Nature’s Revenge
I love stories of nature overrunning human’s arrogance.
Here are some of the best.
Leiningen and the Ants
A version by Escape, Suspense and Lux Radio Theater which was a radio version of the movie “The Naked Jungle”.
The Skeleton Key
A version by Escape and a version by Suspense starring Vincent Price!
The Birds
The story by the incomparable Daphne du Maurier adapted into several radio plays and the classic Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name.
A version by Lux Radio Theater and a version by Escape.
Day Of The Triffids
The plants can get in on the action too!
This is a six part dramatized broadcast of the John Wyndham novel originally aired in 1968 on the BBC.
Science Experiments Gone Wrong
I couldn’t find an attribution for this image. If it’s yours let me know.
Oh the unbound ego of the mad scientist.
A Glimpse Of Eternity by Nightfall is a modern origin story for a medically created monster… and his dog.
The Adaptive Ultimate by Escape. Great idea with an ok production. The main character is very interesting. I wish we heard more from Kyra Zelas. This story was also turned into a movie called She-Devil released in 1957.
The Green Plague by The Mysterious Traveler would make a great B-movie along the lines of The Day Of The Triffids. Good fun!
Into the microscopic world
Image source: https://www.bookdepository.com/Diamond-Lens-Other-Stories-Fitz-James-OBrien/9781843913580
A couple of tales about life in a microscopic world. The stories themselves are just average. The ideas are fantastic.
Up first is “The Diamond Lens”, on version by Weird Circle and one version by Favorite Story. Here is an online version of “The Diamond Lens” available on Project Gutenberg.
The second story is packed with big ideas, the meaning of life, the existence of God, our place in this universe, our universe in relation to other universes, and more. The science is not very scientific. The story is great. I only wish it had a more definitely resolution at the end. What do you think? Enjoy “Surface Tension” by X Minus One.
Set during the start of the Cold War, “Beyond Infinity” starts out as a war/spy story and ends with some truly mind-blowing ideas about time, the scale of the universe, and the meaning of life. Wow, great story, even if some of the characters are rather flat and one dimensional. Buckle up for “Beyond Infinity” from Dimension X
Nathaniel Hawthorne- Two Weird Tales
“Young Goodman Brown” is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne published in 1835 and turned into a radio play by Nightfall sometime in the 1980’s.
It’s full of vivid imagery and leaves you wondering what really happened to Goodman Brown. The Nightfall link above will take you to Archive.org to play the audio file. I also edited the audio file to reduce the background hiss and that version can be played below.
I couldn’t find a reference source for this image.
“ Ethan Brand—A Chapter from an Abortive Romance” is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne published in 1851 as part of the author’s final short story collection and turned into a radio play by Weird Circle sometime in 1944.
The Weird Circle link above will take you to Archive.org to play the audio file.
Child Geniuses
A four dimensional cube or tesseract rotating in four-dimensional space projected onto a 2D plane (source Wikipedia)
A theme that caught my attention this week and then I did a deep dive into it with some OTR shows is that of “Child Geniuses” but more broadly, the idea that the genius of a child could be so far beyond that of the adults surrounding the child that the adults simply cannot comprehend or deal with the implication of that child’s genius. This got me thinking about the fear generated by the idea that machines may become self aware and decide that they would be better off without humans messing up things in the world. Or more likely, they would just accelerate in their growth so quickly that we would be come insignificant to them, kind of like the adults in these two stories become to the child geniuses.
The first story comes to us by way of “Dimension X” and is called “Child’s Play”. Super well done production and I would love to see this story turned into a short film or stage play. Really got me thinking!
The second story is via “Mindwebs 2.0” archive and is called “Absalom” adapted from a story by Henry Kuttner. It has outstanding audio production and some great Orwellian themes on control and destiny. “Absalom” can be found in the collected works “The Best Of Henry Kuttner”
Dimension X - The Lost Race
“The Lost Race” is strikingly similar in tone and plot to the movie “Forbidden Planet”. Though the ending is different and sadly there’s no Robby, the Robot.
My dad and I did a podcast episode on Forbidden Planet.
Mind Webs - The Fog Horn
The Fog Horn is a pioneering short story by Ray Bradbury that is said to have inspired “The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms” and the original Godzilla movie.
Bradbury 13 - A Sound Of Thunder
A Sound Of Thunder is one of Ray Bradbury’s most popular stories and this version from Ray Bradbury’s show “Bradbury 13” is extremely well produced.
Lights Out - Oxychloride X
The characters in Oxychloride X are a bit cliche but once the story gets going it really grabbed hold of my imagination. I also think there’s a bit of a nod and a wink to all the laundry soap commercials that played during old time radio shows. Like what would happen of your laundry detergent was made by a mad scientist?!?
Lights Out - Devil’s Due
Devil’s Due premiered on April 26, 1939 and is a straightforward tale of the devil getting his due and yet the descriptions of the evil deeds and the aftermath of the devil’s visit left a lasting impression on me. This is one of my favorite Lights Out episodes.
Quiet, Please - Nothing Behind The Door & Other Side Of The Stars
This pair of loosely connected stories from Quiet, Please is classic sci-fi from the late 1940’s.
I love the mood they impart on the listener. You can listen to both of these via Archive.org or directly in the players on this page.
”Nothing Behind The Door” premiered on June 8, 1947 and the the first episode of this excellent series.
