Night Transmissions

NightTransmissions Repeat Of Show 20

CBC Nightfall: “The Monkeys Paw” (7-11-80). *** Suspense: ”The Body Snatchers” (11/24/42). *** The Columbia Workshop: “The Fall of the City” (1937). *** The Mysterious Traveler: “The Accusing Corpse”” (). http://www.archive.org/download/NightTransmissionsLowFi64kbs/NightTransmissions0564Kbs.mp3%20href=http://www.archive.org/download/NightTransmissionsLowFi64kbs/NightTransmissions0564Kbs.mp3http://www.archive.org/download/NightTransmissionsLowFi64kbs/NightTransmissions2064Kbs.mp3 Right Click here to download In segment one is the often produced short story “The Monkey’s Paw”. This time it is from the Canadian Broadcasting Company Via the Program Nightfall. it aired on July the 11th of 1980. Nightfall, was a radio drama series produced by CBC Radio from July 1980 to June 1983. While primarily a supernatural/horror series, Nightfall featured some episodes in other genres, such as science fiction, mystery, fantasy, and human drama. The series became one of the most popular shows in CBC Radio history, running 100 episodes that featured a mix of original tales and adaptations of both classic and obscure short stories. You know this one. “The Monkey’s Paw” is a horror short story by author W. W. Jacobs. It was published in England in 1902. The story is based on the famous “setup” in which three wishes are granted. In the story, the paw of a dead monkey is a talisman that grants its possessor three wishes, but the wishes come with an enormous price for interfering with fate. For segment 2 Suspense gives us Robert Louis Stevenson’s, “The Body Snatchers” from October the 24th of 1942. The guiding light of this show was William Spier, whose formula of human drama set in interesting situations attracted the best of Hollywood and radio actors. Orson Welles was in many episodes. Cary Grant said, “If I ever do any more radio work, I want to do it on Suspense, where I get a good chance to act.” Spier’s method with actors was to keep them under-rehearsed, and there-by a bit uneasy. He got great performances, and the show gained great popularity. All the production values were first class. With Bernard Hermann, who had worked with Orson Welles on the Mercury Theater and would work with Alfred Hitchcock, doing the musical scores. A medical student studying anatomy gets entangled with murderers and psychos in order to attain the cadavers he needs to complete his studies. Yep, it’s the Robert Louis Stevenson classic given the once over by John Dickson Carr. Hey…They could have done worse by old Bobby Louie. The Fall of the City, a 1937 CBS radio drama by Archibald MacLeishn. The Columbia Workshop is high art radio at its finest with expert writing and direction by a slew of talented, but relatively unknown people of the moment. The goal of Columbia Workshop old time radio shows included separating itself from popular radio’s overuse of film celebrities and general triviality of commercial orientated old time radio shows. This lead to several revolutions in the method in which a show is made including the development of a soundboard with complicated noises now considered essential to radio production. Irving Reis created Columbia Workshop after working as a sound engineer and as a radio director.  Reis was excited about using Columbia Workshop as a platform for radio sound and narrative experimentation.  He believed that radio was a distinct and novel medium where sound effects could vividly bring the radio show to life in the homes of radio listeners.  In one Columbia Workshop episode there were more than 30 different distinct characters and hundreds of sound effects as a demonstration of radio’s possibilities . Staring  Orson Welles and Burgess Meredith this is considered one of the most socially significant – and boldly experimental – works in the history of radio. Written in response to the rising tide of fascism in Europe, the production included innovative key sound effects, some of which, ironically, were later employed by Joseph Goebbels in rallies he orchestrated for Adolf Hitler.. A close cousin to the Whistler and the Strange Dr. Weird, The Mysterious Traveller was another memorable radio host. Easy to imagine yourself on a train, at night, seated next to a curious gentleman who invites you “to join me on another journey into the strange and terrifying. I hope you will enjoy the trip, that it will thrill you a little and chill you a little. So settle back, get a good grip on your nerves and be comfortable — if you can!” The Mysterious Traveler was the second outing for pulp writers Robert Arthur and David P. Kogan. Their first effort, a show called  Dark Destiny, ran for parts of 1942 and 1943 on The Mutual Broadcasting System. This show was, unfortunately. not particularly successful. Surviving for only 27 episodes of which only one is known to still exist. For this, their next effort, they teamed up with producer/director Sherman ‘Jock’ MacGregor, and actor Maurice Tarplin to create a show that would have a very successful run on  Mutual  between 1944 and 1952. Eventually becoming one of the highest rated programs of the era and spawning a handful of spin offs. These included: The Strange Dr. Weird (1945),The Sealed Book (1945),Dark Venture (1946),Murder By Experts (1949) and The Teller of Tales (1950). This doesn’t happen every day.These old scams usually don’t lead to accusations from a dead body. Sometimes the secretes of the dead are best left with the dead.

