RYAN ELLETT AND OLD-TIME RADIO PRESERVATION

If you never heard the name of Ryan Ellett, you may have heard or seen the books he has written. In the field of old-time radio broadcasts, regional radio is often disregarded for mainstream subjects, programs that aired coast-to-coast over major networks such as NBC and CBS. But historians like myself agree that books focusing on regional radio is equally important and a form of preservation that would otherwise fall into obsolescence. His first book was the Encyclopedia of Black Radio in the United States, 1921-1955, profiling about 300 African American organizations and radio programs broadcast during radio's golden age. The book also included a week-by-week episode guide for both pioneering African American radio programs, The Negro Achievement Hour and The Negro Art Group Hour, both of which debuted in 1928. I recently interviewed Ryan about his work and how he came about writing his first book.

"I had been writing and publishing several articles about obscure Black radio performers and writers but knew that in the long run access to this information would be extremely limited since the hobby's newsletters are generally not easily accessible to the public," Ryan told me. "At some point I realized I probably had plenty of material or potential material for a published book and wrote up my proposal for McFarland. With their target market being libraries I knew this information would be much more widely accessible to other researchers and writers years down the road. A follow-up volume idea I had to that book was turned down by them as well as a competing publisher so it never got developed."

Another book he wrote was The Texas Rangers: Two Decades on Radio, Film, Television and Stage, documenting the career of the Texas Rangers, who premiered over Kansas City's KMBC, home to many country and western artists during radio's golden age. Debuting in 1932, the Texas Rangers entertained American by radio, records, tours, motion-pictures and television before disbanding in the 1950s. With few commercially released singles, the Texas Rangers were soon forgotten after their heyday except by the most devoted fans of the genre.

"Once I had an idea how the book process went - from germ of an idea to finished volume in hand from the publisher - I knew I could go through the experience again. My second book about KMBC's Texas Rangers grew out of researching an entirely different series for an article. After stumbling upon a trove of content about the group and their radio work in an archive I knew it would make a good book at some point," Ryan explained to me. "This project helped me really appreciate the historian's job of attempting to create an engaging story for a reader out of boxes of letters, telegrams, clippings, and such. There's a lot of trying to reconcile seemingly contradicting bits of information and filling in gaps left by actual historical records. As a reader I now pay more attention to what's left out of a book because likely the author could not find that information (assuming it would be relevant) and offers a place for someone else to begin his or her researching efforts."

Ryan recognizes his books fill a very niche area of preservation, but such preservation is essential. "I think my book on Black radio artists is my most important work and I've had some good communications with graduate students who were pursuing lines of research that overlapped content therein. If someone comes along and builds on any of my work and brings wider understanding and appreciation to an area, I'll feel that I had a little part in that. If nothing else, friends and family of individuals we write about are always thrilled to read these works."

Another of Ryan's books, Caroline Ellis: Homemaker of the Airwaves, not only covers an extensive biography on her 20-year career on radio, but the reader also received an overview of women's earliest participation in radio, the rise of homemaker broadcasting, and the pioneer radio women of Kansas City's KMBC. Ryan utilizes private correspondence, historical station records, and never-before-seen photographs and scripts, he documented such programs that you and I may never have heard of: Joanne Taylors Fashion Flashes, The Travels of Mary Ward, Caroline's Golden Store and Happy Home. The book also includes an episode guide of all the extant scripts of her career with broadcast dates, guests and topic summaries.

"I had written a piece on her for SPERDVAC's Radiogram almost ten years ago and presented on her at a conference around the same time," Ryan recounted. "I'd dug up everything I could find about her and figured that project was done. Then, out of the blue, a few years ago I received an email from this lady's great-nephew who lived about half an hour away saying a relative had shown him my article that had been put up online. The family was so excited to read about her radio work. Oh, and by the way, he had a box of her papers and scripts and photographs; would I like to look at them? I couldn't get there fast enough! That contact gave me the material I needed to expand Ellis' story into a full book and correct errors that had been made in the original rounds of research."

Ryan clarified the same sentimentality we historians have. "In my experience the financial rewards are sparse for writing books likes these, rarely covering the expense of research trips to accumulate material for the book, and feedback is also pretty rare. So I really have to be motivated about a topic to go through the years-long process of writing a new book. I have three potential manuscripts now with at least a couple chapters written over the past few years but they are far from finished and who knows if they'll ever be wrapped up. I'm waiting for inspiration to strike to get me to buckle down and go after one of them again."

