Radio Recap: Dark Fantasy

Of all the old-time radio horror programs, Dark Fantasy certainly stands apart. It's a series I learned of relatively late; around 1997 I bought a set of cassettes from Radio Spirits called "Old-Time Radio's Greatest Mysteries" which included 3 episodes of Dark Fantasy. I always enjoy finding another example of OTR horror and I was surprised that I'd heard nothing of it before - my local radio station QR77 never played a single episode; I had never heard it on Yesterday USA; John Dunning did not give the series an entry in his book On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio.

Dark Fantasy was the brainchild of a writer named Scott Bishop. He was apparently a prolific author, although I've never found evidence of it. A press release for the launch of Dark Fantasy asserted he was "father of hundreds of mystery novels," yet I haven't seen any of them in bibliographies of pulp novels. An episode of Dark Fantasy titled "House of Bread" featured Bishop himself as the lead character, who is told by his publisher his books are "selling like peanuts at a circus." Mere wishful thinking? Ego-stroking? Did Bishop publish his fiction under a psuedonym? Perhaps one day I'll know.

Understanding who Bishop is and where he came from might help explain why Dark Fantasy is the series that it is. It should be noted that it aired from November 14, 1941 to June 26, 1942 over WKY, an NBC affiliate in Oklahoma City - thus, the series wasn't heard nation-wide. Airing when it did, the most obvious influences on Dark Fantasy would have been programs like the Witch's Tale and Lights Out.

How can I describe this series? I suppose you can divide Dark Fantasy into two types of episodes if you want to grossly oversimplify:

1. Episodes with consistent tones.
2. Episodes with inconsistent tones.

Those of the former are productions with very even plots. Characters and situations are introduced, a complication appears, something weird happens (usually something supernatural although occasionally sci-fi in origin) and the story ends. For example there's the episode "Resolution, 1841" in which four friends get together over the holidays; they banter together, mention is made that one woman has some financial troubles; later, one of them is possessed by the ghost of the woman's grandfather and he reveals where he hid a fortune.

In the latter, scenes lurch from one to the next with no sense of momentum. The weird things that occur are given next-to-zero build-up. For example there's the episode "The Cup of Gold" in which a golfer is killed; a woman who is supposedly responsible for the murder doesn't recall doing it; then some incense is lit and teleports the woman and her accuser to the planet Vento; a resident of Vento explains the woman is a reincarnation of a woman from Vento and she killed the golfer because they were enemies in previous lives. But when I type it like that I make it sound much more coherant than it is to hear.

Dark Fantasy was low budget; sound effects were usually limited, even small things like footsteps and doors closing were often omitted. Consequently, much of the show seems to be characters exchanging dialogue in a void - there's seldom a sense of place or atmosphere and those elements are so important in horror. Most of the drama is put over through dialogue and that becomes wearying, especially with the sotto voce style Bishop seemed to prefer from his actors. Whereas in the Witch's Tale or Lights Out characters would often scream their dialogue to convey terror, Dark Fantasy performers tend to lower their voices into whispers, as though in quiet awe of whatever was happening. It is extremely ineffective.

Dark Fantasy is camp, but not in the way Inner Sanctum Mysteries is - there's no sense that Scott Bishop meant his program to be intentionally over-the-top, even when he penned "Spawn of the Subhuman," a story about a gorilla given the voice of an opera singer by a mad scientist. Dark Fantasy took itself quite seriously, like Lights Out, but there's nothing deeper going on- while Arch Oboler liked his Lights Out stories to serve as commentaries about the world around himself (especially as commentaries on fascism), I have no idea what Scott Bishop valued nor abhorred. The man liked to write horror stories and NBC was willing to pay him for those stories.

If you want horror, Dark Fantasy does sometimes come through; "the Demon Tree" and "the Headless Dead" are both stories with a big supernatural threat tied to a plot that flows very evenly; you might get a kick out of them. Other stories are extremely pulpy, such as the sci-fi tale "Men Call Me Mad" about a visit to a micro-world, or the African adventure tale "The Thing from the Darkness."

Old Time Radio Researchers have a YouTube playlist of Dark Fantasy.

OTR Halloween Day 6: Dark Fantasy

How to describe Dark Fantasy?

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

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

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

OTR Holiday Month Day 3: Dark Fantasy

Scott Bishop's series Dark Fantasy is a bit of an oddity. We have practically the entire series intact. It was a kind of low-budget horror series, but with very expressive writing. I have no idea why Scott Bishop didn't go on to greater things in radio, his scripts were well above average. At any rate, "The House of Bread" from December 26, 1941 was his Christmas-themed episode of the series, in which Bishop himself is a character in the story, seeking to learn where to find the titular "House of Bread."

You can listen to "The House of Bread" at archive.org here.

