Quietly Yours: Recent Episodes
Quietly Yours
An episode by episode appraisal of Wyllis Cooper's "Quiet Please" old time radio program, alongside various other genre shows from the era. Hosted by Matt Ellis and David Feldmann.
We discuss "Short Order," from Suspense, originally broadcast August 18, 1945, three days after Japanese Emperor Hirihoto announced the Japanese surrender in World War Two.
Matt's audio sucks recording two days before moving across country without any gear, but otherwise we're back at it. From November of 1948, it's "One For the Book."
We're back after a brief hiatus! First up is "The Shadow People," from The Hall of Fantasy, 1952. It's a spooky one.
We discuss arguably one of the three most important episodes of the entire show's run, "Adam and the Darkest Day," from early November 1948.
Check out the Mindwebs archive here.
1948's Halloween episode.
Apologies for the audio on this one as we were away from our usual setup.
We're joined by Pete Lutz of the Narada Radio Company to discuss Good Ghost, which was originally broadcast on October 24th, 1948. Later in the episode we hear clips from Narada's recreation of the episode, which you can listen to here.
Check out the Narada Radio Company here.
We're so excited to welcome back return guest Dr. Leslie McMurtry, Lecturer in Radio Studies at the University of Salford, Manchester to discuss our FIRST non-American and second (?) non-golden age program: Fear on Four. The episode is "The Snowman Killing," originally broadcast January 3rd, 1988.
It's our first ever live episode! On his long drive back across the country moving from Providence, RI to Portland, OR, Matt stopped by Dave's in Minnesota to record a live, in person episode discussing Lucille Fletcher's "The Hitchhiker."
We'll be back to Quiet Please next week but until then, don't stop for anyone with drops of fresh rain on their shoulders...
Happy Holidays! For your present this year we got you a bonus episode discussing the Vincent Price classic, "Three Skeleton Key," from Escape
A politician receives a BONE CHILLING phone call (don't worry, his boy is not a box). From September of 1948.
Wyllis Cooper wrings 30 minutes of mystery out of the series' theme song: Cesar Franck's "Symphony in D Minor." From September of 1948.
We have a two-fer today as we cover a missing episode, "Motive," as well as a retelling of the story of Cain and Abel in "The Third Man's Story."
With Paul Knierim and Kelly Prosen
For our 2022 Halloween special we are joined by Professors Neil Verma (Northwestern University), Richard Hand (University of East Anglia), and Leslie McMurtry (University of Salford Manchester) to discuss the Suspense classic, "The House in Cypress Canyon."
We have an extra-long episode diving into one of our favorite episodes of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. From 1977, it's "The Ninth Volume." Climate change, Peak Oil, The End of the World, we've got it all here.
We discuss "The Little Man Who Wasn't There" from the 1945 season of The Shadow, written by Alfred Bester.
Opening clip: Alfred Bester at the MidAmeriCon 74th World Science Fiction Convention, 1976.
Outro music: "The Little Man Who Wasn't There," by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Bluebird Records, 1939
In our return from a brief Summer hiatus, we discuss a listener request of "Immortal Gentleman" from Lights Out! as well as Arch Oboler's Drop Dead! LP.
On a brief break from Quiet, Please, we discuss "Universe" from Dimension X,originally aired November 26, 1950.
To hear the first episode of Paul Knierim's generation ship drama, 253 Mathilde, click here.
We've finally gotten to the Mt. Everest of Quiet Please episodes--"The Thing on the Fourble Board" from August of 1948. Joining us with some pre-recorded thoughts are Quiet Please dot Org's Paul Knierim and Professor Richard Hand.
Neil Verma's article can be read here: https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/87824/87825/27/372
We're joined by Professor Richard Hand (author, Terror on the Air!: Horror Radio in America, 1931-1952) for a discussion of "The Man Who Stole A Planet," from July of 1948.
We finally cover a listener request, this time, "The Creeper" from Molle Mystery Theater originally broadcast April 11th, 1947.
We discuss "Let the Lilies Consider" for about five minutes before going on a very long tangent about process philosophy, metaphysics, Martin Scorsese and Catholic art, and the like. One of our favorite episodes to date!
We discuss two missing episodes from June of 1948, "Below 5th Avenue," and "One Hundred Thousand Diameters."
To listen to Paul Knierim's recreation of "Below 5th Avenue," click here.
To listen to Paul Knierim's recreation of "One Hundred Thousand Diameters," click here.
We discuss "The House Where I Was Born" from May of 1948.
Music at the end is Matt's band, a song inspired by this episode off A Hope For Home's last album In Abstraction from Facedown Records in 2011--"The House Where You Were Born."
