RIP: Val Kilmer

Actor Val Kilmer passed away this week, aged only 65.

I'm sure every film buff out there has a favourite Val Kilmer movie, but mine is his first film - Top Secret! (1984), the ridiculous comedy film in which he portrayed the Elvis-like singing sensation Nick Rivers, who journeys behind the Iron Curtain and gets involved in a spy plot that is very much like the 1944 movie the Conspirators. As Kilmer himself noted, being that he was a young actor, it was a huge challenge to take on such a wacky comedy role; Kilmer succeeded because he portrayed Nick earnestly, a straight man in a very, very wacky movie.

But I'm sure most film buffs are going to point to Tombstone (1993). And yes, even I - a man who does not especially like westerns - point to Kilmer's performance as Doc Holliday as a terrific piece of acting. Perhaps Tombstone is the western movie for people who don't like westerns? Anyway, go watch Tombstone if you haven't already.

Obviously, there's much more I could mention; I have one friend who loves the Ghost and the Darkness (1996); my sister loved Willow (1988); my wife really likes the Saint (1997).

Rest in peace, Mr. Kilmer.

Columbia Workshop: The Recommended Listening List

With more than 300 episodes of the Columbia Workshop still in existence, it's pretty difficult to know what someone might like from the series. Everything I've learned about Columbia Workshop has confirmed how John Dunning summed it up in his encyclopedia:

"That this was not a show for the masses is especially true today. Some of these shows, on first listening, seem to move at a glacial pace; some seem quite old and date. The techniques they pioneered have become so routine, their high-tech counterparts bombarding people in radio commericals around the clock, that a listener seldom gives a thought to a time when they didn't exist."

Columbia Workshop was a pioneering, groundbreaking series, but people prefer to hear radio shows that implemented their solutions rather than listen to those early experiments. But if you're willing to dig through Columbia Workshop you'll find a massive vault full of compelling dramas, great performances and unusual uses of sound.

Here's what I consider to be the most worthwhile episodes:

• "The Gods of the Mountain" (December 19, 1936) an adaptation of Lord Dunsany's tale of beggars who masquerade as gods and the horrible fate they suffer.
• "Split Seconds" (March 14, 1937) a man struggles to swim to shore as scenes from his life echo in his ears.
• "Danse Macabre" (March 21, 1937) Death itself sets out to find companionship, killing everyone who refuses to dance to his fiddle.
• "The Fall of the City" (April 11, 1937 and again September 28, 1939) the drama of a great city's destruction, notable for the 1st version's cast of 200 voices and the 2nd version's 500+ cast!
• "R.U.R." (April 18, 1937) an adaptation of Karel Capek's play which introduced the word "robot."
• "S. S. San Pedro" (September 5, 1937) a story with heavy supernatural overtones as a ship at sea nears a disaster it can't survive.
• "The Killers" (October 17, 1937) a good adaptation of Ernest Hemmingway's short story of two gunmen and their willing victim.
• "The Horla" (November 7, 1937) an adaptation of the Guy de Maupassant story (although poor Alfred Shirley can't compare to Peter Lorre's majestic Mystery in the Air performance).
• "Night Patrol" (February 26, 1938) an Irish cop on the beat has various encounters with neighborhood folk one evening (at the time, an innovative use of footstep sound effects).
• "Seven Waves Away" (April 2, 1938) men on a lifeboat decide to sacrifice some of their fellow survivors believing it will better their odds for rescue.
• "The Fisherman and His Soul" (May 7, 1938) an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's fairy tale of a fisherman who sacrificed his soul so that he could love a mermaid, which proves to be a fatal error.
• "Bury the Dead" (May 28, 1938) an anti-war story in which the dead slain in war rise and society wonders how to make them rest again.
• "Mr. Whipple Is Worried" (January 16, 1939) a comedic episode in which a meek little man discovers he can hear statues talk.
• "Nine Prisoners" (February 20, 1939) an anti-war story in which nine soldiers are told to execute their prisoners and how each of the nine copes with their orders.
• "Jury Trial" (February 27, 1939) a look at members of a jury and how their personal prejudices and preferences interfere with justice.
• "The Law Beaters" (May 15, 1939) in which two criminals swap stories about their greatest triumphs- with a great twist ending.
• "The Man with the One Track Mind" (June 30, 1940) a whimsical story about a man who becomes a train and the unusual culture among other living train engines.
• "Carmilla" (July 28, 1940) an adaptation of Sheridan le Fanu's famous vampire story.
• "The Pussy Cat and the Expert Plumber Who Was a Man" (September 29, 1940) Arthur Miller(!)'s humorous tale of a talking cat who decides to run for public office.
• "The Plot to Overthrow Christmas (December 22, 1940) Norman Corwin's humorous bit of verse in which the fiends of Hades (ladies) attempt to snuff out Santa Claus.
• "Miracle in Manhattan" (December 21, 1941) a Christmas story of a cynical taxi driver who ferries around a mysterious man who might just be Jesus (this one was repeated several times as an episode of Duffy's Tavern).
• "Someone Else" (July 20, 1942) an offbeat supernatural tale about a man who is haunted by relics of the past.
• "Remodeled Brownstone" (October 19, 1942) a horror story in which new homeowners find their home haunted by a ghostly infant.
• "The Trial" (May 19, 1946) an adaptation of Kafka's most famous novel.
• "The Parade" (December 7, 1946) on the anniverary of the Pearl Harbor attack, a tale in which dead soldiers march silently through the city streets.

Here are some of the more "weird" episodes:

• "Maker of Dreams" (September 26, 1936) opens with a comedic drama about the spirits who give people dreams; it's followed by a discussion of how sound effects are created to give people the impression that ghosts exist.
• "The Tell-Tale Heart" (July 11, 1937) a very unusual adaptation that's less-faithful than most radio adaptations; the content of the story is the same but there's none of Edgar Allan Poe's prose - all the dialogue is unique to this production.
• "Surrealism" (June 11, 1938) a celebration of surrealism, with a variety of odd poems and songs with unusual musical accompaniment and sound effects.
• "So This Is Radio" (September 7, 1939) an explanation of how music is utilized in radio and the different means by which music is used in drama.
• "Double Exposure" (February 15, 1940) an adaptation of a Grand Guignol play; it's not what you'd expect, given the theatre's reputation for gore; it's definitely a horror play but it's very restrained and the horror doesn't really come until the climax.

Here's again is a massive collection of the Columbia Workshop at the Internet Archive.

Radio Recap: Columbia Workshop

Columbia Workshop is a piece of old-time radio history; it was a CBS program that they ran from 1936-42 and again 1944-1947. CBS paid for the program all the way through with no real remit for the series other than using it as a program for experimenting with radio storytelling.

(I won't be covering the contents of Twenty-Six by Corwin which was technically a 26-episode run of the Columbia Workshop - if I ever do cover it as a radio recap, it'll appear as its own entry; the 1956-1957 series CBS Radio Workshop was a latter-day revival of this series.)

Columbia Workshop was an anthology series; it featured episodes of every conceivable type of genre - not just comedy, fantasy, mystery, drama, musical... some episodes were structured like a revue, some featured multiple sketches. And the purpose of the series changed depending on the creators involved; some were experimenting with sound effects, others were simply utilizing unorthodox scripts. There are plenty of anthology shows on radio, but there's no other I can think of that was a sandbox for testing out new or unusual ideas.

Initially the series was produced by Irving Reis, who also wrote a few of the earlier scripts. Some of the most noted authors who wrote plays for the series were Stephen Vincent Benet, Archibald MacLeish, Lucille Fletcher and Norman Corwin. After Reis moved on, William Spier became the producer/director; William N. Robson was another director on the series; Bernard Herrmann was one of the musical contributors, prior even to his work on Mercury Theater on the Air.

As I noted in my recap, CBS' Forecast came from similar cloth as it experimented with different types of radio drama, although it was presenting its dramas as pilots for prospective new programs. Columbia Workshop sometimes helped set up new shows, but I'd hesitate to call any of the episodes a "pilot" in the traditional sense.

Still, I have to observe that Ed Gardner appeared in a number of Columbia Workshop comedic stories where he portrayed a wiseguy who told seemingly tall tales; they clearly led to Gardner's Forecast pilot for Duffy's Tavern; similarly, William Spier Columbia Workshop worked alongside writer Lucille Fletcher and music composer Bernard Herrmann - and not only would they all work together again on Suspense (which had its pilot on Forecast) but one episode of Columbia Workshop - "Double Ugly" (November 30, 1941) - was repeated on Suspense.

Lucille Fletcher's Columbia Workshop scripts are an interesting mix - two of her plays had heavy supernatural overtones - "Someone Else" (July 20, 1942) and "Remodeled Brownstone" (October 19, 1942) - and could have been rebroadcast on Suspense. Yet she also penned comedy/fantasy tales like "My Client Curley" (March 7, 1940) about a dancing caterpillar and "The Man with the One Track Mind" (June 30, 1940) in which a man decides to become a locomotive; if you only know her for her Suspense work, Columbia Workshop will change how you view her writing.

The series adapted Euripides' "The Trojan Women" (December 8, 1940), not so much because they wanted to honour classic Greek drama as to note that the play's views on war were applicable at the present time; certainly many plays on Columbia Workshop were concerned with the past trauma of World War I (ie, "Nine Prisoners," February 20, 1939) and the present trauma of World War II (ie, "The Parade," December 7, 1946).

