OLD TIME RADIO THEATRE
Beowulf Alley Theatre
Performances for the Month of September, 2011
Beowulf Alley Theatre’s Old Time Radio Theatre Company will present classic productions and reproductions from the golden days of radio at the theatre, 11 South 6th Avenue (Downtown between Broadway and Congress). Performances in (month) will be at 7 p.m. on September 6 and September 20. Tickets purchased online at www.beowulfalley.org at least the day before a performance are $8.00. 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.
September 6, 2011
RAISING JUNIOR
SUSPENSE: The Dark Tower
Raising Junior was a 15-minute comedy-strip show broadcast on the Blue Network from 1930-32. The show was heard daily, six days a week at 6 p. m. A domestic comedy, its major claim to fame was the discovery of Walter Tetley as a major radio character. Actor Ray Knight snatched the 9-year-old Tetley off an elevator and placed him before a microphone when the actor who was to play Bobby failed to appear. Tetley went on to appear on thousands of broadcasts (over 2,300 appearances on 150 separate series) in the late ‘30’s. He appeared on such notable shows as The Fred Allen Show, Easy Aces, The Great Gildersleeve, and The Phil Harris/Alice Faye Show.
Suspense was one of the premier drama series of the Golden Age of Radio, broadcast on CBS Radio from 1942 through 1962. 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 still exist. Suspense went through several major phases, characterized by different hosts, sponsors, and director/producers. Formula plot devices were followed for all but a handful of episodes: the protagonist was usually a normal person suddenly dropped into a threatening or bizarre situation; solutions were "withheld until the last possible second"; and evildoers were usually punished in the end. This lighter episode, The Dark Tower, was adapted from a story by George S. Kaufman and Alexander Wolcott, and starred Orson Welles as a parody of himself.
(2nd Date)
EASY ACES: Jane Thinks Mink
ESCAPE: The Abominable Snowman
Easy Aces, a long-running American serial radio comedy, ran from 1930-1945. It was trademarked by the low-keyed drollery of creator and writer Goodman Ace and his wife, Jane, as an urbane, put-upon realtor and his malaprop-prone wife. A 15-minute program, it aired three times at week at first and later, twice a week for 30 minutes. Its unobtrusive, conversational, and clever style, and the cheerful absurdism of its story-lines, built a loyal enough audience of listeners and critics alike to keep it on the air for 15 years. “The laughs on the other foot.”
ESCAPE was first performed on September 13, 1953. The famous opening to the show, often worded to suit the events of the moment or season, warns the intrepid radio listener of adventure that is anything but... everyday. Like its sister show on the radio, Suspense, it is considered one of the top shows ever done on radio. Escape takes you on a ride into a world where danger comes in many forms, and you are on the edge of life and death, and perhaps you are being pushed! When Escape says romantic, we're not talking kissing, perhaps those kisses might be from teeming piranha! Escape is more Devil's Island than Fantasy Island. And it is wonderful adventure radio for the whole family, especially Dad.
The Abominable Snowman begins in Darjeeling, India as three men are about to embark on an expedition to capture one of the Yeti, the mysterious creatures reported by mountain climbing expeditions in the Himalayas since the early Twentieth Century. They hire a sherpa guide named Nasang who claims to have seen one. We learn from Nasang that the Yeti, also called the "Metoh-Kangmi", have evil faces. Nasang informs them that he is unable to hire any porters for their expedition because the locals are afraid of upsetting the Yeti, who are cannibals. So, the four men start climbing Mt. Everest on their own. One by one, their small expedition faces the challenges of the mountain and an Abominable Snowman. They sometimes leap and sometimes they run in great strides. He warns them that trying to capture one "will be a difficult thing." Tired of the everyday grind? Ever dream of a life of … romantic adventure? Want to get away from it all? We offer you … ESCAPE!
Directed by Sheldon Metz, the OTRT Ensemble Company includes: Ryan Amstutz, Jon Benda, Denise Blum, Butch Bryant, Samantha Cormier, Gerri Courtney-Austein, Laura Davenport, Samuel DeJesus, Evan Engle, Bill Epstein, Sydney Flynn, Vince Flynn, Audrey Ann Gambach, Brian Hale,Barbara Glover, Meagan Jones, Bill La Pointe, Elizabeth Leadon, Lois Lederman, Butch Lynn, Steve McKee, Charlie Middagh, Whitney Morton, Joan O’Dwyer, Robert Anthony Peters, Shannon Brooke Rzuildo, Mike Saxon, Ina Shivak, Pat Timm, Terry Thure, Jared Stokes, John Vornholt.
