OTR Halloween Day 31: X Minus One

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween is finally here and so I'm completing my 31 days of Halloween-themed radio programs. We finish up with the science fiction series X Minus One!

Obviously science fiction is not quite the same as horror but they do overlap from time to time. And X Minus One was probably the finest radio science fiction anthology, airing on NBC from April 1955 to January 1958.

The episode I've chosen is titled "Drop Dead" from August 22, 1957 and the pen of author Clifford Simak. It has a rather whimsical tone but it finishes up in a very dark place. Men settling on an alien world discover there's a local lifeform which seems to be the most accomodating creature in existence. But these creatures represent a terrible horror which awaits the unfortunate humans.

Check out "Drop Dead" at the Internet Archive and enjoy a sensible amount of candy!

OTR Halloween Day 30: The Witch's Tale

The Witch's Tale is pivotal to old-time radio history - one of the first radio horror anthologies. Many of the conventions established on the Witch's Tale would be carried on by later programs and even into other mediums; the show's host "Old Nancy" founded the horror host type which would later profit everyone from Inner Sanctum Mysteries's Mr. Raymond to the Mysterious Traveler and, of course, the Old Witch, Crypt-Keeper and Vault-Keeper of EC's horror comics.

However, the Witch's Tale is not (how to put it) good. You have to be very forgiving to this program because it did come very early in the history of radio drama. It aired on WOR Mutual from May 1931 to June 1938 under the supervision of Alonzo Dean Cole. We don't have very much of the Witch's Tale today - many are Australian recreations - and what we do have often has terrible audio quality. Those few Mutual broadcasts with good quality are often undermined by the script, lack of sound effects and/or acting.

If it sounds like I'm being unkind, I'm simply trying to counter a lot of the narratives I've seen other OTR fans put forth. I've seen those who claim this show "still holds up" or even that it's "still the greatest radio horror program." It's not. I think you really have to love radio horror shows to get through an episode.

All of that said, I respect the place the Witch's Tale holds in radio horror history and I definitely don't want to exclude the series. So on this, the eve before All Hallow's Eve, let's check out "The Bronze Venus" from July 2 and 5, 1931 (in two parts), adapted from Prosper Mérimée's short story, "La Vénus d'Ille." A Frenchman unearths a bronze statue of the goddess Venus. He thinks this bodes well for his daughter's impending wedding - forgetting that those Greek gods aren't nice to mere mortals.

You can hear "The Bronze Venus" on the Internet Archive!

OTR Halloween Day 29: The Whistler

"And now stay tuned for the mystery program that is unique among all mystery programs - because even when you know who is guilty, you always receive a startling surprise in the Signal Oil program: The Whistler!"

As noted in the intro above, the Whistler was a radio mystery program which offered surprise endings. Many programs promised surprise endings but in the Whistler, they were the entire reason to keep listening. You always knew there would be a surprise ending and you looked forward to recognizing the clues and predicting what the surprise might be. Since the point of view character was often a criminal often the surprise would be an overlooked element which spoiled the criminal's scheme. The Whistler aired on CBS' west coast stations from May 1942 to September 1955.

For example, take "X Marks the Murderer" from August 20, 1945. A killer is stalking the streets, murdering what seem to be random targets (and somewhat reminiscent of either Jack the Ripper or the Lodger). A housewife who puzzles over the crimes (much like today's true crime-obsessed women) begins to notice patterns in the killer's actions which the police have seemingly overlooked. But will her sleuthing draw the killer even closer to her?

You can hear "X Marks the Murderer" on the Internet Archive!

OTR Halloween Day 28: The Weird Circle

The Weird Circle was an odd duck. I haven't seen many write-ups on its history; John Dunning wrote nothing about it in his Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. It was syndicated from 1943-1945 and featured adaptations of famous ghost stories - public domain stories to save on costs. The casts and directors were never credited.

At least, they seem to be adaptations at first glance. Some of them share little more than the title of the original work; I examined all of their Edgar Allan Poe adaptations in this blog post. Still, although their fidelity to source material was often found wanting, the Weird Circle drew from classic ghost stories for inspiration and there's a reason those tales have endured.

