Theatre Of The Mindless

1939 "War Of the Worlds" Article

2011-10-30T14:38:00.001-07:00

Astounding Outcome Of The "Martian Scare"!

This is an article from the February 1939 issue of Radio Mirror about the effects of Orson Welles' phenomenal WOTW broadcast!

I love the way they use a photo of actor Bill Johnstone as The Shadow here...

Don't you all remember how you used to sneak spoonfuls of tasty, delicious Fletcher's Castoria castor oil when mom and dad weren't looking? Mmmmm...

Although mostly fluff (and surpisingly devoid of anger), the ending of the article does mention the "radio censorship ghost", a new awareness for this country to prepare against war, a change in news broadcasts, and radio's exodus from Hollywood. Interesting and insightful points, given that this story was probably written only about two months after the WOTW broadcast!

Maybe THIS picture should have been in the article (the REAL Orson Welles as the Shadow!) -

Little TOTM'ers

2011-10-02T15:01:00.000-07:00

SO - after months of no posts (sorry!)...

My previous post was regarding some work we did at a local middle school, getting some of the youths a bit acquainted with a nearly-extinct artform: "Old Time Radio".

During the summer, we did another OTR class/demonstration for students who were lucky enough to be taking summer classes - and again, as before, almost none of youths knew what on earth Old Time Radio was. Well, as it turned out, there actually WAS one kid there who knew about OTR, and was a pretty big fan. But as for the rest of the class...absolutely no idea. Well, we fixed that! Now they know a Radio Orphan Annie decoder from a hole in the ground (which is where you can find ROA decoders, if you dig in the right places!).

Well, long story longer, I'd carted my equipment (microphones and scripts and sound effects and decoders and so on) home, and didn't quite get to putting it all away immediately. And one Friday night, when my nieces and nephew dropped over to the house for a sleep-over, that "pile of stuff" got some interested looks...

Talk about different art projects to keep the kids busy!

They enjoyed digging through the mountain of sound effects objects (trying all of them along the way, of course), and picking out the ones that would be used in the goofy horror show we'd picked out - "The Strange Doctor Weird - The Voice Of Death!". After I did a little coaching about using different voices, turning pages quietly, and microphone technique, we picked out roles, highlighted the scripts, did a single read-through, and then recorded this (which includes editing and added music and extra pre-recorded sound effects):

WOW! I actually got the kids to read! And act! And learn a handful of new vocabulary words! And have fun! And they even helped me put away my sound effects stuff, too! What a bunch of good kids.

There's no reason for OTR to ever die. It just needs to keep being introduced.

OTR In School

2011-03-19T15:26:00.001-07:00

At the end of January this year , I had the pleasure of giving an Old Time Radio presentation to the students at Fremont Middle School.

Of course, the picture above is not a picture of them, it just sits well on a blog about OTR. If you guys send me a picture of your classes, I'll be glad to put it up here.

Their teacher, Mrs Begg, wanted something to "get the students excited about Old Time Radio", as she was planning on using OTR in the classroom. OTR can, of course, encompass history, science, speech, acting, music, literature, even shop (hey, somebody's got to build those prop doors and stuff, right?).

So I brought a huge assortment of our sound effects equipment (which is always a crowd-pleaser), a giant 16" transcription disc, an old Zenith table radio, and a few pictures of TOTM and Orson Welles...what do you mean, that doesn't sound exciting?!?

We went over the War Of The Worlds broadcast, which almost none of them had heard of. War Of The Worlds equals Tom Cruise, these days (argh!). I think that maybe they thought I was putting them on - that so many people believed the show was real, but once I pointed out that there were very few avenues for 1938 listeners to do any fact-checking, it seemed a bit more likely.

*sigh* Even the rotary-dial telephone on the sound effects prop table seemed like a device from another planet to some of them.

I also brought a set of scripts for a TOTM comedy ad, "Fancy That! Home Hair Waving System By LyeCo", all pre-highlighted for the kids to do a (dreaded) "COLD READ". They weren't the least bit phased by a cold (totally unprepared) read, as evidenced by this recording:

Some of them are ready to go pro right now!

I did leave them with a bit of mystery too, discussing the famous Lights Out show "The Dark", in which is heard the horrific sound of BODIES BEING TURNED INSIDE OUT. I mentioned how, when I started in the hobby, I had heard of the show and the awful sound effect. And when I went to a Chicago nostalgia store to purchase the tape, the saleslady lit up, "Oh, yes, this is the famous one with the bodies turned inside out. Did you know that they used ______________________ to get that sound effect?"...which, of course, had ruined it for me - every time I heard the show, I didn't hear bodies being turned inside out, I heard the actual sound effect, which was a pretty goofy thing if you knew what it was. "What was it?" "Yeah, how did they do that effect?"..."Come on, if I told you, then I'd ruin the show for you, too. I don't want to do that." I heard a few kids talking to one another after the class, saying they had to find that "Inside Out" show. Cool.

This was great fun for me - I think that the kids really enjoyed learning about this nearly-lost artform. Mrs Begg says she'd like another presentation for her summer school classes in June...it would be our pleasure!

Arch Oboler's "Cat Wife"

2010-12-19T17:32:00.000-08:00

From the February 1939 issue of "Radio Mirror" magazine, an adaptation of "Cat Wife" from Arch Oboler's horror series "Lights Out":

...same opening warning as the radio show (though geared for readers, rather than listeners) - if you scare easily, don't read this story!

"Ironized Yeast" was the sponsor for "Lights Out"...I think I've listened to all of the episodes, but I don't recall ever hearing that the yeast tablets could miraculously grow breasts!

Sometimes a salute is just a salute.

Death Of A Salesman

2010-09-28T14:29:00.001-07:00

Here's a head's up about an upcoming show...NOT a radio show, but a real live theater piece involving several TOTM members and alumni! Takes place in the late '40's or early '50's, too.

Death Of A Salesman
When: Starts Oct. 8. Fridays, 8 p.m., Saturdays, 8 p.m. and Sun., Oct. 17, 3 p.m. Continues through Oct. 23
Phone: 847-360-4740
Price: $20/ Student $10/ Sr & Military $15

Death of a Salesman is presented by Bowen Park Theatre company and runs from October 8 through October 23. Tickets are $20 for adults , $15 Seniors & Military and $10 for Students. Death of a Salesman is a modern tragedy about the “common man”. This Pulitzer Prize winning play, written by Arthur Miller, has as the main character, an old salesman named Willie Loman. The play explores his family relationships and the consequences of his decisions and behavior that have left him unhappy and pathetic. Directed by Shawn Fitzgerald. The Lynn Schornick Theatre at the Jack Benny Center is a charming, intimate venue that involves and engages its' audiences like no large theatre can!