Orson Welles appeared very early on in "Hamlet" (September 19 and November 14, 1936); this was before Orson's Mercury Theatre had come to radio and it's interesting to hear Orson in a production where he wasn't in charge (for one thing, he didn't narrate or m.c.). Given Welles and Herrmann's work on this program, I'd say it helped pave the way for the Mercury Theater on the Air.

The "Dramatization of the San Quentin Prison Break" (September 5, 1936) featured William N. Robson dramatizing how he crafted an episode of Calling All Cars so that they could adapt a jailbreak on the very day it had occurred. It's a neat look behind the curtain, demonstrating how radio scripts were assembled and performed.

There were notable episodes with Black casts including "Drums of Conscience" (May 2, 1937) about a Black man who believes he's haunted by the ghosts of slaving ships; "Tranga Man, Fine Gah" (June 4, 1938) set in Sierra Leone; "The Creation" (March 30, 1941) with a musical interpretation of the creation of life; and "Jason Was a Man" (April 27, 1941) a musical based on Jason's quest for the golden fleece.

Many years before he formally established himself as the leader in children's fiction, Dr. Seuss' first two hit children's books were adapted on Columbia Workshop- "The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins" (August 18, 1940) and "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street" (December 1, 1940).

A lot of the steam behind Columbia Workshop seemed to peter out after the war; the show disappeared for all of 1943, then returned as Columbia Presents Corwin. But after the completion of that run, most of the old guard on Columbia Workshop had moved on (such as to Suspense). The post-war Columbia Workshop episodes are still interesting, but I don't find them as arresting or innovative as earlier productions, even though the technology behind radio was becoming stronger and stronger post-war.

I think there's plenty of episodes that are worth recommending but I'll save that for a separate post this Wednesday.

Here's a massive collection 333 episodes of the Columbia Workshop at the Internet Archive.

Radio Recap: Creeps by Night

Creeps by Night was a very short-lived old-time radio horror series, lasting just February 15-August 15, 1944 on the Blue network. It was apparently produced by Robert Maxwell and directed by Dave Drummond. Alonzo Dean Cole (the Witch's Tale) was one of the contributing writers. Boris Karloff was the series' star and apparently also served as the host of the series (some of my sources claimed Bela Lugosi was the original host but apparently that was just scuttlebutt); after Karloff had to leave the show, the host became the anonymous "Doctor X."

(I don't think there's any connection between the series and the hardcover anthology Dashiell Hammett edited, but they both came out in 1944, so I'm using the book cover for this post; it's a swell anthology, check it out!)

The series' short length of just 25 episodes is further diminished in that only 7 episodes are known to exist - and even then, several of them are truncated versions from the Armed Forces' Mystery Playhouse.

Since we have only 7 episodes to hear, I might as well summarize their plots:

• "Those Who Walk in Darkness" (April 25, 1944) starring Boris Karloff as an eye doctor operating on the husband of the woman he's had an affair with.
• "The Final Reckoning" (May 2, 1944) starring Boris Karloff as a man who gets out of prison and seeks revenge on his former partner-in-crime by scaring him to death.
• "The Hunt" (May 9, 1944) starring Boris Karloff as a farmer whose property is being stalked by a werewolf.
• "The Walking Dead" (May 16, 1944) On a plantation in Haiti, zombies rise to assault the living.
• "The Strange Burial of Alexander Jordan" (May 23, 1944) Edmund Gwenn stars as a man who is afraid of being buried alive.
• "The Three Sisters" (June 20, 1944) as one woman lies dying, her two sisters hold a vigil, expecting their dead mother to come and claim her.
• "The Six Who Would Not Die" (July 11, 1944) a pearl diver sends six men to their deaths in the ocean but they don't stay dead.

Of these, naturally the Karloff episodes are of most interest to horror buffs; "the Final Reckoning" probably has the best audio; "the Hunt" has somewhat patchy audio although the story is good; but I think the best of Karloff's is "Those Who Walk in Darkness."

As a whole, I think Creeps by Night is comparable to Inner Sanctum Mysteries; there's some decent chills and good performances. Who knows, we might yet unearth more lost episodes some day - they'd be most welcome.

A fan has a playlist of Creeps by Night here on the Internet Archive.

Radio Recap: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Let's talk about another syndicated radio series produced by Harry Alan Towers: the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (it was also broadcast as episodes of ABC Mystery Time).

To be clear, this is only going to be a recap of the 1954 series that Towers produced - I won't be referencing any of the many BBC adaptations, nor the long radio runs of NBC's Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1930-1936), or the best-remembered version, NBC/Mutual's New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes which initially starred Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce (1939-1950). Maybe I'll visit them in a future Radio Recap, but it would take a lot of research on my part.

Towers' the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes starred two big name actors in the lead roles - John Gielgud as Holmes and Ralph Richardson as Watson. Gielgud was in something of a slump; he was homosexual, and had been caught cruising for sex, which was a crime; he avoided prison, but his career slumped to a standstill, which naturally led him to Harry Alan Towers, who always had work for slumming professionals.

I find Gielgud is all right as Holmes, but he comes off as more austere than cerebral. A bigger problem is Ralph Richardson - as Watson, he had to narrate every episode and his delivery was a bit muddy. He'd drop his voice and mumble at times-- and not for dramatic effect.

Like most of Towers' programs, the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes has a small library of musical cues that it uses all the time; there's also scarcely any sound effects (other than a stock noise of hoofbeats on cobblestones that's used in the intro and at times to set a scene). The music is primarily a short piece of violin; sometimes it's introduced as what Holmes is supposedly playing at the time.

What the series had going for it was that it adapted the original Arthur Conan Doyle stories - there were no original scripts, unlike the New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I've definitely found these adaptations to be effective; I can vividly recall the first time I heard the productions of "the Case of the Six Napoleons" and "the Dying Detective," which led to my own fascination with Doyle's short stories and novels. And as an Orson Welles fan, I do appreciate his turn as Professor Moriarty in "the Final Problem."

However, as much as I like Doyle's writing, I'm not certain that these are the best adaptations of his work. The first episode of the series is just terrible. Titled, "Dr. Watson Meets Sherlock Holmes," it begins as an adaptation of Doyle's short story, "the Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" but just before it reaches the climax, Watson shifts the narrative to describe how he and Holmes first met (as related in the novel "A Study in Scarlet"), then returns to the climax of the case. There is no good reason for this shift; if the episode had opened with Holmes and Watson's first meeting, the script would have been much improved. As is, it's so bad that if you try listening to the series in order, you might want to give up right then and there; but if you're willing to persevere, I do think this is a good Sherlock Holmes program, even if it's not the best.

You can hear every episode of Towers' the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in this YouTube playlist created by a fan.

Radio Recap: The Lives of Harry Lime

"That was the shot that killed Harry Lime. He died in a sewer beneath Vienna, as those of you know who saw the movie the Third Man. Yes, that was the end of Harry Lime-- but it was not the beginning; Harry Lime had many lives and I can recount all of them. How do I know? Very simple; because my name is Harry Lime."

Continuing from last Friday's post on the Black Museum, I'd like to talk about another syndicated radio program by Harry Alan Towers: The Lives of Harry Lime (1951). Er, if that is indeed the series' name; it's almost as often given by announcers as "the Third Man."

The Third Man was, of course, the 1949 movie directed by Carol Reed from Graham Greene's story. The film featured author Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) as a man who goes to post-war Vienna to accept a job from his old friend Harry Lime. He soon discovers Harry is actually a criminal.

I learned of the Third Man through the Lives of Harry Lime and when I finally saw that film, it became my favourite movie. But the radio series is not really part of the same continuity as the movie; they both star Orson Welles as a criminal named Harry Lime; they both feature the zither music of Anton Karas (believe it or not, Karas' score to the movie was a hit at the time). But perhaps the reason Orson's opening narration refers to Lime's "many lives" is because these stories aren't meant to be about the same person in the Third Man - instead they present alternate takes on him.

In the Lives of Harry Lime, Harry is roguish fellow; although he loves to swindle people, sometimes his inner goodness causes him to take pity on his victims; sometimes he gets outwitted; and sometimes he's pit against corrupt government or Nazis where it's considered morally correct for Lime to fleece them. But that's not the Harry Lime of the Third Man; part of the plot of the movie is Holly realizing that Harry isn't who he thought he was; Harry views himself as a good-natured rogue, but Holly is forced to confront the results of Harry's actions, the innocent children who die because of Harry's black market penicilin.

So, although the program invites comparisons to the Third Man it's really best that you take this series on its own terms - it's an adventure program. Harry gets to be genuinely heroic at times, such as in a nice playful moment at the climax of "5,000 Pengoes and a Kiss" where Harry forces a patrol of Hungarian policemen to give him their belts so that they'll be unable to chase him. Harry: "In all the famous chases in history, no policeman has been known to catch a fugitive and hold up his pants at the same time."

Other good episodes include "Turnabout Is Foul Play" in which Harry pretends to be an immensely moral man in order to swindle a government official; "The Bohemian Star" in which Harry masquerades as a journalist and gets the goods on a jewel heist; and there's the very intriguing episode "Man of Mystery" which was apparently written by Orson himself; he later expanded the plot another motion picture, Mr. Arkadin.