If you want to visit Ryan's website, click here:  www.RyanEllett.com

The Return of THE FALCON

To some he is Gay Stanhope Falcon, the freelance adventurer and trouble-shooter from Michael Arlen's 1940 short story. To others he is Gay Lawrence, the English gentleman detective portrayed by George Sanders in those wonderful RKO films of the early 1940s. You may know him as Tom Lawrence, Michael Watling, Malcolm J. Wingate, or Mike Waring. Which one is the real Falcon? For a large number of people who never saw The Falcon movies or listened to The Falcon radio programs, the larger question is "Who is the Falcon?" Author Ian Dickerson knows and he provided us with a 362 page book documenting the history of the fictional detective that has been elusive to even the most dedicated reader of hard-boiled crime fiction. 

The fictional detective, often regarded as (a good) imitation of Leslie Charteris' The Saint, started out as a short story and was quickly licensed to RKO for a series of B-mysteries starring George Sanders, following by Tom Conway (who played The Falcon's Brother). Then came the radio program which aired over more than one network, an Australian rendition on radio, then a one-season TV series with Charles McGraw in the lead.

“Ready with a hand for oppressed men, and an eye for repressed women,” The Falcon character was once referenced in Leslie Charteris’ 1943 novel, The Saint Steps In, as “a bargain-basement imitation.” 

Until now, there was but brief entries in encyclopedias about the radio program and movies, and even less for the television rendition. Little was known about the character, the creator and the history of the program. The majority of the write-ups were focused on the plots and premise of those renditions. Ian Dickerson went to considerable effort to browse archives and archival materials to ensure we now have an extensive tome about the subject. 

Commentary on the character’s birth in print, a complete overview of his time on the silver screen, a broadcast log of his adventures on radio (both in the United States and in Australia), and an accounting of the short-lived television program is contained within the 360 pages. There is also a full reprint of a Falcon story from Radio Mirror magazine. Help show your support and display of thanks to Ian Dickerson for going to the effort by digging through archives to produce these welcome tomes.

https://www.amazon.com/Who-Falcon-Detective-Print-Movies/dp/1617093882

JEFF THOMPSON AND DAN CURTIS

If you were to ask who is the biggest fan of Dan Curtis productions, the answer would be Jeff Thompson. Dan Curtis was an American director, writer, and producer of television and film, known among fans of horror films for his afternoon TV series Dark Shadows and TV films such as Trilogy of Terror. Dark Shadows originally aired from 1966 to 1971 and has aired in syndication for nearly 40 years. Jeff did a ton of research over the decades and wrote a number of books (including second editions) for McFarland Publishing about Dan Curtis productions and it seemed fitting to do a brief interview about his work. 

You have written more than one book about Dan Curtis and his product-ions.  What appeals to you about his television and film work versus the prolific work of others?

 

I began watching Dark Shadows (1966-1971) in 1967 when I was eight years old.  I watched the show until the end and read Dan “Marilyn” Ross’s Dark Shadows Gothic novels and Gold Key’s Dark Shadows comic books along the way.  I began writing for Dark Shadows fanzines such as The World of Dark Shadows in 1975 and continued writing for them into the 1990s.  By then, I also was writing articles for Movie Club, Midnight Marquee, and other magazines.  By the 2000s, I was writing about Dark Shadows for multi-author books such as You’re Next! (2008).  In the 2010s, I wrote the introductions to eight Hermes Press books reprinting the Dark Shadows comic books and newspaper comic strip.

In 2006, I was completing the course work for my Ph.D. in English and popular culture, and I was pondering the topic for my doctoral dissertation.  I was thinking about writing about film noir in general and Chinatown (1974) in particular when Dan Curtis died in March.  A terrific website calledScoop asked me to write Dan Curtis’s obituary for its weekly e-zine.  I wrote the article essentially off the top of my head because I had studied and written about Curtis’s life and works for decades.  Suddenly, I realized that I should write my dissertation about Dan Curtis, whose diverse oeuvre of horror, mystery, Western, war, drama, and more should be documented.

I wrote my dissertation about Curtis’s horror productions in 2006-2007 and earned my Ph.D. in May 2007.  I then contacted McFarland, a publisher in North Carolina, about shaping my dissertation into a book.  In early 2009, McFarland published The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis: Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker, and Other Productions, 1966-2006, and my book was nominated for the Rondo Award.

After I wrote The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis, I realized that there was much more to say about Dan Curtis in addition his unforgettable horror productions.  I went on to write House of Dan Curtis: The Television Mysteries of the Dark Shadows Auteur (2009), focusing on Curtis’s crime dramas and Wide World Mystery productions, and the Rondo Award-nominated Nights of Dan Curtis: The Television Epics of the Dark Shadows Auteur (2016), spotlighting Curtis’s Dracula, The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang, The Winds of War, War and Remembrance, and Intruders: They Are Among Us. All three of my books cover all four dozen of Curtis’s productions, but each book takes a more in-depth look at different ones.