Jack Benny Center For The Arts
39 Jack Benny Dr, Bowen Park
Waukegan IL 60087
847-360-4740

What are TOTM'ers doing in this show?
Acting: Laura Jansen, Mark Kettner, and Stephen Jansen
Directing: Shawn Fitzgerald
Costuming: Virginia Fitzgerald
Sound Designing: Stephen Jansen
Stage Managing: Christopher Wild
JBC Artistic Director: Jason Clark
There In Spirit: Bob Juenger ("Hi, Bob!")

Be sure to check out the show - it's going to be a big hit!

Ray Bradbury's 90th Birthday

2010-08-18T20:04:00.000-07:00

Sure, it's short notice - but if you enjoy Theatre Of The Mindless (many of whom were born and bred in Waukegan) and/or enjoy that other Waukegan native, prolific author Ray Bradbury, be sure to visit the Waukegan Public Library on Sunday the 22nd.

All afternoon will be Bradbury readings and trolley rides visiting special local Bradbury-related landmarks, and later, even cake and ice cream - all in honor of Mr B's ninetieth birthday!

We hope to see you there!

TOTM will be doing a few short stories of his (as old time radio drama, of course), and the entire batch of festivities is free. You can register for the trolley rides HERE.

For more info:
Main Library 128 North County St. Waukegan, IL 60085 (847) 623-2041

We hope to see you there!

Lost "Duffy's Tavern" Found In Cincy!

2010-05-15T16:17:00.000-07:00

Here's a "lost" episode of Duffy's Tavern (no audio exists of this show), copied from original scripts by Derek Tague, and performed by a slew of talented amateurs, including a "Theatre Of The Mindless" member as Finnegan (I think it's the stupid-sounding guy in the hat)!

Most of the script is pretty funny, especially Steven Thompson's character Archie, but unless you are a supreme devotee of pre-1950's opera, the show's punchline may leave you a bit flat.

Still, any port in a storm, and this "Duffy" was only heard on the night it was originally broadcast - never since, until now.

Another TOTM'er Wins Award!

2010-05-15T16:02:00.000-07:00

Here's our own Laura Jansen, winning the Dave Warren Award (which is given for outstanding work done in Old Time Radio re-creations) at the 2010 Cincinnati Old Time Radio Convention.

What a great chuckle from the audience as Don Ramlow (the presenter, and director of the Cincy re-creations) says the name of our group, "Theatre Of The Mindless".

In fact, this year, Laura decided to take some time off from performing at the Cincy Con (awww!). She was the most surprised person in the room when she won (the rest of us know how great she is already)!

Congratulations, Laura!

ScriptFrenzy Winner!

2010-05-01T21:07:00.001-07:00

One of us made it to 100 pages on April 29th - the finish line for the ScriptFrenzy contest, a day early! WOOHOO!

Watch (listen) for "Drive-Thru", a comedy-mystery story (sort of "Clerks" meets "Rear Window") coming "soon"!

Trying Out ScriptFrenzy

2010-04-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

Yup - one of the secrets of producing new material is to actually WRITE SOME. And the secret to writing some is...well...to SIT DOWN AND WRITE SOME!

No excuses, no tough rules: during the month of April, you write a 100-page script.

There. That's it. Three and a third pages a day, give or take. What could be simpler?

A few of us in TOTM are giving it a try.

Later, you may be able to hear the stories here (let's HOPE!)...gosh, they're gonna be long, since a hundred pages ends up running about a hundred minutes.

I figure if I edit out everything that isn't absolutely top-notch in my story, I should have a solid thirteen minutes of excellent audio drama.

;^)

War Of The Worlds (excerpt)

2009-10-30T10:34:00.000-07:00

Here's an excerpt of "War Of the Worlds", done at the Waukegan Public Library a few years ago. This one was received very well - in fact, since we played period music before the show to help set the mood, and we "interrupted" the music with this newscast, we stayed very much in character with the original broadcast...and keeping in mind of our original TOTM goals, we slipped in a tiny bit of historical truth along with the entertainment.

ENJOY!

Kazoo Factory

2009-10-16T13:19:00.001-07:00

Here's the ol' TOTM'ers doing a bit of Bob and Ray - Wally Ballou visits a kazoo factory!

Be A Green Lama Club Member!

2009-09-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

Here is a nice big scan of a 1940's Green Lama Club card. Print it out, sign it, and enjoy all of the extended privileges! I'm going to have to find and post the secret code key, though, so you'll be able to understand any instructions the Green Lama may send to you...

You DO understand that once you are entrusted with the secret code and all those great club privileges, you will be expected to fulfill certain...responsibilities? The Green Lama will contact you when he needs you. Be ready.

Some OTR Samples

2009-08-07T12:15:00.000-07:00

Here is a zip file of a few short OTR samples, recorded at different bitrates and frequencies (just paste the link into your address bar and download, then unzip):

http://www.humyo.com/F/3468529-986584877

All are MONO, of course. I think that my favorite is 80kbts/22hhz. You listen and decide.

FEEL FREE TO LEAVE COMMENTS!

Thank you!

MANC Convention

2009-08-07T06:49:00.000-07:00

Be sure not to miss the coolest convention there is for OTR fans - the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention! August 27-29, Clarion Hotel, Aberdeen, Maryland. Not only Old Time Radio, but tons of cool old stuff: cars, movies, posters, comic books, magazines, cartoons, collectibles, books, an inflatable drive-in (!) and REAL LIVE TV AND MOVIE STARS!

This year:

JAMES BEST

The Dukes of Hazzard

The Twilight Zone

Have Gun - Will Travel

Forbidden Planet (1956)

LEE MERIWETHER
Batman
Time Tunnel
Barnaby Jones
Miss America, 1955

CELESTE HOLM
All About Eve (1950)
Tom Sawyer (1973)
Academy Award winning
actress for her role in
A Gentleman's Agreement (1947)

PATTY McCORMACK

Route 66

Rawhide

Wagon Train

Playhouse 90

The Wild, Wild West

Academy Award nominee for

THE BAD SEED (1956)

BOB HASTINGS

McHale's Navy

Batman

The Twilight Zone

The Poseidon Adventure

(the original 1972 classic)

The Untouchables

Captain Video (TV series)

Tom Corbett, Space Cadet

JOHNNY WHITAKER

A Family Affair

Tom Sawyer (1973)

Green Acres

DIANA SOWLE

Willy Wonka and the

Chocolate Factory

ROSEMARY RICE

Katrin, star of TV's Mama

(a.k.a. I Remember Mama)

Betty on radio's Archie Andrews

DON'T MISS IT!

Life On the Radio Wave

2009-08-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

Here's some single-panel comic strips by "Pinto" Colvig from 1922. This was when radio was really beginning to hit BIG: it was brand-new technology - exciting, unknown, and which happened to fall nicely under that huge umbrella of "things that men like to do" (building / tinkering / climbing / mechanical / electronic stuff)...

Amazing how much work people would do in order to get a little free entertainment!

