In with the New Year, Out with the Old

The Lone Ranger by Robert Copeland (Liberty Magazine, 1944)

An article about The Lone Ranger from Liberty magazine from 1944.

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The Shadow, "Cold Death," December 19, 1937

“The original Shadow and the greatest was Orson Welles,” columnist Charles Osborne recalled fondly in his “Radio Review” column in the August 14, 1964, issue of Life magazine. “Listening to him, I suspected that The Shadow knew a lot more than any respectable person should about ‘what evil lurks in the hearts of men.’ But he used his knowledge only to defend virtue — and in repeated rescues of Margo Lane, his ‘lovely friend and companion.’”

Among the earliest of old-time radio programs that I heard was an episode of The Shadow titled “Death from the Deep,” concerning a madman who terrorized the high seas with his private submarine. Orson Welles played the lead and from the day I first listened to the recording, I was hooked on the radio program. After 52 half-hour radio broadcasts, Orson Welles would be replaced by another actor, Bill Johnstone. Johnstone would be replaced by other actors and fans of the program oftentimes debate who was the better Lamont Cranston (alias The Shadow). In my opinion, Orson Welles was the best to portray the role. More important, Charles Osborne’s view of the type of character Welles portrayed was accurate. Throughout the years, the radio program evolved – no doubt part of the reason was the rotation of script writers hired to furnish stories.

 

At 22, Welles was terrorizing radio listeners with his sepulchral Shadow, the mysterious detective possessing the power of the occult. He was all makeup, mannerisms, voice — he could never suppress his radio training, which stood him in good stead among celebrated actors and playwrights. And today, many fans of The Shadow programs consider Welles’ rendition the best of the series. It was the 1937-1938 Orson Welles season that was the closest to the pulp magazine and the rendition of Lamont Cranston who could play more tricks with the minds of his victims than just clouding their vision. And it was that season that is my favorite of The Shadow. 

 

Not all of the episodes are known to exist from that season, so I was pleased a few years ago when an episode from the Orson Welles era turned up. “Cold Death,” broadcast December 19, 1937, was a Christmas offering. Naturally, I held onto the recording until the holiday season and I just had the opportunity to listen to it. Despite the fact that I read the radio script years ago, listening to this was a treat.

 

In “Cold Death,” an old skinflint named Daniel Carver owns and operates a small mill village under deplorable conditions. City reporters have tried to expose his operations, but Carver’s thugs beat up anyone who trespasses. Lamont Cranston ventures to Carverville to learn the truth only to discover that people are afraid to talk. Late one night, acting like a Charles Dickens spirit, The Shadow forces Carver to peak through the broken windows to learn of the poor lifestyles his employees are living. Some have died from pneumonia; others cannot afford to buy Christmas presents for their loved ones. Like Scrooge, Carver sees the errors of his ways and promises The Shadow to make amends, including the building of new homes. When his goons get angry because they are fired from their jobs, one of them attempts to shoot the miser, but his gun is knocked away by The Shadow. Scared of what they believe to be a ghost, the ruffians run out of town while Carver starts bringing happiness to the people of his village.

 

The recording is available on YouTube and while it is not the best of The Shadow during the Orson Welles era, this holiday you can enjoy a radio thriller not heard in decades. There are hundreds of old-time radio holiday broadcasts but few have the curio of “lost” than “Cold Death.”

THE MOOSE THAT ROARED: The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show

The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show (1959 to 1964) featured some of the wittiest, most inspired, and relentlessly hilarious animation ever created. The legendary Jay Ward and Bill Scott produced the gleeful wonder and cumulative joy that transcended the crude drawings and occasionally muddy sound. One of my favorite jokes from the series was during the first season when Boris Badenov convinced Rocky and Bullwinkle to sell him the moose-berry bush for three dollars. Rocky stops for a moment and says, “Hey, I’ve never seen a three-dollar bill before…” To wit, Boris replies, “What? Can I help it if you’re poor?” 

 

The Moose That Roared tells the story of a rare and magical relationship between two artists wildly, exuberantly ahead of their time, and a fascinating account of the struggle to bring their vision of bad puns and talking animals to unforgettable life. Jay Ward was the magnificent visionary, the outrageous showman, while Bill Scott was the genial, brilliant head writer, coproducer, and all-purpose creative whirlwind. With exclusive interviews, original scripts, artwork, story notes, letters and memos, Keith Scott has written the definitive history of Jay Ward Productions.

 

Full disclosure: I know Keith personally and he is a hell of a nice guy. He is an expert on voice actors (radio and cartoon voices) and has done quite a good bit of preservation in book form. As a fan of the television series, which I grew up with as a child, and rushed to buy the DVDs when they were released commercially over the years, I can state that of all the books published about Jay Ward, this is the one you want – especially if you love the Rocky and Bullwinkle series.

RARE EXPORTS (2010) is a Rare Christmas Treat

In the depths of the Korvatunturi mountains, 486 meters deep, lies the closest ever guarded secret of the Christmas holiday. On Christmas Eve in Finland, Santa Claus is unearthed in an archaeological dig. Soon after, children start disappearing, leading a boy and his father to capture Santa, with the help of fellow hunters.

Very creepy in parts, but with a very enjoyable streak of black comedy, this movie is a must see. The fact it is primarily in Finnish with minimal English did not detract from my enjoyment of the film at all (subtitles are really easy to follow, folks).

 

This is what you call one of those “cult classics,” a film no one would think twice about wanting to see but comes recommended by their friends. After watching this, they find themselves unable to contain the same recommendation to their friends. And, over the years, the movie takes on a cult status of its own. 