For instance, let's talk about "The Curse of the Mantle" from April 2, 1944. It's adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne's story "Lady Eleanore's Mantle." This was the first episode of the Weird Circle I heard - it aired one Halloween night over my local radio station. I found it creepy and perhaps you might too; if you aren't familiar with the story, it concerns a woman who wears a mantle that seems to bring with it a dark power that corrupts her and brings disease and death to the countryside.

You can hear "The Curse of the mantle" on the Internet Archive!

OTR Halloween Day 27: The Unexpected

The Unexpected was a syndicated radio mystery program that aired 1947-1948. It was only 15-minutes so the stories had to be pretty breezy! What it offered were surprise endings; plenty of programs promised surprise endings, but the Unexpected really delivered - the surprises weren't just tragic outcomes but also happy outcomes! I blogged about the Unexpected series in this Radio Recap entry.

An unusual episode is "Voodoo Night" from November 7, 1948 starring Barry Sullivan (who starred in most episodes of the Unexpected). Sullivan portrays a doctor in Haiti who runs up against voodoo practitioners. When he opposes them they place a curse on him!

You can hear "Voodoo Night" at the Old-Time Radio Researchers' Library!

OTR Halloween Day 26: Suspense

Suspense is simply one of the greatest old-time radio programs ever made. I don't think that opinion will shock anyone who follows my posts - I talk up Suspense all the time. The series enjoyed a tremendous 20-year run (1942-1962) from the high point of radio drama to its expiration. But to me it was never better than when William Spier was producer (1942-1950).

Suspense told all kinds of tales but it was usually a combination of mystery, crime and thriller. Only occasionally did the supernatural or science fiction intrude upon affairs - in fact, I think there are more comedic episodes than there are supernatural/sci-fi genre stories.

So let's look at a great mystery-thriller from early in the run (October 26, 1943): "The After-Dinner Story" written by Cornell Woolrich (he was apparently one of Spier's favourite authors as his stories popped up on other shows Spier produced). In this tale, a group of men are summoned to dinner with a wealthy man. Their only connection to the host - and each other - is a tragic elevator accident in which the host's son was killed. The host now believes he has the murderer in his power.

You can hear "The After-Dinner Story" at the Internet Archive!

OTR Halloween Day 25: The Strange Dr. Weird

The Strange Dr. Weird was a Mutual program which aired from the fall of 1944 to the spring of 1945. It was a fifteen-minute horror anthology hosted by the titular Dr. Weird, portrayed my Maurice Tarplin, who also portrayed the Mysterious Traveler on Mutual. In fact, The Strange Dr. Weird was produced by Robert A. Arthur of the Mysterious Traveler and the stories are exactly like those heard on Arthur's other program - but in a shorter timeslot. I blogged about this series in one of my Radio Recaps.

"The Man Who Talked with Death" aired on December 12, 1944. Two reporters meet a morgue attendant who claims he can speak to the newly-deceased. They think he's off his rocker but when he claims a murder victim identified their murderer to him, the reporters choose to investigate the clue.

You can hear "The Man Who Talked with Death" at the Internet Archive.

OTR Hallowee Day 24: Sleep No More

Sleep No More was a fairly late arrival in old-time radio, airing from the fall of 1956 to the spring of 1957 on NBC. The series starred Nelson Olmsted and featured him reading scary stories. Olmsted had made his career in radio with dramatic readings but this was his big horror-themed series. The show offered little more than Olmsted's voice - some canned music is played, occasionally a sound effect is used - but primarily it's a read-along.

Sleep No More works for me thanks to two elements: Olmsted's delivery and Olmsted's taste. Olmsted had a fine voice which was well-suited to telling tales. Olmsted also had a knack for finding unusual stories. Sure, he loved Edgar Allan Poe - who doesn't? But he brought to sleep No More so many authors who were seldom adapted to radio - Walker G. Everett or McKnight Malmar - and every selection was a winner.

For example, take "The Man in the Black Hat" by Michael Fessier which Olmsted read on December 5, 1956. Whenever a man finds himself down on his luck he encounters the titular man in the black hat. Every time the man has something to offer the narrator to help him win a new fortune. But who is the man in the black hat? And do you really want to know?