This creator, Vance DeBar "Pinto" Colvig, was a newspaper cartoonist when he wasn't joined up with the circus, or playing off-key clarinet on the vaudeville circuit. He worked on creating some of the earliest animated cartoons, was the voice of Walt Disney characters Goofy and Pluto and the ("Snow White") dwarves Grumpy and Sleepy and ("Three Little Pigs") Practical Pig, some of the Munchkins in "The Wizard Of Oz", Gabby in "Gulliver's Travels", and Bluto in "Popeye The Sailor". The Disney artists even used his overly-expressive face as models for the animated characters!

He co-wrote the song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf".

He was the original "voice" of Jack Benny's Maxwell automobile, the hiccuping horse on Dennis Day, and several voices on Amos 'n' Andy.

He was also the ORIGINAL Bozo The Clown.

A lifelong smoker (Shades of Bob Bell and Krusty the Clown), he was one of the pioneers in advocating warning labels about cancer risk on cigarette packages.

He died of lung cancer in 1967.

A Neat Find!

2009-06-26T21:58:00.000-07:00

Okay, plenty of OTR buffs have a few 16-inch transcription discs...Theatre Of The Mindless puts several up for the audience to see, when we put on a show. I am in no way a TD collector - especially since I don't even own a transcription turntable to play them, I just have a short stack of mediocre shows with a few cool labels.

But just the other day, while I was going through the discs, pulling them out of their protective manila sleeves and checking them out, I noticed THIS disc. An AFRS recording: "Boston Symphony Part 5" on side 1, and on side 2 - this neat etched/pressed/bas-relief which includes big 3-inch letters "RCA Victor", the RCA logo, and the Nipper dog listening to his master's voice. The background is a network of circular spiderwebs.

It took several tries to get it to photograph well, as it is just molded into the disc surface, but I think this view shows it off very well (click the picture for a bigger version).

This disc isn't going back into the sleeve, it's going up on the wall!

Thethethe Planetanetanet Mananan...

2009-06-16T14:57:00.000-07:00

Here's one of our takes on the excellent "Planet Man"...juvenile radio scifi adventure just doesn't get any better than this stuff!

New Member Of Cap's Flight Patrol

2009-06-07T16:32:00.001-07:00

I am now a card-carrying (okay, medal-carrying) member of Captain Midnight's 1940 Flight Patrol! This nice bronze medallion originally went to listeners of the radio show for nothing more than a quick visit to the local Skelly Oil service station. Nowadays, it's a quick visit to the nearest internet auction site, and about ten dollars.

It's a nice spinner - place the front side down (the center of the propellor is a nub on which the coin spins freely) and give a twist. The back has a clock face at the midnight position,...whoever the hands point at when the coin stops spinning is "it"!

And what's that "?COBRALHOFA?" mean? Well, from Jim Widner's Captain Midnight Page:

Some of the premiums were a part of the show: the propeller spinning medal had the secret word "COBRALHOFA" on it. The word was not so secret, however, as it was regularly announced on the series, though never spelled. During the time that Chuck was captured in some 1940 episodes, he would send out messages to the Captain which were coded messages. By taking a message and selecting every tenth word, the messages could be translated. Why ten? Because the COBRALHOFA was equal to ten letters. For example, one message was:

"Hello, Captain Midnight and everybody. It sure seems a long time since I have seen you and the old home at Black Gulch. I am feeling fine. This is on my word of honor. Do as Ivan Shark asks, flying to any point he says as swiftly as an arrow. Ivan Shark is a snake, a Cobra but..."

The second message was almost the same as the first in that the code words were repeated. Captain Midnight discovered that every tenth word in both messages were the same. He also knew that the coded words corresponded to the last five letters of the secret password, COBRALHOFA and that it was intentional for Chuck to use the word Cobra:

"Hello, Captain Midnight and everybody. Please do not delay long. Fly where Ivan Shark says. I will not be home again if you refuse. To do all these things on my account is a lot, I know. Remember that flying to Ivan Shark's direction as straight as an arrow is essential..."

Captain Midnight figured that Chuck would send a third message using the first part of the secret password which he alluded to in the earliest message. And a third arrived:

"Hello Captain Midnight. This is your last chance to come to an agreement with Ivan Shark. Please think it over. If you do not aggree, this will be the bridge that will separate us forever. You should do the right thing. The thing that will surely bring us together at last..."

Once all the messages were placed in the order of the secret word, the message gave away Ivan Shark's hiding place:

COBRALHOFA
Come Over Bridge Right At Long Home On Flying Arrow

*************************************************

Visit Mr Widner's page for a whole bunch more interesting information on Captain Midnight.

TOTM Shoe, er, Show

2009-05-03T19:33:00.001-07:00

Okay, so after TOO LONG a hiatus (so please don't HATE US! Har har!), there will be a Theatre Of The Mindless show at the Waukegan Yacht Club, on May 15th, at 7pm. Tickets are $12 at the door, they should also be available online at the Waukegan Community Players website, here. I also hear that the dinners at the Yacht Club are excellent - you may want to call ahead for dinner reservations, and have a bite to eat before the show. Best to watch this space for any further information or changes...we hope to see you there!

Dave Warren Award

2009-05-03T18:11:00.000-07:00

This past weekend at the Cincinnati Old Time Radio Convention, I was the very proud recipient of the Dave Warren Award. Given to "those who preserve Old Time Radio by bringing it alive through re-creations", this award means SO much to me - that is what this is all about: OTR and audio drama are ARTFORMS...granted, they can be entertaining, but how amazing is it that waves of compressed air can travel to your ears and create pictures, characters, intrigue, laughter, thrills?

I never got to meet Dave Warren, I wish I had. Evidently, in addition to his OTR re-creations from the '70's on, he was quite a good artist. If you had bought any of a number of OTR cassette collections from Adventures In Cassettes, you had seen his work. And he did tons of black and white covers for the Old Time Radio Digest. And, of course, he was managing director for the Dave Warren Players, an OTR group that continues to this day.

I barely know what I said when I accepted the award. I know that I thanked my father, for introducing me to Old Time Radio in the 1970's.

Big HUGE thanks to all of the past and present members of the Theatre Of The Mindless group: no single person could get an award for re-creations without being surrounded and supported by enormously talented people...so THANK YOU Jason Clark, Heidi Feldkirchner, Shawn and Virginia Fitzgerald, Laura Jansen, Bob Jeunger, Mark Kettner, and Chris Wild! And to the two old guys, Hank and Jim, who are there for every one of our rehearsals and shows, sitting next to each other, enjoying the perfomances, proud that they passed the artform down to us, so that we can do the same for others...

And THANKS to all who have come to see our shows - hopefully, we have either re-lit an old sputtering flame (for you old-timers who remember OTR), or begun a fresh warm fire (for you newbies who were just born too late). This is all for you.

Thanks again.