 

To say this is a holiday horror movie is an apt description, but less horror and more fascination as the young boy figures out the scenario before his elders and takes matters into his own hands. Beautifully shot with great cinematography, this movie works on all levels that you come to expect in a horror movie. If you are looking for a different Christmas movie to watch this year with your friends, try this one out. You can thank me later.

SUBMITTED FOR YOUR APPROVAL (Volume 1)

I just finished reading a collection of short stories inspired by the original 1959-1964 television series, THE TWILIGHT ZONE.

SUBMITTED FOR YOUR APPROVAL (Volume 1) is a short-story anthology with one novella and ten short stories written in the Rod Serling genre or, in the consensus of the editorial board, a story that Serling himself would have liked. Not all of the tales were of fantasy, but all are thought-provoking, focusing on various social and moral relevance. 

The editor's preface was penned by Anne Serling, one of Rod Serling's two daughters, and the editorial board include NIGHT GALLERY authorities Jim Benson and Scott Skelton, and Serling historians Mark Dawidziak and Mark Olshaker. 

Like all short story collections, you get a few duds, a few amusements and one or two winners. I often enjoy watching television anthologies because I find one gem among every five, six or seven decent or duds, and a gem worth sifting through the others. For the printed page, I found from experience that the ratio is diluted to one gem for every ten to twelve stories. Anyway, I am pleased to admit there were three I enjoyed and one of two of those were what I decipher as gems.

But don't take my word for it. If you enjoy THE TWILIGHT ZONE, or the works of Rod Serling, you will enjoy this book, available on Amazon.com.

Sally Phipps: Silent Film Star (Book Review)

In the final years of the silent film era, few careers traced a more unexpected arc than that of a child who began as Hollywood’s tiniest starlet and ended as a world traveler with stories that spanned the golden decades of motion pictures. Barely three years old, the precocious Sally Phipps was already a seasoned veteran of baby beauty contests when she was cast as “the Baby” in Broncho Billy and the Baby, filmed at the Essanay Studio in Niles, California, in late 1914. The film’s leading man, cowboy legend Broncho Billy Anderson, was already a household name, but the toddler who shared the screen with him would go on to live a life as cinematic as any picture of her day.

Sally’s recollections of those earliest studio years were vivid and tender: she remembered perching on Charlie Chaplin’s knee between takes and the terror of a runaway stagecoach during filming. By her teens, she had transformed from a cherubic child actor into a glamorous contract player at Fox Studios, appearing in nearly two dozen films and making a fleeting but memorable appearance in F.W. Murnau’s Sunrise—a masterpiece now regarded as one of the greatest silent films ever produced.

Her ascent, however, was shadowed by tragedy. In 1927, while filming her two-reel comedy Gentlemen Prefer Scotch, word reached her that her father, a respected state senator, had died under scandalous circumstances. The same year, she was chosen as one of the coveted WAMPAS Baby Stars—an honor reserved for Hollywood’s most promising ingénues—alongside future icons whose fame would endure long after the silent era faded.

At the height of her screen appeal, Phipps made the bold decision to leave Hollywood for New York City. There she reinvented herself as a society darling and headline-maker, her name often appearing in the columns of Walter Winchell and other Broadway gossip writers. She performed in two Broadway productions, starred in a Vitaphone short, and married (and soon divorced) one of the heirs to the Gimbel department store fortune. Restless and uncontainable, she embarked on a global odyssey that carried her through Europe, India, and beyond before returning to New York.

Settling into a quieter rhythm, she married again, raised two children, and later made her home in Hawaii. In 1938, she made the newspapers once more when columnist Earl Wilson profiled her under the wry headline, “WAMPAS Ex-Baby Lives on WPA $23 — And Likes It,” chronicling her work for the Federal Theatre Project during the Great Depression. Her final public recognition came in the form of the Rosemary Award, a fitting tribute to a woman whose life and career embodied both remembrance and resilience—a star who never truly faded, but simply changed stages.

Even after her death in 1978, Sally Phipps’s legend endures through photographs—glamorous studio portraits, playful pinups, and rare candid shots from her private albums. Her son, Robert L. Harned, independently wrote a book devoted to her remarkable journey which features more than 150 images chronicling her evolution from silent film cherub to Broadway headliner and beyond. This is the kind of book I wish everyone did for their silent screen parents. Her legacy is preserved, documented, and available for everyone to review. The book is available on Amazon.com through the link below.

https://www.amazon.com/Sally-Phipps-Silent-Film-Star/dp/1511915927/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2FIGZ84QG6N1&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.VUL2-l0GCObIB7KkM1cRPw.B5iD_yrtJaGDlHWivQ7Ag7-qGIqQEHH9-LY9ShLlSTs&dib_tag=se&keywords=Sally+phipps+silent+film+star&qid=1759874169&sprefix=sally+phipps+silent+film+sta%2Caps%2C188&sr=8-1

DICK TRACY, ACE DETECTIVE (1943)

As reported in a prior blog post, the Whitman Publishing Company published two hardcover novels based on the comic strip, Dick Tracy. Chester Gould, who was responsible for the newspaper comic strip, was credited as the author for both hardcovers. These are not to be confused with the Big Little Books and Better Little Books, also published by Whitman. These two hardcovers include dust jackets (in most cases worth more than the books themselves) and original art by Chester Gould himself. 