NightTransmissions Repeat of Show 19

Diary Of Fate “Peter Drake” (2/2/48). *** Lights Out: “Chicken Heart” (2/23/38). *** Dimension X: Nightfall (9/9/51). *** LibriVox: H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Street” (Dec. 1920). *** http://archive.org/download/Nighttransmisions131-135/NighttransmissionsShow132.mp3%20href=http://archive.org/download/Nighttransmisions131-135/NighttransmissionsShow132.mp3http://www.archive.org/download/NightTransmissionsLowFi64kbs/NightTransmissions1964Kbs.mp3 (Right click to download). Heed well you who listen, and remember, there is a page for you in, "The Diary of Fate." "The Diary of Fate" was a horror program where “Fate”, personified in the person of actor Herbert Lytton, narrates a morality tale, and woe be to the person on the wrong end. This program plays the usual stories of murder, hitchhikers, blackmail, love gone wrong, and the guilty getting their just desserts. The character of Fate plays a bit more of a role than mere observer; he creates situations to force the protagonist into a choice. For the sake of the show, they always choose badly, and the audience gets to listen to their demise unfold. The show aired from 1947 to 1948, only 24 episodes are known to survive. The show wasn’t as successful as similar shows, like Inner Sanctum, but it did have solid stars, including Lurene Tuttle, Larry Dobkin, Hal Sawyer, Gloria Blondell, Frank Albertson, Jerry Hausner, Howard McNear, Peter Leeds, Ken Peters, Daws Butler and William Johnstone. February the 23rd of 1948 entry in the “The Diary Of Fate” . A peak into the life of “Peter Drake”. A man comfortable in his life and work. Peter loves his wife Marsha, a proud, greedy woman. And because of that love he finds himself with his pistol pressed against his temple by his own hand. Light’s Out, one of the most famous radio shows of all time. Pretty much everyone has heard of it. Although , I admit sometimes this awareness is limited to Bill Cosby’s Chicken Heart routine. Created by Willis Cooper in 1934, and passed on to Arch Oboler in 1936. Lights Out as a radio series would finally succumb to its own mortality in 1947. The franchise did not end with the demise of the radio show. Lights Out would  turn up as a TV series from 1949 to 1952. There have been occasional attempts to revive the series that never had any notable success. It’s only 11 minutes long it’s from February 23rd of 1938. Far more people have heard of it than have ever heard it. Now, is your chance . From Light’s Out and the pen and tongue in cheek of Arch Olber, it’s the “Chicken Heart”. Dimension X (April 8 of 1950 – September of 1951) was not the first Science Fiction anthology series on radio, (that distinction belongs to the short-lived and not particularly lamented 2000 plus ) It, however, was the first to utilize published stories from established Science fiction authors, mostly drawing from short stories appearing in Smith and Street’s, Astounding Science Fiction. The show made a practice of adapting the work’s of authors such as Murray Leinster, Ray Bradbury,  William Tenn, Robert Heinlein and many others. A footnote to history is that dimension X was one of the first shows to be recorded on tape. This was so new that one show, “Mars is Heaven”, had to be re-recorded 3 times because the engineer kept erasing the tape while editing it. This time it’s Dimension X’s adaptation of one of the most famous stories by one of the most Famous Science Fiction authors of all time. Isaac Asimov’s, “Nightfall” from September the 9th of 1951 From the LibriVox website.. “Established in 2005 by Hugh McGuire, LibriVox is a world wide group of volunteers who record, catalog and publish works as audio files to provide audiobooks and readings of short stories and poetry at no cost to all comers. The LibriVox mission is “the acoustical liberation of books in the public domain”. By recording books that are in the public domain, LibriVox is giving people access to audio versions of classics such as books by Louise May Alcott through to Israel Zangwall, with hundreds more in between. These include works by Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and HG Wells. Books by a huge range of different authors are being recorded and published constantly. The LibriVox catalog provides an up to date list of all the different audiobooks that are available currently. The last segment is (thanks again to the Librivox Project) Glen Hallstrom (AKA Smokestack Jones ) reading H. P. Lovecraft’s “The Street” which was Published in December of 1920 by The Wolverine magazine.

