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: Starring Boris Karloff

Starring Boris Karloff was an ABC program that - according to its Wikipedia page - appeared simultaneously on radio and television. It apepars that each performance on the radio was followed the subsequent day with a performance of the same story on television. It appeared from September 21 to December 15, 1949. Apparently during the 2nd month the series changed its title to Mystery Playhouse Starring Boris Karloff.

None of the television performances have turned up; only one episode of the radio version has been unearthed; said program is "the Night Reveals," the final episode. This is an adaptation of the story by Cornell Woolrich and it uses the same script that was heard when that story was adapted on Suspense. It's notable, since the Suspense version took a few liberties with Woolrich's original short story.

Looking at the Wikipedia article, it's interesting to note one of the missing episodes was titled "Mungahara" - which was an Arch Oboler production on Lights Out! So that's at least two episodes that used existing radio scripts, it makes one wonder whether other episodes were adapted from existing stories.

Karloff was a treasure; it's a pity that Starring Boris Karloff wasn't a huge hit. He made regular radio appearances on mystery shows like Lights Out, Creeps by Night and Inner Sanctum Mysteries (plus his terrific quiz show appearances on Information Please) and it's always a pleasure to hear his warm, rich voice. Horror stories were never more heart-warming than when spoken by Karloff.

You can listen to the Starring Boris Karloff production of "the Night Reveals" at the Old-Time Radio Researchers' Library; they have it filed under the series "Mystery Playhouse."

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!

Boris Karloff Month Day 31: Death Robbery

Happy Halloween! As I close out my month-long tribute to Boris Karloff, let's check in with the series Lights Out one last time for the episode "Death Robbery" from July 16, 1947. This episode from the latter days of the series was apparently written by Wyllis Cooper, the original creator of the series (and friend of Boris Karloff). This concerns a scientist who has conquered death and restored a dead woman to life; it turns out that's a very bad idea... You can hear it at archive.org by clicking here!

Boris Karloff Month Day 30: Cat Wife

Welcome back to Boris Karloff month! Today I'm returning to the classic radio horror series Lights Out and the episode "Cat Wife" from April 6, 1938, written by Arch Oboler. In "Cat Wife" Boris Karloff plays the husband of a shrewish wife... or should that be 'catty' wife? This episode is kind of ridiculous, but Karloff's performance is outta sight! You can hear it at archive.org by clicking here!

Boris Karloff Month Day 29: The Dream

Welcome back to Boris Karloff month! Today I'm looking at one of the best-known radio horror shows Lights Out! Apparently Karloff appeared on many episodes of the series in its early days, but unfortunately we have only fragments from Lights Out's long run. Today's episode, "The Dream", is from March 23, 1938 and was written by Arch Oboler. Boris Karloff portrays a man who has never dreamed before; when he finally does start dreaming, all the dreams compel him to commit murder! You can hear it at archive.org by clicking here!

Boris Karloff Month Day 28: I Stand Condemned

Welcome back to Boris Karloff month! The Jack Benny Program. On the episode of January 19, 1947, Boris Karloff appeared in a sketch titled "I Stand Condemned". This was the second time Benny performed the sketch (the first was with Peter Lorre) but Karloff is simply wonderful in this rendition. The sketch features Benny as a condemned man who relates how a chance encounter with Karloff (or, "the fickle finger of fate", if you will) set him on the path of ruin. What follows is basically a satire of Inner Sanctum Mysteries. "Why must I always die in the end?" Karloff wonders. Most of the comedy shows I've featured with Karloff would have simply appear as himself and play the part of a generic 'boogeyman'. This episode has an actual plot for him to satirize! You can hear it at archive.org by clicking here!

Boris Karloff Month Day 27: The Vampire's Grave

Welcome back to Boris Karloff month! Tales of the Frightened was a short program Karloff made in the 1960s. Obviously, the episode "The Vampire's Grave" has a compelling story for us Halloween fans! A vampire feeds on her new husband! You can hear it at archive.org by clicking here!

Boris Karloff Month Day 26: Big Man

Welcome back to Boris Karloff month! This time I'm visiting a dramatic program called Stars on Parade. Boris Karloff starred in the episode "Big Man" on May 4, 1951. It features Karloff as a murderous husband out to kill his wife... but in doing so pushes himself to the brink of death. You can hear it at Youtube by clicking here!

Boris Karloff Month Day 25: On Borrowed Time

Welcome back to Boris Karloff month! This time I'm looking at Great Scenes from Great Plays, a series which adapted popular plays (as it says on the tin). On May 14, 1949 they adapted Paul Osborn's "On Borrowed Time", the story of an old man who traps Death up a tree. Karloff, naturally, plays the role of Death, himself (Mr. Brink). The story is a perfect blend of whimsy and darkness, which is pretty much what Karloff specialized in. You can hear it on Youtube by clicking here!

Boris Karloff Month Day 24: Truth or Consequences

Welcome back to Boris Karloff month! I'm still looking at the lighter side of Karloff; moving from comedies, I'm stepping into game shows with an episode of Truth or Consequences from October 30, 1948. Truth or Consequences is not always a great radio program because the games the contestants played were frequently visually-related. This episode is a little scratchy, but still... it has Boris Karloff! The episode was broadcast from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Boris drops in to help host Ralph Edwards celebrate Halloween by performing as a fortune teller in one of the games. It's actually a pretty clever stunt! You can hear it at archive.org by clicking here!