Historically, Gould wrote a treatment for the two novels, along with providing interior illustrations, which someone at Whitman fleshed out into full-length novels. The second novel, Dick Tracy Meets the Night Crawler (1945), is a great read and comes highly recommended. I wrote about this novel, along with reprinting some of the illustrations, in a prior blog post. The first novel, Dick Tracy, Ace Detective, was published in 1943. While the novel contains an element of the detective facing off against Nazi agents, this was the weaker of the two. Still, both novels are original stories which is all the reason why fans of the newspaper strip should seek them out.

In Dick Tracy, Ace Detective, the title character and Pat Patton fly out to Vulture Mountain in Arizona to meet with Professor Heywood, who discovered a revolutionary -- and efficient -- method for producing gasoline that could give us an advantage over the enemy overseas. But the Lippelli mob, Nazi agents, and an evil scientist brother are all after the secret formula. This means multiple acts of sabotage, kidnapping of government scientists, and the extraction of the formula from Professor Heywood. Along the way, Junior is kidnapped, a U.S. Senator is shot and killed, there was an attempted escape by submarine and a brief visit from a Japanese agent.

Unlike most Dick Tracy adventures which flow in one direction, feature a daring escape from a villain, a hold-off and a gruesome death, this one varies considerably. I somewhat suspect Chester Gould handed the folks at Whitman two separate stories and the editorial staff at the publishing house edited them together. Much of the trademarks that made Dick Tracy was not there. Sure, there was a mobster who worked towards his own agenda, but Tracy would later be told how Lippelli was killed. No action scene or gruesome death during a battle face-off. Reported deaths told from another police officer is not just a cheat -- it robs us of the violence that is part and parcel of Dick Tracy. Usually when our hero is captured and facing imminent death, some like Junior races to the rescue. In this case, the police arrive like the cavalry of old without any suspense build up. The latter third of the novel played like a quick summary of a detective at work and very little action. All of which is a long-winded way of saying I was a tad disappointed. 

Still, Dick Tracy Meets the Nightcrawler is a fun novel and recommended above this one. But for you completists, this is worth grabbing to read. The purchase price varies from $7 to $45, depending on condition and where you buy your copy. 

BOOK REVIEWS: Rod Taylor, Virginia O'Brien, Rondo Hatton

Bear Manor Media recently sent me a huge box of books to review and I spent the good part of the last month reading a few. I have a mantra not to review books that I feel could have been done better, so the brief book reviews below are not only superb for the subjects they extensively cover, but are highly recommended if you are seeking something to read when you get cozy in your lazy-boy in the coming winter months. 

 

THE MISFITS: THE FILM THAT ENDED A MARRIAGE

John Huston’s ‘eastern Western’ signaled the end of the careers of three major Hollywood figures. It was Marilyn Monroe’s last completed film. Clark Gable died a fortnight after shooting ended. Montgomery Clift rumbled on for a few years but without doing much of note.

 

It also signaled the end of Monroe’s marriage to Arthur Miller. Miller wrote the screenplay as a ‘gift’ to his troubled wife, but their marriage was already on the rocks by the time the cameras started rolling. Matters deteriorated further on the set, culminating in Monroe suffering a nervous breakdown in mid-shoot which led to the set being temporarily closed while she recuperated.

 

Aubrey Malone’s book chronicles the background production of this iconic film which changed the way people saw the old West. It also chronicles the on-set tensions, the squabbling and feuds and divided loyalties. Huston tried to hold everything together as he struggled with a gambling addiction that was too great a temptation to resist in the casinos of Reno. The dramas that took place behind the scenes were arguably as engrossing as anything that appeared in the film itself. Sample both sets of scenarios in this detailed study of a valentine to a bygone era. 

 

This is a superb behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the movie and I can think of a large number of movies that I wish would receive this same kind of treatment. 

 

 

VIRGINIA O'BRIEN: MGM'S DEADPAN DIVA 

I first saw her on a couple of those MGM movies on Turner Classic Movies and knew there had to be a story behind her appearance. It was August and the station decided to devote an entire day to movies she played a role in. Yet, her screen career was short-lived.

 

Virginia O’Brien was one of the more unique talents under contract to Metro Goldwyn Mayer. The California native was discovered by MGM’s mogul, Louis B. Mayer when he attended a performance of the musical revue Meet the People. It was here that Virginia stopped the show with the deadpan delivery of her solo number. Her appearances in more than a dozen of MGM’s musicals were always a highlight. While one can’t “stop” a film, Virginia’s singular performances are etched in the memory of the fans of MGM’s lavish musicals. This is the story of the comedic actress-singer who was fondly known as “Miss Frozen Face.”

 

Author Robert Strom was able to track down O’Brien’s family and assemble a book documenting her personal life and screen career, as most people should do when assembling a biography – go directly to the family. Thank you, Mr. Strom.

 

 

ROD TAYLOR: AN AUSSIE IN HOLLYWOOD

Before Sam Worthington, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Mel Gibson, there was Rod Taylor. For over twenty years, Taylor was the biggest Australian movie name in Hollywood, starring in such films as The Time Machine, Hitchcock’s The Birds, and The Vips. Best known for his action roles, he was equally adept at romantic comedies and dramas, working with top stars, such as Doris Day, John Wayne, Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda, and with major directors, such as Alfred Hitchcock, Walt Disney, and Michelangelo Antonioni. 

 

At a time when Australians could rarely see or hear themselves on screen, Rod Taylor helped keep his country in the public eye, and he paved the way for the "Aussie" actors that followed him.

 

Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood is his  full-length biography, a thrilling story of a working-class Sydney boy, who went to Hollywood, took on the Americans at their own game on their own turf in one of the toughest industries there is, and won. It's also the story of a talented actor, who was almost brought down by the demons of alcohol and ego, but who ultimately overcame them to triumph. Best of all are the numerous quotes from Taylor himself about his career including the short-lived cult classic, Hong Kong. This is a must for all Rod Taylor fans.