Welles appeared in a lot of radio shows for Harry Alan Towers but the quality of his output was variable. In the Lives of Harry Lime he was being called on to be the lead man - not merely a supporting player or narrator. Frankly, he wasn't always up to it. In much of Orson's radio work, he'd read through his scripts recklessly and even contemptuously; knowing that he sometimes didn't read scripts until he showed up for the broadcast, his performances could come over as unpolished (to put it politely). Sometimes Orson seemed very invested in his performance; other times, he sounded bored; on other occasions, he was speeding through the script, talking over his fellow performers as if in a hurry to be done with it; and then there are time where he garbles his dialogue (which is amazing for a transcribed program; I guess he refused to do retakes) and sounds either sleepy or drunk. All of this drags down the program.

You can hear every episode of the Lives of Harry Lime in this YouTube playlist created by a fan.

Radio Recap: The Black Museum

"The Black Museum, the repository of death. Yes, here in the grim stone structure on the Thames which houses Scotland Yard is a warehouse of homicide... where everyday objects: a skillet, a screwdriver, a photograph... all... are touched by murder!"

Somehow it's taken this long for me to post a Radio Recap of a Harry Alan Towers program.

In the 1950s, Harry Alan Towers produced a number of syndicated radio dramas, usually employing many of the same performers in each series - programs like Secrets of Scotland Yard, the Scarlet Pimpernel, the Adventures of Horatio Hornblower and today's entry - the Black Museum (1952). He liked to produce 52 episodes of his shows so they could be broadcast across an entire year. As best as I can tell, the syndicated episodes of the Black Museum were aired in the USA on Mutual.

The series was a crime anthology hoted by Orson Welles. Towers' shows tended to use a big-name actor to draw listeners to the show - but he went specifically after big-name actors who were having trouble in their career, and thus were desperate enough to work for him. Orson was then having an awful time with the IRS in the USA, hence the attraction to recording a lot of radio shows with Towers. The problem, of course, is that when Orson was just there to collect a paycheck he didn't put in his best effort. At least as narrator, that didn't mean he would sink the whole show-- but I've seen plenty of online reviewers remark that Orson sounded bored as he hosted the Black Museum. To me, it's variable - in some episodes he seems very into his craft; in others, not so much.

The show's gimmick is that Orson would be within Scotland Yard's Black Museum, introducing an object which was related to a crime of some kind; then the drama would begin in earnest, with Orson piping up only when exposition required his assistance. The Scotland Yard inspectors were played by a number of uncredited performers and changed with each episode.

I think the Black Museum is the best of Towers' programs; the man liked to recycle his music, whether the music fit the mood of the script or not. But the musical transitions on the Black Museum work pretty well. Towers also didn't like to use many sound effects on his shows, which really diminishes them; but because the Black Museum would be centered around a particular object, there would usually be a noise to accompany that object, giving the show a bit more heft.

There are some gruesome crimes recounted on the Black Museum, especially violence committed against women - "the Baby Jacket" and "the Brass Button" are two of the more violent episodes. There's a Jack the Ripper episode called "the Razor"; and there's a ghost episode, "the Chain!"

But some episodes don't quite work for me - "the Postcard" doesn't have a conclusion to its crime, ending on an ambiguous note.

As I noted before, the program Whitehall 1212 was also about items from Scotland Yard's Black Museum, but it's nowhere near as good, despite being produced by Wyllis Cooper. Stick to the Black Museum if this is a subject you're interested in.

You can hear the Black Museum on the Old Time Radio Reserchers' YouTube playlist.

"Are the readers still with us?" The Mythmakers review

Last years Abrams published the Mythmakers, a graphic novel by John Hendrix. It's the story of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien's friendship and focuses in primarily on those years they spent sharing ideas and writing their stories together - but with biographical details stretching across both men's lives (and beyond). Some passages are told through text but most of the book is a proper graphic novel. Dramatic license is employed in recounting moments from both men's lives, but Hendrix used direct quotes where possible.

What's unusual about this book is that it's introduced by a lion and a wizard, who guide the audience through the book's narrative. At first it seemed a bit patronizing to me to have these fictional characters talking through Lewis and Tolkien's lives - it left me wondering if the book was meant for younger readers. Still, the lion and the wizard are deployed to discuss ideas outside the scope of Lewis and Tolkien's lives, especially for discussions about how to define a myth and where the two men's works fit in the academic definitions of myth. There's also a deeply personal reason why Hendrix uses these two characters, which is not revealed until the end of the book.

I only learned of the Mythmakers because it was being promoted in Christian circles as a very good book - it's rare that I see Christians promoting a graphic novel, much less one that was published for the general market, not the Christian bookstore speciality market. Hendrix discusses his own faith in the book's back matter and how that influenced his depiction of Lewis and Tolkien's friendship. I won't lie, Hendrix touched my heart.

I think all fans of Lewis and Tolkien feel as Hendrix does - that the loosening of their bond is a tragedy. And that's ultimately what the Mythmakers is walking through - it's the story of how a friendship was made, how that friendship fell apart and how to draw a happy conclusion despite that. This was a fine read and I'm very happy I read it.

Radio Recap: The Big Story

The Big Story is a fascinating concept for a program - although the execution isn't that different from other shows. It was an anthology program in which each week they would dramatize a story taken from the newspapers, usually with the story's journalist as the lead character in the drama.

The problem with the series is that while, in theory, a newspaper story could glance upon almost any aspect of social life, the majority of episodes of the Big Story are about crime; either the journalist is trying to help the police catch a criminal or he's trying to clear the name of a wrongly-convicted felon by finding the actual criminal. So although the Big Story could have been a great dramatic program, it's mostly yet another crime program.

The series was broadcast over NBC for a respectable run from April 2, 1947 until March 23, 1955. Pall Mall cigarettes sponsored the show for most of its run, although Lucky Strike sponsored the final year. The series was produced by Bernard J. Prockter, who had previously been a radio game show producer; the announcer was none other than Ernest Chappell, best-remembered as "the man who spoke to you" on Wyllis Cooper's Quiet, Please.

If you're a classic film buff, you probably remember the 1948 James Stewart film Call Northside 777, in which Stewart portrayed a journalist who rescues an innocent man from a life sentence. If you enjoyed that film then you'll probably like the Big Story, which hits a lot of the same beats as that movie.

One interesting episode that deviates from the norm is dubbed "The Bitterest Man on the Earth" (June 8, 1949) which concerns a wrongly-convicted black man. It sounds like at least a few of the performers were black people, and the majority of characters in the cast were black-- that's always a rarity in radio. Another interesting story is "Puritan Morality and Violent Death" (October 18, 1950) which drew parallels to the case of Lizzie Borden and involved a wife who grew frustrated with her philandering husband.

If you want a newspaper drama, you'll be a bit disappointed (maybe you should listen to Big Town?), but as a crime program with a rotating cast of journalist protagonists drawn from true-life cases, it's not bad.

You can hear 38 surviving episodes (from 383 broadcast!) of the Big Story on this YouTube playlist created by the Old Time Radio Researchers.

Creator Credits for Captain America: Brave New World

It's been a while since I generated a list of creator credits for a Marvel Cinematic Universe project; 2024 saw fewer productions than usual, and of those that did appear, I was barely interested in any of them. But heck, here's a new Captain America movie and in spite of it all, I have a lot love for Cap.

Below are the comic book creators whose work is represented in the film Captain America: Brave New World. If you see an omission, tell me in the comments!

Stan Lee (writer/editor): co-creator of the Avengers, a team of super heroes (Avengers #1, 1963); of Captain America as one of the Avengers (Avengers #4, 1964); of Captain America throwing his shield so that it ricochets and returns to his hand (Avengers #5, 1964); of the Falcon, Sam Wilson, a black super hero and ally of Captain America; the Falcon wearing green; of Redwing, Sam's winged ally (Captain America #117, 1969); of Leila Taylor, a woman involved with Sam Wilson (Captain America #139, 1971); of Wakanda, an African nation with incredible scientific resources (Fantastic Four #52, 1966); of Vibranium, a rare metal found in Wakanda with unusual properties (Fantastic Four #53, 1966); of Bruce Banner, a famous scientist who transformed into the Hulk, an enormous brute with superhuman strength; of General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, a mustache-wearing Air Force officer who used military resources to combat the Hulk; of Betty Ross, the general's daughter, who loves Banner (Incredible Hulk #1, 1962); of the Hulk having green skin (Incredible Hulk #2, 1962); of the Hulk leaping vast distances (Incredible Hulk #3, 1962); of the Black Widow, an espionage agent (Tales of Suspense #52, 1964); of Ant-Man, a costumed hero who can alter his size (Tales to Astonish #35, 1962); of the Hulk's transformations caused by anger (Tales to Astonish #60, 1964); of the Leader, a super-intelligent man (Tales to Astonish #62, 1964); of the Hulk creating shockwaves by clapping his hands together (Tales to Astonish #65, 1965); of the Abomination, a Russian transformed by gamma radiation into a huge green scaly monster who fights the Hulk (Tales to Astonish #90, 1967)