The Sleep No More adaptation of "The Man in the Black Hat" was preceded by another creepy tale by Michael Fessier - "Over the Hill." You can hear them both on YouTube!

OTR Halloween Day 23: The Shadow

Unlike other shows I've featured this Halloween, The Shadow was not a horror anthology. It was simply a detective-mystery show featuring the titular Shadow in his adventures against crime. But unlike most radio adventure heroes, the Shadow had a decidedly supernatural bend to his adventures. It helped that he possessed "the power to cloud men's minds so that they cannot see him," which opened the door to all sorts of shenanigans.

Take for instance "Death Coils to Strike." It first aired March 21, 1948 during the era of Bret Morrison, who portrayed the Shadow in more episodes than any other performer. This drama involves a man who is afraid of his wife; he thinks she's transforming into a snake. Could it be true? Either way, it's a chilling episode.

You can check out "Death Coils to Strike" on the Internet Archive.

OTR Halloween Day 22: The Sealed Book

The Sealed Book was a transcribed series that appeared over Mutual in March-September, 1945. It was made by the same duo of Robert A. Arthur and David Kogan who wrote for the Mysterious Traveler. As near as I can tell, every episode of the Sealed Book is recycled from an earlier Mysterious Traveler script (somewhat trimmed to fit the Sealed Book's shorter runtime); that's not necessarily bad, since we're missing a lot of Mysterious Traveler episodes and these fill some gaps. I blogged some more about the Sealed Book in one of my Radio Recaps.

In "Time on My Hands" from August 26, 1945, a man who's down on his luck turns to a pawn shop. He has nothing to offer but his life, so agrees to trade some years from his life for money. Unfortunately, that's the beginning of his troubles.

You can hear "Time on My Hands" on the Internet Archive.

OTR Halloween Day 21: Quiet, Please

I think I've indicated on this blog many times that I truly cherish Wyllis Cooper's program Quiet, Please. I think if you have any appreciation for radio horror programs then you too are a Quiet, Please fan. Of course, not every episode was horror - there was fantasy, science fiction and fair helping of humour. Wyllis was a very literate writer with a knack for both beautiful phrases, descriptions and wry remarks. Quiet, Please ran from June, 1947 to June, 1949, first on Mutual, finally on ABC. Every episode starred Ernest Chappell as "the man who spoke to you." Chappell didn't have tremendous range as a performer but he was a solid everyman and Cooper wrote scripts that were perfectly suited to his talents.

For this Halloween series I think we need a fine Halloween episode: "Calling All Souls," which first aired on October 31, 1948. The story itself is set one night on Halloween. Chappell portrays a man on death row with no chance left for appeal unless he finds exonerating evidence. With nowhere else to turn he reaches out to the souls of the couple he was alleged to have murdered. Can he bring back evidence from the spirit world?

You can check out "Calling All Souls" at the Internet Archive.

OTR Halloween Day 20: The Philip Morris Playhouse

I previously blogged about the Philip Morris Playhouse in one of my Radio Recap posts. This version of the series ran in 1948-1949 under the stewardship of William Spier, director of Suspense. And although we have only a few surviving episodes, the quality of the series is basically par with that of Suspense!

For instance, in "Leona's Room," Vincent Price stars as a man who commits a murder of passion. While trying to fix his alibi he encounters a vaudeville performer who claims to be a psychic - and seems to know what he's done! You can hear "Leona's Room" at the Internet Archive!

OTR Halloween Day 19: Mystery in the Air

Mystery in the Air was one of the absolute best mystery/horror anthology series in all of old-time radio - but it was very short-lived! Sponsored by Camel Cigarettes as a summer replaacement for Abbott and Costello, it aired July-September, 1947... and never again. There were only 13 episodes of Mystery in the Air and we have 8 of them still in existence.

What makes me think Mystery in the Air stands out? Simple: Peter Lorre. Lorre was the star of the show and appeared as the lead performer each week in a great mystery/horror story. Lorre always brought 110% more intensity to his roles than any other actor and the highlight of each episode is the moment(moments) in which Lorre breaks out his loudest, most deranged outburst!