NightTransmissions Repeat of show 14

Dark Fantasy: “The Man Who Came Back (8/21/48). *** Nightfall: “Love and the Lonely One”.(7/4/80) .*** LibriVox:  Evelyn E. Smith’s: “The Blue Tower”(1958). *** Mystery in the Air: “The Marvelous Barastro” (8/7/47). *** Strange Doctor Weird: “The Man Who Lived Twice” (1/30/45). *** http://www.archive.org/download/NightTransmissionsLowFi64kbs/NightTransmissions1464Kbs.mp3%20href=http://www.archive.org/download/NightTransmissionsLowFi64kbs/NightTransmissions1464Kbs.mp3http://www.archive.org/download/NightTransmissionsLowFi64kbs/NightTransmissions1464Kbs.mp3 Right Click here to download Originating from WKY in Oklahoma City Dark Fantasy was a short lived program (producing only 31 episodes) dedicated to tales of the unknown on Friday nights for parts of 1941 and 1942. Oklahoma City was far from alone in producing it’s own successful series. In point of fact many excellent programs were produced in places that today would seem surprising. Of course, thinking about it, the barriers to entry to radio production were and are much lower than for movies or television. All you really need is a little equipment and a few talented people of which there was then, and is now, no monopoly of in Hollywood. Dark Fantasy had a shoestring of a budget which the show was able to rise above through the creative establishment of an effective but spare atmospheric ambiance resulting in an excellent show that was, in some ways, well ahead of it’s time. Dark Fantasy was written by Scott Bishop, who would later write for The Mysterious Traveler and The Sealed Book. Keith Paynton served as announcer. We start off with a segment of Dark Fantasy from August 21st of 1948. It’s an old story. A wronged husband, an unfaithful wife, a cad and a murder. Oh, and also, a promise to return from the grave. Nightfall, was a radio drama series produced  by CBC Radio from July 1980 to June 1983. While primarily a supernatural/horror series, Nightfall featured some episodes in other genres, such as science fiction, mystery, fantasy, and human drama. The series became one of the most popular shows in CBC Radio history, running 100 episodes that featured a mix of original tales and  adaptations of both classic and obscure short stories. The Second segment is from the CBC’s program Nightfall. “Love and the Lonely One” From July the 4th of 1980. I guess this is a program of firsts. “Love and the Lonely One” is also the premiere show for its series. It’s a story about George, Fred, a cadaver, and a sorority house. As you can see it brings together all of the ingredients for a tight little horror story, or a teen comedy from Troma Pictures. From the LibriVox website.. “Established in 2005 by Hugh McGuire, LibriVox is a world wide group of volunteers who record, catalog and publish works as audio files to  provide audiobooks and readings of short stories and poetry at no cost to all comers. The LibriVox mission is “the acoustical liberation of books in the public domain. By recording books that are in the public domain, LibriVox is giving people access to audio versions of classics such as books by Louise May Alcott through to Israel Zangwall, with hundreds more in between. These include works by Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and HG Wells. Books by a huge range of different authors are being recorded and published constantly. The LibriVox catalog provides an up to date list of all the different audiobooks that are available currently”. For segment three we turn to the LibriVox project again… this time volunteer Betsie Bush reads Evelyn E. Smith’s “The Blue Tower”. “The Blue Tower” was originally published in Galaxy magazine’s February, 1958 issue. There can be no doubt about it. Peter Lorre was born to do radio. He always just saunters in and begins to chew up the scenery. He does it every time. He does it in Mystery In The Air. His NBC summer replacement show for the Abbot and Costello program. There is another familiar voice on this show, that of the announcer Mr. Harry Morgan. We all tend these days to think of Morgan as a T.V actor ( Col. Potter of M.A.S.H.). But like most early T.V. actors Morgan had deep roots in radio. Sponsored by Camel Cigarettes the show ran between 1945 