The Whisperer! A brilliant man who, losing his voice in an accident which crushed his vocal cords, worked his way deep within the crime syndicate to destroy it from within! To the underworld, his familiar rattling hiss is the voice of authority, to be obeyed without question. Then a miracle of surgery performed by Dr. Benjamin Lee restored his natural voice, enabling him to resume his real identity. Now as Philip Galt, aggressive young attorney, he skirts the thin edges of death living his dual role. For as the Whisperer he sets in motion the forces of the syndicate in Central City, then as Philip Galt, uses his knowledge to fight the organized network of crime which seeks to control the fate of millions in cities and towns across the nation.
This might be one of the worst intros I've heard in radio. There are so many superfluous phrases ("within" is used twice in the same sentence) and information which raises more questions than answers. Based on the text above, you would think Philip Galt (played by Carleton Young) was an attorney who had his throat crushed and so became a criminal - the Whisperer. Then his voice was restored so he went back to being an attorney, but continued to use his Whisperer identity. Yet I don't think that's what happened - it seems to me as though Galt's throat was damaged and he used that as an opportunity to assume the Whisperer role to destroy the syndicate from within, but continued this after his throat was repaired.
You might also wonder why it's important to hear every episode that Dr. Benjamin Lee performed the surgery to restore Galt's voice, considering Dr. Lee is not a character in the series. On the other hand, you'll wonder why this long intro never mentions Dr. Lee's nurse Ellen Norris (played by Betty Moran), Galt's constant ally and presence in every episode!
But why even mention the damage to his throat and the surgery that restored his voice? In the drama of the program, Galt merely disguises his voice on the telephone by rasping in a whisper - a voice anyone could assume, whether their vocal cords were damaged or not. So why is it important to hear every single week that Galt's vocal cords were damaged - then fixed - before the series began? For comparison, listen to the succinct intros of the Shadow or the Green Hornet which have a lot of important information to share with the audience and get it across quickly and effortlessly. The Whisperer's intro is both incomplete (lacking an intro for Ellen) and over-complicated.
But once you're past the poorly-written intro, the program itself is pretty good by the standards of an OTR adventure series. Much like the Shadow, our hero has an unusual vocal effect and a female sidekick - and as a vigilante he frequently crosses paths with the law but can't let them know exactly what he's doing. There are plenty of very good radio performers in the supporting cast, such as Larry Dobkin and William Conrad. Conrad in particular seems to portray a different member of the syndicate each week!
Many of the episodes have similar plot outlines - the syndicate orders someone's death, the Whisperer telephones the killer to hand out the assignment (the Whisperer is basically a middleman in the organization), then Galt and Ellen work to stop the killer. Somehow, despite the seeming failure of the syndicate's operations every time they involve the Whisperer, they rarely express dissatisfaction with his work.
There are variations; in one case, the syndicate's target is Galt himself! In another, Ellen's life is threatened and Galt spends some time cursing himself for treating his war on crime so cavalierly (the series does have a very whimsical tone). And in one case the man the syndicate wants killed turns out to be a dirty stinkin' communist so Galt is quite pleased to help speed the man on his way to death!
The series music is primarily organ; the intended audience seems to be juveniles but there are enough sarcastic remarks by the performers to keep grown listeners entertained too. If the series had launched earlier it would probably have lasted a few years, but by 1951 juvenile adventure programs were slowly fading out as kids turned to television instead.
Here is a YouTube playlist containing all 13 episodes of The Whisperer for your enjoyment!
No comments:
Post a Comment