The Third Man Theme sold strongly. Four other versions charted in the U.S. during 1950. According to Faber and Faber, the different versions of the theme have collectively sold an estimated forty million copies. Karas also performed "The Third Man Theme" and other zither music for the 1951–1952 syndicated radio series, "The Adventures of Harry Lime", a "Third Man" prequel produced in London. Orson Welles reprised his role as Harry Lime. "Whenever he entered a restaurant in those years, the band would strike up Anton Karas's "Third Man Theme", wrote Welles biographer Joseph McBride. The full soundtrack album was ready for release when "The
The Adventures of Harry Lime office, demanding to be paid for the scripts which "he" had ghostwritten for Welles. When Welles was asked about it later, he smiled: "Don't pay him. They weren't very good scripts." The episodes which were adapted into short stories were: Welles also tried to convert one episode script into a film script for producer Alexander Korda. When that fell through, the story was adapted into a novel and published in France as "Une Grosse Légume" in 1953. The novel was ghostwritten by Maurice Bessy and published under Welles's name. It has never been published in English. The Adventures of Harry