Jack Kirby (artist/writer): creator of the Celestials, immense cosmic beings who visit Earth (Eternals #1, 1976); co-creator of the Avengers, a team of super heroes (Avengers #1, 1963); of Captain America as one of the Avengers (Avengers #4, 1964); of Captain America throwing his shield so that it ricochets and returns to his hand (Avengers #5, 1964); of Bucky Barnes, a costumed hero and best friend of Steve Rogers; of Captain America, Steve Rogers, super hero from World War II who gained his peak human abilities from the Super-Soldier Serum; of Captain America wearing a red, white and blue costume with 'A' on forehead and star on chest (Captain America Comics #1, 1941); of Captain America's round shield with red and white stripes (Captain America Comics #2, 1941); of Wakanda, an African nation with incredible scientific resources (Fantastic Four #52, 1966); of Vibranium, a rare metal found in Wakanda with unusual properties (Fantastic Four #53, 1966); of Bruce Banner, a famous scientist who transformed into the Hulk, an enormous brute with superhuman strength; of General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, a mustache-wearing Air Force officer who used military resources to combat the Hulk; of Betty Ross, the general's daughter, who loves Banner (Incredible Hulk #1, 1962); of the Hulk having green skin (Incredible Hulk #2, 1962); of the Hulk leaping vast distances (Incredible Hulk #3, 1962); of the Black Widow, an espionage agent (Tales of Suspense #52, 1964); of Ant-Man, a costumed hero who can alter his size (Tales to Astonish #35, 1962)

Mark Gruenwald (writer/editor): creator of Sidewinder's real name Seth Voelker (Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #10, 1983); co-creator of Sidewinder as an enemy of Captain America; of Sidewinder's ease at escaping prison (Captain America #315, 1986); of Dennis Dunphy as an ally of Captain America (Captain America #328, 1987); of Dennis Dunphy suffering a heart attack (Captain America #330, 1987); of Dennis Dunphy as an ally of Sam Wilson (Captain America #336, 1987); of Copperhead, a serpent-themed mercenary who battles Captain America (Captain America #337, 1988); of Sidewinder, a serpent-themed mercenary (Marvel Two-in-One #64, 1980)

Sal Buscema (artist): co-creator of a team of serpent-themed mercenaries who battle Captain America (Captain America #157, 1973); of the Falcon utilizing mechanical wings built for him by the Wakandans (Captain America #170, 1974); of Ruth Bat-Seraph, an Israeli agent and expert fighter (Incredible Hulk #250, 1980); of Ruth Bat-Seraph's name (Incredible Hulk #256, 1981); of Betty and General Ross having a falling out because of his actions against the Hulk (Incredible Hulk #277, 1982); of Karen Ross, Thaddeus Ross' wife, who died from cancer (Incredible Hulk #291, 1984)

Robert Morales (writer): co-creator of Isaiah Bradley, a black soldier who was subjected to a variant of the Super-Soldier Serum in an attempt to duplicate Captain America's origin; of Faith, Isaiah's lover (The Truth: Red, White & Black #1, 2003); of Isaiah Bradley undergoing missions for the US government but then becoming a prisoner and subjected to horrifying experiments over decades; of Isaiah attempting to keep a low profile after his release (Truth: Red, White & Black #7, 2003)

Kyle Baker (artist): co-creator of Isaiah Bradley, a black soldier who was subjected to a variant of the Super-Soldier Serum in an attempt to duplicate Captain America's origin; of Faith, Isaiah's lover (The Truth: Red, White & Black #1, 2003); of Isaiah Bradley undergoing missions for the US government but then becoming a prisoner and subjected to horrifying experiments over decades; of Isaiah attempting to keep a low profile after his release (Truth: Red, White & Black #7, 2003)

Joe Simon (writer/artist): co-creator of Bucky Barnes, a costumed hero and best friend of Steve Rogers; of Captain America, Steve Rogers, super hero from World War II who gained his peak human abilities from the Super-Soldier Serum; of Captain America wearing a red, white and blue costume with 'A' on forehead and star on chest (Captain America Comics #1, 1941); of Captain America's round shield with red and white stripes (Captain America Comics #2, 1941)

Jeph Loeb (writer): co-creator of the Red Hulk, a red-skinned version of the Hulk who wearing black shorts and generates intense heat from his body (Hulk #1, 2008); of the Red Hulk and the Leader manipulating each other for their own benefit; of the Leader being responsible for transforming Thaddeus Ross into the Red Hulk, basing his transformation on that of Bruce Banner's (Hulk #23, 2010)

Ed McGuinness (artist): co-creator of the Red Hulk, a red-skinned version of the Hulk who wearing black shorts and generates intense heat from his body (Hulk #1, 2008); of the Red Hulk and the Leader manipulating each other for their own benefit; of the Leader being responsible for transforming Thaddeus Ross into the Red Hulk, basing his transformation on that of Bruce Banner's (Hulk #23, 2010)

Bill Mantlo (writer): co-creator of Ruth Bat-Seraph, an Israeli agent and expert fighter (Incredible Hulk #250, 1980); of Ruth Bat-Seraph's name (Incredible Hulk #256, 1981); of Betty and General Ross having a falling out because of his actions against the Hulk (Incredible Hulk #277, 1982); of Karen Ross, Thaddeus Ross' wife, who died from cancer (Incredible Hulk #291, 1984)

Nick Spencer (writer): co-creator of Joaquin Torres, a Latino man who is an ally of Sam Wilson (Captain America: Sam Wilson #1, 2015); of Joaquin Torres inheriting the mantle of the Falcon from Sam Wilson, wearing a modified version of the Falcon's green costume with a helmet and working as sidekick to Sam Wilson's Captain America (Captain America: Sam Wilson #6, 2016)

Rick Remender (writer): co-creator of Sam Wilson wearing a Captain America costume which incorporates his Falcon technology, becoming a hybrid of the two costume styles (All-New Captain America #1, 2015); of Steve Rogers asking the Falcon to become the new Captain America (Captain America #25, 2014)

Ed Brubaker (writer): co-creator of the Winter Soldier, a legendary assassin whose left arm is cybernetic (Captain America #1, 2005); of the Winter Soldier revealed to be Bucky Barnes having been brainwashed and kept in stasis except when sent on missions (Captain America #8, 2005)

Steve Epting (artist): co-creator of the Winter Soldier, a legendary assassin whose left arm is cybernetic (Captain America #1, 2005); of the Winter Soldier revealed to be Bucky Barnes having been brainwashed and kept in stasis except when sent on missions (Captain America #8, 2005)

Steve Ditko (artist): co-creator of the Hulk's transformations caused by anger (Tales to Astonish #60, 1964); of the Leader, a super-intelligent man (Tales to Astonish #62, 1964); of the Hulk creating shockwaves by clapping his hands together (Tales to Astonish #65, 1965)

Joe Bennett (artist): co-creator of Joaquin Torres inheriting the mantle of the Falcon from Sam Wilson, wearing a modified version of the Falcon's green costume with a helmet and working as sidekick to Sam Wilson's Captain America (Captain America: Sam Wilson #6, 2016)

Tom Morgan (artist): co-creator of Dennis Dunphy suffering a heart attack (Captain America #330, 1987); of Dennis Dunphy as an ally of Sam Wilson (Captain America #336, 1987); of Copperhead, a serpent-themed mercenary who battles Captain America (Captain America #337, 1988)

Jim Krueger (writer): co-creator of the Celestials seeding the Earth with a new Celestial and seeking to bring it to life which would result in the destruction of Earth (Earth X #10, 2000); of the Celestial prevented from destroying the Earth (Earth X: X, 2000)

Alex Ross (artist/writer): co-creator of the Celestials seeding the Earth with a new Celestial and seeking to bring it to life which would result in the destruction of Earth (Earth X #10, 2000); of the Celestial prevented from destroying the Earth (Earth X: X, 2000)

John Paul Leon (artist): co-creator of the Celestials seeding the Earth with a new Celestial and seeking to bring it to life which would result in the destruction of Earth (Earth X #10, 2000); of the Celestial prevented from destroying the Earth (Earth X: X, 2000)

Steve Englehart (writer): co-creator of a team of serpent-themed mercenaries who battle Captain America (Captain America #157, 1973); of the Falcon utilizing mechanical wings built for him by the Wakandans (Captain America #170, 1974)

Gene Colan (artist): co-creator of the Falcon, Sam Wilson, a black super hero and ally of Captain America; the Falcon wearing green; of Redwing, Sam's winged ally (Captain America #117, 1969)

Stuart Immonen (artist): co-creator of Sam Wilson wearing a Captain America costume which incorporates his Falcon technology, becoming a hybrid of the two costume styles (All-New Captain America #1, 2015)

Bruce Jones (writer): co-creator of the mysterious figure "Mr. Blue" (Incredible Hulk #34, 2002); of Samuel Sterns trying to obtain Banner's blood for his experiments (Incredible Hulk #36, 2002)

John Romita Jr. (artist): co-creator of the mysterious figure "Mr. Blue" (Incredible Hulk #34, 2002); of Samuel Sterns trying to obtain Banner's blood for his experiments (Incredible Hulk #36, 2002)

George Perez (artist): co-creator of half the universe's population being eliminated (Infinity Gauntlet #1, 1991); of Sidewinder, a serpent-themed mercenary (Marvel Two-in-One #64, 1980)

Gil Kane (artist): co-creator of the Abomination, a Russian transformed by gamma radiation into a huge green scaly monster who fights the Hulk (Tales to Astonish #90, 1967)

Roy Thomas (writer): co-creator of Adamantium, a metal which is virtually indestructible (Avengers #66, 1969); of the Leader's name Samuel Sterns (Incredible Hulk #129, 1970)

