From: Beth Dell [mailto:theatre@beowulfalley.org]
Sent: Friday, October 14, 2011 12:17 PM
Subject: Press Release: Beowulf Alley: Old Time Radio Theatre
OLD TIME RADIO THEATRE
Beowulf Alley Theatre
October/November/December
Enjoy Radio Stories Just Like You Were in the Studio Audience
(Tucson, AZ) Beowulf Alley Theatre, at 11 South 6th Avenue, holds performances by our Old Time Radio Theatre Company on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at 7 p.m. until December 31st. Purchase tickets online at www.beowulfalley.org at least the day before a performance for $8.00 (adults). On the day of performance, tickets by phone or at the door are $10. Children 12 years and under are free. The box office phone number is (520) 882-0555.
Beginning in January 2012, there will be changes to the Old Time Radio scheduling when performances will move to the first Saturday of each month at 3 p.m. to better serve both the young and the older. Special group pricing will be available for our senior communities and other organizations. For more information, contact the box office at (520) 882-0555 or e-mail boxoffice@beowulfalley.org. You may also contact Sheldon Metz at thedrektor@gmail.com or call him at (310) 367-5640.
Scheduled Shows
October 18, 2011
OZZIE & HARRIET: Haunted House
In Haunted House, Ozzie tries to prove to his sons that there’s no such thing as ghosts.
Ozzie Nelson's & his orchestra gained national network radio exposure after appearing at a chance booking at the Glen Island Casino in the 30’s . Ozzie and his lead singer, Harriet Hilliard, married in 1938, during this series run, and realized working together in radio would keep them together more than continuing their musical careers separately. They became part of The Red Skelton Show, as performers and musicians. When Skelton was drafted in March 1944, Nelson was prompted to create his own family situation comedy. The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet launched on CBS on October 8, 1944, moving to NBC in October 1948, and making a late-season switch back to CBS in April 1949. The final years of the radio series were on ABC (the former NBC Blue Network) from October 14, 1949 to June 18, 1954. In total 402 radio episodes were produced. In an arrangement that amplified the growing pains of American broadcasting, as radio "grew up" into television, the Nelsons' deal with ABC gave the network the option to move their program to television. The struggling network needed proven talent that was not about to defect to the more established and wealthier networks like CBS or NBC.
MERCURY THEATRE: Dracula
A Halloween special, the Classic tale of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, will be presented on this evening.
The Mercury Theatre was founded in NYC in 1937 by Orson Welles and John Houseman. In 1938, after a string of live theatrical productions, the Mercury Theatre progressed into their best-known period as The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a radio series that included one of the most notable and infamous radio broadcasts of all time, The War of the Worlds, broadcast on October 30, 1938. The Mercury Theatre on the Air produced live radio dramas in 1938–1940 and again briefly in 1946. The Mercury Theatre troupe included Carl Frank, Joseph Cotton, Martin Gabel, Vincent Price, Agnes Moorhead, Ray Collins, Hans Conreid, Paul Stewart, Will Geer, George Coulouris, Olive Stanton and Everett Horton. Other screen, and television performers, like Betty Garrett, Anne Baxter and Judy Holliday, also appeared in productions in smaller parts.
November 1
FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY: Fall Housecleaning
“T’ain’t funny, McGee!!” One of radio’s greatest hits and one of the longest running shows in radio history, Fibber McGee and Molly, starred Jim and Marion Jordan as the beloved couple. premiered in 1935 and ran until 1959, long after radio’s golden days had passed. It is considered by many to be the origin of situation comedy itself. In this episode, The saddest phrase, to man or mouse, is, “Come on, sweetheart, let's clean the house.” And here at Number 79 where life till now was smooth and fine, comes labor, tough and acrobatic, like hauling junk down from the attic. Wives wallow in it, men think it folly. Like these two - Fibber McGee and Molly!
MOLLY: Hello there, Mister Old Timer, we're doing a bit of house cleaning. Do you want to help?
OLD TIMER: How much?
FIBBER: Two bits an hour, and feed your own charley horses.
SUSPENSE: Three Skeleton Key- encore presentation (March 17, 1950)
This presentation was performed by Vincent Price. The suspense grows to a strong finish. Close your eyes and imagine!
First presented on ESCAPE: Suspense, a radio drama series broadcast on CBS Radio from 1942 through 1962 and one of the premier drama programs of the Golden Age of Radio, it was subtitled "radio's outstanding theater of thrills." It focused on suspense thriller-type scripts, usually featuring leading Hollywood actors of the era. Approximately 945 episodes were broadcast during its long run, and more than 900 are extant. If there is one thing that ESCAPE and SUSPENSE have in common it is Three Skeleton Key, a classic horror tale about rats narrated by Vincent Price. First made famous by Escape, this radio-play was then broadcast two more times on Suspense after Escape went off the air. Essentially, they were the same show. Based on a 1937 Esquire magazine short story by the French writer George Toudouze, the story was adapted for Escape in 1949 by James Poe.
November 15
NBC’S GREAT MOMENTS IN HISTORY: The Landing of the Pilgrims
This is based on a true story.
It was in the month of December in 1620 that the Pilgrim Fathers landed on Plymouth Rock and proceeded to establish the first permanent white settlement in New England. But the Pilgrims had not set out for America to establish their new home in New England--far from it...
LIGHTS OUT: Bon Voyage
Two sweet old spinster sisters make Bon Voyage an exciting cruise.
During the day, radio provided listeners with excitement and thrills as well as laughs. One of radio’s strangest, spookiest and spine-chilling shows was LIGHTS OUT, dedicated to horror and the supernatural. It was the radio equal of The Twilight Zone and generated a genre that included Inner Sanctum, Suspense and others. Lights Out was first broadcast on WENR in January, 1934 and continued until 1947. It was run on television from 1949-1952.
December 6
ARCHIE ANDREWS: Christmas Shopping (December 13, 1947)
Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica and all the favorites create havoc at Stacy’s Department Store, during the Christmas rush.
Archie Andrews was a direct spin-off of the popular teenage comic strip created by Bob Montana. Montana's characters were heard on radio in the early 1940s. Archie Andrews began on the Blue Network on May 31, 1943, switched to Mutual in 1944, and then continued on NBC from 1945 until September 5, 1953.
“Relax... Archie! Relaxxxx!
RADIO CITY PLAYHOUSE: Twas the Night Before Christmas (December 24, 1949)
Radio City Music Hall is famous for the Rockettes and their Christmas spectaculars. Putting on a special Christmas production at the world-famous Music Hall should be old hat by now. But, that’s before the goats arrive on The Night Before Christmas.
December 20
ORSON WELLES: A Christmas Carol
This is a true family event. “God bless us...everyone!”
The Campbell Playhouse (1938–40) was a CBS radio drama series directed by and starring Orson Welles. Produced by John Houseman, it was a sponsored continuation of the Mercury Theatre on the Air. The series offered 60-minute adaptations of classic plays and novels, plus some adaptations of popular motion pictures. Here, they tackle Dickens classic tale, instantly turning it into a radio masterpiece and annual event. Families would gather around the radio every year just to listen to the broadcast. Welles played Scrooge all but once when Lionel Barrymore, stepped in.
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