Lights Out Month Day 7: "Across the Gap"

Today's episode of Lights Out is "Across the Gap" from November 3, 1942. Three people find themselves transported back in time and face-to-face with a neanderthal. It turns out neanderthals aren't reasonable people, go figure.

I wrote about this story before on my blog where I discussed the theme of the episode and what each person represents. As I stated there, I don't think Arch Oboler's cast was quite right for the message he presented here, which is ultimately an anti-fascism message.

You can stream or download this episode from the Internet Archive here.

Lights Out Month Day 6: "Mungahra"

For today's episode of Lights Out I bring you "Mungahra" from October 27, 1942. It's a pretty familiar set up - man murders someone then sees his face everywhere. It definitely puts one to mind of H. G. Wells' "Pollack and the Poorah Man." But this program works because of the manner in which Arch Oboler tells it - the strong audio devices which get across how haunted the protagonist is. It also succeeds thanks to a great performance by Elliott Lewis, who was not one of Oboler's usual stars (his wife Cathy Lewis also appears briefly).

Strangely, this story was adapted for television twice but Arch Oboler wasn't credited. The first adaptation was in 1952 on Chevron Theatre and the second time in 1954 for the Pepsi-Cola Playhouse. The scripts for these programs were credited to "Peter Ogden." I wonder if this was an alias of Arch Oboler; it's well-known that Oboler didn't like television. Perhaps he had a substitute name so that his own wouldn't appear in the medium he disliked.

You can stream or download this episode from the Internet Archive here.

Lights Out Month Day 5: "Poltergeist"

Today's episode of Lights Out is easily one of Arch Oboler's most gruesome scripts. "Poltergeist" from October 20, 1942 is perhaps the most disproportionate of all cases of retributive justice heard on the series - and there's quite a few. A girl accidentally dances on a grave. As consequence, she and her friends must die. Arguably the most nihilistic episode of the series.

You can stream or download this episode from the Internet Archive here.

Lights Out Month Day 4: "Revolt of the Worms"

Today's episode of Lights Out is "Revolt of the Worms" from October 13, 1942. There are quite a few episodes by Arch Oboler wherein something becomes extremely large and menaces all life; this time out, it's earthworms. As usual, Lights Out's sound effects artists rise to the challenge!

You can stream or download this episode from the Internet Archive here.

Lights Out Month Day 3: "The Devil's Due"

I said this month I'd be looking at Arch Oboler's Lights Out, although this episode is an outlier. "The Devil's Due" (April 26, 1939) won a contest where fans competed to write their own Lights Out story. Although this is from the Arch Oboler era it was written by Fred France and adapted by Hobart Donovan.

You can tell this isn't Oboler before the credits run; it has plenty of gore as two hardened criminals review their history with their "silent partner." That makes up most of the program and it certainly fits the sort of audio gore which Oboler made famous, but the identity of the "silent partner" is a little more obvious than Oboler would have treated such a reveal; I mean, heck, his name's in the title! It's good radio horror, although it lacks that extra terror which Oboler brought to his scripts.

You can stream or download this episode from the Internet Archive here.

Lights Out Month Day 2: "It Happened"

Welcome to another look at the radio horror program Lights Out! "It Happened" (May 11, 1938) represents the series and author Arch Oboler at its peak. A young woman in Paris flees a kidnapper into the sewers -- and meets a man who invites her to join his business. He carves jewelry out of human bones. Lights Out had a reputation for how it employed sound effects to ghoulish ends and the noises in this episode are certainly in that tradition!

A friend of mine enjoyed this so much that he participated in a filmed version of the story, using the audio from the radio program for all the dialogue and sound effects. It was an interesting effect!

You can stream or download this episode from the Internet Archive here.

Lights Out Month Day 1: "Cat Wife"

As I often do, I will spend October on this blog with a daily retrospective of a great old-time radio horror program. This year I've chosen the series Lights Out which was originated by Wyllis Cooper. However, as we have precious little of Cooper's stories still in existence, all of the episodes I'll be featuring will be those written by Arch Oboler.

The series began in 1934 under Cooper's direction, but has been supplanted by Oboler's lengthy run from 1936-1943. Most of what still exists comes from the 1942-43 run -- but many popular scripts were re-enacted so we have a pretty good idea of what the contents of Oboler's Lights Out were. The series looms so large that it tends to overshadow the rest of Oboler's work; I've frequently seen fans list episodes of Arch Oboler's Plays as episodes of Lights Out.

We're beginning with "Cat Wife" (April 6, 1938). I've discussed this one on the blog before; a husband is horrified when his wife transforms into an enormous cat. You might find this too silly -- after all, that's a ridiculous concept. However, I find this episode works because it's so unsettling and because Boris Karloff rendered a very fine performance as the husband. I don't think this is Oboler at his best, but it's a strong example of radio horror.

You can stream or download this episode from the Internet Archive here.