Boris Karloff Month Day 23: The History of Mr. Polly

Welcome back to Boris Karloff month! Today I'm looking at an episode of NBC University Theatre. This was an odd series where listeners could hear radio adaptations of great novels to assist themselves in correspondence classes. It led to a lot of adaptations of works which you would have otherwise never hear on radio! In this instance, it's an adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel "The History of Mr. Polly", starring Boris Karloff in the lead role. Although Wells is still a widely-read author, this humorous novel is mostly forgotten today. The episode is from October 17, 1948. You can hear it at Youtube by clicking here!

Boris Karloff Month Day 22: Arsenic and Old Lace

Welcome back to Boris Karloff month! After Frankenstein, possibly the greatest triumph of Karloff's career was his stage role in "Arsenic and Old Lace", where he famously lampooned himself by playing a killer whose face was altered to look like Boris Karloff! Unfortunately, he wasn't permitted to play the character in the film version (although Raymond Massey did a great job in his role) but thanks to the many radio adaptations of the play, we still have an idea of how great he was in the part. The Screen Guild Theater presented "Arsenic and Old Lace" on November 25, 1946. You can hear it at archive.org by clicking here!

Boris Karloff Month Day 21: Fred Allen

Welcome back to Boris Karloff month! Once again I'm looking at one of Boris Karloff's comedy appearances. This time it's an episode of Fred Allen from November 18, 1945. Although Boris seemed pretty relaxed in the other comedy shows I've looked at previously, he seems kind of at a loss in this program; Allen was a notorious ad-libber, so perhaps the ad-libs were throwing him off?

I'm not much of a Fred Allen fan - I've enjoyed his appearances on Information Please and Jack Benny, but most of his own material is dated and corny. It's especially embarrassing to hear him joke about Benny being unfunny when his material has none of Benny's wit. Allen was great at ad-libbing, but his show's writers were pretty average of their time. The only highlight of this episode is when Karloff explains how he will create an atomic joke weapon! You can hear it at archive.org by clicking here!

Boris Karloff Month Day 20: Duffy's Tavern

Welcome back to Boris Karloff month! Today I'm featuring another episode of the radio comedy program Duffy's Tavern with Boris Karloff as guest star! The episode is from October 5, 1951, six years after the program I featured yesterday. A lot had changed in those six years - the recording quality is much sharper, but Ed Gardner's performance seems much more lethargic. This from the era where the radio program was being recorded in Puerto Rico for income tax purposes. The script is partially recycled from Karloff's earlier appearance. You can hear it at Youtube by clicking here!

Boris Karloff Month Day 19: Duffy's Tavern

Welcome back to Boris Karloff month! Now that I'm done with Creeps by Night, let's look at another of Karloff's comedy appearances. Duffy's Tavern was a pretty good sitcom which starred Ed Gardner as a bartender prone to malapropisms. Celebrities frequently appeared on the program as themselves - as in this episode from January 12, 1945 where Boris Karloff portrays Boris Karloff. Karloff has a lot of fun at his own expense. They also tell a few Bela Lugosi jokes, so if you consider yourself part of the 'Lugosi vs. Karloff' debate, you'll enjoy that! Karloff's primary reason for appearing on this episode is to star in a parody of Frankenstein; it's pretty great! You can hear it at archive.org by clicking here!

Boris Karloff Month Day 18: Those Who Walk in Darkness

Welcome back to Boris Karloff month! Today I'm returning to Boris Karloff's radio program Creeps by Night and the episode "Those Who Walk in Darkness" from June 20, 1944. In this episode, Karloff portrays an eye surgeon who has promised to restore his patient's sight -- but he's also the former love of his patient's wife! You can hear it at archive.org by clicking here!

Boris Karloff Month Day 17: The Hunt

Welcome back to Boris Karloff month! Today I'm returning to Boris Karloff's radio program Creeps by Night and the episode "The Hunt" from May 9, 1944. This time out it's a werewolf story, which were something of a rarity in old-time radio! This is a great, moody tale as a werewolf strikes an estate nearby a swamp; Karloff plays the estate's owner, but is he also the werewolf? You can hear it at archive.org by clicking here!

Boris Karloff Month Day 16: Final Reckoning

Welcome back to Boris Karloff month! In 1944, Boris Karloff was very briefly the star of his own radio horror series, Creeps by Night; perhaps the series took its name from the 1931 ghost story collection gathered under Dashiell Hammett's name? Karloff didn't stay with Creeps by Night for very long but it was a fairly high-quality program - I wish it had been more successful. There are only a handful of existing episodes.

Today I'm looking at "Final Reckoning" from May 2, 1944. In this tale, Karloff is a criminal out for revenge and armed with a razor! You can hear it at archive.org by clicking here!

Boris Karloff Month Day 15: Great Expectations

Welcome back to Boris Karloff month! Today I'm returning once more to the radio series Theater Guild on the Air and their adaptation of Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations" on April 5, 1953. Boris Karloff plays the part of the convict who befriends and finances the protagonist, Pip. Karloff puts in a great performance as the convict. You can hear it at archive.org by clicking here!