Night Transmissions

The Avengers South Africa – The Fantasy Game part 1.

The Avengers South Africa – The Fantasy Game part 2.

The Avengers South Africa – The Fantasy Game part 3 and the short story The Back Dog by Stephen Crane.

The Strange Wills:

The Sealed Book:

CBS Radio Mystery Theater:

Strange Wills from July the 13th of 1946 “Treasure to Starboard”. 

Strange Wills was made for syndication in 1946 by Teleways and is  an interesting twist on the mystery drama fare of the late 1940s. Co created  by Teleways and the star of the program, Warren William  (who was at the time a significant stage and film star but who is now little remembered except for his portrayal of Perry Mason in four Warner Bros. features between 1934 and 1936).This program held unusually high production values. At it’s core is an ensemble cast of high caliber. Headed by the host and star, Warren William, and co-starring Howard Culver and Carleton G. Young. Lurene Tuttle also appeared in many of the episodes, as well as William Conrad, Peggy Webber, Will Wright and John Brown. In short, some of the best West Coast’s voice talent on tap at the time.

The series premise  is the investigation of the fascinating–but often overlooked–drama that arises from many last wills and testaments. With Warren William providing a first-person accounting as either the attorney of record or as an investigator of some extraordinary will.

In the opening set-up of each episode some effort is made to assure us of the authenticity of these stories. Perhaps it’s just a function of my own innate skepticism, but be that as it may, I would admonish you not to take these proclamations as gospel. I will say that  this show waswell made with excellent sound quality and performances.

“This is a story of sunken treasure. Of blood red rubies, sparkling diamonds, and lustrous pearls. But these were but a part of this priceless treasure trove. There were golden statues of pagan gods encrusted with precious stones. There were amethysts, opals, and gold … gold … GOLD …“

Another adventure story, started out all too similar to “The Lady and the Pirate” with Captain Fernandez of the treasure ship Toledo making out his will … in 1703. But quickly over 200 years pass before whereabouts of the ship fall into the hands of O’Connell’s friends Paul and Jean. The hunt is on but will the intercession of German treasure hunters foil Paul and Jean’s quest? The post-WWII Germans, who are I assume Nazis in exile, are what makes “Treasure to Starboard” interesting.

As with The Mysterious Traveler that preceded it, The Sealed Book was an anthology of supernatural drama, produced and directed by Jock MacGregor for the Mutual network, and written by the extraordinary team of Robert Arthur and David Kogan. Indeed this same entire team of network, director, and writers were responsible for the entire run of The Mysterious Traveler. Going even further, The Sealed Book reprised 26 of the Arthur/Kogan scripts written for The Mysterious Traveler. And in yet another similarity, Philip Clarke performed as an actor in five of the original Mysterious Traveler episodes.

Where the series’ differed was in the ‘hook’ or novelty intro to each week’s new episode. With The Mysterious Traveler, the atmospheric element was the mournful whistle of the train, and Maurice Tarplin’s equally exaggerated exposition at the beginning of each episode. With The Sealed Book, each episode opened with the sound of the great gong, followed by Philip Clarke’s observation that the Keeper of The Book had once again opened the door to the secret vault, within which was contained the ‘great sealed book’ recording ‘all the secrets and mysteries of mankind through the ages.’

At the end of all but the last episode, Clarke would tell listeners to tune in the following week when “the sound of the great gong heralds another strange and exciting tale from… the sealed book.”

Granny should be dead soon. I mean she’s really old. Got lots of money and as far as her grandchildren can see no reason to live. No reason she should live. Maybe the cousins, a girl, a girl and a boy can fix that. Real quiet like.

If they can get along long enough to get the job done that is.

CBS Radio Mystery Theater – “The Walking Dead”.

The CBS Radio Mystery Theater was an ambitious effort by veteran radio producer Himan Brown to revive interest in American radio drama. Every night from 1974 to 1982, host E.G. Marshall (later Tammy Grimes) ushered listeners through a creaking door — for 52 Min of “the fear you can hear.” Brown produced nearly 200 new episodes of Mystery Theater every year, using both original scripts and adaptations of classic stories by Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain,Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Mystery Theater brought many veterans from radio’s golden age back before the microphone, including Agnes Moorehead, Richard Widmark,Celeste Holm, Mercedes McCambridge and Howard Da Silva. The show also featured performances from many up-and-coming stage and film actors, including Tony Roberts, John Lithgow, Morgan Fairchild, Mandy Patinkin and Sarah Jessica Parker.

The CBS Radio Mystery Theater won the George A. Peabody Award in 1974.)