and 1947. Today I can find only eight episodes (those are from 1947). We can, however hope. Although it does not happen every day, or even very often. It is not unheard of for lost episodes of old radio shows to reappear covered with the dust of time and the cobwebs of someone’s attic. You never know. It could happen. For segment four we run with “The Marvelous Barastro”, an episode of Mystery in the Air from August the 7th of 1947. It stars Peter Lorre as a vengeful magician. From a script by Ben Hecht.”The Marvelous Barastro” was also done for the series Suspense in 1944 starring Orson Welles. Also in this segment is a Strange Doctor Weird, “The Man Who Lived Twice” from January the 30th of 1945.

NightTransmissions Show 131

Suspense: “A Good and Faithful Servant” (6/2/52). *** Quiet, Pease: ”Inquest” (8/3/47). *** X minus one: “Martian Sam” (4/3/57). *** Murder at Midnight: “The Lodger” (8/14/47). *** http://archive.org/download/Nighttransmisions131-135/NighttransmissionsShow131.mp3 Right Click here to download In this segment is an episode of Suspense  that first aired on June 2 of 1952 starring none other than Mr. Jack Benny. Suspense is one of the classics of old time radio. Some fans have special favorites in the thriller/chiller/macabre genre, but most agree that Suspense is right at the top. The guiding light of this show was William Spier, whose formula of human drama set in interesting situations attracted the best of Hollywood and radio actors. Orson Welles was in many episodes. Cary Grant said, “If I ever do any more radio work, I want to do it on Suspense, where I get a good chance to act.” Spier’s method with actors was to keep them under-rehearsed, and there-by a bit uneasy. He got great performances, and the show gained great popularity. All the production values were first class. With Bernard Hermann, who had worked with Orson Welles on the Mercury Theater and would work with Alfred Hitchcock, doing the musical scores. Jack Benny is one of the great American comedians. His work spans the 20th century, from vaudeville to radio and movies to TV. In vaudeville, he delivered the snappy comebacks and one liners with intelligence and wit, but it was only with the continuing development of his personal trait comedy that he really became the Jack Benny we all know so well. “Who else could play for four decades the part of a vain, miserly, argumentative skinflint, and emerge a national treasure?The secret of his success was deceptively simple: he was a man of great heart.” That’s John Dunning’s assessment from “On the Air, The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio,”  In the Suspense program, “A Good and Faithful Servant,” Jack Benny stars as a man who devises his own retirement plan by faking a robbery and hiding the loot in his desk. It just goes to show that even the most “perfect” employees, may not be what they seem. “A Good and Faithful Servant” was written by Richard M. Powell and produced/directed by Elliott Lewis. Also appearing were Hy Averback, Charles Calvert, Joseph Kearns, Gerald Mohr, Doris Singleton, and Norma Varden. This episode aired on June 2, 1952. .   The second segment this week consist of an episode from Willis Cooper’s excellent Quiet, Please 08/73) “The Inquest” which first aired on August 3 of 1947. Quiet, Please ran from June 8th of 1947 through June 20th of 1949. Appearing on the Mutual Network until September the 13th of 1948, then moving, for the rest of its run, to ABC. Behind the series at Quiet, Please were Wyllis Cooper (creator, writer and director) and Ernest Chappell as the star and host. It was Cooper who created the popular horror series Lights Out in 1934. There are many similarities between the shows. In each the listener is invited to shut off outside noise and turn down the lights to fully concentrate on the story. Cooper and Chappell worked well together, having been close friends before the series began. Chappell’s sympathy with Cooper helped him to understand and portray the characters Cooper created. Knowing Chappell so well, Cooper was able to write characters tailored to his strengths as a performer. This level of partnership brought about a depth of characterization that was and is uncommon in any performance media. Often