Made Me Laugh

2009-04-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

From the introduction of Suspense, November 2nd, 1944 - "The Singing Walls": this snippet of lead-in about star Van Johnson made me laugh. Oh, I'm probably the only person in the world that caught it and thought it was funny.

Radio Mirror

2009-02-21T16:37:00.001-08:00

So I just picked up this May, 1939 issue of Radio Mirror. I got it for the articles. That's Miss Dorothy Lamour, there, on the cover (Hubba, hubba!). Does anyone else think that she looks sort of like Bebe (Frasier's Lilith) Neuwirth? It's almost like looking into a mirror...a RADIO MIRROR, that is! I say, that's a JOKE, son. Ya get it? A joke!

Radio Blooper

2009-02-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

In a newly-restored episode of "The Sealed Book", July 4th 1945, titled "Death Brings Down The Curtain", the evil actress rants:

"Be quiet, you fool! They can't prove a thing! No jury in the world would believe them...I'm too great an actress to be convicted of murder, do you hear?!? I'll give a performance that'll sweep a jury off it's feet. They'll never forgive me, they'll never convict me, never, Never, NEVER!"

Listen for the BIG BLOOPER toward the end, when she says "forgive" instead of "convict"...good thing that she really jacks up the energy right after that, so we don't even notice the mistake. In fact, it actually lends a bit of credibility to her character being a nutjob. But not the greatest actress, unfortunately...

Pick up the new Sealed Book set in sparkling clear sound HERE.

I Love A Mystery Gift!

2008-12-26T22:40:00.001-08:00

My buddy (and fellow TOTM'er) Jason just gave me this SPIFFY watch. Since there were no "proper" premiums for the incredible I Love A Mystery series (other than a few photographs of the cast members), this is about as close as anyone can come to having a decoder badge or glow-in-the-dark ring for the show.

It includes some marvelous miniature mysterious items inside the crystal: a revolver, a magnifying glass, a coffee cup (the coffee tainted with poison, no doubt!), a bloody knife, and a garotte. What's not to like?

The clock face has "WYL" on it...I'm not sure what that stands for. Wish You Luck? Watch Your Language? When You Listen? Who's Your Lawyer? Why, You Louse? What's Your Line? Waste Your Life?

A very cool timepiece.

Thanks, Jase!

March Of Time

2008-12-12T09:56:00.000-08:00

Here is a very entertaining piece about radio: a "March Of Time" broadcast from the late 1940's. This 20-minute video narrated by Westbrook VanVoorhis shows many facets of radio production, including various radio stars and sound effects. There's too many cool bits to mention them all, but f'rinstance - at 2:26, Jim Jordan (Fibber McGee) takes a beat or two from his dialog with Marion Jordan (Molly) and Gale Gordon (Mayor LaTrivia, and later on television, Lucy's Mr Mooney) to allow the great "hall closet" sound effect to be performed. Watch how a half-door, a ladder, a pile of odds-and-ends, and a tiny little bell become a very long and very fun to watch audio joke.

I absolutely LOVE the jingle performed by the ersatz Andrews Sisters at 6:06, for "Consolidated Sardines" - "packed twice as tight", indeed! This ad is definitely going to be incorporated into some upcoming TOTM shows!

ENJOY - twenty minutes that feels like only five!

A Quick Typical Fibber Rant

2008-11-09T13:00:00.000-08:00

Here's a rather non-typical radio premium (a 1936 Fibber McGee and Molly / Johnson's Wax / NBC top!) paired up with a very typical nonsensical Fibber rant. It's short and sweet and made me laugh, so here it is:

Now if you happen to enjoy Fibber's OTR humor, and especially NEWLY-DISCOVERED and FRESHLY-RESTORED OTR humor, you might want to check out the "Fibber McGee and Molly Lost Episodes" from the First Generation Radio Archives. Volume 6 (!) has just been released, and SERIOUSLY, the stuff sounds like it was just recorded yesterday. Why not go and support this great group?

The Farther Adventures Of CRIMEBUSTER

2008-10-29T14:56:00.000-07:00

Is that a banana in your hand, or are you just happy to see me?

Waaaaaaaay back when (in 2001 or 2002) we did a fundraiser for the NARA News. NARA (the North American Radio Archives) had a quarterly digest in which they would print radio scripts by a funny fellow named Ken Weigel. Mr Weigel passed away in 2001, so as a sort of tribute, we strung a bunch of these scripts together and "performed" them on cd.

The disk had seven short adventures of the bumbling-forgetful-idiotic-lovable gumshoe named CRIMEBUSTER ("Oh, I DO have gum on my shoe, darnit...Hmm...mmm...Mm. Spearmint."), plus a few other humorous oddities.

Now some collectible items are made as Limited Editions, with runs of thousands, or maybe even only hundreds. Be advised that this cd is BEYOND RARE, as it's print run was only in the range of "several". Doesn't mean it wasn't good, though!

Click the player below to hear "The Case Of The Strange Waiter"!

Nostalgia Convention

2008-08-24T15:14:00.000-07:00

BRACE YOURSELVES for the incredible "Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention" (or MANC, for short)! This convention is put on by my buddy Martin Grams (see link at the right), and is quickly becoming the GO TO event of the year.

Not content to limit himself to just Old Time Radio, he has organized an entire weekend of nostalgia: 24 hours a day of rare movies, discussion panels, collectible cars, movie stars, television stars, blooper reels, dealer tables filled with radio shows and books and magazines and comics and autographs and posters and dvds, a special "War Of The Worlds" retrospective, a portable outdoor theater, radio recreations - WHEW! Plus a whole lot MORE stuff that you just won't see ANYWHERE ELSE.

C'mon...LARRY STORCH will be there! Among many others: Conrad Brooks (Plan Nine From Outer Space), Margaret Kerry (Tinkerbell, Little Rascals), Kathleen Hughes (It Came From Outer Space), John Provost (Timmie from Lassie "What's that, Lassie? Johnny got his foot caught? He can't pull it out from between the railroad ties? He's trapped? And the 8:17 from Cucamonga is right on schedule? Good girl! Let's get help!"), Ed (Kookie) Byrnes, Patty McCormack (The Bad Seed), Mickey Freeman (Phil Silvers Show), and more to be announced.

Don't miss it! HERE is the link to the website with all of the information. See you there!

Stiffman's Selection

2008-07-08T14:29:00.000-07:00

Another advertisement from our sponsor, Earl Stiffman, of Earl Stiffman's Just Caskets..And More. He's nothing if not..."accommodating".