We have a new album coming out later this year so keep your eyes peeled (info will be posted here!). A Hope For Home's music is available on all streaming services, as well as our bandcamp page (sans our label releases which we don't own the rights for) at: https://ahopeforhome.bandcamp.com/
Professor Neil Verma (Northwestern University, author of Theater of the Mind: Imagination, Aesthetics, and American Radio Drama) joins us yet again for a discussion of "There Are Shadows Here," from May of 1948.
April Fools! In a joking mood we're taking our first foray into radio comedy with an episode of Our Miss Brooks, joined by Kelly Prosen. It's "Mr. Boynton's Moustache," from March of 1955.
Bit of a clunker this week as we discuss "Thirteen and Eight," originally broadcast April 26th, 1948.
We're selling you a bill of goods this week with a listen to the CBS Radio Workshop's adaptation of Frederick Pohl's The Space Merchants from February, 1957.
We take a break from Quiet Please to discuss a 5-part run on one of David's favorite programs, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. From February 13-17, 1956, its "The Cui Bono Matter."
Audio sample from the beginning is from a 1982 interview with Roberta Goodwin, daughter of Bob Bailey (star of Johnny Dollar), hosted by John Dunning.
(note: hosting costs money! So to save space to get this episode under TWO HOURS I cut the outro music to each episode in the sequence. Purists will surely rake us over the coals but you can hear the full episodes online pretty much wherever they are posted...)
For today's discussion on 12 to 5 (originally broadcast on April 12, 1948), we are joined by Northwestern University Professor Neil Verma, author of Theater of the Mind: Imagination, Aesthetics, and American Radio Drama (University of Chicago Press, 2012). We discuss his concept of "audiopositioning" as well as Quiet Please in general.
We're joined by the great Bill Gray, one of the architects of the CBC's "Nightfall" radio series in the early 1980s to talk about The Porch Light.
From April 5th, 1948, it's "I Always Marry Juliet," another classic Cosmic Visitor episode of Quiet Please
We return to Quiet, Please for our first episode of 2022. This time it's "A Night to Forget" from March 22, 1948.
Audio sample from an Orson Welles appearance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, 1976.
Can you believe we've done this 50 times now? Matt and David do not talk about an episode of Quiet Please this time, and rather give you some behind the scenes anecdotes, general riffing on OTR, and a few rankings of our favorite QY episodes. Also stay tuned for some 2022 news at the end of the episode!
Thank you so much for listening and we hope to see more of you in the coming months!
In typical Quietly Yours fashion we mark the holiday season with an incredibly depressing Dragnet classic: ".22 Rifle For Christmas"
This week we discuss a long-lost and recently rediscovered episode of Quiet Please called "Meeting at Ticonderoga," originally broadcast March 15, 1948.
This week we cover a listener request for a program from The Witch's Tale, widely regarded as the first horror program on American radio. We chose "Four Fingers and a Thumb" from October 19th, 1937.
We're joined by Paul Knierim for a discussion on Sketch for a Screenplay from March 1st, 1948.
We return to Quiet Please with a look at "Wear the Dead Man's Coat" from February 23rd, 1948.
We conclude our October H.G. Wells-athon with the one, infamous, iconic War of the Worlds broadcast. We are joined by Michael Socolow, Associate Professor of Communication and Journalism at the University of Maine for a quick discussion on the "panic" myth before breaking down the episode itself.
Read the article in question here: https://slate.com/culture/2013/10/orson-welles-war-of-the-worlds-panic-myth-the-infamous-radio-broadcast-did-not-cause-a-nationwide-hysteria.html
Part 2 of our HG Wellsathon for the month of October. This time it's Escape's rendition of "The Country of the Blind," from November 26th, 1947.
Matt and David kick off our October series on the radio adaptations of H.G. Wells with a deep dive on Wells, late 19th century socialism, history, and utopian fiction. Our first episode is Escape's rendition of "A Dream of Armageddon" from September 5th, 1948, which features the world collapsing under the weight of its contradictions in the year 2021--er I mean 2200.
Before the program, we are briefly joined by IATSE member Will Martin to discuss the potential strike and labor conditions in the film, television, and streaming industry (PLEASE NOTE: Will is joining us purely of his own accord and is not speaking on behalf of IATSE).
You can sign a petition in solidarity with IATSE here: https://iatse.net/by-a-nearly-unanimous-margin-iatse-members-in-tv-and-film-production-vote-to-authorize-a-nationwide-strike/
David and Matt are joined by Richard Hand, Professor of Media Practice at the University of East Anglia and author of Terror on the Air!: Horror Radio in America, 1931-1952 to discuss "Whence Came You?" from February 16th, 1948. We discuss Hand's work on Old Time Radio, including a few interesting cameos while putting together his book, discuss Orientalism, dialects, and Egyptology, and finally close with a few non-American radio horror recs.
Matt and David discuss "Green Light" from January 26th, 1948. Special musical guest Pete Seeger.