 

 

BEFORE I FORGET: DIRECTING TELEVISION, 1948-1988

James Sheldon directed many of the radio and television shows that shaped the American consciousness. He directed the original radio version of We, The People when it became the first commercial CBS network program to telecast nationally on June 1, 1948. Since then, he experienced technological changes from live to electronic tape to film, from black and white to color, and from a few hundred thousand to multi-millions of television sets that in use today.

His early live credits include dramatic series, such as Robert Montgomery Presents and Studio One; comedies, such as Mister Peepers; musicals, such as Don Ameche's Holiday Hotel. He was also part of the move from New York to Los Angeles as television production shifted west in the mid-1950s, directing The Johnny Carson Show, West Point Story, Harbor Command, and Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater.

Sheldon helped many actors begin their careers, including James Dean, Paul Newman, Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, Carroll O'Connor, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Lee Remick, Tony Randall, and Tyne Daly.

In the 1960s, he directed episodes of Naked City, Route 66, The Millionaire, My Three Sons, and The Twilight Zone. In the 1970s, he directed episodes of M*A*S*H, The Virginian, Sanford & Son, and Raymond Burr's Ironside. In the 1980s, he directed episodes of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Cagney & Lacey, and The Equalizer. Thanks to author James Rosin, I was put in touch with Sheldon to chat about his work on The Twilight Zone for my book about the television series, so naturally I wanted to read Sheldon’s book. I was not disappointed. Rarely do we get a chance to read the memoirs of someone who was so instrumental.

RONDO HATTON: BEAUTY WITHIN THE BRUTE 

In the horror movie heyday of Universal Pictures, he made the studio back lot his own personal preyground: Rondo Hatton, star of the company’s “Creeper” series. The victim of a disfiguring disease, Hatton needed no makeup to play the Creeper, a night-prowling vertebreaker, in The Pearl of Death (1944), House of Horrors (1946) and The Brute Man (1946).

 

A lot of misery and physical pain were packed into Rondo Hatton’s 51 years on Earth and he met his challenges with courage. This book (co-authored by four extremely knowledgeable and awesome historians) tells Hatton’s full story and pays tribute with a full biography, the production histories of his five horror movies, artist George Chastain’s tribute to other “Brute Men” of the movies, artwork (and an afterword) by celebrated pop culture cartoonist Drew Friedman and more. Also: Rondo’s miraculous 21st-century “rebirth” as a coveted award for the finest in Monster Kid achievement. Hatton received his due with this one.

 

Waging the War of the Worlds (Book Review)

Perhaps no other old-time radio program is more fascinating than the Mercury Theater's production of H.G. Wells' novel, War of the Worlds. Known as the 1938 panic broadcast, the subject fascinates even youngsters to this day. While it is universally agreed among historians that the broadcast sparked public hysteria, it has also been proven that the newspapers were quick to run with any story of people running through the streets with wet towels over their faces to protect themselves from the poison gas that was supposedly in the air. Truth be told, the mass hysteria was so minor that the newspaper journalists found more stories to set to print than there were. The "fog of war" anxieties that were underlying of the times helped boost fears that war overseas would soon approach our homeland.

Numerous magazine articles and books have been written on the subject but none can be truly as extensive or accurate than John Gosling's book titled Waging the War of the Worlds: A History of the 1938 Radio Broadcast and Resulting Panic. From the facts behind the week's rehearsal and re-writes, smoke and mirrors, the obvious bloopers that can be heard during the broadcast that should have tipped off the listeners, to a reprint of the radio script... it is all here. Gosling even covers similar incidents of panic resulting from similar radio broadcasts in Latin America, Brazil, Portugal and other countries.

The book also includes scans and reprints of historic documents and archival photographs from various libraries. 

If you wanted to read up on the history of the 1938 War of the Worlds panic broadcast, this is the one book you want to grab this Halloween. 

Arch Oboler's THE SKEPTIC'S CLUB (1937)

Just as Arch Oboler was walking away from the NBC weekly half-hour horror program, Lights Out!, to devote time writing brief sketches for The Chase and Sunburn Hour and Rudy Vallee's program, he made multiple attempts to produce, direct and script his own horror anthology, as evident with a number of radio scripts which he recycled from Lights Out!

In this case, in September of 1937, he write a script for The Sceptics Club (that is how it is spelled on the front cover) as a pilot proposal for such a series. He recycled his "Black Zombie" radio script from Lights Out! for use on this new series. Since even the Lights Out! rendition does not exist in recorded form, and because Oboler would have used what he felt was his best script from the horror program for use in this proposal, it seemed prudent to san a copy into PDF and provide this on my blog in time for Halloween.

Enjoy!

Link for download:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kkrllrfth5vurcd/THE%20SCEPTICS%20CLUB%20%28Black%20Zombie%29%20%231%20Arch%20Oboler%20%281937%29.pdf?dl=0 

Dying of Fright from The Creeping Unknown (1956)

One of the ten best horror movies I ever saw was The Creeping Unknown (1956), also known to many as The Quatermass Experiment. The film concerns three astronauts who have been launched into space aboard a single stage to orbit in a rocket designed by Professor Quatermass. It crash lands with only one of its original crew, Victor Carroon, still aboard. No one knows whatever became of the rest of the crew, so Professor Quatermass begins investigating. The survivor, however, has a strange fungus under his fingernails, which slowly spreads on his hand, then his arm. It does not take long for the good professor to figure out the survivor is mutating into an alien organism, which, if it spawns, will engulf the Earth and destroy humanity. The survivor, driven mad from the ordeal, escapes the hospital and flees the British countryside where the manhunt involved Inspector Lomax of Scotland Yard. The finale, obviously, involves a fully-developed creature of true horror and an ending that ranks up there in popularity as the destruction of the Washington Monument (Earth vs. the Flying Saucers) and the destruction of the San Francisco Bridge (It Came From Beneath the Sea).

