noone (clarinet), Kid Ory (trombone), Bud Scott (guitar), Zutty Singleton (drums) and Buster Wilson (piano).

When Morden and her first husband, Jazz Man founder David Stuart, first discovered Ory in Los Angeles in 1940, he had been retired from music for seven years.

"I guess, to be truthful, that there was a lot of New Orleans dixieland players working that couldn't find a job for years," Bigard recalled.

[14]: 82, 87 "I'll never forget the first day the band rehearsed," recalled Nesuhi Ertegun, who became Morden's business partner and later her husband: Welles came into the studio with his entourage and asked me to introduce him to the musicians.

[16] The performances on Welles's show were so popular that the band became a regular feature, launched Ory's comeback, and was an important force in reviving interest in New Orleans jazz.

[17] Welles telephoned Ory and told him of Noone's death, and asked him to write a blues that could be performed for that evening's radio program.

"[18] On the program that evening, Welles spoke extemporaneously for three minutes about Noone while Buster Wilson and Bud Scott played "Sweet Lorraine", Noone's theme song, in the background.

[20] Only eight discs were released on the Crescent label, all of them recorded August–November 1944 by the group Ertegun renamed Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band.

The story, "With Your Wings", relates the homecoming of a decorated pilot, later revealed to be black, and his realization of the meaning that his achievement has for his family and community.

[b][22] Virtually forgotten, the story was unpublished until November 2014, after a transcript of the broadcast was found in the archives of the University of Texas at Austin by the managing editor of The Strand Magazine.