Paul Neary (artist): co-creator of Sidewinder as an enemy of Captain America; of Sidewinder's ease at escaping prison (Captain America #315, 1986)

Ralph Macchio (writer): co-creator of Sidewinder, a serpent-themed mercenary (Marvel Two-in-One #64, 1980)

Don Heck (artist): co-creator of the Black Widow, an espionage agent (Tales of Suspense #52, 1964)

Don Rico (writer): co-creator of the Black Widow, an espionage agent (Tales of Suspense #52, 1964)

Mark Waid (writer): co-creator of the Falcon wearing Captain America's costume as his replacement (Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #8, 1999)

Christopher Priest (writer): co-creator of the Falcon wearing a beard (Captain America & the Falcon #1, 2004)

Steve Gerber (writer): co-creator of a team of serpent-themed mercenaries who battle Captain America (Captain America #157, 1973)

David Michelinie (writer): co-creator of the Falcon as one of the Avengers (Avengers #183, 1979)

Brian Michael Bendis (writer): co-creator of the Raft, a high-security prison used by the US government for superhuman adversaries (New Avengers #1, 2005)

John Romita (artist): co-creator of Leila Taylor, a woman involved with Sam Wilson (Captain America #139, 1971)

David Finch (artist): co-creator of the Raft, a high-security prison used by the US government for superhuman adversaries (New Avengers #1, 2005)

Cully Hamner (artist): co-creator of the Falcon wearing Captain America's costume as his replacement (Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #8, 1999)

Daniel Acuña (artist): co-creator of Joaquin Torres, a Latino man who is an ally of Sam Wilson (Captain America: Sam Wilson #1, 2015)

Carlos Pacheco (artist): co-creator of Steve Rogers asking the Falcon to become the new Captain America (Captain America #25, 2014)

Bart Sears (artist): co-creator of the Falcon wearing a beard (Captain America & the Falcon #1, 2004)

John Byrne (artist): co-creator of the Falcon as one of the Avengers (Avengers #183, 1979)

Mark Millar (writer): co-creator of the Abomination being massive and partially armored (Ultimates 2 #9, 2006)

Bryan Hitch (artist): co-creator of the Abomination being massive and partially armored (Ultimates 2 #9, 2006)

Jim Starlin (writer): co-creator of half the universe's population being eliminated (Infinity Gauntlet #1, 1991)

Todd McFarlane (artist): co-creator of the Leader's head being round to indicate a larger brain (Incredible Hulk #342, 1988)

Peter David (writer): co-creator of the Leader's head being round to indicate a larger brain (Incredible Hulk #342, 1988)

Herb Trimpe (artist): co-creator of the Leader's name Samuel Sterns (Incredible Hulk #129, 1970)

Jeff Parker (writer): co-creator of Thaddeus Ross being imprisoned after being identified as the Red Hulk (Hulk #25, 2010)

Gabriel Hardman (artist): co-creator of Thaddeus Ross being imprisoned after being identified as the Red Hulk (Hulk #25, 2010)

Barry Windsor-Smith (artist): co-creator of Adamantium, a metal which is virtually indestructible (Avengers #66, 1969)

Christos Gage (writer): co-creator of Ruth Bat-Seraph wearing a black costume with blue trim (Union Jack #1, 2006)

Mike Perkins (artist): co-creator of Ruth Bat-Seraph wearing a black costume with blue trim (Union Jack #1, 2006)

Belinda Glass (writer): co-creator of Ruth Bat-Seraph, an Israeli agent and expert fighter (Incredible Hulk #250, 1980)

Brian Patchett (writer): co-creator of Dennis Dunphy serving in the U.S. military (Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular #1, 2009)

Xurxo G. Penalta (artist): co-creator of Dennis Dunphy serving in the U.S. military (Marvel Assistant-Sized Spectacular #1, 2009)

Mike Carlin (writer): co-creator of Dennis Dunphy, a red-haired man (The Thing #28, 1985)

Ron Wilson (artist): co-creator of Dennis Dunphy, a red-haired man (The Thing #28, 1985)

Larry Lieber: co-creator of Ant-Man, a costumed hero who can alter his size (Tales to Astonish #35, 1962)

Ta-Nehisi Coates (writer): co-creator of the Red Hulk battling Captain America but ultimately standing down (Captain America #26, 2021)

Leonard Kirk (artist): co-creator of the Red Hulk battling Captain America but ultimately standing down (Captain America #26, 2021)

J. G. Jones (artist): co-creator of the Red Room, the spy program which created the Black Widow (Black Widow #2, 1999)

Devin Grayson (writer): co-creator of the Red Room, the spy program which created the Black Widow (Black Widow #2, 1999)

Radio Recap: Hollywood Spotlight

"The Hollywood Spotlight! Presenting an all-star revue from the entertainment center of the world-- Hollywood!"

Hollywood Spotlight was a syndicated 15-minute program comprised primarily of musical numbers with occasional comedy interludes. Each episode opened and closed with about 2 minutes of the ditty "Rose Room," which was probably where local advertisements were intended to be inserted.

I'm not normally one for musical programs but I made an exception for this one because the featured band on Hollywood Spotlight was led by Phil Harris! This was a year before Harris would come aboard the Jack Benny Program. Although Hollywood Spotlight didn't afford him many opportunities to banter, it is interesting to hear these early examples of him on the radio. Certainly his voice was different - he hadn't yet been transformed into the ignorant slob Benny's writers invented and his southern drawl is much stronger.

Also of interest is that Don Wilson appears on some episodes as an m.c. Wilson was already Benny's commercial spokesman at that time - I'm left to wonder if Wilson's encounters with Harris led to Harris joining Benny's show?

The comedy sketches on Hollywood Spotlight are generally performed by Bob Burns. His backwoods rural humour really isn't to my liking (especially when he dons "blackface" and performs as "Brother Athsma"). Each time he performed a routine, I couldn't help but think that a much more talented comedy performer was in the same room-- heck, by 1935 Harris had already starred in his own Academy Award-winning comedy short (So This Is Harris), he could've handled a few minutes of comedic banter.

There are also a variety of other singers on the show, including the Five Jones Boys and Clarence Muse; there's also the female vocalist Leah Ray, who sings a few solos (and duets with Phil Harris).

The songs themselves are, um, of their time. Ditties like "Underneath the Harlem Moon" and "That's Why Darkies Were Born" have pretty racist lyrics. On the other hand, Phil sings "Minnie the Mermaid," which he'd end up repeating many, many times over the years, up to 20 years later on the Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show.

The Old Time Radio Researchers have a YouTube playlist of Hollywood Spotlight!

Radio Recap: The Club Car Special

"The Club Car Special is based on the march of events and city life section of the Hearst Sunday newspapers throughout the country. This section is devoted to the cartoons and writings of America's foremost humorists: O. O. McIntyre, Will Rogers, George Ade, Sam Hellman, Arthur 'Bugs' Baer, Milt Gross, Damon Runyon and many others. So let's climb on board the Club Car Special right now just for a lark and a laugh!"

Okay, here's a real oddity. The Club Car Special was a 15-minute syndicated program heard on NBC in 1934. It was produced by Hearst syndication and drew from content in Hearst's newspapers. It's just one of many Hearst radio programs designed to promote its publications (ie, Flash Gordon, Jungle Jim, Front Page Drama) but this one is different because it relayed comedic segments from Hearst's publications. This included some really talented creators - Milt Gross, Will Rogers, Damon Runyon - which means this series merits a look if you're a fan of those names.

Each episode features several comedy routines with a variety of performers. Even single-panel cartoons are dramatized, which require a bit of padding, naturally. They also dramatize Milt Gross's comics, which is a rare and unusual experience.

Each sketch is introduced by a train porter calling out the next creative person's name ("All aboard, Club Car Special! Next stop, Will Rogers! All aboard!") although the creators themselves were impersonated. Each sketch ends with a 'wah-wah' trombone and a small chorus of voices fake-laughing which, frankly, does a lot to make this series sound unfunny. Just to further impede your enjoyment, the fake laughter is always immediately followed by the porter calling out the next sketch. Even if you do find something amusing in the sketch, the show refuses to give you time to pause and enjoy it.

I did find the humourous boxing stories written by Arthur 'Bugs' Baer were pretty amusing but it looks as though very little of his work was ever anthologized-- shy of digging up the original newspapers, I don't think he can be read now.

Ultimately, I cannot recommend the Club Car Special unless you're a fan of the creators whose works were being read on the air. Even then, I think you'll find that these very funny jokes were told with the least funny delivery that was possible for 1934.

You can hear the 10 surviving episodes of Club Car Special on this YouTube playlist created by the Old Time Radio Researchers.

Radio Recap: On Stage

On Stage, also known as "Cathy and Elliott Lewis on Stage," was a latter-day CBS radio program that aired from January 1, 1953 until September 30, 1954. The series was a dramatic anthology featuring the husband-wife team of Cathy and Elliott Lewis. The two of them were something of a power couple in radio; they'd both been busy radio actors who appeared in all sorts of comedies and dramas before being married. By the time of On Stage, Cathy had become a comedy star in the radio and TV versions of My Friend Irma and while Elliott was still appearing in the radio comedy the Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show he was becoming better known as a writer, producer and director, producing such shows as Suspense, Crime Classics, Broadway Is My Beat, the Line-Up and Pursuit.