 

The Quatermass Experiment was originally a six-part TV serial telecast live over the BBC in 1953. Regrettably, preservation was not applied over the years and only the first two chapters of the television serial exist in recorded form. Written by Nigel Kneale, the television serial was an enormous success with critics and audiences alike, later described by film historian Robert Simpson as “event television, emptying the streets and pubs.” Among its viewers was Hammer Films producer Anthony Hinds, who was immediately keen to buy the rights for a film version. Incorporated in 1934, Hammer had developed a niche for itself making second features, many of which were adaptations of successful BBC Radio productions. Hammer contacted the BBC on August 24, 1953, two days after the transmission of the final episode, to inquire about the film rights and a motion-picture was produced with American actor Brian Donlevy playing Professor Quatermass.

 

Timed to coincide with the broadcast of the television sequel, Quatermass II, the motion-picture went on general release in movie theaters in the United Kingdom on November 20, 1955. In the United States, Robert L. Lippert attempted to interest Columbia Pictures in distributing the film but they felt it would be competition for their own production, It Came from Beneath the Sea, which was on release at the time. Because The Quatermass Experiment was unknown in the United States, Lippert renamed the motion-picture Shock!  

 

Unable to secure a sale, Lippert retitled it again, this time to The Creeping Unknown. United Artists eventually acquired the distribution rights in March of 1956 for a fee of $125,000, and the movie was packaged in a double bill with another horror movie called The Black Sleep, starring Basil Rathbone, Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr. Four minutes, mainly of expository material, were cut from the runtime of the film, which means there are two versions of the movie, each with a different title and four minutes difference in length. Whichever version you watch today, however, does not affect the impact of the film’s emotional pull. 

 

The Creeping Unknown opened in theatres in the United States in June of 1956 and was so successful that United Artists offered to part-fund a sequel based on the second television series. Ultimately the Quartermass series became a franchise with additional sequels (including a big screen movie starring Barbara Shelley titled Quatermass and the Pit). 

 

This film easily ranks as one of my top ten favorite horror/science fiction classics and is a must-see. The film also includes a bit of trivia: The Guinness Book of World Records subsequently recorded this movie as the only known case of an audience member dying of fright while watching a horror film.

 

Variety magazine, November 7, 1956

 

John W. Campbell's Frozen Hell

Few science fiction tales have left as lasting an imprint as the 1938 novella that later inspired the films collectively known as The Thing. Though the original title may not be familiar to everyone, the story’s cinematic legacy has endured through three major adaptations: the 1951 The Thing from Another World directed by Howard Hawks with James Arness, John Carpenter’s 1982 version starring Kurt Russell, and the 2011 prequel directed by Matthijs van Heijningen.

The tale originated from one of early sci-fi’s most influential figures, a writer-turned-editor who, after 1938, shifted from authorship to shaping the future of the genre through his magazine Astounding Stories—later retitled Astounding Science Fiction and finally Analog. Under his guidance, rising talents such as Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, L. Sprague de Camp, Lester del Rey, and Theodore Sturgeon found their voices. They say a magazine is only as good as the editor and Campbell was among the best of the editors for science-fiction magazines.

For decades, readers assumed they knew the complete story—until a longer, forgotten version surfaced in the archives of Harvard University. This expanded manuscript, running nearly forty-five pages beyond the published novella, was finally released in 2019 under its original name, Frozen Hell, by Wildside Press. The edition features a preface by Alec Nevala-Lee, an introduction by Robert Silverberg, illustrations by Bob Eggleton, and editing by John Gregory Betancourt. Nevala-Lee and Silverberg recount the discovery of the manuscript, its relation to an earlier tale titled “The Brain-Stealers of Mars,” and the editorial decisions that streamlined the shorter version for faster pacing.

In Frozen Hell, the isolation and tension unfold more gradually. A team of scientists working in the Antarctic unearths a buried spacecraft composed of an unknown alloy. Within the wreckage lies a grotesque life form locked in ice—an ancient being unlike anything on Earth. When the researchers bring the specimen back to camp, intending to thaw and examine it, the situation spirals into horror. The creature revives—and worse, it possesses the terrifying ability to imitate any living organism it touches.

At its core, Frozen Hell is a cautionary meditation on curiosity and consequence: a stark reminder that some discoveries are better left entombed beneath the ice. If you are a fan of the story, this extended version is worth reading.

THE WITCH'S TALE (1933 - 1938) Clipping File

One of my favorite radio programs is The Witch’s Tale, a weekly horror program that aired from May 21, 1931, to June 13, 1938. The program was created, written, and directed by Alonzo Deen Cole, who also wrote for such programs as The Shadow and Casey, Crime Photographer. Cole's spooky show was hosted by Old Nancy, the Witch of Salem, who introduced a different terror tale each week. She was among the earliest of radio horror hosts and, ironically, for a time played by a 13-year-old actress names Miriam Wolfe.

 

The majority of the scripts were original stories, but there were literary adaptations as well, such as adaptations of Dracula and Frankenstein. But the best of them are some of Cole’s originals such as “The Devil’s Mask,” which featured a flaming skeleton running around screaming maniacally, and “The Entomologist,” about a mad scientist who planned to rule the world with giant vampire spiders. What I enjoy even more are the productions -- even the music is similar to the type you hear on Universal Studios monster movies.