The episode I'd like to feature is titled "the Mask of Medusa" from September 4, 1947. It's based on a short story from 1945 by writer Nelson S. Bond. An escaped criminal hides in a waxworks and discovers the curator possesses Medusa's head. And those figures aren't wax...

Bond's original story is covered in the first half of the radio drama. The rest of the drama was written to fill the half hour but it's a pretty great expansion of what Bond set up in his tale. You can hear "The Mask of Medusa" at the Internet Archive.

OTR Halloween Day 18: The Mysterious Traveler

The Mysterious Traveler has come up on this blog many times - either the radio program or the comic book spin-off. This was one of the longest-running radio horror anthologies running from December 1943 to September 1952. However, the series was shuffled around the schedule which probably didn't help it find a following. Still, those fans who complain that Inner Sanctum Mysteries never committed to the supernatural can't issue that grievance against the Mysterious Traveler.

Here, for instance, we could take the December 29, 1946 episode "If You Believe." A scientist is working with some protoplasm but a senasationalist newspaper makes it sound as though he's a monster-maker. Unfortunately due to the power of belief, the imagined monster becomes real!

Believe it or not, you can hear "If You Believe" at the Internet Archive!

OTR Halloween Day 17: Murder by Experts

I blogged about the series Murder by Experts in a Radio Recap entry. This series aired on Mutual from June 1949 to December 1951. As I noted in the earlier blog entry it won a big award the Edgars but it was nowhere near the top of the pile in radio mystery drama at the time.

Still, Murder by Experts has a few things to recommend it. It wasn't a horror program, but I can certainly select a fine creepy tale for you - it's the first episode of the series, "Summer Heat" from June 13, 1949. The story concerns a young man who blacks out while celebrating graduation then finds himself with a corpse on his hands. It was so good it wound up dramatized on the Alfred Hitchcock Hour (although an hour is too long for such a simple premise). You can hear "Summer Heat" at the Internet Archive.

OTR Halloween Day 16: Murder at Midnight

Midnight, the witching hour when the night is darkest, our fears the strongest, and our strength at its lowest ebb. Midnight, when the graves gape open and death - strikes!

Murder at Midnight was a short-lived syndicated horror anthology series heard between April and December of 1946. Some scripts were repeated from other shows such as Inner Sanctum Mysteries but most of their output seems to be original scripts. Most were written by Robert Newman of Inner Sanctum (explaining the link). The casts were comprised of radio professionals and the director was Anton M. Leader, who shortly afterward became director of Suspense.

Murder at Midnight was willing to indulge in the supernatural but also a bit of science fiction. For instance we have "Terror Out of Space" from June 21, 1946. A scientist tries to recall the unusual events which occurred while sending radio signals to the moon. Although there's no environment on the moon to support organic life, what if there's someting else living on the moon - something which can use the radio transmission to access Earth. You can hear "Terror Out of Space" on YouTube!

OTR Halloween Day 15: Molle Mystery Theatre

As I mentioned before, pulp author Robert Bloch didn't have many of his works adapted in the days of old-time radio, but an exception is his story "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper," which was performed on the Molle Mystery Theatre on February 27, 1945.

Bloch seemed to have a great fascination for the subject of Jack the Ripper, as outside of this story the character figured in a number of other short stories, novels and even his Star Trek script "Wolf in the Fold." Bloch introduces some supernatural elements to the legend of Jack the Ripper, which will come as no great surprise to anyone who's read later works such as Alan Moore's From Hell.

The Molle Mystery Theatre ran from 1943-1948 on NBC. For most of its run it featured adaptations by famous mystery and crime authors, everyone from Sax Rohmer to Cornell Woolrich, from Agatha Christie to Aldous Huxley, along with many original scripts. The most famous original script from the program is "The Creeper," which I've blogged about at length. Molle Mystery Theatre lacked the polish of Suspense but still featured plenty of talented writers and performers.