Where the werewolves were in old-time radio

I was recently reading Guy Endore's 1933 novel the Werewolf of Paris and I began to reflect on how werewolves were portrayed in popular culture of the time, as I spent a lot of time enjoying literature, films and radio programs of the past. Although Universal's the Wolfman is one of the giants of classic monster movies, there really weren't very many werewolves on screen in those days. Similarly, while Dracula and Frankenstein are two of the great classic horror novels, there's no werewolf book whose reputation permits it to stand alongside them.

And what of radio? What I find interesting about werewolves on radio is that while they were frequently spoken of (say, in Raymond the host's jokes on Inner Sanctum Mysteries), they only infrequently figured in plots on the radio and even less often appeared in the fur & flesh - most radio werewolves involve a hoax of some sort. I can only go by what episodes still exist today, but going from that I've composed a list of werewolves on the radio, grouped together for your convenience into "name only," "hoaxes," and "the real deal."

PART 1: WEREWOLVES IN-NAME-ONLY

There are two 1949 radio police drama shows featuring criminals who terrorize women and are referred to as a "werewolf," but only in allusion to the supernatural beast, not because anyone believes they are such. The two are so similar, I wonder if they were both inspired by the same real life event? First, an audition show for a series called Prowl Car presented "the Wilshire Werewolf," then a very early episode of Dragnet delved into its own werewolf.

Click here to listen to Prowl Car's "the Wilshire Werewolf" at myoldradio.com

Right-click here to download Dragnet's "the Werewolf" from archive.org

PART 2: THE GREAT WEREWOLF HOAXES

The earliest "hoax" program I've found is 1935's Front Page Drama, which presented an episode entitled "the Werewolf" which seems to be based on true events where people's superstitions about werewolves nearly leads to an innocent girl's death. The ending is a bit muddled but the most interesting thing about it is that this show uses the standard rules about vampires for werewolves! At one point the term "werewolf vampire" is uttered as though they were the same thing! Yes, vampires often change shape too, but since the supposed werewolves in this story are said to be corpses by day who can only be destroyed with a stake through the heart, it sure sounds like vampires, huh?

Right-click here to download Front Page Drama's "the Werewolf" from Radio Echoes.

I've found two episodes of the Shadow where he tangles with suspected werewolves. The first one, 1941's "Death Prowls at Night" is actually very good, involving a madman who can hypnotize people into thinking they're werewolves; but maybe he really is a werewolf? It ends on an ambiguous note. The second, 1947's "the Werewolf of Hamilton Mansion" involves a wealthy man who thinks his son is a werewolf and has kept him locked up, but it's all a trick.

Right-click here to download the Shadow's "Death Prowls at Night" from archive.org

Click here to listen to the Shadow's "the Werewolf of Hamilton Mansion" at youtube.com

I Love a Mystery has (barely) two surviving storylines involving werewolves: "Bride of the Werewolf" and "Bury Your Dead, Arizona." The former exists in only two parts out of fifteen, one produced in 1944, the other from 1952! The latter's 1949 version is complete and involves a supposed mystic whose assistant can become a wolf, but as I Love a Mystery is the program which inspired Scooby-Doo, you may not be surprised to hear it's all a fake.

Right-click here to download I Love a Mystery's "Bride of the Werewolf" part 3 from archive.org; part 12

Right-click here to download I Love a Mystery's "Bury Your Dead, Arizona" part 1 from archive.org; part two; part 3; part 4; part 5; part 6; part 7; part 8; part 9; part 10; part 11; part 12; part 13; part 14; part 15

A 1946 episode of the Adventures of Dick Cole entitled "The Werewolf of Farr" has a plot so slight it should have been an episode of Five-Minute Mysteries, yet drags itself out to a half-hour. People are convinced there's a werewolf loose, yet since the episode mentions early on that a real wolf has escaped you really shouldn't expect to be surprised by the climax.

Right-click here to download the Adventures of Dick Cole's "the Werewolf of Farr" from archive.org

Sherlok Holmes occasionally tangles with the supernatural, but by the very nature of his character - a man who make sense of the seeming insensible - the supernatural is thoroughly debunked each time. Such an instance is found in the 1946 episode of the New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes entitled "the Adventure of the Black Angus," in which a Scotsman believes he's inherited the family curse of lycanthropy. Weirdly, when Sherlock first says "werewolf," Watson responds "A vampire!" which is either exposing the cursory research of the creators or represents yet another "dumb Watson" moment.

Right-click here to download the New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' "The Adventure of the Black Angus."

Easily the best werewolf hoax on this list, Escape presented an adaptation of Geoffrey Household's "Taboo" in 1947. Never mind that the suspected werewolf is only a man - it's a suitably terrifying story about hunting a monster at night - or being hunted by a monster! It also hints at some very dark, grisly affairs.

Right-click here to download Ecape's "Taboo" from archive.org

The New Adventures of Michael Shayne being set in New Orleans seemed contractually obliged to tell a "loup-garou" story and they got it over with early in 1948. It has lively performances by Jeff Chandler & Jack Webb, but the plot is nuts.