Click HERE, or use the gigantic player below:

Some Words About The ART Of Audio Drama

2008-06-28T17:29:00.000-07:00

"In the late fifties it was decided that you couldn't broadcast dreams on the air unless you transmitted pictures with it. This, despite the fact that radio had become the most popular mass entertainment medium of all time. The basic appeal of radio drama was the fact that you had to listen if you wanted to follow it. It wasn't enough to merely "hear" it. You had to listen. The word listen implies a conscious effort to pay attention, to participate. Thus, all the senses are activated, the curiosity is sparked, the imagination is fired, and the listener finds himself participating. In a real sense, he is a collaborator. In his brain he matches a face and a body to the voice. In his mind, he sees the action. And this is the basic difference between radio on the one hand, and every visual medium on the other. A good movie, a fine stage play or television drama, an excellent ballet, all these require an appreciative audience - a listener who literally works with the writer, the director, the actors and technicians to give completeness to the creative process.
It can fairly be said that along about the same time that radio drama disappeared, there came about a general decay in the art of listening. If you don't believe it, "listen" to some of the nonsense that's being spouted in all fields of endeavor and in all walks of life. This kind of talk is being inflicted upon us, because, in my opinion, people aren't really listening.
The most popular word in our language is now Communication. We deplore the fact that we no longer seem to be able to communicate with our children, our parents, our allies, industry, labor, each other.
How can we communicate if we no longer listen? A radio show has listeners, a television show has "viewers". Listening is an activity. Viewing is an event. Of course, there is room and need for all the entertainment media - and happily, a regrettable error made some [time] ago is slowly and hopefully being rectified. To me, it was incomprehensible that a flourishing and, yes, a spiritually nourishing, art form should have been allowed to die."

These thoughts echo mine.

They are from the introduction to the book "Strange Tales From CBS Radio Mystery Theater", written by the indomitable Himan Brown. THIRTY TWO years ago. 1976. This radio revival series ran from 1974 to 1982, logging some 1,400 shows (!). Originally hosted by E. G. Marshall, of which, here is a pic:

The Man On The Radio Told Me To Save My Fat

2008-05-26T11:07:00.000-07:00

Some cool wartime stuff, generally completely forgotten by today's generation. Look! Right there at 2:06 - Mickey's prepared to kill some nasty Nazis, with the help of Minnie's leftover bacon grease. Today the grease only kills by clogging our arteries...oh, well.

Our Sponsor, Earl Stiffman

2008-05-22T21:26:00.000-07:00

So since it's our TENTH year performing, we figgered it was high time we gave props to our seemingly eternal sponsor, Earl Stiffman (of Earl Stiffman's "Just Caskets...And More"). He's been hawking his wares with us for so long, it seems like HE'S ONE OF US.

Where would we be without you, Earl? Thanks so much!

Click the Texan salutation below to hear one of Mr Stiffman's distinctive TOTM advertisements.

"HOW-DEE!"

Or try out the new H * U * G * E Humyo player:

More "Those We Love"

2008-05-22T20:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, here's the rest of that rare script from the mostly-forgotten washboard weeper "Those We Love". Took me long enough, huh?!?

Anyway, here it is. What's nice about this script, besides it being terribly uncommon, is that it is evidently a very early draft - which shows the notes and changes that the author made. Since almost no audio of this series exists, these scripts are as close as we can come to hearing the show...

And all in all, not a bad show, either! For a soap opera, anyway...wait'll I break out the lost scripts to "Latitude Zero"!

"The Linkup" STINKS

2008-05-14T19:41:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time there was an online filesharing/backup company called Streamload. It was good - offered quality service at a good price, even offered freebie filesharing.

Then the company changed into MediaMax. It was not as good - service was nowhere near as good as it was, MANY important files "backed up on secure servers" were lost, never to be seen or heard again, very poor customer service, but we paying customers still had hopes that it might return to it's former quality.

Now the company has changed into "The Linkup". It is just plain NO GOOD. Service is essentially NONEXISTANT. ALL the remaining files from MediaMax have been lost, absolutely nothing is accessable. No links to files work: the audio that you may try listening to on this blog is GONE, although I have PAID for a service that guarantees the files to be there.

While I am trying to get my money refunded from these thieves, I will also try to find another (quality) backup company to store my files, so that they can once again be shared with my blog visitors.

My apologies for the technical difficulties.

DO NOT USE "THE LINKUP". AVOID THIS SHADY COMPANY AT ALL COSTS. DO NOT DEPEND ON THEM TO KEEP YOUR FILES SAFE. BE SURE TO TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO AVOID IT LIKE THE PLAGUE.

Cincy OTR Convention!

2008-02-25T13:50:00.001-08:00

Only six weeks until the Cincinnati Old Time Radio Convention! It's great fun! It's a very homey atmosphere with a bunch of friendly people. It's the place to go if you're looking for a particular show, or some inside information on what's cooking in the OTR community. Vintage stuff like comics and movie posters and Saturday morning serials on dvd. My sister and I never miss it - you oughtn't either! A splendid time is guaranteed for all! I even hear that there will be some OTRaoke: prerecorded radio shows with the star's roles open for anyone to fill in! Always wanted to be that hardboiled detective yourself? Now you can!

Another Paper Premium!

2008-02-17T01:55:00.000-08:00

Here's a shot (taken at a remote spot on the lunar surface, obviously!) of the 1940 Buck Rogers Rubber Band Gun! Originally offered by Onward School Supplies, this is a parody version offered by TOTM. Although I printed this onto cardstock and reinforced it with a layer of clear packing tape, it is still pretty flimsy. If you intend to use yours more than a few times, I would suggest printing it on regular paper and then gluing the paper to heavier stock (like a cereal box, or a comic book backing board). And even though this probably wasn't a radio premium (just a local business premium), Buck Rogers was on the radio. And I thought it was cool. So there. Try it out!

2007-12-27T20:41:00.001-08:00

Here we have a 1943 Lone Ranger "Cryptograph Decoder", all set for the 2007 audience (both of you!). Of course, since it was wartime in 1943, many homefront resources were reserved for the war effort...hence the disappearance of those substantial metal decoders, leaving reams of disappointing paper ones in their wake. If there were ever any rubber or beefsteak decoders, they would have gone away, too.

*Sigh*

Anyway, simply print this out (you could use CARDSTOCK if you'd like, to make it seem slightly less flimsy), cut around the edges and fold into a little booklet with the blue square to the front. Be sure to clip out that tiny slot, too, so you can tuck in the tab and keep the undesirables out. "Be sure to guard your Weber's Lone Ranger Cryptograph Decoder carefully so that only those in good standing with the Lone Ranger can decode his secret messages."

With the tab engaged, Butch Cavendish will be unable to decipher any important codes from L.R.

Rare Script "Those We Love"

2007-12-02T14:07:00.001-08:00

"Those We Love" was a serial drama/soap opera somewhat similar to Carlton E Morse's "One Man's Family". It ran from January of 1938 to April of 1945 - that's seven years, and there's only a SINGLE episode out there for us to hear (anyone out there have it? I don't.)! So it's not a well-known series, by any means.

I have a short stack of original scripts from this show, and thought that it might be nice to share some. Click on the pictures for some LARGE scans of the pages. I made them SO BIG so you can see the actual notes made in pencil - my guess is that since the added lines are for several different charaters, they were probably written by the author, Agnes Ridgeway, rather than by a single actor in the show.