You Can listen to "Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper" at the Internet Archive. Unfortunately the surviving copy is from the series Mystery Playhouse so it's a bit truncated.

OTR Halloween Day 14: Lights Out

The heyday of Lights Out is considered to be the era produced by Arch Oboler... primarily because that's almost all we have left! Obviously, most fans know that the series originated with Wyllis Cooper and many of us wonder what the earlier version of the program was like, considering the quality of Cooper's later program Quiet, Please.

Fortunately, there's a handful of Cooper's productions still around, mostly from post-war Lights Out revivals. I'm not sure which might have been new scripts and which were from Cooper's 1930s broadcasts, but it is at least a valuable glimpse at what was. Such a program is "The Ghost on the Newsreel Negative" which aired August 10, 1946. Two reporters go to interview a ghost and record its actions. The ghost seems quite willing to accommodate them and for a time it all seems quite light-hearted. Then they bring the negative back to the lab...

You can hear "The Ghost on the Newsreel Negative" at the Internet Archive.

OTR Halloween Day 13: Inner Sanctum Mysteries

Inner Sanctum Mysteries is arguably the best-known radio horror series of them all. The signature creaking door accompanied by the giggling Raymond (or 'Mr. Host') who introduces the tales with his bad puns. Many earlier shows such as the Witch's Tale and the Hermit's Cave are displaced by Inner Sanctum purely through the force the host's personality.

The tale I've chosen is "The Silent Hands" from May 13, 1944 and stars Mary Astor (I should note that Inner Sanctum didn't usually feature big stars, outside of a handful starring Boris Karloff or Peter Lorre). The story concerns a detective investigating a "Woman in White" who has been strangling people to death. Astor portrays one of the suspects but the mystery has a surprising conclusion (well, surprising if you're not familiar with Inner Sanctum Mysteries).

You can listen to "The Silent Hands" at the Internet Archive!

OTR Halloween Day 12: Hollywood Star Playhouse

I've blogged about Hollywood Star Playhouse before in my Radio Recap series. As I noted there, it was a lot like Suspense but had a few standout episodes of its own. The plots were often very much like Suspense - a tense situation told from the first person perspective, said person played by a Hollywood star.

Such a program is "Haunt Me Not" from August 17, 1952. Deborah Kerr stars as a woman travelling cross-country whose vehicle is invaded by a man who needs a lift and demands she assist him. A contest of wills breaks out as she struggles to rid herself of the unwelcome passenger. You can hear this episode at the Internet Archive!

OTR Halloween Day 11: The Hermit's Cave

The Hermit's Cave was a syndicated radio horror anthology which aired out of Detroit. The titular Hermit was one of radio horror first hosts; he definitely owed a lot to Old Nancy of the Witch's Tale with his demented cackling. The show aired from 1937 to 1944 but comparatively little of the series exists today. It feels very cheaply produced as it had little in the way of music and sound effects, but the performers always seemed game.

The episode "Hanson's Ghost" first aired October 29, 1944. It concerns a madman who wants to save the souls of those who died before their time - by giving them new bodies to reside in! You can hear "Hanson's Ghost" on YouTube!

OTR Halloween Day 10: The Haunting Hour

The Haunting Hour was a syndicated program that aired in 1945. Many episodes in the series are mystery stories that could have been presented in almost any anthology series - but there are a few with a legitimately 'haunting' air about them.

I think the first episode of the Haunting Hour I ever heard was "The Uptown Express." The plot concerns a woman riding the subway who abruptly finds herself transported five years into the future! Is there some way she can prevent this bad future from coming to pass? You can listen to "The Uptown Express" on YouTube!

OTR Halloween Day 9: Hall of Fantasy

The Hall of Fantasy was a Mutual radio program which aired 1952-1953. It was a horror anthology and fans have noted that this series is unlike many others in that it frequently adopts bad outcomes for its protagonists. The protagonists of these stories don't "have it coming" like some horror characters. In some episodes, the forces of evil simply triumph over the forces of good. Still, there are also many episodes where good triumphs, so you really don't know what to expect in the climax on an episode-by-episode basis.