 

In November 1936, Alonzo Deen Cole edited The Witch’s Tales (plural, not singular), a pulp magazine with short stories which were adaptations of his radio scripts. There were a total of two issues published. Those two issues go for huge prices when available for sale.

 

In the ongoing process of scanning newspaper clippings and magazine articles, enclosed is a clipping file in PDF for The Witch’s Tale, with a surprise included.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/i3z1964q112qd6d/Witch%27s%20Tale%20%28clipping%20file%29%20%231.pdf?dl=0

More TV Guide Trivia from 1959

During the 1950s and 1960s, TV Guide featured a minimum of two pages of news blurbs related to television programming and television personalities. Many of these blurbs were word through the Hollywood grapevine, some reprinted from Variety and Broadcasting magazine. While these items are of historical note, sometimes providing the reasoning for programming changes or unusual casting, a number of blurbs provide us with fascinating trivia.

Reprinted below are a number of those news blurbs from 1959, for programming decisions that never happened. Information in Italics is from me, clarifying what did happen during the course of events.

 

July 4, 1959

Sherry Jackson will be in Japan making the test film for an around-the-world series, ADVENTURES OF SHERRY.

 

June 13, 1959

MGM and Peter Lawford are planning a feature picture, The Thin Man, based on Lawford’s television series of the same name, which is based on the old MGM feature, The Thin Man.

 

June 6, 1959

CBS Films still trying to sell the Clare Boothe Luce series, THE DIPLOMAT, even though Mrs. Luce has resigned as ambassador to Brazil. (April 11) Clare Boothe Luce set as hostess and narrator for THE DIPLOMAT, new CBS Films adventure series about foreign service officers. If Mrs. Luce is confirmed as ambassador to Brazil, her introductions will be filmed there. Sponsor must be approved by her and the State Department.

 

May 9, 1959

Actors Arthur Kennedy and Nick Adams have plans to produce, but not appear in, an anthology series, Conquerors on Horseback, with a theme: horsemen.

 

October 3, 1959

Andy Devine, long-time Jingles in the WILD BILL HICKOK series, has plans for a new show of his own, BIG JAKE.

 

April 4, 1959

Series based on the Beetle Bailey comic strip being submitted to comedian Mort Sahl.

 

October 3, 1959

NBC has financed the test tape for a planned hour-long series, THE WITNESS, based on characters brought before various investigating committees in these and other times.

 

October 3, 1959

Another hour-long series, based on the 1947 British movie, GREEN FOR DANGER, is in preparation.

Assorted Trivia from TV GUIDE

While cleaning out digital files this week, I came across a bunch I snapped with my digital camera from the pages of TV Guide. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, there were yellow pages for Dan Jenkins's TV Teletype column, which provided the inside scoop on television programs and television personalities. Today, many of those nuggets of trivia are gold for historians. I am sure you will find some of these fascinating, too. But unlike similar postings I have shared in the past, these come from pages that I failed to note the date. These could be from 1957, 1958, 1959, or other years. Please excuse my oversight. I doubt the unknown date for these nuggets will take away from your pleasure in reading these.

(circa November 1957) Claudette Colbert has incorporated herself, now plans to produce TV films.    

(circa November 1957) A ghost-story series, One Step Beyond, is in preparation at Screen Gems, with Boris Karloff, one of Hollywood's kindlier ghosts, pencilled in as the ghost-host.

(circa November 1957) Following her something-less-than sensational appearance on the opening Frank Sinatra Show, Kim Novak has been banned from further TV appearances by her studio.

(circa early 1959) Brigitte Bardot is coming to the United States for television guest appearances. The Steve Allen Show is one that wants her. 

(MG Trivia: Dave Garroway at The Today Show was able to secure her instead) 

(summer 1961) The long-time radio show, Johnny Dollar, is to be turned into an hour TV film series by producer Blake Edwards. 

(early 1958) Dragnet will use an actual case witness in an upcoming episode, a Los Angeles nurse's aide who identified a killer by the appearance of his eyes. She will play herself.

(early 1958) Still another new Western series, this one to star Michael Rennie, is not in the test-film stage. Title is The Tall Man. 

(early 1958) Warner Brothers has a new Western series in mind for John Russell, will have him test the character in an upcoming Cheyenne episode. Probable series title: Lone Star.

(early 1958) Cy Howard may produce and write a series for MGM based on the studio's 1950 hit, Father of the Bride. 

(early 1958) Orson Welles will receive $7,500 for tomorrow's Steve Allen Show, but Gale Storm keeps her asking price at $15,000 per guest shot.

(early 1958) Bette Davis, whose Suspicion show was postponed when she suffered a fall in her home, is now set for April 21 in "Fraction of a Second."

(early 1958) There will be no private-eye series for Mickey Rooney at CBS, as previously thought, and the network show is looking around for a new format for him. 

(early 1958) The new Warner Brothers Western series for star John Russell will be titled Laramie. Peter Brown will be co-star.

(early 1958) Charles Bronson and Angie Dickinson will be regulars in a planned new series, Man with a Camera, based on the experiences of newsreel cameramen. 

(MG Trivia: Angie Dickinson co-starred with Bronson on the pilot episode, which was sold to the network, but she was never a series regular and never appeared on the program beyond the pilot, which consequently aired as the fourth episode of the series.)

(early 1958) Plans fell through for June Lockhart to become the permanent romantic interest on Have Gun-Will Travel, but she'll do one more episode, now scheduled for May.