intense with it’s tight writing Quite, Please challenged the usual formulas of entertainment. Chappell would introduce the story to the strains of a dark and somber music that engendered a mysterious mood. Then the story would begin. Always a tale with a touch of the supernatural. Each episode concluded as atmospherically as it began, a few seconds of silence. Then the slow strands ofCesar Franck‘s Symphony in D Minor would swell up and the end came. After living with his contentious, yet pleading, sister for more years than he can remember, Mr. Ross has had enough and decides to do something about it. Unfortunately, things get out of hand and Mr. Ross finds himself at a coroner’s inquest trying to explain to a jury why it was, really, justifiable homicide. With James Van Dyke (the coroner), Pat O’Malley (Malcolm), Syvia Cole (Eileen), John Morley (Arthur), and Ernest Chappell (Ross). Snippet: “Yes, it certainly was. But is that MY fault? I offered not once but a dozen times to take her to a doctor and have the arm re-broken and set again. Could have been done very easy. Just re-break it and set again but…” I must confess that the audio quality on this and, in fact, every existing transcription of  Quiet, Please  is substantially below par. Fortunately, the original script is available. So if you’d like to read along as you listen, you can download the the script from:  Here . Heading in towards home base with runners on all 4, X minus one is up to bat with “Martian Sam” from April 3 of 1957. X Minus One is considered the finest science fiction drama ever produced for radio. It was  not the first. That honor belongs to 2000+. It wasn’t the second, That would be Dimension X. In fact the first 15 episodes of it’s  1955 to 1958 run on NBC were new versions of Dimension X episodes. The remainder were all most entirely adaptations of recently published science fiction stories (Mostly from Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine) usually written by the leading writers of the time, including  Philip K. Dick, Fritz Leiber, J.T. McIntosh, Robert A. Heinlein, Frederik Pohl and Theodore Sturgeon. For all of us who were weaned on  The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone and for the Trekkies (er,Trekkers) among us, you should know that X Minus One is the forefather of the science fiction you grew up on. You will find that it still is some of the best Science Fiction ever aired. Look, I know that sometimes you can cheat yet still be, strictly speaking, with-in the rules. But a Picher with eight arms? And what if one those arms is 32 feet long ? Now is that kosher? The LA Dodgers intend to find out. Also in this segment is a short story from the LibriVox Project ,  Lost in the Future written by John Victor Peterson  and published Fantastic Universe for November of 1954 “Did you ever wonder what might happen if mankind ever exceeded the speed of light? Here is a profound story based on that thought—a story which may well forecast one of the problems to be encountered in space travel. They had discovered a new planet—but its people did not see them until after they had traveled on.”   And Peter Lorre’s mystery in the air  brings it all home with “The Lodger ” from August 14 of 1947. There can be no doubt about it. Peter Lorre was born to do radio. He always just saunters in and begins to chew up the scenery. He does it every time. He does it in Mystery In The Air. His NBC summer replacement show for the Abbot and Costello program. There is another familiar voice on this show, that of the announcer Mr. Harry Morgan. We all tend these days to think of Morgan as a T.V actor ( Col. Potter of  M.A.S.H.). But like most early T.V. actors Morgan had deep roots in radio. Sponsored by Camel Cigarettes the show ran  between 1945 and 1947. Today  I can find only eight episodes (those are from 1947). We can, however hope. Although it does not happen every day, or even very often. It is not unheard of for lost episodes of old radio shows to reappear covered with the dust of time and the cobwebs of someone’s attic. You never know. It could happen. In there have been several adaptations of the film The Lodger a silent film directed by Hitchcock in 1926 Which concerns the hunt for a “Jack