This time I'm recommending "Dance of the Devil Dolls" from February 9, 1953. An old woman builds dolls as imitations of men, then sends them out to kill the one they were patterned after. Killer dolls are a familiar trope in horror stories - what makes these toys effectively creepy are the accompanying sound effects! You can hear this episode on YouTube.

OTR Halloween Day 8: Escape

Escape is often called radio's greatest adventure series by fans, but the series delved into many genres besides that. Some episode fit well into science fiction... and others were tales of horror.

One of the greatest horror tales every put on radio is "Taboo" by Geoffrey Household, broadcast on Escape December 3, 1947. Household wrote thriller stories which in some manner delved into the sport of hunting. This time out his story concerns two hunters tracking a werewolf!

The climax of this story is extremely unsettling, when the identity of the werewolf is revealed. It does absolutely nothing to diminish the sense of dread which pervades the story! Check it out at the Internet Archive!

OTR Halloween Day 7: Dimension X

Dimension X was one of the first great radio science fiction series and the first be truly dedicated to courting an adult audience (or at least, an adult pulp magazine reading audience). Many of the greats from science fiction (and also L. Ron Hubbard) had their stories presented on Dimension X between April, 1950 and September, 1951. It was followed by X Minus One, of which more shall be written later.

Robert Bloch was a great pulp writer in his day but very little of his work was presented on radio. It was his association with television's AlFred Hitchcock - and especially a little film called Psycho - that really introduced him to the layman. But an early episode of Dimension X, "Almost Human" from May 13, 1950 demonstrates that his work suited radio.

"Almost Human" concerns a newly-built robot who is very adaptable and eager to learn. A criminal sees in this the opportunity to mold a great henchman for himself. You can hear this episode at the Internet Archive.

OTR Halloween Day 6: Dark Fantasy

How to describe Dark Fantasy?

This was a NBC radio horror series from Oklahoma City aired between November, 1941 and June, 1942. Almost all of the episodes still exist. They were written and directed by Scott Bishop, a man who is also known for... nothing else.

Opinions on Dark Fantasy vary. Some think it was a fine horror anthology; others find it ridiculously campy. Personally, I appreciate that Scott Bishop was committed to horror - to stories delving into the supernatural. His tales have murderous trees, werewolves, lost cities, and yes, ghosts. All of it was wrapped up in a very pulpy sensibility. There were times when his characters monologued that I would think Bishop was striving to be like Arch Oboler. But well, Dark Fantasy was not Lights Out.

You may find the quality variable, but I believe there are a few gems. For instance: "The Headless Dead" from January 23, 1942. In this tale, a man visiting the chapel of the Tower of London becomes unwilling spectator to a congregation of the headless dead. Now that he has beheld them, they insist he join their ranks. You can listen to this episode at the Internet Archive.

OTR Halloween Day 5: Creeps by Night

Creeps by Night seems to have been a very good horror series - but it was extremely short-lived. The series lasted only 6 months in 1944 and even then, we only seem to have 6 episodes still existing today. Still, those surviving episodes are as good as anything found in the OTR horror genre. This same year, Dashiell Hammett's 1931 prose anthology of horror titled Creeps by Night was re-released but I haven't found evidence that they were related. It would have been good brand synergy, regardless.

A major aid to the series is that Boris Karloff was very involved in the program, probably the most involvement he had in OTR (moreso than his better-known Lights Out and Inner Sanctum appearances). And that's what I'd like to share today - "Those Who Walk in Darkness" from June 20, 1944 and starring Karloff!

In "Those Who Walk in Darkness," a physician is treating the husband of his ex-girlfriend. The ex isn't certain how much she should trust him when he insists her husband may lose his eyesight, especially when he insists that they replace her husband's eyes with those of a dead man. Remember yesterday's Grand Guignol story? This is very much like a Grand Guignol plot, isn't it?

Unfortunately, this episode is preserved as an episode of the Mystery Playhouse. It's hosted by Peter Lorre, so the original host segments are missing. As well, the ending is a bit abrupt, so I think some minutes were shaved off the climax. But we don't have much of Creeps by Night and this is very good!

You can hear "Those Who Walk in Darkness" on the Internet Archive!