”Other Side Of The Stars” premiered on May 8, 1949.
The recordings are a bit scratchy but still listenable.
M.R. James - Casting The Runes
I just love a good supernatural mystery and “Casting The Runes” by M.R. James certainly fits the bill.
The excellent Escape version from November 19, 1947 is better than the CBS Radio Mystery Theater’s version from March 4, 1974. And there’s a version from a podcast called Suspense that is a modern retelling done in the spirit of the original OTR Suspense show! You can listen the the CBS Radio Mystery Theater and Escape shows directly via the players below.
The film adaptation is by far the best version though.
The White Wolf
This is one scary story. Not just because of the titular White Wolf. I think mainly because it involves children. You won’t catch me out in the middle of The Hartz Mountains on a dark winter’s night, that’s for sure. Give this spooky tale a listen via the linked websites or directly in the players below.
CBS radio mystery theater’s version of Frederick Maryat The White Wolf of The Hartz Mountains originally aired on January 26, 1977.
The Weird Circle’s version is called simply The Werewolf,
Edgar Allen Poe - The Cask Of Amontillado
Here’s a link to the short story The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe available via The Poe Museum’s website. Go check out all the good things Poe! And give a listen to the various OTR adaptations either via the linked websites or directly in the players below.
Molle Mystery Theater’s version with an opening by Peter Lorre from April 24, 1945
The Weird Circle’s version takes a different approach to the story.
CBS Radio Mystery Theater’s version really goes off the rails and I don’t even know what to think. It doesn’t seem like the story written by Edgar Allen Poe. Originally aired on January 12, 1975.
Robert Louis Stevenson's - The Bottle Imp
The short story “The Bottle Imp” by Robert Louis Stevenson is one or my favorite short stories and it has been adapted several times into very good radio dramas. There’s another site with a lot of links to old time radio shows called Tangent Online. They have a pretty good bio of Robert Louis Stevenson. He led an interesting and diverse life!
Here are the links to the shows. Enjoy!
CBS Radio Mystery Theater’s adaptation in episode 143 that aired originally on September 3, 1974 is excellent as are almost all of the episodes from this long running show.
Another adaptation by a show called Molle Mystery Theater in an episode that originally aired on December 12, 1944. The sound quality is a bit rough on this one.
A show that adapted several well known short stories, called Favorite Story adapted The Bottle Imp in an episode that aired originally on August 21, 1948.
The Witch’s Tale produced a version as well. The opening of this show with Old Nancy, the Witch of Salem is great. This dramatization called “The Wonderful Bottle” was originally released on March 3, 1932.
The Old Time Radio Downloads site has a lot of great old time radio shows available for listening and downloading. Almost all of the old time radio shows are in the public domain so feel free to download them and start your own collection!
You can also listen to these shows directly in the players below.
The Black Mass - All Hallows
According to Wikipedia “The Black Mass was a horror-fantasy radio drama produced by Erik Bauersfeld, a leading American radio dramatist of the post-television era. The series aired on KPFA (Berkeley) and KPFK (Los Angeles) from 1963 to 1967, on an irregular schedule.
Bauersfeld was the Director of Drama and Literature at KPFA from 1966 to 1991.”
The series features excellent sound design and voice acting. The official website for The Black Mass has a great story describing the length Erik Bauersfeld and John Whiting went to when editing and mastering each episode. It was a very manual process. Seems like a nearly impossible task now given how easy audio editing is nowadays.
“The happiest moments of all were between about 2 and 4 a.m., when we retired to Eric's apartment in the Berkeley hills and quietly drank our way into oblivion on Erik's excellent Tanquerey-based gimlets, knowing in our hearts that we had produced yet another masterpiece.” - John Whiting
I love this part. This totally captures that fever pitch feeling of creativiting something that you’re passionate about.
All the episodes are great. The episode entitled “All Hallows” adapted from Walter De La Mare’s short story is my favorite. It has a strangely soothing quality to it. The gentle sound of the rolling waves, the music, the description of the countryside surrounding the haunted church all paint an audio picture worth revisiting many times over.
Listen to The Black Mass - All Hallows on YouTube or directly with the player below.
An ocean of old time radio
Image via WZMO FM 104.7 - Broadcasting Old Time Radio every week day.
I love old time radio.
I think I first discovered the magic of radio drama in my early teens. One of the local AM radio stations would air repeat episodes from some of the most popular shows made during the golden age of radio. Later in my teens my family would go to a live taping of a current radio production here in Seattle. Harry Nile is still being produced. I think it’s the longest running production of a radio drama ever. Listening to the show on the radio was special and seeing it recorded live was truly magic. All the foley work, the acting, the way the show came together seamlessly, even though I knew they practiced and rehearsed the heck out of it before recording. And many radio stations still broadcast old time radio. Heck, even Sirius XM has a channel devoted to old time radio shows.
And then I sort of lost interest through my 20’s and 30’, mainly because it was really hard and/or expensive to find episodes.
Enter the internet and archive.org in particular.
There’s a figurative ocean of old time radio available now, for free.
So I’ve spend way too many hours listening to episodes and in particular the horror, fantasy, weird, sci-fi and crime genres.
And I have my favorites. So I’ll be posting my favorite episodes here so I can remember them and find them again in the future. And to share with anyone else that’s interested.