NightTransmissions Show 126

03/31/12 • -1 min

Escape: Bird of Paradise. 03/11/54. *** Inner Sanctum: “Song of the Slasher” (04/24/45 ). *** Mindwebs: “The Man Who Returned” (12/08/78). *** Strange As It Seems: “The Author Who Ate His Book” (1935-39).

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In episode one we have an Escape involving a “Bird of Paradise” from March 11 of 1954.

A spin off from Suspense, Escape ran on CBS from 1947 to 1954, and dealt in a wide variety of stories: science fiction, horror, murder.
You know,good fun for the whole family!
The program displayed a fondness for adventure tales set in the tropics or on the high seas. As far as I have been able to find out, there were a total of 194 stories.
Many of the episodes were taken from the classics, but not all. Often the writers and producers of Escape culled material from stories that were not then considered classics but have gained that status since. Not that the radio show had anything to do with that. This distinction was brought about by the excellence of the material itself and the garnishment of time.

“Bird of Paradise” was adapted from the short story of the same name by John Russell, first published in Colliers, August 19, 1916.

Andrew Harben, a want-a-be fortune hunter, arrives at one of the spice Islands. Once there he makes his way to a dealer in rare birds. Then with more muscle and ambition than good sense, attempts to muscle his way into the trade.

Success, after a fashion, he does find. While wandering the Solomon Sea he succumbs to an illness. Barely alive he and his boat make landfall. Uncertain of where he is, it is nevertheless here that he finds this opportunity and his nemesis. Oh, and the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Well, there’s always a Dame. Ain’t there?

Held prisoner on the island by a huge man. He is nothing more than a slave.

This is not what he intended for himself. It does not fit in with his plans at all!

The story was adapted for radio by John Meston and produced/directed by Norman MacDonnell. John Dehner starred and the cast included Andrew Harbin and Lawrence Dobkin.

Inner Sanctum presents a marry tune, ” Song of the Slasher”; Which originally aired on April 24 of 1945.

Taking its name from a popular series of mystery novels, Inner Sanctum Mysteries debuted over NBC’s Blue Network in January 1941.

Inner Sanctum Mysteries featured one of the most iconic openings in radio history. First an organist hit’s a dissonant chord. Next a doorknob turns, and the “creaking door” slowly began to open. So impressive was this opening that when South African radio ran its own version of the show it was called The Creaking Door

Every week, Inner Sanctum told stories of ghosts, murderers and lunatics, with a cast consisting of veteran radio actors. Although Produced in New York, there were occasional guest appearances by Hollywood stars such as Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre and Claude Rains.

Raymond”, the host, had a droll sense of humor, and an appetite for ghoulish puns. Raymond’s influence can be seen among horror hosts everywhere, from The Crypt-Keeper to Elvira, and even more so among his contemporaries on radio .”Raymond” was played until 1945 by Raymond Edward Johnson. Then

http://archive.org/download/Nighttransmisions126-130/NighttransmissionsShow126.mp3 Right Click here to download

In episode one we have an Escape involving a “Bird of Paradise” from March 11 of 1954.

“Bird of Paradise” was adapted from the short story of the same name by John Russell, first published in Colliers, August 19, 1916.

Held prisoner on the island by a huge man. He is nothing more than a slave.

This is not what he intended for himself. It does not fit in with his plans at all!

The story was adapted for radio by John Meston and produced/directed by Norman MacDonnell. John Dehner starred and the cast included Andrew Harbin and Lawrence Dobkin.

Inner Sanctum presents a marry tune, ” Song of the Slasher”; Which originally aired on April 24 of 1945.

Taking its name from a popular series of mystery novels, Inner Sanctum Mysteries debuted over NBC’s Blue Network in January 1941.

Previous Episode

NightTransmissions Show 125

Crime Crime Classics: The Boorn Brothers & The Hangman – A study in Nip and Tuck(01/27/54). *** Lights Out: Knock at the Door (12/15/42 ). *** X Minus One: Early Model (07/11/57). *** Arch Obolers Plays: The Ways of Men; Past, Present and Future (04/15/39). Right Click here to download Is Crime Crime Classics – […]

Next Episode

NightTransmissions Show 128

The Crime Club: “The Sun Is a Witness” (04/03/47 ). *** NBC Short Story : “The Lottery” (03/14/51). ** Alien Worlds: Seeds Of Time (4/8/79). *** Murder at Midnight: “Island Of The Dead” (12/20/46).

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Produced and directed by Willis Cooper (Lights Out, Quiet Please) The Crime Club was a series that ran in 1946 and 1947, featuring murder and mystery stories.

The radio series opens as a phone rings and a voice answers, “Hello, I hope I haven’t kept you waiting. Yes, this is the Crime Club. I’m the Librarian...” (Actually it’s Raymond Johnson (best known as the host of Inner Sanctum).

Although there exists no evidence of a contractual arrangement between the Mutual Network and Doubleday publishing even a casual exploration of the titles in this series makes it clear that the inspiration for the series has to be the literary imprint, The Crime Club. As most of the stories told were adaptations from this Doubleday series.

This imprint of books began in 1928 with the publication of The Desert Moon Mystery by Kay Cleaver Strahan (creator of one of the first female fictional detectives).

The imprint continued to publish until 1991.

From April 3rd of 1947 by way of the Mutual network. We have, “The Sun Is A Witness”.

Aaron Marc Stein (1906-1985), provided the novel of the same name (published in 1940) from which this radio play is adapted. Stein who specialized in mystery fiction enjoyed considerable success with many of his works being translated into German, French, and Spanish.

In this story an old man and his fortune are the subject of interest and, in the end, a motivation for murder. A murder and murder who are undone by shadows on a roll of film.

This program stars, Raymond Edward Johnson, Sidney Smith, Stedman Coles (adaptor), Roger Bower (producer, director).

This is a pretty good story, mostly quite well presented and reasonably well acted. It moves right along, but unfortunately, as often happens with attempts to adapt a full-length novel to a 25 or 26 min. format for radio shortcuts were taken. And I at least, end up not entirely satisfied with the pacing. The ending in particular feels rushed.

NBC Short Story – The Lottery (03/14/51).

N.B.C Short Story was not a commercial success lasting as it did only one season in 1951..

That’s a hell of a way to start an introduction isn’t it? Well it is true. But then, we all know that commercial success and artistic success do not necessarily ride the same horse. That was certainly the case with this series.

One thing this series does do is to provide evidence of how compatible the short story and the half hour anthology format so common in radio was . Utilizing as it did the short stories of many of the best writers of the era, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Faulkner, many others.

Very high on any list of suspense/horror writers would be Shirley Jackson. This is her timeless short story, “The Lottery”. A justifiably famous story that takes place in a small town Probably one not unlike Bennington, Vermont, where Jackson lived and worked.

The strength of this story lies in Jackson’s ability to expose the unexamined evil in everyday life that goes right down to the root of human nature itself. There is a well produced reading of the short story provided by the New Yorker magazine available Here.