Fondly Fahrenheit is Alfred Bester’s superlative achievement in short Science Fiction. Apparently the story was based an account of an U.S. Antebellum Era slave owner who refused to surrender his murderous chattel because the man was just too valuable. In Fondly Fahrenheit Bester makes brilliant use of the psychological concept of transference, literally smacks you in the forehead with an allusion to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and employs POV shifts that effortlessly blow your consciousness right out of your mind (and into someone else’s)!

The story was adapted as a telepay in 1959 under the title Murder And The Android, an episode of NBC’s Sunday Showcase. But the version I want to tell you about is one that I hadn’t realized existed, until just a few days ago! Bester had again adapted his story, and again changed it’s name! Here is Alfred Bester’s own radio drama adaptation of Fondly Fahrenheit, from 1976 He called it The Walking Dead!.

Robert L. Ripley’s Radio Scrapbook – August the 4th of 1947 – “Witchcraft”.

Robert Ripley began his career as a sports cartoonist on the New York Globe, where in October of 1919 he created the print version of Believe It or Not.

In April 1930, Ripley brought   Believe It or Not to radio, the first of several series that would wander the airwaves and be heard in different incarnations on NBC, CBS and Mutual . These broadcasts varied in length from 15 minutes to 1.

Ripley’s debut on The Collier Hour  brought a strong reaction from the listeners . Knowing a good thing when they heard it, NBC gave Ripley a Monday night spot beginning on April 14, 1930. By 1931 He was airing spots twice a week on NBC’s Saturday Party.

Ripley would host The Baker’s Broadcast from 1935 to 1937. Between 1937 and 1938 He bounced around several different NBC time slots and then took to the road with, See America First with Bob Ripley (1939–40) on CBS. This program would mutate and expand into a 1942 program featuring Latin music, See All the Americas.

During World War II Ripley would be heard five nights a week on Mutual in shows with an emphasis on the war. Then came Romance, Rhythm and Ripley airing on CBS in 1945. From  1947 to 1948.  Pages from Robert L. Ripley’s Radio Scrapbook.

The program ended in 1948 as Ripley and Believe It Or Not migrated to Television.

Finally the show was  resurrected in the 1970s. When there were produced a series of over 400 one minute episodes for use as fillers.

Robert Ripley is known for several radio firsts. He was the first to broadcast nationwide on a radio network from mid-ocean, and he also participated in the first broadcast from Buenos Aires to New York. Assisted by a corps of translators, he was the first to broadcast to every nation in the world simultaneously.

The Screen Guild Theater – Arsenic and Old Lace from November 25, 1946.

The Screen Guild Theater was a popular radio anthology series during the Golden Age of Radio, broadcast from 1939 until 1952, with leading Hollywood actors performing in adaptations of popular motion pictures such as Going My Way and The Postman Always Rings Twice.

The show had a long run, lasting for 14 seasons and 527 episodes. It initially was heard on CBS from January 8, 1939 until June 28, 1948, continuing on NBC from October 7, 1948 until June 29, 1950. It was broadcast on ABC from September 7, 1950 to May 31, 1951 and returned to CBS on March 13, 1952. It aired under several different titles: The Gulf Screen Guild Show, The Gulf Screen Guild Theater, The Lady Esther Screen Guild Theater and The Camel Screen Guild Theater.

Actors on the series included Ethel Barrymore, Lionel Barrymore, Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, Eddie Cantor, Gary Cooper, Bing Crosby, Bette Davis, Jimmy Durante, Nelson Eddy, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Johnny Mercer, Agnes Moorehead, Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra and Dinah Shore. Fees these actors would typically charge were donated to the Motion Picture Relief Fund, in order to support the creation and maintenance of the Motion Picture Country Home for retired actors.

      Badge of the screen Guild

Arsenic and Old Lace is an appaption of the 1944 Joseph Kesselring‘s play of the same name. The script adaptation was by twins Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein the film was accualy made in 1941, but it was not released until 1944, after the original stage version had finished its run on Broadway. The lead role of Mortimer Brewster was originally intended for Bob Hope, but he couldn’t be released from his contract with Paramount. Frank Capra also approached Jack Benny and Ronald Reagan before going with Cary Grant. Boris Karloff played Jonathan Brewster, who “looks like Karloff”, on the Broadway stage, but he was unable to do the movie as well because he was still appearing in the play during filming, and Raymond Massey took his place but did return for this radio play.

The Creaking Door – Day Of Truce October 12, 1964.

The Creaking Door was an old-time radio series of horror and suspense shows originating in South Africa 1964-65.