(early 1958) Tales of Frankenstein, new series of telefilms, takes on ABC's Saturday night ay 10 period in the fall. The show, produced by Screen Gems, has no permanent cast.

(early 1958) Frankie Laine has registered the title and format for a series called Dressing Room "A", a behind-the-scenes story of a singer. He would star.

(circa early 1959) Danny Thomas is trying to sell CBS a new program idea titled "Variety Workshop," to develop new comedians for television.

(autumn of 1957) Warner brothers next season will do a 39-episode, hour-long film series called The House of Wax, with a mystery-intrigue format. No star as yet selected.

(early 1961) The Defenders, written by Reginald Rose as a two-part Studio One presentation, is planned as a weekly hour-long series, with Lloyd Nolan penciled in for the role. 

(MG Trivia: E.G. Marshall was the lead for the series, not Lloyd Nolan.)

(early 1958) Marilyn Monroe, who has shrugged off television, now reportedly saying :maybe" to producer Robert Saudek for an Omnibus appearance in the fall. Perhaps in something written by her husband, Arthur Miller?

(early 1958) NBC already has scheduled Gunn for Hire, starring Craig Stevens, for Mondays at 9 p.m. next season. He plays Pete Gunn, a private eye. 

(early 1958) Jack Wrather (Lassie, Lone Ranger, Sergeant Preston) is making a test film for a series based on the files of "Tom Swift."

(early 1958) Nellie Lutcher has a featured role in Jack Webb's test film for Pete Kelly's Blues.

(early 1958) Helen Humes has replaced Nellie Lutcher in the Pete Kelly's Blues test film. Meanwhile, Jack webb is set to shoot a second test film this month, The D.A.'s Man, to be turned out by the Medic producer-writer team of Frank La Tourette and Jim Moser.

(early 1958) Jack Webb will soon start production on a test film for the Pete Kelly's Blues series he's been planning for four years, possible with Bob Crosby starred. Only hitch: Crosby is still under exclusive contract to CBS.

(early 1958) The Adventures of McGraw got a little too adventurous for Frank Lovejoy. The script called for him to dive through a window, but didn't say anything about breaking his leg -- which he did. The cast comes off next week.

(early 1958) One Man's Family may return to TV, turning up in its new format as an episode on The Loretta Young Show. If the audition is successful, a new series would probably be produced by Miss Young's Lewislor Productions.

(early 1958) Gerald Mohr, once of Foreign Intrigue, who has played the notorious "Doc Holiday" for the Maverick series, may now play the character in a projected Warner Brothers series to be titled Doc Holiday. 

(early 1958) Singer Frankie Laine will do a straight dramatic role in an upcoming Cheyenne episode.

(MG Trivia: He never appeared on the show.)

(summer 1958) Preston Foster of Waterfront has completed a test film for his planned new series, Iron Trail, a Western dealing with trains rather than horses. 

(summer 1958) Warner Brothers, adding a ninth series to its TV schedule, will make Public Enemy, based on the 1931 James Cagney movie.

(early 1958) All plans for a Tarzan TV film series, starring Gordon Scott, now have been dropped in favor of continuing the property as a once-a-year motion picture schedule. Scott will continued in the lead.

Thrillers, Chillers and Killers by Frank Krutnik (Book Review)

Frank Krutnik’s "Thrillers, Chillers and Killers: Radio and Film Noir" is an absorbing exploration of how noir sensibilities seeped across mediums, particularly from Hollywood films to the golden age of radio. What struck me most is how Krutnik dismantles the idea of noir as just a cinematic style, showing instead how it functioned as a broader cultural mood of paranoia, desire, and fatalism. His comparisons between hard-boiled detective fiction, shadow-soaked film aesthetics, and radio thrillers like "Suspense" and "The Whistler" really help illustrate how noir adapted to the intimacy of sound—where voices, music cues, and silence itself could achieve the same dread that chiaroscuro lighting did on screen.

I have always believed certain crime programs for radio such as "Broadway Is My Beat" is pure noir. I enjoy watching film noir and have said many programs (not just adaptations of film noir movies on "Lux Radio Theater") are enough to wet the appetite of those who cannot get enough of film noir but feel they have seen it all. Radio drama from the 1940s and 1950s explores that alternative. Krutnik proves an academic feel but connects the dots between the various aspects that make up film noir to remind us how much fun these radio dramas are. 

While some sections veer into academic theory, the book never loses sight of the pulpy entertainment value that drew audiences in the first place. Krutnik does a fine job of balancing cultural analysis with detailed case studies—whether tracing Barbara Stanwyck’s archetypal femme fatale across both visual and audio storytelling or noting how wartime anxieties shaped the narratives. For anyone fascinated by how noir became a shared language of mid-century America, this book delivers both scholarship and readability. It’s a rewarding read for cinephiles, radio buffs, and anyone curious about how popular culture built and recycled the darker corners of its imagination.

INTERVIEW WITH MICKEY MOUSE

Amidst the two decades of research at various archives across the country, I would frequent across an obscurity from time to time. Normally I would be at a specific archive for a specific subject, but those obscurities raised my curiosity and prompted me to make a quick copy. The thought often crossed my mind that another historian may be interested in this factoid, but more often than not the curiosity fell into my filing cabinet. 

As I now clean through my research files to scan and digitize those obscurities, I realize that those bizarre unexplainable curiosities would be best suited for my blog. So allow me to share this one for your amusement.  

In March of 1935, Julius Selig wrote a brief stage play titled "Interview with Mickey Mouse." It appears to be a stage play of sorts. This only spans a few pages so if you are a Disney fanatic, enjoy this historical amusement.

