An OTR Easter

We old-time radio fans certainly enjoy the holidays; why, come Christmas time you're liable to find us listening to something related to the season - perhaps Jack Benny bargain hunting for a pair of shoelaces for Don Wilson, or one of Lionel Barrymore's turns at the role of Ebenezer Scrooge, possibly even the Christmas where the Great Gildersleeve must give up his foundling baby to the child's true father.

Yet, we come to Easter and... the pickings are notably slimmer. Perhaps the best Easter drama surviving is an episode of Quiet Please entitled "Shadow of the Wings" from April 17, 1949; you can download it from archive.org here.

Quiet Please is sometimes called a radio horror program; while there are a few episodes which delve headfirst into horror, it would be more proper to dub it a fantasy series; it ranges from gentle, light fantasy to terrifying, dark fantasy. This particular episode definitely falls on the "light" side - series star Ernest Chappell portrays here the Angel of Death itself, sent to collect the life of a little girl.

Of couse, if the prospect of a mother confronting an angel to preserve her daughter's life sounds a little heavy, I offer you this April 17, 1949 episode of the Jack Benny Program where Jack and Mary go walking in the Easter Parade: you may download it from archive.org here.

Happy Easter!