the Ripper” type of serial killer in London. The story was adapted for the CBS Radio series Suspense, turned into an opera in two acts composed by Phyllis Tateand. And has also been the basis of four other films: The Lodger (1932) directed by Maurice Elvey and also starring Ivor Novello in the lead role The Lodger (1944) directed by John Brahm and starring Laird CregarMan in the Attic (1953) directed by Hugo Fregonese and starring Jack PalanceThe Lodger (2009) directed by David Ondaatje and starring Alfred Molina. So, is not unreasonable that Peter Laurie would give it a go as he does here. If you are interested in seeing the original, silent, version of the film It is available on the Internet archive…Here  

NightTransmissions show 130

Murder Clinic: “A Scrap of Lace” (9/22/42). *** The Price Of Fear: William And Mary (09/08/73). *** Vanishing point: (The Stories Of J .G. Ballard) Low Flying Aircraft (12/05/88). *** Sleep No More: Thus I Refute Beelzy – The Bookshop. (03/06/57) *** http://archive.org/download/Nighttransmisions126-130/NighttransmissionsShow130.mp3 Right Click here to download Murder Clinic – “A Scrap of Lace” aired originally on September 22 of 1942 Murder Clinic which was produced by WOR in New York aired from 1942 to 1943 on the Mutual Network. An  anthology of stories derived from the works of then popular mystery authors the show  adapted the likes of Agatha Christie, G.K. Chesterton, John Dickson Carr and many others to excellent effect. All of this said, there isn’t much historical documentation for the series. The program has evaded the attention of John Dunning and his excellent book,  On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, and Jim Cox’s Radio Crime Fighters. What information exists is scattered here and there across the web.  Like a lot of Mutual programs Murder Clinic had no stable day or time throughout its existence which almost certainly contributed to its premature demise. This week’s selection is the adaptation of a adventure as written by William Hulbert Footner (1879-1944) and published in the book Madam Rosika Storey in 1926 (Link is to e-book seller. I have a link to a free download is at the bottom of this section)  It looks very much like the story itself must have first seen publication two or three years earlier. Probably in some magazine or another. I haven’t been able to find anything very certain on this matter. In this story, a charming and prominent young woman is murdered. This is where Rosika comes into the picture. She is called in to find out who done it and save the family from scandal. William Hulbert Footner (1879-1944) was born in Hamilton, Canada, and emigrated to New York when he was nineteen. He wanted to be an actor, and his first work was a play in which he was given a small part. Several bit parts  followed, and a few unflattering notices from critics. This promoted a change of plans, he decided to become a writer instead.  This proved an excellent idea as very early in his career he wrote a handful of adventure stories based on personal experiences including the book, The Huntress which was adapted into a successful movie.  In the early 1920s Footner turned his talents to detective stories.  It was in this genre that he built a following in America, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. Today  it is not uncommon for the protagonists in detective fiction to be female, however, in the early 1920s when Madame Storey, Private Investigator was born. Well, this was a bit of a departure but not exactly unheard of. The British writer Andrew Forrester, Jr. introduced the first female detective character, Mrs. Gladden, in The Experiences of a Lady Detective in 1864. A Scrap of Lace  is in the public domain and you can lay your hands on it (so to speak) here. Actually, there’s quite a bit of stuff from old Hubert at the Internet Archive here is a link to that index.   