BONUS EPISODE- Join Ned Flanders, Matt, David, and returning guest Kelly as we celebrate the Perseid meteor shower by calling down an amorphous fungi flesh being from space to finally put an end to it all.
Happy Birthday America...a month late. We're visited by some ghosts to make up for it. From January 12th, 1948 this is "The Room Where the Ghosts Live" from Quiet Please.
This week we take yet another break from Quiet Please to visit Night Beat and some funny noir....from July 1950 this is "A City At Your Fingertips"
From December 29th, 1947...in July.....as it's decidedly not raining.......it's Rain on New Year's Eve.
Quietly Yours returns after a brief hiatus to complete our two-part ancient history haunting series with Dark Fantasy's Curse of the Neanderthal, from January 9th, 1942
The first of a two-part series featuring Quiet Please and Dark Fantasy...Colonialism! History returning! Francis Fukuyama was wrong!
Matt and David take YET ANOTHER non-Quiet Pleasediversion to talk about one of the greatest--and most symptomatic--episodes of The Shadow: The White God. Come for the pulp, stay for the thrills, leave for the....racism? yikes.
David and Matt are joined by Travis Albert to discuss MAIL DANGER!!!!
"Fragile Contents Death" from February 1951.
Dave and Matt are joined by Eddie to discuss "Come In, Eddie," from December 1, 1947. Oh wait oh no NOT EDDIE
Matt and David discuss "In Memory of Bernadine" from November 24th, 1947. The great Harlan Ellison also stops by to give his....thoughts
David's recent Facebook poll for a non-QP episode selected Dimension X, so Matt decided to be an ass and pick X-Minus One instead. This week is "Tunnel Under the World" based on a short story by Frederik Pohl, often cited as inspiration for the films The Thirteenth Floor and Fassbinder's World On A Wire (and The Matrix). Come for some science fiction recs, stay for righteous lefty fist shaking.
This week Matt chose an episode from The Mysterious Traveler titled Fire in the Sky, from August 28th, 1951. For some reason my microphone wasn't working when we recorded this so....uh....just pretend we're both broadcasting from deep underground in an converted coal mine/comet shelter....
Matt and David are joined by Kelly Prosen to talk about Don't Tell Me About Halloween, just in time for uh, February Halloween?
Time Travel! Canadian Accents! A real life Sheriff! All this and more this week on Quietly Yours!
Matt and David are joined by Quietplease.org's Paul Knierim for a conversation about three missing episodes, "The Big Box," "Be a Good Dog, Darling," and "The Low Road." Music at the end is The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond by the Corries.
Matt and David close out 2020 with a strange episode of Suspense that feels very...2020. We're calling this the last episode of the "first season" of Quietly Yours, so we hope to hear from you about things you are looking forward to in "season two" next year. Until then, hoping that midnight brings 2021......unless.....
Matt and David discuss a Christmas Episode that may or may not have been penned by Wyllis Cooper from Lights Out!
Episode 14 of Quiet Please has Matt and David split for the first time. Come for the largest collection of Cooperisms to date and stay for Dinah Shore's rendition of "A Kiss in the Dark."
Matt and David are joined by Narada Radio Company's Pete Lutz to discuss a slate of five missing Quiet Please episodes: A Mile High and a Mile Deep, Mirror Mirror on the Wall, A Ribbon of Lincoln Green/Retreat At Dunkerque, and Three Sides to a Story. Links to some audio recreations can be found below:
A Mile High and a Mile Deep - Quietplease.org
Mirror Mirror on the Wall - Narada Radio Company
Three Sides to a Story - Quietplease.org
Make sure to check out Pete's Narada Radio Company at naradaradio.libsyn.com
Matt and David take a short holiday detour to an early Lights Out! script by Wyllis Cooper (just to keep it relevant): Coffin in Studio B. Also included is a response to some listener feedback, as well as a riff on some of our favorite non-QP radio horror.
David and Matt discuss the first time travel episode of Quiet Please,"I Remember Tomorrow," from July 27th, 1947.
David and Matt return from a brief hiatus to talk the fourth episode of Quiet, Please..for our fifth episode. Oh no, math...
Some audio issues here but we are working out the kinks!
Matt and David take a look at their first non-Quiet Please episode of the series, Arch Oboler's Bathysphere.
Matt and David discuss Episode 3 of Quiet Please, "We Were Here First," originally broadcast on June 22nd, 1947. Ants, the nuclear bomb, DDT, the thoroughgoing destruction of life and nature and....a pulp radio program for postwar teens? All included.
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Matt and David talk episode 2 of Quiet Please, a sad thing about dying in a taxi accident but its love, or something. 1947!
Matt and David talk through the premiere episode of Quiet Please, Nothing Behind the Door. Nuclear war, Lovecraft, scratchy radio transcriptions. We have it all!!! Please join us for the conversation, like, subscribe, etc.