Art of Sound: Recent Episodes
Stan Harrison
Recordings of Old Time Radio drama that Stan Harrison uses in his media production classes at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Time magazine called William N. Robson’s "Open Letter on Race Hatred" "one of the most eloquent and outspoken programs in radio history" (qtd. in Barnouw 60).
Robson's "Open Letter" won both a George Foster Peabody award and a place for itself in American history. Few people today have heard Robson's memorable program. But it continues to speak eloquently and powerfully on behalf of freedom.
Robson wrote and directed this important program in response to race riots that broke out in Detroit, Michigan, on June 21, 1943.
On that day, police arrested 1800 people. 600 were injured. And 35 people were killed.
Robson wanted to "throw the light of truth on the Detroit incident, without inciting … riot elsewhere." So, he wrote a script that showed "the positive aspects of person helping person, rather than the destructive aspects of the disturbance” (qtd. in Barnouw 60).
An interesting side note, Robson's program closed with a few words from Wendell Wilkie. In his closing, Wilkie stated in no uncertain terms that the United States needs "to protect the rights of the 'Negro' and to eliminate fascism at home as well as abroad” (“CBS Open Letter").
*Broadcast Date: July 24, 1943Narrator: Jackson Beck
Guest: Wendell Wilkie
Writer, Director: William N. Robson
Script:* Open Letter on Race Hatred
Works Cited
Barnouw, Erik. Radio Drama in Action: Twenty-Five Plays of a Changing World. Wildside Press LLC, 2010. Print.
"CBS Open Letter On Race Hatred (RADIO)." The Paley Center for Media. Web. 23 Dec. 2015.
Robson, William N. "CBS: An Open Letter on Race Hatred." Generic Radio Workshop Script Library. Web. 23 Dec. 2015.
Notice: Any copyrighted material on these pages is used in "fair use," for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s).
Each week Richard Durham's Destination Freedom opened with these words:
The Chicago Defender and station WMAQ bring you Destination Freedom, a new radio series dramatizing the great democratic traditions of the Negro people, interwoven in the pageant of history and a part of America's own Destination Freedom!
On 8 August 1948, Destination Freedom aired a particularly interesting episode, "The Heart of George Cotton." In this episode, sound effects establish the identity and contribute to the character of a tell-tale heart.
The heart tells the story of pioneering heart surgeons, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams (1856-1931) and Dr. Ulysses Grant Dailey (1885-1961). And the heart recounts how Dr. Williams — a 19th century African American doctor — performed the first successful heart sutur.
Long recognized as one of Durham's finest productions, "The Heart of George Cotton" received first-place honors from The Institute for Education by Radio.
CBS Radio Workshop broadcast a new version of the play in 1957.
Creative Commons License: Public Domain
File Source: Internet Archive / Destination Freedom
Script: Available
On May 26, 1957, CBS Radio Workshop broadcast Mort Goldberg's "I Have Three Heads" — the dramatic recounting of the life and accomplishments of an Ampex Tape Recorder.
The drama gets going when an Ampex Tape Recorder — Howard Ampex, model 200 — meets his replacement: Gerald Ampex, model 350.
Over the next 1/2 hour, Howard tells the story of how he has contributed to the art and craft of sound editing. In so doing, he attempts to justify his continued existence at CBS.
The dramatic exchange between Howard and Gerald has perhaps no enduring artistic value. But, as an introduction to the art and craft of sound editing, Goldberg's soundplay still speaks to students and composers of podcasts, aural soundscapes, and multimodal compositions.
Charles Monroe wrote the drama. Henry Sylvern scored the mustic. Ira Ashley produced. Stuart Metz served as the program announcer. And Mort Goldberg edited.
Performances were delivered by Jackson Beck, Ian Martin, Bill Quinn, and Ralph Bell.
Creative Commons License: Public Domain
File Source: Internet Archive / CBS Radio Workshop
Command Performance by the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) is a radio program which originally aired between 1942 and 1949. The program was broadcast on the Armed Forces Radio Network with a direct shortwave transmission to the troops overseas. It was not broadcast over domestic U.S. radio stations.
Troops sent in requests for a particular performer or program to appear, and they also suggested unusual ideas for music and sketches on the program, such as Ann Miller tap dancing in military boots. Top performers of the day appeared, including Jack Benny, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Fred Allen, Ginger Rogers, Judy Garland and The Andrew Sisters.
One memorable program, Dick Tracy in B Flat, aired on February 15, 1945. On this date, AFRS produced what it called the "first comic-strip operetta." The program is notable for its use of what Alan Havig once described as Verbal Slapstick - i.e., "burlesques-in-sound" that use "broadly farcical" comic "language" to "alter reality" (130, 213).
In this raucous, bawdy send-up of Chester Gould's Dick Tracy, Dick Tracy in B Flat transforms the raw violence of Gould's "police detective" comic strip into a wedding farce that would have appealed to many soldiers who had come up against the raw violence of WWII battlefields.
Bing Crosby starred in the title role. Dinah Shore co-starred as Tess Truehart. The supporting cast included Judy Garland, Cass Daley, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Durante, Frank Morgan, Bob Hope, Harry von Zell, Jerry Colonna, Lou Crosby, the Andrews Sisters and the Joe Lilley Chorus.
Audio File
- Source: Internet Archive / Command Performance
- Creative Commons License: Public Domain
Image File
- Source: Wikipedia
- A work of the United States Federal Government | Public Domain
In 1940, Arch Oboler adapted Dalton Trumbo's famous anti-war novel, Johnny Got His Gun for radio.
James Cagney starred in the role of Joe Bonham, a soldier in World War I who wakes up in hospital bed after being struck by an exploding artillery shell, only to find himself deaf, dumb, blind, immobile, and incapable of reaching out to other people. Deprived of his ears, mouth, eyes, legs, and arms, Bonham lives in a world of the mind, and Cagney gives voice to Bonham's inner speech.
A frequent experimenter with audio stream-of-consciousness techniques, Oboler blended and layered voices, sound effects, and music in this landmark broadcast. In so doing, Oboler went a long ways toward demonstrating that audio stream-of-consciousness techniques exceed print for being able to capture the simultaneous, polyvocal experience of the mind.
Oboler broadcast his radio adaptation as part of the NBC Radio series "Arch Oboler's Plays."
You can download the radio script.
Notice: Any copyrighted material on these pages is used in "fair use," for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s).
In April of 1937, Columbia Workshop broadcast their first performance of Archibald MacLeish's "The Fall of the City."
Of the performance, Time magazine wrote, "Aside from the beauty of its speech and the power of its story, "The Fall of the City" proved to most listeners that the radio, which conveys only sound, is science's gift to poetry and poetic drama, that 30 minutes is an ideal time for a verse play, that artistically radio is ready to come of age, for in the hands of a master a $10 receiving set can become a living theatre, its loudspeaker a national proscenium."
Orson Welles and Burgess Meredith delivered notable performances.
Irving Reis directed.
Read the Time magazine story on "The Fall of the City."
Creative Commons License: Public Domain
File Source: Internet Archive / Columbia Workshop