There's not really anything on radio quite like the Columbia Workshop (or the CBS Radio Workshop). The Columbia Workshop was a CBS program which bounced around their schedule from time-to-time between 1936-1947. It was a very experimental program - it took a lot of chances and not all of them worked. The Columbia Workshop was a space for producers, directors, writers, musicians, sound effects men and actors to try out material that wouldn't have fit anywhere else. The risks which CBS took in running such a program certainly paid off for them in the years ahead - Suspense is one such program which owes a lot to the Columbia Workshop for testing new ways of telling stories.
Like the Columbia Workshop, CBS Radio Workshop had no particular genre or even style of content; sometimes it presented drama, other times comedy, sometimes a "colloquy" which were opportunities to editorialize on a certain subject; there were musical episodes, slice-of-life programs and a bit of journalism. Not every episode will be to a person's taste (I find the music program "The Stronger" to be a chore), but I think every radio fan can find at least a few episodes they'll enjoy.
For instance, there was a lot of airtime given to science fiction, which CBS didn't delve into too often (such stories were more common on NBC). CBS Radio Workshop kicked off with a two-part adaptation of Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" and later adapted his novel "Jacob's Hands." There's a Ray Bradbury episode which adapted "Season of Disbelief" and "Hail and Farewell"; they adapted Heinlein's "The Green Hills of Earth"; John Cheever's social commentary "The Enormous Radio"; the humourous Robert Nathan story "A Pride of Carrots"; Antoine de St. Exupery's "The Little Prince"; a two-part adaptation of C. M. Kornbluth's "The Space Merchants"; and the fun fantasy story "Housing Problem" by Henry Kuttner.
Other interesting adaptations included a number of great humour stories: "Roughing It" by Mark Twain; "The King of the Cats" by Stephen Vincent Benet; "You Could Look It Up" by James Thurber; and a very funny adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "Never Bet the Devil Your Head."
The show looked at the process of writing for radio in "A Writer at Work" and at microphone technology in "I Have Three Heads"; the series explored psychic research in "Report on ESP"; an examination of Hawaiian culture in "Malahini Magic"; and a portable tape recorder presentation of famous cities: "The Voice of New York," "This Is Paris," and "Portrait of London."
It was a fairly highbrow show at times - Shakespeare comes up a lot. The first colloquy is an "interview" with Shakespeare; there's a Hamlet play called "Another Point of View"; and a look at Shakespearean acting in "Lovers, Villains and Fools." There's also a look at the titular "Oedipus Story," some Japanese theatre in "Noh Plays of Japan," a dramatic reading of Christ's passion in "The Son of Man" and an episode in which William Conrad read poetry: "1489 Words."
You can hear adaptations of novels and short stories on any 'playhouse'-type program. What sets CBS Radio Workshop apart from other dramatic shows are the programs which probably couldn't have been done anywhere else. To that end, there are four episodes I want to single out:
- "A Matter of Logic": Writer/producer Antony Ellis appears as himself as he tries to convince William Conrad of his take on a far-out concept; Conrad disagrees with Ellis' premise and the two try to hash it out through a friendly argument. One wonders if Ellis was inspired by similar arguments he'd had with performers over the years.
- "I Was the Duke": A remarkable conversation with a juvenile delinquint. It certainly supports everything one fears about teenage criminals, but it is surprising to hear how casually the real-life criminal discusses his crimes, with some uncensored profanity littering his speech! It's probably your only chance to hear some profanity in old-time radio.
- "Nightmare": An interesting drama about a man (Elliott Lewis) struggling with a heart attack and the odd nightmare he experiences while clinging on to life. It's a beautifully surreal stream-of-consciousness play.
- "The Silent Witness": A one-man play performed by Raymond Burr; not up to the standard of Suspense's "The Waxwork" but a very solid drama.
So that's what sets CBS Radio Workshop apart from other dramatic shows, but what set it apart from its predecessor, the Columbia Workshop? I think the difference is that the Columbia Workshop was testing unproven ideas and concepts, pushing the boundaries of what could be done in radio. CBS Radio Workshop arrived at the end of dramatic radio and seemed to comprehend that it would be among the last of its kind; rather than strive towards a future that wasn't there, it simply demonstrated what was possible with the technology of the time. For that reason, I think CBS Radio Workshop is much easier to listen to than the average episode of the Columbia Workshop, but I think I've written enough to give you an idea of whether this show would appeal to you.
The Old-Time Radio Researchers Group has a collection of the CBS Radio Workshop at the Internet Archive.
