From The Lima News, May 2, 1939:
" 'Crazytown' a stinging indictment of the present anarchic state of 'world affairs' will be presented by Arch Oboler over WEAF Saturday at 9 p.m. The contemporary fantasy is to star Edmund O'Brien, who scored a success this season as Prince Hal in Maurice Evans' Broadway production of 'Henry IV.' Charlotte Manson, young and talented NBC actress, will have the leading feminine role. The story tells of two young aviators who make a forced landing in unknown territory while returning home from a successful bombing expedition against civilians of a defenseless enemy city. They soon find they have cracked up in Crazytown, the place where individual moral values have become as topsy-turvy as are internatinal moral values in the outside world. Hate, envy and suspicion are cardinal virtuies; pity, love and honor are considered unforgivable sins, while murder is the only logical way of settling a quarrel."
Oboler was one of the most important and talented writers in old-time radio. Oboler wrote a number of popular radio series, including Lights Out (including the classic "Chicken Heart" episode), Your Hollywood Parade (which had a comedy sketch about Adam and Eve whose double entendres caused a sensation and had Wet banned from NBC for fifteen years), Plays for Americans (a WWII propaganda series in which one episode had Adolf Hitler magically teleported to the back seat of a car belonging to an irate war bride), To the President, Free World Theater, and Everything for the Boys (more WWII propaganda sseries), and Arch Oboler's Plays, which gave Oboler free rein and ran for one year on NBC without commercial interruption; it was such a sucess that NBC then changed the title to Everyman's Theater and signed Prctor & Gamble as a sponsor. Oboler chafed at the thought of a commercial being aired in the middle of his plays and the series ended in early 1941. The program was revived -- without commercials -- five years later by the Mutual Network as a summer replacement series.
Enjoy "Crazytown" and, perhaps, consider how relevant it is for today's world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMLEKxehvmY
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