Evidently good enough to have a seven-year run (albeit somewhat sporadic), the melodramatic stories of the John Marshall family of Connecticut proved unable to overcome the unfortunate pitfalls of numerous day, time, and network changes. One of the actresses on the show, Jean Rogers, you may know: she played the beautiful Dale Arden in the Flash Gordon movies.

So, please, check these out. Still eight more pages to this script to go (I'll have them up soon). I'd love to hear some comments on the script - would you like to see more of these? I'd especially like to hear what you think the pencilled-in stuff is...some of it is awfully hard for me to make out. And this script is marked in dark blue ballpoint pen "1943" at the top of page one, but it also says "Episode 16" typed in the script...the 16th episode would have been some time in 1938. These pages were the oldest looking of all the scripts, I lightened them up considerably to see the pencil notes...the original paper was much tanner, almost brown (!). I think the "1943" was written by someone long after the scripts were done - hey, when did ballpoint pens come into general use? The late 1950's maybe? I thin that this is a VERY old script from 1938, not at all from 1943...

I LOVE A MYSTERY, DON'T YOU?

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT: click the blue word "COMMENTS" at the bottom of this post!

Last Calendar THIS YEAR...

2007-12-02T13:38:00.001-08:00

Here's your nifty-keen super-spiffy tongue-in-cheek smoking-Santa December calendar! Who else but TOTM would give away such pop-culture two-for-one American Social Icons as Santa Claus and Lucky Strike in such a thought-provoking non-revisionist manner as this handsome useful calendar?

That thoughtful card reads: "A gift of pleasure. My spirit - the spirit of Christmas giving - is abroad in the land. A gift that expresses that spirit, and brings pleasure to every home, both great and small, is rare indeed. Such a gift, my friends, is Lucky Strike. (signed) Santa Claus"
A carton of smokes makes the perfect Christmas gift for anyone!

As Bender's old man said in "The Breakfast Club":

"HEY, SMOKE UP, JOHNNY!"

Four Mugs

2007-11-18T08:38:00.001-08:00

"Four Mugs" - No, not a set of coffee receptacles...a so-so promo photo in slo-mo of Jojo, Bobo, Coco, and Toto. HOHO! Alright, then...seriously: here's a shot of four of the five male TOTM'ers. Let's see, there's Shawn Fitzgerald, Bob Juenger, Christopher Wild, and yours truly, Stephen Jansen (I'm the one wearing the hat). Where's Jason Clark? Probably behind the camera.

To Make A Long Story Longer...

2007-11-10T19:53:00.001-08:00

There were only five issues of the "Mysterious Traveler" magazine, based on Mutual's famous radio program. Each digest-sized issue had a wonderfully horrific Norm Saunders pulp-like cover with a damsel in distress (that's putting it lightly!).

There they are, scanned right from my own set. Click on them if you'd like to see them big. So now for the long story with the ultra-wispy tenuous thread barely connecting things: When I was but a boy, in the early 1970's, I had a favorite book titled "Ghosts And More Ghosts". It was filled with about a dozen tales that scared the living daylights out of me. I held on to that book, and the oddly pleasant creepiness that I felt every time I read the stories inside.

Flash forward to my thirties, getting together with friends and starting an audio performance troupe called Theatre Of The Mindless... we needed some different stories to perform along with the OTR recreations...maybe some adaptations of existing stories? "Ah hah!" I said to myself, "Maybe something from that great old book 'Ghosts And More Ghosts'!"

So I flipped through my well-worn copy, searching for a suitable tale to mold into radio drama. I stopped at "The Rose Crystal Bell", a haunting story about a magical bell that brings the dead back to life, with the delightful twist that another life must fill the void immediately thereafter. Somebody gets to live, somebody else must die. Oooooh, creepy.

I got right to work on my adaptation, surprised at the relative ease at which I translated the book's text into radio script form. "I guess I really have a knack for this!". M-hm. We performed the show, and it was received pretty well...better than one might expect, coming from a junior-high-level book of ghost stories, anyway.

Flash ahead a little further to a point where I have the internet and a more serious interest in the history of OTR. I happen to do a search for the author of my old book, Robert Arthur Jr. He happens to be a rather prolific writer, creator of the 1960's series of chapter books "The Three Investigators", plenty of mystery and ghost stories in detective pulp magazines...he also paired up with David Kogan, and the two of them wrote TONS OF EPISODES (500 or so!) of several classic radio programs: "The Strange Doctor Weird", and (you guessed it) "The Mysterious Traveler".

No wonder it wasn't that hard to "adapt" his story to radio. It probably CAME from a radio script.

Synchronicitous.

Serendipitous.

Diplodocus.

More TOTM Audio

2007-11-01T15:54:00.000-07:00

Okay, better late than never, right? Here's some newer, pseudo-original Theatre Of The Mindless audio buffoonery for y'all! This one is just a few months old, and we've only done it a few times. Hopefully you will enjoy it!

I say this one is pseudo-original; quasi-original; original-ish; original-like; original-esque; a pastiche of an original, if you will...okay, what it is, is an adaptation of a groovy old comic book story. Also, it ain't "buffoonery", it's HEAVY DRAMA and HORROR. I'm not kidding. It's creepy.

We did this live on stage for about 120 people, they are extremely quiet throughout, until the end when they "get it", and the very end with the applause (of course, we probably prompted that a bit with the "APPLAUSE" sign, but that's beside the point...). We got a very good recording from this live show.

I spent a bit of time going through the secondary mixed-down recording, deleting a few vocal double takes, removing a few coughs and page turns, and so on...then a bit more time adding a few sound effects here and there to accent the ones we had already done on stage (they seldom have the same punch "on tape" as they have live). I call this "tarting it up". That's not the professional term, it's just what I call it.

Listen to the finished product by clicking HERE.

Or the giant player here:

And we're looking forward to hearing your comments (click the word "COMMENTS" at the bottom of this entry to leave one) - THANKS!

November Calendar

2007-10-31T19:53:00.001-07:00

Here is the November calendar - no TOTM shows this month (yet), so there's none listed (yet). Feel free to hire us, the contact info is hidden somewhere near the bottom in very tiny print. Whew. Got this one in just under the wire(less)!

This is Burns and Allen. George and Gracie. George Burns. And. Gracie Allen. She actually did run for President (sort of) in 1940, as a member of the "Surprise" party.

Would You Let A 16-Year-Old Fly Your Plane?

2007-10-18T16:00:00.000-07:00

Another in our series of Radio Membership Cards - the Jimmie Allen Flying Club card! This popular series ran through the 1930's, and starred 40-year-old John Frank as the 16-year-old pilot, Jimmie Allen. The Hi-Octane Hi-Flying Sponsor was Skelly Oil:

"Mom! Dad! We just passed a Skelly Oil Station! We HAVE to go in so I can get my membership forms to join the Jimmie Allen Flying Club! PLEEEEEASE?!?!? It's free..." (Father sighs), "Yes, Little Willie, I guess we can stop in. Might as well get some ethyl, too, as long as we're there."