On Stage was a dramatic anthology series; sometimes the episodes were comedies, sometimes romantic dramas, sometimes a thriller, sometimes a bit of experimental radio. As something of a hodge-podge of content, I'm sure the series itself won't be to every person's taste but it did possess quality; Elliott and Cathy were top performers and they brought with them many of the best actors they'd been collaborating with at CBS along with top-notch sound effects and original music.

Most of On Stage featured original scripts by the likes of Morton Fine and David Friedkin (who worked on every show Elliott produced) and E. Jack Neuman. Neuman's scripts included "Eddie," a disturbing story in which Elliott portrayed a happy-go-lucky stalker who refused to be spurned by Cathy and "Heartbreak," in which Elliott portrayed a man who suffered a heart attack and the difficulty his wife had in dealing with him.

Outside of original scripts, the series adapted Frank R. Stockton's "the Lady or the Tiger" and Anton Chekhov's "the Bear," plus a reinterpretation of Ernest Thayer's poem "Casey at the Bat" and Voltaire's novel "Candide." A few episodes of On Stage were later redone on Suspense, including "Beyruth by Sunrise," "Heavens to Betsy" and "the Cellar Door."

I find the series was weakest when it attempted comedy; despite Elliott and Cathy's lengthy credits in that genre, I find the debut episode "String Bowtie" to be a rather unfunny attempt at screwball comedy. The gentler comedy of "the Man of Independent Mind" about an average Joe who decides to become the strongest man in the world in order to prove his greatness or "Canary Yellow" about a father who objects to his son playing a bird in a school play were much better fits for the Lewises.

Sadly, Cathy and Elliott Lewis divorced in 1958, four years after the series ended. This makes it particularly rough to hear episodes of On Stage where they played quarrelling couples - which they did now and then. If On Stage was meant to draw them closer together then it failed - it sounds like by the end of the series run their marriage was already crumbling.

You can hear all the surviving episodes of On Stage in this YouTube playlist created by the Old Time Radio Researchers.

Radio Recap: The Black Flame of the Amazon

The Black Flame of the Amazon was a 15-minute syndicated radio adventure serial from 1938 starring real-life explorer Harold Noice, who portrayed a fictionalized version of himself on the series. In the series, Harold went on adventures in the Amazon jungles of Brazil alongside his Portuguese friend Pedro and a pair of precocious kids named Jimmy and Jean.

Initially this is a pretty standard juvenile adventure serial, complete with the villains Butch Grogan and Limey Scroggins who want a map to the treasure of the Incas. But about half-way through the series, the heroes escape from the villains and spend quite a lot of episodes just bumming around the jungle, talking to each other. It becomes something of a slice-of-life domestic soap opera instead of an adventure serial! In fact, there's a span of about 5 episodes where the kids are going to be left behind by Noice and so they plan to play a prank on him. Mostly, they talk about their plan, over and over; then Noice figures our the kids are planning something; then, back to the kids, still planning. An adventure serial that just might lull you to sleep.

The Black Flame of the Amazon has many of the problems found in "jungle adventure" tales of its era; to be generous, such stories are very patronizing towards indigenous peoples; or, put bluntly, they get racist. Such as when Harold Noice lectures the kids as to why they need to investigate the absence of a white man from his trading post:

Harold: "This is now a part of our business. We whites, no matter what part of the world, we're in, must never forget that we are white."
Jimmy: "You mean there's been a crime committed here?"
Harold: "Yes, Jimmy, against a white man."
Jimmy: "Then there's got to be punishment of some kind!"
Harold: "That's secondary, Jimmy. A white man made his residence here. We have to find out what happened-- find that white man. That's the white man's law in the jungle."
Jimmy: "Swell, Mr. Noice, that's swell! And we're white!"

Harold Noice's acting is stiff, but acceptable; Pedro sounds like Alan Reed, but I'm not positive it's him; the actors playing Jimmy and Jean are frequently terrible, often delivering their dialogue with a woodness that sounds like no child I ever met.

You can hear all the surviving episodes of the Black Flame of the Amazon in this YouTube playlist created by the Old Time Radio Researchers.

Radio Recap: Hollywood's Open House

"Just sit back and relax; you'll be royally entertained, for it's time for Hollywood's Open House."

Hollywood's Open House was a syndicated half-hour radio series hosted by Jim Ameche (Don Ameche's brother). It was something of a smorgasboard of entertainment from Hollywood - first a little music and comedy, followed by a brief dramatization of a popular film, play or short story (sometimes just a single scene excerpted from the source).

The series was meant to advertise Motion Picture Magazine, so the various entertainment capsules are reflective of how the magazine must have summarized its stories. What's odd is that while the show used a number of Hollywood stars as guests on the program is that they also employed impersonators! The earliest surviving episode recreates a Bob Hope/Bing Crosby routine with both men impersonated. They sound pretty good at matching both men's speed and pronunciation, though overall they're fairly obvious imitators. I guess they couldn't license an audio clip?

RadioGoldindex speculates that although the episodes are dated from 1947-1948 the series could have been produced as many as 3-4 years earlier! I don't know about that math - perhaps 3-4 months earlier, they certainly don't sound like wartime radio productions.

On the other hand, Hollywood's Open House wasn't quite in vogue with post-war radio, at least not to my ears. I think programs that mixed comedy, music and drama made sense in 1930s radio when much of what could be done was still being learned and the number of programs on the air was somewhat limited. But post-war, radio was booming; if you wanted comedy, there were so many comedy shows; likewise music shows; likewise dramatic anthologies. I think audiences were more interested in a show that devoted its full runtime to a single genre.

Stories they adapted included Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" (with Peter Lorre!), Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" and "A Piece of String." They also ran a parody of Ernest Hemingway's "the Killers" titled "the Exterminators" (October 21, 1948).

The comedy guests are a mixed bag; Bert Lahr is always good; Lucille Balls turns up, but only to perform in a dramatic role (she was probably trying to branch out her career); Jackie Gleason appears in the aforementioned "Killers" parody and does a terrific stand-up routine in another episode (November 11, 1948).

I'm currently reviewing a number of radio variety shows and what I have to say for Hollywood's Open House goes for most of them - if you're a fan of one of the stars heard on the program, you'll want to hear the segments where they appear - but you might not be interested in the rest of the show.

You can hear what remains of Hollywood's Open House at the Old Time Radio Researchers' Library.

Why Does Darkseid Lounge?

Over a decade ago on the blog, I looked at Action Comics #593 (1987), a team-up story starring Superman and Mister Miracle written and drawn by John Byrne. As I noted in that review, this was one of the earliest comic books that I read.

Here's an excerpt from my review:

Mr. Miracle enters his house with his diminuative aide Oberon at his side; however, instead of finding his wife Barda waiting for him, Mr. Miracle is greeted by Darkseid, sitting in an armchair sipping wine. Seriously, I wouldn't kid you. Even though Keith Giffen's Ambush Bug mocked the idea of Darkseid's ubiquity in DC Comics all the way back in 1985, it seems no one got the memo as Darkseid would continue to make appearances like this up to present times. Darkseid sipping wine in Mr. Miracle's living room is about as menacing as Darkseid serving Ambush Bug a hamburger in Ambush Bug#2. Ah well; in 1987, I knew of Darkseid through the Super Powers figures and Super Friends cartoon show, so at least he was a familiar face.

Above you can see the image of Darkseid calmly sipping wine while lounging in Mister Miracle's living room, and below is the final page of Ambush Bug #1 (1985) by Robert Loren Fleming and Keith Giffen. This was the start of a running gag in the four-issue Ambush Bug mini-series as each issue would conclude with Ambush Bug encountering Darkseid in some mundane locale, but the succeeding issue would completely ignore that scene. Finally, at the end of Ambush Bug #4, Ambush Bug reveals that the "Darkseid" in his stories was just an inflatable dummy. He says to the deflated dummy, "Thanks, pal. You bought me an extra fifty thousand sales in the comic shops!"

This trope of Darkseid lounging around in a mundane location instead of unleashing his power to destroy his enemies-- that's become a well-worn trope in DC comics. And I suppose my reaction in the above review came out that way because I was used to a post-Jack Kirby Darkseid. Post-Kirby, Darkseid was no longer the arch-enemy of the New Gods-- now he was basically everyone's arch-enemy, from Superman to the Suicide Squad, from Mary Marvel to the Legion of Super-Heroes. Writers still seemed to understand that he was a villain who needed to show restraint (or else he'd simply wipe most of Earth's heroes out of existence), and thus the many images of Darkseid lounging. This was particularly apparent in the 1987 Legends crossover, which resulted in Darkseid appearing in many, many comics within a six-month span, but mostly he appeared only to plot and scheme rather than take action.

What I didn't appreciate about Darkseid was that Kirby had pretty definite ideas about how to play his arch-villain; after a few cameos in Kirby's Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen stories, Darkseid made his big debut in New Gods #1 (1971), which also introduced Darkseid's true opponent, Orion. Orion spent the entirety of issue #1 battling his way through Darkseid's armies on Apokalips only to learn Darkseid was on Earth. The issue ends with Orion heading to Earth, where Darkseid promises on the last page, "I hear you, Orion! The battle begins!"

