A door slowly creaks open...
A voice welcomes you, "Come in...welcome..."
Yes, you are welcome. You're welcomed to be frightened.
For nine years, from January 6, 1974 to December 31, 1982, and throughout 1,399 original episodes listeners were daily subjected to one-hour tales of the mysterious and the macabre. E. G. Marshall served as the host for most of that time; Tammy Grimes replaced him for the show's final year.
CBS Radio Mystery Theater was created by Himan Brown, a radio legend who had produced over 30,000 programs in a career that spanned 65 years. Brown wanted to bring back the excitement of such radio programs as Inner Sanctum from the Golden Age of old-time radio. Brown passed away in 2010, less than two months shy of his hundredth birthday; he had lived in the same New York City apartment for 72 years.
Here's the very first episode of the show, "The Old Ones Are Hard To Kill." complete with ads and breaks while a news recap is heard before the program begins. This episode was written by Henry Slesar and starred Agnes Moorehead, Leon Janney, and Roger De Koven.
Enjoy this episode about and old woman who decides to take in a border.
And afterwards, the door creaks closed and the voice of E. G. Marshall says. "Until next time, pleasant...dreams?"
http://www.oldradioworld.com/media/CBS%20Radio%20Mystery%20Theater%201974-01-06%20The%20Old%20Ones%20Are%20Hard%20to%20Kill.mp3
What a wildly uneven series this was...five shows a week with a tiny budget was probably asking t oo much. But, as I've noted elsewhere, between CBS, NPR, Pacifica and a few projects on Xian and other/syndicated commercial radio (ZBS sold to both public and commercial in those years, I believe) the 1970s, particularly the latter 1970s, had more US dramatic radio, hour for hour, than nearly any decade...only the 1930s and '40s clearly had more.
ReplyDeleteAnd I shouldn't forget the CBC imports and the odd BBC item also brought over..
ReplyDelete