And ring up another sale, thanks to the bright idea of marketing your adult product to the children of those same adults. Thank goodness this idea has come and gone, hm? Now I'm off to McDonnal's for a Shrec-themed Happi-meal...might as well get some "food" for myself, while I'm there...I'm loathin' it!TM

Er, print out the card, fill in your name, and put it in your wallet. Show the card at your friendly neighborhood Skelly Oil dealer - it's good for a FREE gallon of gas! (nudge nudge wink wink)

The Shadow's NOSE

2007-10-15T14:50:00.000-07:00

Here's an ultra-rare premium - a 1943 GLOW IN THE DARK Shadow pinback. Okay, so it's not really a radio premium (it's a Shadow Comic premium), but when you see the Shadow, you think radio show! I believe this one recently sold for more than $1,000 - so keep an eye on what you're cleaning out of the "junk" drawer, hm?

Mastering Dialects

2007-10-06T11:14:00.001-07:00

So you want to put on your own audio drama? GOOD FOR YOU! Do it. Maybe you'd like to utilize some dialects in your show, in order to keep your listener's interests piqued, or to help keep the characters separate.

Here's a few pages from the 1943 book "Manual Of Foreign Dialects For Radio, Stage, And Screen" (my copy was evidently owned by Judith Krauss, somehow associated with the Will O Way Playhouse, according to the signature on the flyleaf). Be sure to familiarize yourself with all of the phonetic symbols (click each picture for a larger, easy-to-read version) before attempting to read the Irish dialect passage that I've included here:

WHEW! Did you try it out loud?

This book is a really, really rough read! No easy thing to do, learning dialects from a book - but if you were in radio or theater, having a big list of dialects on your resume meant getting more work. Nothing like doubling or tripling your salary by reading multiple parts in the same show, hm? I wonder what kind of money Paul Frees made when he performed EVERY ROLE in the OTR show "The Player"?!?

Of course, I have to mention to everyone that's interested in producing their own audio drama (or "radio shows", whether they are heard on the radio or not) how important it is to study what went before. There's a reason why the (good) old shows are as good as they are, even after 60 years or so: these writers and actors and sound effects men were all PROFESSIONALS. They made their livings doing this. If they weren't up to snuff, they didn't have a job!

So isn't it your responsibility to research the past? Pick up books and scripts that are related to Old Time Radio, and soak them up. As with any profession, you must first learn the rules before you go out and break them. There are tons of old "how to" books out there about radio writing, production, direction, and sound effects - pick up a few and LEARN HOW IT'S REALLY DONE. Besides, the books, just like the old radio shows, are a window to a different time...certainly not very politically correct, worth a nervous laugh or two (I'll post another book snippet later about why women are just not cut out for careers in radio!).

MAH'r LAY/uhr!

("More later!") 8^)#

2007-10-01T17:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, here's a bit of TOTM history for you - an original piece that we did our first year (izzat NINE YEARS AGO?!?). Be forewarned: this is NOT one of the newer, mindblowing pieces that we're working on right now, but a rather flawed amateur production...there's plenty wrong with this one, but there's also plenty that's cool.

"The Seven Dogs Of Death" was written by Shawn Fitzgerald, and features several of the current TOTM members, plus Heidi Feldkirchner and Mark Kettner (full credits at the end of the show...and I still wince because I badly mispronounced Heidi's last name - sorry!). Done in the harder-to-edit analog tape days, this horror tale hasn't been heard (live or recorded or otherwise) for many years.

Give it a listen. Leave a comment. Use it as a way to measure how much we've improved, once you hear the newer stuff.

It was tons of fun to do. Now I'll have to dig up "Dear Old Dad", a horror monologue that we did before this one. That one's so bad it's good. Yeah, man, where'd I put that cassette? What do you mean, "What's a cassette?"?

CLICK HERE to hear it, or right click and "Save Link As" to save it.

October Calendar

2007-09-29T15:58:00.001-07:00

Here's the brand-new calendar for the brand-new month! Be sure to check out Saturday the 13th - that's our next show! A fundraiser for the Waukegan Public Library! Waukegan being Jack Benny's home town, you can check out the bronze statue of him just a few blocks from the library, right across the street from the now-fabulously-redone Genesee Theater. Click HERE for a few pics of the statue from the Hughes family - hmm...somehow Karen has made Mr Benny's ghost appear, and he doesn't look a day over thirty-nine!

HERE is a map to the place, in case you didn't already happen to know where this internationally famous library sits.

This is early enough in October to NOT be completely classified as a Halloween show. There will be some scary stuff, and some funny stuff. And maybe some cool historical stuff...and possibly some literary stuff, but don't worry, we'll crush it up and mix it with some honey in a spoon so it's more palatable.

Print this calendar and put it up on the fridge so you don't forget to come to the show - THANKS!

2007-09-16T20:28:00.000-07:00

Here’s a picture of the 1937 Radio Orphan Annie Silver Star Member "Secret Message" Ring. Way back then (gee, seventy years ago!) in order to achieve Silver Star status, young consumers, er, listeners were supposed to tell at least three friends about the benefits of drinking Ovaltine, and get each friend to give them an inner seal from an Ovaltine container, and then mail in all the seals. These special members received an official folder of "Special Secrets". Each year there was a slightly different silver-plated Silver Star ring. If you happen to have one of these in your drawer at home, take care of it – it’s worth several hundred dollars these days.

Use your 1937 Radio Orphan Annie "Sunburst" Decoder Badge to solve the secret message on the ring. If you don't happen to have a 1937 decoder, you can probably figure it out with a pencil and paper, plus this decoding primer that I lifted from somewhere (I forget where). Here's a helpful hint: the secret message starts off with: "I am a Silver Star Member".

How to solve a cipher

Solving substitution ciphers might seem hard at first, especially when you have no clues to go by, but it's not as difficult at it seems.

The key is to look for familiar elements. For instance, look for two-letter words, which most likely will be words like an, so, it, to, is, etc.

Also, look for double-letter combinations within words, which most likely will be oo, ss, ee, etc.

If you see the same three-letter word combination more than once within a phrase, chances are it will be the word "the", although other words are possible.

It also helps to remember the frequency with which we use letters of the alphabet. Here are the top 10 letters of the alphabet in order of frequency: E T A O N R I S H D. In a cipher, if you see one letter used often, chances are it's E, T, A or O.

The best thing to do is just plunge ahead with a hunch and see if it leads you anywhere. For instance, if you think a particular letter equals E, put down E on all those letters and work from there. You might have to backtrack and use other letters, but that's part of the fun of solving ciphers.