But New Gods #2 opens up with Orion entering an apartment where he simply finds Darkseid lounging, waiting for him, as seen above (and it does look like Giffen drew directly from this image for the end of Ambush Bug #1). There is no physical confrontation with Darkseid in that issue; although Orion continues to oppose all of Darkseid's schemes, New Gods was cancelled before the promised showdown with Orion and Darkseid could occur. So, Fleming and Giffen weren't just making light of Darkseid's ability to add sales when they used him in Ambush Bug - they were also poking fun at how, from their perspective, the promised fight between Orion and Darkseid kept being put off.

I should note that Giffen was also the artist of a Legion of Super-Heroes story titled "the Great Darkness Saga," written by Paul Levitz (Legion of Super-Heroes #290-294, 1982). It was a lengthy storyline where the antagonist was ultimately revealed to be Darkseid, still alive in the 31st century; in the climax, Orion suddenly appears and they have the epic battle that fanboys had been asking for since 1971. It's basically fan-fiction, Levitz and Giffen trying to write their own ending to Kirby's New Gods. Many fans call it "the greatest Legion of Super-Heroes story!" That's how lame the Legion are, I guess... their best story is a stealth New Gods comic.

"The Great Darkness Saga" happened early enough in Darkseid's post-Kirby history that it seems to have been extremely influential. Yet I also wonder how much the version of Darkseid seen in that story - the cosmic powerhouse who goes fist-to-fist with the entire Legion of Super-Heroes - owes to Thanos. Thanos was, after all, created by Jim Starlin in 1973 as what he admitted to as a being directly inspired by Darkseid. For Thanos' early appearances, he was quite a bit like Darkseid - he employed a number of lieutenants to do his dirty work and mostly plotted and schemed. It wasn't until he obtained the Cosmic Cube during Starlin's Captain Marvel stories that he ceased being on the sidelines and instead directly engaged the heroes (I wrote a 10-part history of Starlin's Thanos; here's part 1, where I discussed those early comics). I'd say that Starlin's Thanos stepped out from Darkseid's shadow when he reappeared in Warlock as Warlock's ally against the Magus. Although Thanos' quest to win the love of Death could be compared to Darkseid's quest for the Anti-Life Equation, Thanos' subtlety and guile in those Warlock stories is very unlike Darkseid's single-minded approach.

Post-"Great Darkness Saga," DC reprinted Kirby's New Gods stories in 1984 as a prestige-format series. In the final issue, Kirby finally wrote and drew the conclusion to Orion and Darkseid's unresolved fight. To put it mildly, it's not what fans like Levitz and Giffen anticipated. In fact, there is once again, no fight. Orion pursues Darkseid, but Darkseid continually beats a strategic retreat rather than engage in combat. Finally, Darkseid leads Orion into an ambush; a squad of Parademons blast Orion's body full of bullets and he drops out of sight, seemingly dead; the end.

And this isn't a course-correction on Kirby's part, it's consistent with all of his Darkseid stories in the 1970s. Although Darkseid deployed plenty of lieutenants against his enemies, his own interest was simply the Anti-Life Equation. He would indulge his lieutenants if he thought their plans might bring him the equation (or at least inconvenience his enemies so they wouldn't interfere with him) but Darkseid didn't use power for power's sake. I think any of the confrontations Kirby wrote between Darkseid and Desaad would be instructive; Desaad would inflict pain on his enemies because he enjoyed the sensation; Darkseid, however, was not a sadist and expressed annoyance at Desaad for placing his sadism above his actual goal - the Anti-Life Equation. Outside of flashbacks, the only characters Darkseid killed with his own power in Kirby's stories were his lieutenants when he felt they'd gone too far off-track - and then Kirby gave him the power to resurrect his lieutenants in his graphic novel Hunger Dogs (1985), albeit the resurrected lieutenants were mere shades of their former selves.

I submit, then, it's possible that the Darkseid of "the Great Darkness Saga" is a combination of Levitz and Giffen's fanboyish wish for a Darkseid who fights, drawn from Starlin's Thanos. Kirby's Darkseid was not Starlin's Thanos; he had plenty of raw power, but next to no interest in unleashing it. Perhaps a true "final" New Gods story in which Darkseid obtained the Anti-Life Equation would bring the character to a point where he would unleash his full power. But that's not Kirby's Darkseid; without the Anti-Life Equation, what is there for Darkseid to do, but... lounge.

Radio Recap: Soldiers of the Press

Soldiers of the Press was a 15-minute syndicated program that aired during the greater part of the USA's time in World War II, starting in February 1943 and lasting 'til August 1945. The series features dramatized accounts of events witnessed by journalists that had something to do with the conflict.

Apparently all of the journalists "heard" on the series were actually professional actors. Although the journalists responsible for the news stories were given credit for their work, it seems none of them appeared as themselves in the dramas. Which is fair enough, since journalists aren't professional actors. It is a bit of a missed opportunity in some cases, as the journalists covered included names like Walter Cronkite. The actual performers aren't credited but I swear I heard voices like Bill Johnstone and Raymond Massey.

The stories recounted on Soldiers of the Press give one a pretty good view of the different locales and theaters of operations during the war; some are recounted from the perspectives of journalists who were overseas when the US entered the war and how they suffered in internment camps. There are naval operations, aerial operations and more. It's bit jingoistic, but what would you expect from a wartime program?

The Old Time Radio Researchers have their collection of Soldiers of the Press in this YouTube playlist.

In Memoriam: Another Dimension

I was very disappointed to learn that one of my local comic shops - Another Dimension - is closing its doors at the end of April. Although I haven't been a regular shopper there in a decade I always felt it was the best comic book store in the city.

Before I even lived in Calgary, Another Dimension was the shop I most enjoyed visiting when my family would come to Calgary. In the early 1990s there were a lot of comic shops in Calgary (Another Dimension had more than one store in that day) but a number of elements at Another Dimension made a big impression-- they carried virtually every new comic book being published, they carried a library of trade paperbacks and they had a vast well-organized selection of back issues.

When I moved to the city Another Dimension wasn't the nearest shop (there were two other stores geographically much closer to my home) but it became the one I visited most often, thanks in part to it being nearby SAIT, where I attended college. I have happy memories of traipsing to Another Dimension in between classes so that I could delve into back issues. I also recall reading some comics on campus after a visit there, particularly an issue of the mini-series Blaze of Glory that I read in the SAIT library during my practicum.

In time, I moved to other parts of the city and Another Dimension became the nearer shop. I opened up a file at the store and was pleasantly surprised that unlike other shops in the city where I'd previously had files, I didn't have to pay a fee to open the file and I didn't get pushback if someone put the wrong book into my file. If they made a mistake, they apologized (there are other shops in the city that seem to think the customer is always wrong).

Eventually my relationship with the shop changed, in part because of my own career at Marvel Comics, especially writing for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. I now needed access to all kinds of back issues that I would normally never have sought out. I vividly recall buying a stack of issues for research that included an issue of Nighstalkers. At the till, my friend Riley held up that comic at me then slowly shook his head in disbelief.

Riley Rossmo was another part of what changed; he was a clerk at Another Dimension, but he was also a rising comic book artist. Because I knew him personally, I started following his career as of his Image series Proof. Although our careers in comics were very different, he and I always supported and boosted each other. One of my fondest memories is from the year when the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo declined to grant me a table in their artist's alley; instead, Another Dimension offered to have me sign at their booth, next to Riley. That one just one of many conventions where I encountered Riley and they were always fun.

Since quitting my job at Marvel and buying my own home (thus moving far from any comic shops) I haven't had the need or time to visit Another Dimension. I'm very sad to see the shop go - it was the best.

Radio Recap: The Danny Kaye Show

The Danny Kaye Show was a comedy-variety program starring Danny Kaye. It was heard on CBS from January 6, 1945 until May 31, 1946. Kaye was joined by Eve Arden (as Kaye's manager), Lionel Stander (as Kaye's elevator boy), announcer Ken Niles and orchestra leader Harry James. It was sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer. Frank Nelson was heard in the first episode as "Mr. Pabst," Kaye's sponsor.

Now, I grew up on Danny Kaye; my mother was (and is) a big fan of Kaye's - she shared one of his albums with us when we were children and we listened to it very often. Later, when my brother and I shared a room, we would listen to her Best of Danny Kaye LP most evenings, to the point that I can still recall many of Kaye's comedic songs from memory. And that's without getting into all the movies we watched! Every time I dig up one of Kaye's films that I didn't see during my childhood, I wish I'd been exposed to it back then - I would have loved it much more. Similarly, listening to the Danny Kaye Show, I wished I'd heard it all when I was a kid. Among other things, almost all of the songs on the Best of Danny Kaye were heard on his radio program - possibly some of them originated there.

The Danny Kaye Show enjoyed two seasons - a half-season from January-June, 1945, then a full season from October, 1945-May, 1946. There's quite a difference between the two seasons. Although Pabst remained his sponsor (and during the summer break they sponsored Harry James in a replacement show), all of Danny's stooges left between seasons. Danny did pick up a new stooge - Butterfly McQueen (who had just exited the Jack Benny Program) portraying the president of Danny Kaye's fan club and a new orchestra led by Dave Terry but otherwise the show became less of an ensemble program.