There was Mercury Theater and Campbell's Theater as different versions of Welles progressed but I don't think he was involved with CBS Radio Workshop which is certainly an eclectic undertaking. It was on roughly I think at the same time as X-Minus One and they both had some interesting stories straight from fiction. Without looking, I think most of the Welles and later into Workshop were one hour shows.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how I listen to these shows and think, they could be better. Dragnet could be less campy. Escape could have fewer spies; Suspense could have 90 percent fewer murders but all of these shows generally have excellent to listenable audio. Exploring Tomorrow does not but it also has great scrips. Some of the other OTR Sci Fi shows only had a few episodes because they moved to television where they can often be found on youtube but the pic quality is poor and it's just not the same. X-Minus-One could take you anywhere. Television makes it look like Ralph Kramden with a pot on his head.
Comedy on OTR could be much better. There are no really developed sitcoms where the characters grow and they are all formulaic except for Jack Benny and Amos and Andy. Is the Johnson Wax show supposed to be about an Irish couple, not sure but "t'aint so, McGee" is one of my Catch-phrases.
A lot of the fiction on these anthology shows is dated for many, certainly not for you. To me, Treasure Isle, listening to fake Scottish accents is a big snoozer and so was the book in school and most of the stories except Mutiny on the Bounty don't hold up anymore. The same goes with sword fighting and Sinbad the Sailor, him, I loved because of the Ray Harryhausen movies.
I love Tarzan but he has never gotten any good renditions in a series except in the comics where he and the artwork are astonishing. Gunsmoke is pretty good. Considering I listen every night and some times during the day, I am surprisingly blase.
You are a bit young to remember Cbs Radio Mystery Theater. The scripts could be poor at times and the shows needed to be 45 minutes in stead of an hour but that's an astonishing show in almost every way. E.G. Marshall is by far the most famous "OTR" guy after Welles. There are so many shows that I still do not know how many I haven't heard. I started with the ones with news and commercials and then looked for the best titles. That's the real Creaking Door, which is another excellent show. South African, I think. A lot of the English-speaking rip-off shows with similar titles are often great.
You are the only other human being I know who even listens to CBS Radio Workship. I listen to it several times a year. I always wonder what percent people like you and me are. I listen to all of the rest too. Fantastic Four on the Radio, Star Wars, Fan Created DC OTR which I have no idea how it is legal, all of these are great as is Bradbury 13, especial the stereo audio effects. All of the Twilight Show series which is now vast is top notch. Zero Hour was eh because it was often in five parts like Johnny Dollar but it was an excellent show compared to the pre-1962 ones.
I am interested in ABC and Mutual shows especially. I used to hear Boston Blackie a lot on a local OTR show but I think the title has them spooked as if we need another detective show on OTR. We have zero important females except a couple of writers and actresses and a few canned shows where they make fun of women. I don't mind at all the whole "Dame" aspect. Those women gave as good as they took but they could have a few more distinguished on-going female characters who didn't use crazy voices as you note. I do love the "Hey, mister" bit on Fibber McGee. It almost has a sleazy feel to it. You don't hear little girls going up to men much anymore going "Hey, Mister". Beaver always said that to. Now we say in the U.S., "Excuse me, Sir" but another excellent article and I remain your fangirl,
Janey
After that comment, I went through Archive.org and there are a few new South African shows up. I love listening to the accents on these shows because some are American and some are English and some sound Australian to me, which was colonized sort of, at the same time.
ReplyDeleteThis show is called Suspense. There are a whopping 42 episodes with excellent audio that seem to be later than most OTR, maybe from the 70's or even 80's. It seems to be horror and Sci fi. SciFi 68 is a great S.A. show with a couple of classic episodes but very muddy audio. S.A. shows tend to be great because they use American OTR as a framework but often or always have new scripts. High Adventure is another one. The American ones are from the 50's but the S.A. ones are mostly from the 60's same as Squad Cars, also excellent.
You get a great view of "white" culture in South Africa and we see that less among the Big Five than you do Australia, British India, Canada, New Zealand and somewhere else, lol. You hear how the have names for blacks, less offensive than in the U.S. South but still stigmatizng. The Carling Black label show is great. We used to make fun of this beer but it's a big deal in the U.K. and South Africa and they sponsored Challenge of Space which was in the late 60's with muddy audio but really, really good.
You would think it would be Australia or Canada but it's S.A. Note, for me, OTR ended when it moved to FM and mostly NPR stations in the early 80's. After that there's great Canadian OTR, that is miles above anything from the OTR age even better than CBSRMT. Here, the main issue is that the shows often seem over-produced and sterile. OTR shows were for the whole country and most Canadians. CBS RMT too and Mutual/Sears Theater which should have been far better than it turned out but it's still better than most pre-1962 OTR.
Canada had some great low-fi shows from about 1967 through the 70's from the CBC which is a strange sort of network to Americans. It is national in focus but without commercials. I used to listen to Radio Canada International daily during the 70's for the shows in French, Spanish and Portuguese and the English shows were great. I used to imagine being in the Maritimes and listening.
Here's the Link and it is the mystery show in terms of everything in title but geek that I am, these finds excite me.
https://archive.org/details/33_20210223/03.mp3