Link to download:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/c98ovx9s1gzj3pm/Interviewing%20Mickey%20Mouse%20%28March%201935%29.pdf?dl=0

LIGHTS OUT: Radio Horror "The Phantom Meteor"

In the summer of 1942, Sterling Products bought Lights Out to replace its current series, Board of Missing Heirs, for Ironized Yeast. CBS at that time had always banned horror stories, being more stricter than NBC in that regard, but the network decided to relax their position because playwright Arch Oboler was involved. Having made a name for himself as one of the top ten playwrights on network television, his stock in trade as a "stream on consciousness" style often first person singular applied. Oboler was scripting for weekly patriotic programs and wanted to return to his favorite genre -- horror. And because Oboler was already providing scripts for Everyman's Theater over NBC for Procter & Gamble, and just signed with NBC Blue for To the President, CBS wanted to compete.

 

The Continuity Department (the official name for the censorship department) at CBS looked at a handful of the radio scripts proposed and stamped them “acceptable” before the premiere on the evening of October 6, 1942. The series was contracted with the sponsor and the network for a total of 52 weeks. Many of the radio broadcasts that exist in recorded form originate from this 1942-43 series, which is one of the reasons why the playwright has been unjustly labeled as the creator of Lights Out. 

 

Lights Out premiered over NBC Chicago in January of 1934, created and scripted by Wyllis Cooper. NBC, under a specific term in the contract, owned the program and when it was decided to take the late-night horror series coast-to-coast in 1936, Cooper lost control of his own program. A number of authors began submitting radio scripts, including Arch Oboler, who was at that time writing brief sketches for such prestigious programs as Rudy Vallee and Edgar Bergen. Cooper had no objections; he still owned the rights to his own scripts and he was being lured to Hollywood. But with Cooper leaving in 1936, new writers were necessary. Enter stage left: Arch Oboler. 

 

For Arch Oboler to broadcast a weekly primetime horror series of the same name, he had to secure permission from NBC. Executives at NBC had no objection, considering they did not want horror programs and they wanted to retain first option on Oboler for future patriotic programs. CBS was delighted to have their first weekly program written and directed by Arch Oboler, described in the trades as “experimental drama.” The price tag was a reported $1,325 a week. Arch Oboler was able to get by with that figure by not only writing and directing, but hosting as emcee and confining himself to small casts and covering the absence of any music by elaborate sound effects. For many of the episodes, the cast consisted of only two people. 

 

Oboler always felt his Lights Out series was never horror, but was instead a “psychological chiller.” Wyllis Cooper, who created the program, always described his stories as “fantasy” (with a slight touch of horror). 

Cooper’s 1934-1936 concepts, incidentally, would be expanded from the 15-minute format to 30 minutes and a number of them repeated for some of the 1936-39 national run, then recycled for use on the 1945, 1946 and 1947 summer revivals of Lights Out on NBC, then again under a new format, Quiet, Please, from 1947-1949.

 

As for Cooper's Hollywood career... that was short-lived. After arriving in Hollywood in 1937, he found work at 20^th Century Fox and Universal Studios, contributing for such classics as Think Fast, Mr. Moto (1937), Thank You, Mr. Moto (1937), Mr. Moto Takes a Chance (1938), The Phantom Creeps (1939) and Son of Frankenstein (1939). His experience with brutal last-minute re-writes at Universal for Son of Frankenstein gave Cooper sour grapes – he promptly left Hollywood after production concluded and returned to script writing for radio. (He expressed his displeasure for Universal and production of that movie very specifically, including references to Boris Karloff, in the Quiet, Please episode, "Rain on New Year's Eve.")

 

Beginning in 1946, some of his Lights Out and Quiet, Please radio scripts were adapted for television for such programs as Quiet Please: Volume One, Lights Out, and Escape.

 

Thankfully, the 1936-1939 radio scripts for the NBC national run of Lights Out was recently scanned into PDF. This allows us to enjoy such dramas as “The Blood of the Gorilla,” “Satan’s Orchid,” “Queen Cobra,” “The Legion of the Dead,” “Black Zombie” and “One Day it Rained Blood.”

Enclosed below is a link for you to download a copy of the April 19, 1939, broadcast titled “The Phantom Meteor.”

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5dj9fvsmqgbmo64/Lights%20Out%20%28April%2019%2C%201939%29%20The%20Phantom%20Meteor.pdf?dl=0

The Phil Harris and Alice Faye Digital Collection

The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, was a comedy radio program which ran on NBC from 1948 to 1954 starring Alice Faye and Phil Harris. Harris had previously become known to radio audiences as the band-leader-turned-cast-member of the same name on The Jack Benny Program  while Faye had been a frequent guest on programs such as Rudy Vallee’s variety shows. After becoming the breakout stars of the music and comedy variety program The Fitch Bandwagon, the show was retooled into a full situation comedy, with Harris and Faye playing fictionalized versions of themselves as a working show business couple raising two daughters in a madcap home. But what few do not know is that the comic adventures were – in some aspect – based on their real-life family adventures. The season opener of 1952-1953 had the narrator open with an explanation that Phil Harris had just returned from England with his new automobile and was working on the engine in the drive-way. Turns out Harris really was in England that summer and he did buy a roadster.

 

A few years ago over 2,000 photographs were scanned from an archive containing Phil Harris and Alice Faye’s family and publicity photos, including awards and achievements. We have been digitally restoring the images for a future book project. Below, for your amusement, are a few of those photos chosen at random. (Almost random. I did select the one with the roadster so you can see what it looked like.) The photos, by the way, were the initial scan and not the digitally restored renditions.