The show was South African Radio’s shot at thrillers with a supernatural bent. In the vein of  the Americans show Inner Sanctum. The Creaking Door , however, despite its obvious connection to the American series stands on its own as a unique, well-produced, engaging supernatural thriller series. The emphasis on high production values is perhaps the very reason that several early, morally challenged Radio traders felt they could get away with interspersing many of the Creaking Door episodes with their Inner Sanctum, Mysterious Traveler, and Strange Dr. Weird offerings to a still naive community of radio recording collectors. Although somewhat left-handed, it’s still a compliment to both SABC and Springbok Radio that those early ‘otr hooligans’ managed to get away with the practice for well over 20 years.

That takes nothing away from this excellent series in its own right. The expositions were deftly introduced and shaded with just the right amount of chilling narrative. Not quite as chilling and melodramatic as Raymond Johnson, perhaps, but Peter Broomfield rightly camped up his delivery for The Creaking Door, and it worked. Indeed, given the reported conservative budget of each episode, it’s a tribute to The Creaking Door’s producers that they managed to tease so much quality out of such relatively humbly funded productions. Circulating The Creaking Door productions remain a highly engaging tribute to the supernatural thriller genre and, as such, continue to be a highly sought after series. Definitely still a compelling, ‘lights-out’ listening experience for young and old alike.

It was sponsored by State Express 555 (pronounced “State Express Three Fives”) cigarettes, a British American Tobacco product.

(The above is mostly taken from the entry at Digital  Deli)

This story opens at the graveside of the funeral of a local gangster. Everyone’s there, his gang, his loyal soldiers, his rivals in the gang, the Coppers and members of a rival gang,everyone observing a “Day of Truce”. And subsequently, the greedy ambitions of one mobster in particular. Oh, and there’s a ghost. But maybe I shouldn’t mention that because, maybe there is and maybe there isn’t.

X Minus One – Junkyard, from February 22 of 1956.

X Minus One is considered the finest science fiction drama ever produced for radio. It was  not the first. That honor belongs to 2000+. It wasn’t the second, That would be Dimension X. In fact the first 15 episodes of it’s  1955 to 1958 run on NBC were new versions of  Dimension X  episodes. The remainder were all most entirely adaptations of recently published science fiction stories (Mostly from Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine) usually written by the leading writers of the time, including  Philip K. Dick, Fritz Leiber, J.T. McIntosh, Robert A. Heinlein, Frederik Pohl and Theodore Sturgeon.

For all of us who were weaned on  The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone and for the Trekkies (er,Trekkers) among us, you should know that X Minus One is the forefather of the science fiction you grew up on. You will find that it still is some of the best Science Fiction ever aired.

this is the adaptation of a short story by Clifford D. Simak of the same name which was published in the May, 1953 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction.

It concerns a spaceship crew exploring a planet they’ve spied from afar, and what looks to them to be a pile of junk. upon investigation one after another the crew begins to exhibit memory loss, and soon can’t remember how to start the ship’s engines for take-off.

Clifford D. Simak (1904-1988) was one of the science-fiction’s most beloved writers. a longtime friends of Gordon R. Dickson and Poul Anderson, he was honored as SFWA’s third Grand Master in 1977 (for the year 1976 in this honor he was preceded  by Robert A. Heinlein and Jack Williamson. This is exalted company indeed! And Clifford D said Mac is not out of place among them. He also won the International Fantasy Award for his classic 1953 Novel City, and was given the Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award in 1988.

His other awards include three Hugo trophies (“The Big Front Yard”–1959, Way Station–1964, and “Grotto of the Dancing Deer”–1981), and a Nebula Award, also for “Grotto of the Dancing Deer” in 1981. 

Murder at Midnight – The Ape Song first aired on March 31 of 1947.

Produced in New York, Murder At Midnight was heard  over the Mutual Network starting on Sept. 16th  of 1946 until Sept. 8th of 1947. Produced by radio station  WJZ.  The show was known to occasionally reproduce scripts that had been performed on  Inner Sanctum.  This practice allowed the show to feature tales of murder most macabre by some of radio’s top writers without paying top dollar.

The show was filled with tales of death and mayhem, not always at midnight. The show was hosted by Raymond Morgan who had a memorable introduction as he intoned, “… The witching hour, when night is darkest, our fears the strongest, our strength at it’s lowest ebb. Midnight when the graves gape open and Death strikes”.

The cast featured Elspeth Eric, Mercedes McCambridge, Barry Kroeger, Betty Kane, Carl Frank, Barry Hopkins, Lawson Zerbie. Charles Paul played the creepy organ music, and Anton M. Leader directed.