Holidays in the Theater of the Imagination

[Wich2]

Following up in Max's post here:
http://www.universalmonsterarmy.com/forum/index.php?topic=2162.0

"One thing I look forward to at Halloween time is hearing "The Thing on the Fourble Floor" again."

That QUIET, PLEASE is a classic, Max (and for Christmas, don't miss their BERLIN, 1945.)

As far as other Halloween audio:

-SUSPENSE: The Hitchhiker; On a Country Road
-MERCURY THEATRE: The War of the Worlds (don't leave this one "a dusty classic"; listen to it - it's terrific!); Dracula
-ESCAPE: Bradbury's "The Whole Town's Sleeping"
-A good FRANKENSTEIN, if you know of one...?

And for a Cool Yule:

-MERCURY: 1939 "Christmas Carol," with Lionel Barrymore
-DRAGNET: The Big 22 Rifle; The Big Little Jesus
-JACK BENNY: any "Christmas Shopping" episodes with Mel Blanc

Best,
-Craig W.

[Monsters For Sale]

Ever hear "The House In Cypress Canyon"?  --  VERY creepy!

[Wich2]

Always found that one a little weird, MFS - "it's psycho - no, it's a ghost - no, it's a werewolf!" But I know it's a SUSPENSE fave of many.

Other greats from that series (of many!)-

-Sorry, Wrong Number / The Fall River Tragedy / The Diary of Saphronia Winters / The Yellow Wallpaper (all w/Aggie Moorehead)
-You'll Never See Me Again (Cornell Woolrich story)
-The Most Dangerous Game (Keenan Wynn, Orson Welles)
-Kaleidoscope (Bradbury story)

Folks, if you like good audio drama, or Hollywood stars like Joe Cotton, Lillian Gish, William Powell, Ronald Colman, Charles Laughton, Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, etc., you're missing a bet if you miss this show.

Best,
-Craig W.

[Daimajin]

All of those are great -- especially "Fourble Board"  I also like Quiet, Please's "Beezer's Cellar".  I load my mp3 up with OTR shows every Saturday when I mow the lawn.  Also listen to them on the way home from work at night.  I take a tree-lined dirt road home every night and it's an especially great audio horror atmosphere with all the leaves changing. 

Here are a few I especially recommend:

Lights Out "A Knock at the Door"
Lights Out "The Scoop" (a great revenge from the mouldering grave story)
Lights Out "Valse Trieste" (there's a version with Karloff, though I don't have that one)
The Hermit's Cave "House on Lost Lands"
The Price of Fear "Specialty of the House" (Vincent Price's radio show!!!)
The Price of Fear "The Man Who Hated Scenes" (with Peter Cushing!)
The Price of Fear "Cat's Cradle" (adaptation of Stoker's The Squaw)

I'll stop now or I'll list 'em all. 

Ah, but before I forget, The Peoria Plague shouldn't be missed.  Done in '72 I believe, predating Blair Witch, Cloverfield and Diary of the Dead, a really fun, surprisingly gory zombie radio show played as if it were real.

You can find almost all of these on archive.org. 

(And for noir fans, you've got to check out Pat Novak, For Hire.)

[Wich2]

"You can find almost all of these on archive.org."

True, and handy it is. But...

The audio quality varies - wildly.

And if anyone thinks that Network Era Radio always sounded crummy, you are in for a shock when you hear shows like those mentioned nearby in that Orson Welles thread.

Radio was no more automatically full of scratches and pops than were classic movies - and look how they've been cleaned up!

Best,
-Craig W.

[The Drunken Severed Head]

Sadly, the "Valse Trieste" with Karloff is lost.

The LIGHTS OUT episode "The Dream" with Karloff is eerie.

[Daimajin]

"You can find almost all of these on archive.org."

True, and handy it is. But...

The audio quality varies - wildly.

And if anyone thinks that Network Era Radio always sounded crummy, you are in for a shock when you hear shows like those mentioned nearby in that Orson Welles thread.

Radio was no more automatically full of scratches and pops than were classic movies - and look how they've been cleaned up!

Best,
-Craig W.

You're absolutely right about the varying quality of some of the posted shows.  There's nothing more frustrating that downloading a show that you've been looking for only to discover it's unlistenable due to the reproduction.  A lot of the Price of Fears are pretty badly represented on archive.org, as are some of The Hermit's Cave shows.  They have recently posted a lot of cleaned versions of Gunsmoke (a program that will make you forever forget the TV show).  I'm still hoping (probably in vain) for the missing Quiet, Please episodes to turn up. 

You're also right about the pleasure of listening to a show that's as clear as when it was broadcast.  That's a time machine, man.

By the way, the Nightfall shows have been posted fairly recently.  Not too bad.

[Wich2]

Daima-

>Gunsmoke (a program that will make you forever forget the TV show)<

So true! And though the difference is not quite as severe, the Radio DRAGNET s the TV, too.

>I'm still hoping (probably in vain) for the missing Quiet, Please episodes to turn up.<

The missing ones are missing; but there is a guy who has cleaned up the poor masters of the ones we have a little. 

>You're also right about the pleasure of listening to a show that's as clear as when it was broadcast.  That's a time machine, man.<

There are '40's and '50's shows were you think you're next door to the studio!

Best,
-Craig W.

[Daimajin]

The surprising thing about the shows is what they got away with at that time.  Dragnet and Gunsmoke were both stark and bold in subjects (remember the Gunsmoke with the woman who commits suicide during an Indian raid?  And the Claude Jimmerson episode of Dragnet, with the two missing girls?).  These were things that the TV versions would ever be able to broadcast.  Not even movies of the time could get away with those plots to the same degrees that radio did.  And when it comes to horror, Oboler and Willis got away with more abject violence than anyone in TV ever could have.  Of course, a lot of it has to do with the shows  turning our own imaginations against us, but still... 

And anyone on this site would especially enjoy the Lights Out episode "Double Feature".

[Gary D Macabre]

It's too bad the Wyllis Cooper episodes of Lights Out are lost with the exception of a few later re-recorded scripts.  I did find a 1947 re-record of Death Robbery with none other than Boris Karloff, and posted it on my blog...

http://bloguemacabre.blogspot.com/2008/09/otr-tuesday-lights-out.html

Obler's Revolt of the Worms has always appealed to me.  The dark hopelessness and surrender of the character as he tells the tale awaiting the end, blows me away.

Gun Smoke was an awesome series.

[Daimajin]

Obler's Revolt of the Worms has always appealed to me.  The dark hopelessness and surrender of the character as he tell the tale awaiting the end blows be away.

It's like a darker version of a '50s giant bug movie, isn't it? 

[Gary D Macabre]

I'm not sure I'd describe it that way.  It's more of a monologue as a secluded scientist sits alone in his own private hell awaiting death and remembering the events that let up to that moment reflecting on the loss of everything and everyone he took for granted.  Unlike a '50s bug movie this takes place in a small secluded location and only affects a few characters.

[Daimajin]

Not big bug in terms of the storyline or atmosphere, just in terms of the worms themselves, and the initial discovery.  I agree about the despair -- the actor did a great job.  I actually liked it better than most of the giant bug movies because of the intimacy.  No army, nothing like that.

Great episode.