In 2019-2020, I produced revised second editions of all three books because researching and writing each of my books had increased and refined my knowledge of Dan Curtis’s productions, including dozens that Curtis had planned but never produced (e.g. Diary of a Gunfighter, The Last of the Crazy People, Wuthering Heights, et al.).  Curtis’s work—paired with Robert Cobert’s music—always appealed to me because it is daring, sometimes shocking, and always heartfelt.  Curtis could tell almost any kind of story and did.

 

 

What first got you hooked on Dark Shadows?

 

In September 1967, I was home sick from school and turning the television channels.  I came upon a scene that two decades later became the first clip on one of MPI Home Video’s Dark Shadows compilation tapes.  A girl and a boy my age were in a spooky cellar containing a coffin.  The coffin lid opened, and the vampire Barnabas Collins emerged.  I was instantly hooked on Dark Shadows and watched, read, drew, wrote, collected, and (at Dark Shadows Festivals) performed from that moment on!  (I wrote and directed humorous skits that other fans and I performed at the Festivals.)  At home, I have a Dark Shadows guest bedroom, a Joan Bennett wall, and a Psycho bathroom!  

 

 

What made you decide to do second editions of your three books?

 

In 2019-2020, I brought out revised second editions of my 2009, 2010, and 2016 books because in the intervening years, I had learned much more about Dan Curtis’s productions and because new Dark Shadows events had occurred (e.g. the Big Finish audio dramas, a new movie, the documentary Master of Dark Shadows, anniversaries, deaths, etc.).  My new editions feature a great deal of never-before-seen photographs of and new information about Dan Curtis, Dark Shadows, and Curtis’s many other productions.  I invite you to read and enjoy my new opera!  “That’s plural for opus; I presume you’ve written more than one,” as Christopher Plummer says to Christopher Reeve in the exquisite 1980 film Somewhere in Time, written by Dan Curtis’s friend and frequent collaborator Richard Matheson (The Night Stalker, Dracula, Trilogy of Terror, et al.).

 

https://www.amazon.com/Television-Horrors-Dan-Curtis-Productions/dp/1476675023/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=television+horror+of+dan+curtis&qid=1610417460&s=books&sr=1-1

 

https://www.amazon.com/House-Dan-Curtis-Second-Television/dp/1628801891/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=house+of+dan+curtis&qid=1610417490&s=books&sr=1-1

 

https://www.amazon.com/Nights-Dan-Curtis-Second-Television/dp/1628801883/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=night+of+dan+curtis&qid=1610417516&s=books&sr=1-1

 

 

All authors have a funny or cool story to share regarding their books.  Superb fan letter?  An autograph from a Dan Curtis cast member that came out of the blue?

 

I always love reading a good review of one of my books, a congratulatory email from an enthusiastic reader, or a nice post card from someone like film-music expert Jon Burlingame (“great work, beautiful presentation, love all the references to music throughout”) or film-music composer Robert Cobert himself (“Congratulations!  What a great job!  Incredible scholarship!  Dan would have loved it!”).  Curtis’s friend and frequent collaborator William F. Nolan (The Norliss Tapes, The Turn of the Screw, Burnt Offerings) wrote, 

 

Another terrific book on Dan, who was shamefully ignored as a 

“TV hack” (so incredibly untrue!).  He was a master, a great pal, a man 

who loved his work, who laughed and ranted and worked to make each 

thing he did as perfect as possible.  What a great director!  

You deserve much credit for your fine books on Dan.  He would 

have been proud.  “Would have”?  Hell, he is proud of you wherever he 

may be!  

 

 

 

Dr. Jeff Thompson

8701 Sawyer Brown Road

Nashville, Tennessee  37221-1415

 

615-662-3064  home

615-495-4751     cell

 

jthompson@tnstate.edu

The Lone Ranger Rides Again

After 20 years of research, I am pleased to announce that our book, The Lone Ranger: The Early Years, 1933-1937, was published this week and shipped to fans of the radio program. Add another 20 years of research from my co-author, which pre-dated my efforts, and that makes a total of four decades of archival diggings. Both Terry and I tracked down individuals who were involved in the weekly radio productions, along with family relatives of actors, writers, directors, and so on. 

As of this week, the index was completed so the book is going to the printers.

You can order your book now through the website below.

www.martingrams.biz