OTR Halloween Day 4: Columbia Workshop

Today I'm looking at the Columbia Workshop, the legendary CBS series where creators delved into what was frequently unusual and experimental techniques in radio drama. For our purposes, this also includes the horror genre!

This program is the story "Double Exposure" from March 7, 1940. In 1940, horror on radio was still very primitive but on the verge of breaking out in a big way, as Lights Out had indicated. Compared to the rather juvenile writing in the Witch's Tale, "Double Exposure" is much more adult and more indicative of where radio horror was headed.

The reason for that is that "Double Exposure" is an adaptation of a play from Paris' Grand Guignol theater. Although the theater ended in the early 1960s, the Grand Guignol has held a special place in horror history for being a theater who only produced horror plays. To this very day, critics of horror films call the very theatrical and bloody horror films "Grand Guignol" whether they've heard of the Paris theater or not.

"Double Exposure" is similar to many other Grand Guignol plays I've read about, but it opens very slowly. A man's wife has just died and he's mourning her. The first third of the program comes across as pure melodrama - but then, he learns his wife had a secret lover and he's on his way to the man's house.

You can hear "Double Exposure" on the Old Time Radio Researchers Library.

OTR Halloween Day 3: The Clock

The Clock started out as an ABC anthology program in 1947-1948. Today, most of what we have of the Clock comes from an Australian version made during the 1950s. A few of those program used the same scripts as the ABC version so it does give us a picture of what the show was like - because, unfortunately, we only have a little of the 1947-1948 version.

What makes the Clock stand out, though, is the talent behind it. It was produced by William Spier, best-known for giving us Suspense. Most episodes starred the husband-wife team of Elliott and Cathy Lewis and there were many other familiar names from Suspense. For this Halloween, I'm concerned with the episode dubbed "Nicky." It starts out sounding very much like other radio programs: a gangster's girlfriend is plotting to fake his execution on death row; the undertaker who learns of the plot blackmails his way in. And then events get a bit surreal and very supernatural!

"Nicky" featured a few other Suspense names, including William Conrad as the host/narrator and Hans Conreid as the undertaker. You can hear "Nicky" at the Old-Time Radio Researcher's Group.

OTR Halloween Day 2: The Chase

I've written about the program The Chase before in a radio recap. The Chase ran on NBC from the spring of 1952 to the spring of 1953. I found the series as a whole not as remarkable as it might have been, but the series does have some highlights.

Perhaps the best episode of the Chase is the first one: "The Big Cat." The story involves a leopard escaping from the zoo. A mild-mannered man hears about the escape and it causes him to reflect that he's like a leopard and that he should similarly break free from the confinement of his normal life.

It's a very unusual thriler story and quite well done; you can hear it at the Old-Time Radio Researchers Group.

OTR Halloween Day 1: Arch Oboler's Plays

As I've often done in the past, all this month I'm going to make a daily feature on this blog where I examine spooky old-time radio shows in honour of Halloween. It was from listening to spooky Halloween shows on my local radio station that I first became a fan of old-time radio, so it's well worth honouring. Often I would select a particular series and look at 31 examples of its run but this time I'm going to choose a single episode from 31 different programs. Were there even 31 decent spooky old-time radio series that still have at least one surviving episode? Let's find out!

First up is Arch Oboler's Plays. This was Oboler's 'prestige' program, a dramatic anthology usually centered on social issues of the day. But of course, Oboler was also known for running the horror series Lights Out for many years and that program has overshadowed the rest of his body of work (and he was rather prodigious back in the day). In fact, a number of episodes of Arch Oboler's Plays are - even now - in circulation as episodes of Lights Out.

And to be fair, some episodes of Arch Oboler's Plays really do sound like an episode of Lights Out; take for instance "Crazytown." Like other episodes of the series, it focuses in a contemporary matter; being 1939, World War II was at the top of Oboler's mind. In "Crazytown," two members of an Italian bomber crew find themselves in a town inhabited by, well, crazy people. Hence, "Crazytown." From there it definitely plays out like an episode of Lights Out!

You can hear "Crazytown" on YouTube.