Facts to remember:

Most common 2-letter words - of to in it is be as so we he by or on if me my up an go no us am

Most common 3-letter words - the and for are but not you all any can had her was one our day get has

Most common 4-letter words - that with have this will your from want been good some time very when come here just

Most frequent letters - e t a o i n s r h l d c u m f p g w y b v k x j q z

Most frequent double letters - LL EE SS OO TT FF RR NN PP CC

More than 50% of all English words begin with: T, A, O, S, or W.

* More than 50% of all English words end with: E, S, D, or T.

* When F is the final letter of a word, the letter before it is usually O.

* When H is the final letter of a word, the letter before it is often G.

* When G is the final letter of a word, it is frequently part of ING.

HAPPY DECODING!

Building Better Bickersons

2007-09-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

We prefer to present a relatively true-to-life Old Time Radio experience when we perform - utilizing real-world music (that's the multitalented Virginia Fitzgerald on the keyboards) and live sound effects wherever possible (not pre-recorded). And although the major impetus of our shows is that the audience has FUN, a secondary objective is that we actually educate - presenting little-known information and dispelling common myths about these great shows from the past.

Although sometimes we will make some changes to the old shows: for instance, a typical television comedy of today is paced with something like two laughs per minute. The typical OTR comedy had much more space between laughs, something like two to five minutes, depending on the show. For a Jack Benny Center fundraiser years ago, we decided to do a Drene Time "Bickersons" recreation. Now, the Bickersons (starring Kenosha, Wisconsin native Don Ameche and Frances Langford) are some of the funniest radio comedy shows ever done, especially since just about all of the adults in the audience can sympathize with both John and Blanche Bickerson, the snappily-married couple. But we thought that the pacing seemed to be just a tad slow for such hilarious bits to go over as well as they could. So our resident actor/scriptwriter Shawn Fitzgerald went ahead and created a hybrid episode, editing together the funniest bits from a dozen or so Bickersons shows. He somehow made these handfuls of unrelated comedy situations flow together as if they were originally written that way, even throwing in a few zingers of his own.

So what our audience heard that night was not actually a standard Bickersons episode, as they may have thought. It was (dare I say it?) BETTER - it had that one-two punch of multiple repeated laughs, one after the other, through the entire show...much more akin to what today's television-minded audience is used to.

So we broke our own rules a bit, to improve the show. Please don't be upset. We did it for you...you did enjoy it, didn't you? Thought so.

Doctor WHO?!?

2007-09-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

Here is an example of why the word "MINDLESS" is part of our name. My sister, Laura, had some trouble with the line: "...just like Doctor Watson with Sherlock Holmes." This is a tiny excerpt from our recent recording sessions, from the upcoming adventure serial "Enigma, Incorporated".

The serial is definitely NOT a comedy like this blooper might suggest, but a science-based mystery/adventure for the grown-ups: think a mix of Doc Savage, I Love A Mystery, and Pat Novak (gosh, that IS setting the bar pretty high!). We're shooting for some REAL science, along with heavy mystery and action, and some smart-mouthed characters to lighten the mood along the way.

COMING TO A BLOG NEAR YOU SOON (this one, of course!)

Tip 'O' The Fedora

2007-09-08T11:25:00.000-07:00

And a nice big tip-of-the-hat to William Spears who just added TOTM (that's us!) to his blog, "Lit Between The Ears". In addition to scores of links to other audio drama groups and other information, the site also offers books of scripts of audio adaptations of the classics - much of which is there to read...also an interesting section on "Definitions And Usage", interesting terminology used in radio/audio drama production.

Here's a nice 1930-something ad for the "Buck Rogers" radio show: voted most popular radio program - something that we'd ALL like for our own shows, I'm sure...but where would you go to vote?

Mmmmm...Chesterfield!

2007-08-31T22:38:00.001-07:00

Click here for this wonderful audio download - a crisp, refreshing 1940's ad for Chesterfield cigarettes. Gosh, they make them sound so APPEALING! And then there's this cutie in the magazine ad waving that checkered flag with her un-ciggied free hand...it makes me want to RACE down to the corner stand to buy some Chesterfields! What ingeniously insidious, iniquitously interesting, and interminably intoxicating marketing. But we're much too sophisticated to fall for that type of advertising in this day and age, right? RIGHT?!? Yeah, right.

Some Audio

2007-08-31T12:53:00.001-07:00

Okay, now I'm cooking with gas - I've got a little tasty TOTM audio tidbit for you all! One of our short original ads from one of our shows at the Jack Benny Center For The Arts in Waukegan...done in (*gasp*) 2006! This one has Christopher Wild as the announcer, and stars versatile Virginia Fitzgerald (she plays live keyboard AND acts up a storm) as "Mom" and Laura Jansen (my sister who also acts up a storm, and writes up a few nice cloudbursts) as "Dottie". I'm even in there at the end for a quick line as "Dad".

Click Here for LyeCo Ad

Enjoy!

COMMENT!

Calendar Page

2007-08-31T10:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a cool way to keep track of your upcoming appointments (and our upcoming shows!). Simply print out this calendar page, and put it somewhere that you happen to frequent. I'll try to have some interesting and unusual radio-related pictures as backgrounds, so you'll come back for more. I'll also try to post a new one about every month...ENJOY!

Time Travel

2007-08-31T08:56:00.000-07:00

Okay, and just in case some of you might like to do some time-travel of your own, here's a nifty Dick Tracy Radio Club card from the 1930's. Print it out, fill it out, and become a Junior Detective!

WELCOME!

2007-08-31T07:45:00.000-07:00

Hullo, there!

Welcome to the "Theatre Of The Mindless" blog. First off, please remember that the idea behind this blog is some discussion: monolog/dialog/weblog...see? So for now, first off, it's just a monolog - I'm the only guy saying anything. But once you reply, we can begin to have a dialog.

I'm still working out the main direction that I'd like for the blog, but mainly, it will be about the audio performance group "Theatre Of The Mindless" (or TOTM for short!). Posts about our upcoming shows, how we prepare, tips on writing audio drama, tips on recording, etc.

Firstly, some info about the group: we've been doing this for almost ten years now, in the far north suburbs of Chicago. We've all got day jobs (of course!), but really enjoy doing the radio on stage thing. It's almost like time travel, with the 1940's costumes, antique microphone props, and real old radios on stage!

The older folks in the audience enjoy the show mostly for nostalgic reasons, I think...and most of them only got to hear the old shows, not actually see them being performed. The younger folks have only the slightest inkling of what old time radio (OTR) was, so this is all new to them (!). And the youngest folks, the kids, enjoy it for what it mainly is: storytelling. A lot of the little ones go home and put on radio shows of their own. Now that's a compliment. No need for OTR to completely die out...we just need to fan the flames a bit!

Okay, that's it for openers. Seen us? Comments? Questions? Please reply - THANKS!