The other huge change is that Danny missed a few episodes; check that, a lot of episodes! Throughout the fall of 1945 Danny Kaye did not appear on the Danny Kaye Show while he went on a USO tour, with instead the casts of other shows filling in for him, including Frank Sinatra with Judy Garland, George Burns/Gracie Allen, Jack Benny and Eddie Cantor. They're decent broadcasts (in fact, the script for the Jack Benny episode was later repeated on his own show a couple of times) but they're not, in any meaningful sense, episodes of the Danny Kaye Show! I think it's especially notable that most of the guest hosts just insert a reference to Kaye in their scripts but otherwise play out as though it's an episode of their own programs- but Jack Benny structured his guest episode entirely around Kaye, with his cast having seen Kaye's film Wonder Man and upsetting Benny by showering Kaye with accolades as a great comedian.

Missteps? The show made a few. I like Danny's rendition of "Accentuate the Positive," but boy he sings it quite often on his show - four times in 1945! "Minnie the Moocher," "the Railroad Song" and "the Fairy Piper" turned up multiple times as well. But I should add this is only a problem during the first half-season - in the second season I didn't hear Danny repeat any songs.

Neither season feels quite like the right fit for Danny Kaye's talents; he loved speech and song, making funny voices. All he really needed were straight men, not stooges like Eve Arden and Lionel Stander. Why give him a popular bandleader like Harry James? Or a smarmy commercial spokesman like Ken Niles? The first half-season sounds like an attempt to make Danny sound like other popular comedy-variety shows of the 40s. But Danny was not Jack Benny. I like Arden and Stander just fine, but when the show went into jokes with their characters I simply thought, "that's not what I want from a Danny Kaye program." As for Harry James, he had a running gag about what a terrible performer he was; he'd show up in most sketches declaring, "I am James, the butler." Seriously, that was his entire gag.

So the second season - once Danny came back from the USO - should have been more to my liking, right? It's true that in the 2nd season Danny didn't have to compete with stooges for laughs (Butterfly McQueen's role wasn't that large) and there was a wider sampling of Danny's silly songs. But there were also a lot of guest stars - people like Orson Welles and Arthur Treacher. Probably the best guest star was Dick Powell, who popped up to promote his show Rogue's Gallery. Powell appeared in a sketch with Kaye in which Powell was constantly being knocked out by unlikely objects, a funny parody of his own program.

The bottom line is: the Danny Kaye Show could have been great. I felt Danny was restrained by the conventional format of 1940s radio comedy, not permitted to cut loose in the manner of his movie performances. I still would have loved this series when I was a child and I definitely point to the Jack Benny and Dick Powell episodes as diamonds in the rough.

Most of the Danny Kaye Show still exists and you can hear them in this YouTube playlist created by the Old Time Radio Researchers.

The Shadow Without a Shadow, Part 3: Murder at Midnight!

For my final entry of "Shadow Without a Shadow," I'm visiting the Shadow episode "Death Keeps a Deadline" (November 1, 1942) by writer Max Ehrlich, which was re-written for Murder at Midnight as "Trigger Man" (May 17, 1946). As I indicated in my Radio Recap of Murder at Midnight, this is just one of several instances where Murder at Midnight repurposed an episode of the Shadow.

As with Wednesday episode of Suspense, this is a script where the Shadow's role had be written out for the revised script. So, let's examine how that was accomplished!

A massive difference between the two from the top is that while the Shadow has a brief bit of narration to set the stage, Murder at Midnight tells its story from the perspective of "Chicken" Charlie Nix, who narrates frequently through the drama. "Trigger Man" starts with Charlie telling us he's dying from a gunshot wound as he thinks back to how it all happened.

The Shadow opens with Lamont Cranston escorting Margo Lane to her apartment after a date night. As Lamont parts ways, a man asks him for a match, then draws a gun on him. It's mostly the same on Murder at Midnight, although the couple are simply walking together when the stick-up occurs. In both cases, Lamont and his counterpart - John Riley - startle the hold-up man by calling him by his nickname. On the Shadow, the gunman is dubbed "Rabbit" Eddie Burke; on Murder at Midnight, it's "Chicken" Charlie Nix. Lamont/Riley confidently asserts that Rabbit/Chicken doesn't have the nerve to use the gun. Lamont/Riley easily disarms and knocks out the hold-up man. Lamont/Riley explains to their female counterpart that they were aware of the hold-up man's psychological profile, knowing the man had never been able to use a gun (Riley is a plainclothes policeman).

After a musical transition, we learn a year has passed. Rabbit/Chicken meets up with the boss of his gang, Tony Morello/Angelo Dinelli. Rabbit/Chicken bears a deep grudge against Lamont/Riley and insists he'll get back at him. Tony/Angelo tells Rabbit/Chicken that he looks sick and tells him to see his own doctor, Dr. Bryan/Leonard. Amazingly, this scene plays out mostly word for word aside from the name changes!

In the next scene, Tony/Angelo accompanies Rabbit/Chicken on his visit to Dr. Bryan/Leonard. The doctor claims Rabbit/Chicken has a bad heart condition - a severe aneurysm; he gives Rabbit/Chicken six months to live. Another near-identical scene!

Next scene: Rabbit/Chicken meets again with Tony/Angelo and muses that he's like a man standing around in a death house "waiting for the hot seat." Tony/Angelo gives him a drink and suggests that if it were him, he'd use his last six months to paint the town red, do everything he'd always wanted to do before but never had the nerve. He observes that now Rabbit/Chicken has the chance to be a real trigger man and get revenge on Lamont/Riley. At that point, the scenes diverge; in the original script, Tony points out a policeman named Donovan, who was the first one to arrest Rabbit and suggests he start by killing him. Rabbit kills the man, then the Shadow cuts to a commercial. On Murder at Midnight, the scene changes as Angelo leads Chicken to where Riley is and convinces him to kill him (although the dialogue in which Angelo drives Chicken to kill is mostly the same). Afterward, Angelo calls him Charlie because he's not a chicken any more.

In other words, Murder at Midnight has just killed off their version of the Shadow! At this point the two shows become very different.

On the Shadow, Lamont and Commissioner Weston confront Tony, convinced the trigger man committing murders is one of his men but Tony plays dumb (there's no equivalent scene on Murder at Midnight since Riley is dead). In the next scene, Lamont's cab driver buddy Shrevvy shares some gossip with Lamont and Margo about Rabbit's heart condition. This leads Lamont to deduce Rabbit is the trigger man they're looking for. In the following scene, Rabbit meets with Tony and insists he be given the chance to kill Lamont now. When Tony refuses, Rabbit kills him.

In the next scene, the Shadow confronts Dr. Bryan and asks for the truth about Rabbit's condition. Dr. Bryan explains Tony ordered him to lie to Rabbit about his heart. Lamont returns to Shrevvy to find he's lost track of Margo. Rabbit telephones Lamont to inform him he's kidnapped Margo and he'll kill her in one hour, then he'll hunt down Lamont and kill him; Rabbit ends the phone call. In the next scene, Lamont telephones the police for information to help him find Rabbit. We then switch scenes to where Rabbit is holding Margo as his prisoner. Before he can kill her the Shadow enters the room and tells him the truth about his heart condition. The Shadow notes the police are coming and he'll be arrested but Rabbit turns his gun on himself, killing himself just six months after the doctor's fake diagnosis. The story then ends on a typical Shadow wrap-up scene where Lamont and Margo relax after the episode's drama, Lamont explaining how the police guided him to Rabbit's location.

Murder at Midnight continues through Chicken's narration guiding the story, including a scene where he kills a fellow mobster named Tommy Devine for calling him "Chicken." One night Charlie is robbing a warehouse with Mike when they're surprised by the police and flee in their car. Charlie is nicked by a bullet and Mike brings him to a doctor. The doctor fixes him up and remarks Charlie has a good heart; this surprises Charlie, who realizes Angelo's Dr. Leonard had lied to him. In the next scene, Charlie goes looking for Dr. Leonard but finds he moved his practice to another location. In the next scene, Charlie goes home and receives a call from Angelo, telling him he's got another job for him. In the following scene, Charlie goes to Angelo's apartment and reveals he knows the truth about his heart. Angelo and Charlie shoot at each other; Angelo dies immediately. A policeman arrives and calls him "Chicken Charlie," easily slapping him around and disarming him. It looks like he's a chicken again and going back to prison (or maybe the electric chair?).

The first halves of these scripts are nearly word-for-word the same but they certainly do diverge, what with the Shadow's counterpart being killed. It is strange, too, that the Murder at Midnight version ends with the killer surviving - it seemed more poetic for him to die six months after the false diagnosis, as in the original script.

Thanks for following this 3-part series, I hope it was diverting. The episodes are available for your listening pleasure below:

Now on sale- Angola: Illustrated Journal!

My wife Bethany and I recently co-authored a book about our experiences in Angola; this is my second book about Angola, following the Benefit of Steel. We kept a daily journal during our visit to Angola last year and this book is drawn from what we wrote in that journal; it's also filled with paintings Bethany created based on scenes she observed during our visit.

We're working on getting the book into all the ebook and print markets that the Benefit of Steel has enjoyed, but for now you can buy the ebook directly from Bethany's store page or you can buy it on Amazon's Kindle page.

Bethany and Michael Hoskin are associate missionaries to Angola with SIM Canada. In July 2024 they travelled there for a month-long mission trip and kept a visual and written journal.

Enjoy reading about each day's activities which included repairing a mural at the CEML Hospital, leading worship at the Spiritual Life Conference at Tchincombe Farm and teaching an ESL Bible Study in Lubango.

Also included are a series of original illustrations by Bethany K. Hoskin with some original sketches, as well as poetry written by both her and Michael.