Right-click here to download the New Adventures of Michael Shayne's "the Case of the Bayou Monster" from archive.org

There are two western programs involving werewolf hoaxes: the Challenge of the Yukon's "Trail of the Werewolf" from 1949 and Wild Bill Hickok's "The Wolf of Ghost Mountain" from 1952. Both are juvenile westerns with simple hoax plots.

Right-click here to download the Challenge of the Yukon's "Trail of the Werewolf" from archive.org

Right-click here to download Wild Bill Hickok's "the Wolf of Ghost Mountain" from archive.org

Finally, Escape ventured into the bayou with their 1952 episode "Loup-Garou," wherein a man is accused of being a werewolf by a hateful mob; the play was performed again as a 1956 episode of Romance which is in much better condition than the earlier version.

Right-click here to download Escape's "Loup-Garou" from archive.org

Right-click here to download Romance's "the Loup-Garou" from archive.org

PART 3: THE REAL DEAL - WEREWOLVES IN THE FUR, FLESH & FANG

Appropriately, we begin with the Witch's Tale; unlike many of the later horror programs (such as Inner Sanctum Mysteries or the Mysterious Traveler), the Witch's Tale never shied from the supernatural. Unfortunately, surviving episodes tend to be of very poor sound quality, sound effects are minimal, performances are flat and there's very little tension. Placing only that aside, we have the 1935 rendition of "the Werewolf" (earlier versions are lost) in which the course of true love never did run smoothly; two young lovers are torn apart by the fact that the young man tears people apart at night when he becomes a wolf.

Click here to listen to the Witch's Tale's "the Werewolf" at youtube.com

Much later we have 1942's Dark Fantasy and "W is for Werewolf." Dark Fantasy is not a very distinguished program but it told its rather pulpy stories well. Like the Shadow episode I described above, this involves a man locking up his supposed-werewolf son - only this time, it's the real thing!

Right-click here to download Dark Fantasy's "W is for Werewolf" from archive.org

Sadly, very few episodes of Creeps by Night have survived and their audio quality tends to be very poor; considering the show used both Bela Lugosi & Boris Karloff it's quite a loss to classic horror fans! However, we still have 1944's "the Hunt," a story where people toss around the "w" word at each other - but who is the werewolf who's been terrorizing the area?

Right-click here to download Creeps by Night's "the Hunt" from archive.org

The Weird Circle didn't have the best actors in radio, but they adapted their material from some of the best classic horror fiction so it's a show of interest to all fans of radio horror. Their 1944 episode "the Werewolf" is adapted from a passage in Frederick Marryat novel the Phantom Ship, involving a woodsman who takes a new wife whose hobbies include hunting at night in the form of a wolf. Should've had a pre-nup.

Right-click here to download the Weird Circle's "the Werewolf" from archive.org

Special thanks to Ian Griev for pointing out this quick story from 1945's Strange Adventure; in "Werewolf Island," a wolf has been devouring sheep and the beast appears so intelligent that people suspect it's a werewolf!

Right-click here to download Strange Adventure's "Werewolf Island" from archive.org

Werewolf fans frequently cite the 1946 Suspense episode "The House in Cypress Canyon" as a werewolf program, even though the term never appears. It's actually to the show's benefit to not explain too much about what exactly the horror is - but if you like werewolf stories, this one delivers big time!

Right-click here to download Suspense's "the House in Cypress Canyon" from archive.org

Finally, in 1957 comedian Stan Freberg threw the films I Was a Teenage Werewolf and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit into a blender and came up with an episode of the Stan Freberg Show with the hilarious skit "A Gray Flannel Hat Full of Teenage Werewolves." It concerns a werewolf who is cursed to become an advertising executive by day!

Right-click here to download the Stan Freberg Show's "A Gray Flannel Hat Full of Teenage Werewolves" from archive.org

Thank you for checking out this list!

Old-Time Radio Theme Month, Day 31: "The Demon Tree"

Happy Halloween!

Today I close my theme month with another episode of Scott Bishop's Dark Fantasy, this time "the Demon Tree" from December 5, 1941. This program features a tree which is not simply a living thing, but a moving, vengeful, killing thing as well!

You can download a copy of this radio show from archive.org here.

Thank you for indulging my interest in old-time radio; I hope I've exposed you to some quality shows over the course of this month; perhaps I'll feature more programs in the future.

Old-Time Radio Theme Month, Day 30: "The Headless Dead"

With Halloween almost upon us, I've saved the last two days for an unusual program: Dark Fantasy. This odd series featured no major talents in any sense (every episode written by Scott Bishop and usually cast with the same players) and ranged in tone from gentle fables (ie, a man possessed by a ghost solves the problem of an inheritance), to all-out horror (werewolves and mad scientists)!

What have I selected for you today? All-out horror, naturally! I give you "the Headless Dead," from January 23, 1942. A visitor to an old cathedral accidentally happens upon a choir of headless men. There's only way they'll allow him to live... if you can call it living...

You can download a copy of this radio show from archive.org here.