The Price Of Fear – William And Mary (09/08/73) The Price Of Fear was a Horror-Mystery program produced sporadically by BBC Radio. Enormously successful in the United Kingdom and abroad, it produced  a total of 22 episodes between 1972 and 1982. For it’s writing talent the show drew from a pool of talented new writers, such as William Ingram (who wrote the majority of the scripts). Dramatizing the most chilling stories they could find the show often  did  adaptations of the works of established writers: Roald Dahl, A.M. Burrage, Bram Stoker and others. The Show was hosted by, and usually starred Vincent Price. Price whose background in horror and suspense on radio,television and, of course, movies back dropped the series in a way only a handful of performers could. Mostly though it was the way Price narrated these tales (as though he himself had actually lived them) that was responsible for the success of the show. Based on the short story by Roald Dahl William and Mary  has been dramatized a number of times and is something of a twist on the famous Donovan’s Brain. Mary Pearl’s husband William has passed away. Soon after the funeral she is shocked to discover that William’s brain was removed from his skull immediately upon death, hooked up to an artificial heart machine and now resides in a basin. William is, after all, not quite dead yet. Vanishing point The Stories Of J .G. Ballard Low Flying Aircraft (12/05/88) Vanishing Point is a science fiction anthology series that ran on CBC Radio Under that exact title from 1984 until 1986. Then continued for another several years with various subtitles. One example of this is, “Vanis in today’s program we have hing Point: The Stories of JG Ballard.” This practice has confused OTR historians. How do you date this thing? Most have given the dates from above with the caveat from above. The series was produced by Bill Lane in the C.B.C.’s Toronto studios and produced some excellent radio. In 1988, Canada’s national radio corporation broadcast a series of 30-minute radio dramas, based on the short stories of JG Ballard.  The writers commissioned to create the dramas included Lawrence Russell (A Question of Re-entry, The Dead Astronaut), Margaret Hollingsworth (The Cloud Sculptors of Coral D), Brian Wade (Low Flying Aircraft, News From The Sun), Paul Milliken (Having A Wonderful Time), and James R. Wallen (Escapement). Lauded at the time, these forgotten gems explore the dramatic aspects of JGB’s early short stories within an auditory medium. today’s story,  Low Flying Aircraft  was originally published in a collection of short stories Low-Flying Aircraft and Other Stories  in 1976 and is one  of Ballard’s dystopian,  rather Orwellian,  takes on the near future. The number of people have been severely reduced and pregnancy requires a license. Privacy, has pretty much disappeared.   Sleep No More presented two short stories, “Thus I Refute Beelzy” and “The Bookshop” on March 6 of 1956 Nelson Olmsted  was a national treasure. For more than 35 years, Olmsted’s  extraordinary vocal performances were the basis for his exceptional success as a radio and TV performer . In “Sleep No More”, Olmsted followed a rich tradition of broadcasting with his presentation of supernatural and suspense dramas for which he drew from some of the finest short literature the English language. It is true that, “Sleep No More” arrived late in the Golden age of radio running from 1952 to November 1956. This was a popular show; popular enough for  Vanguard Records to produce a record,  also called, “Sleep No More” contains six  stories that never made it into the Radio series: The Signalman, The Mummy’s Foot, Markheim, An Occurrence At Owl Creek, What Was It?, The Body Snatcher. In this particular episode  of Sleep No More Nelson Olmsted brings us two short stories. The first is John Collier’s, “Thus I Refute Mr. Beelzy”. This is the story of Mr. Carter (the “I” of the title) a cruel, selfish father locked in a struggle with the invisible “Mr. Beelzy” for the love and soul of his young son Simon. “Thus I Refute Beelzy”  was originally published in the Atlantic Monthly for October of 1940 The second story is a Nelson Bond work, “The Bookshop” which was originally published in  The Blue Book Magazine’s, October of 1941 issue. It’s the story of a writer who is having difficulty finishing his great novel.  In the course of the story he takes a trip to a small  spooky bookshop in New York. It is here that he discovers the finished  editions of  stories left unfinished  by their authors. How about his book? Will it end up there?