From the Vault presented by Harold Ellison

FROM THE VAULT   --   A showcase of 'Old Time' Radio

from the library collection of Harold Ellison

Your next 'From the Vault' webcast this week -

Week 7 February 2012 - 'Woman of the Year'

Click the link above to listen to the program.

If you are using iTunes you might get problems with the player stopping after the first part of the program so if that happens, the individual program links are given below. For future programs we will provide a single link for the iTunes player.
Week7-part1 A Man's Castle
Week7-part2 Woman of the Year
Week7-part3 Undercurrent


 
In the 1930s or 40s the movie studios and radio networks had rather close relationships.  Many stars appeared on shows such as 'The Lux Radio Theatre' or ‘The Screen Guild Theatre’ either to promote their films directly, or to gain general publicity for themselves as well as for their studios. Two stars who rarely required such promotion for their films to become box office smash hits, or to promote themselves either for that matter, were Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn, who together or separately, were able to fill theatres to capacity with merely the emblazoning of their names on the marquee.  In spite of this, Tracy and Hepburn did occasionally make radio appearances, most often to re-create their latest motion picture role, as a personal favour for the film's producer.  On this latest 'From The Vault' program, which can be heard on the INTERNET at www.shoalhavenfm.org, host Harold Ellison, has discovered some Tracy/Hepburn gems in his mammoth collection of Old-Time Radio shows that clearly demonstrate that their allure wasn't only in their looks and that by vocal intonation alone, a genuinely great actor could capture and hold a radio audience's attention for hours at a time, and demonstrates this with three superb examples.
 
We'll begin with “A Man’s Castle,” in which  Spencer Tracy co-starred with Ingrid Bergman (who replaced the film's original female lead, Loretta Young, who was unavailable) in this romance between two homeless people.  Performed on ‘The Lux Radio Theatre,’ on the 1st December, 1941, one week before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and America’s subsequent entry into WWII, Bergman was already an accomplished radio actress, and her love affair with Tracy in this story is incredibly believable.

Then it's "Woman of The Year" in which Sam Craig (Spencer Tracy) and Tess Harding (Katherine Hepburn) are journalists for the same New York newspaper in the early 1940s.  Tess, the daughter of a diplomat, is an internationally inclined political affairs columnist who has travelled the world.  Meanwhile, Sam is an everyman sportswriter who worked his way up.  A feud in their columns, over baseball, develops into romance, love, and marriage, despite their different backgrounds and worlds.  This was the first of nine films that Tracy and Hepburn made together and both stars appear in this 'Screen Guild Theatre' recreation for radio.  

And finally, Katherine Hepburn and Robert Taylor re-create their original starring roles in "Undercurrent" on 'The Lux Radio Theatre.'  Ann Hamilton (Hepburn) is a middle-aged bride who begins to suspect that her charming husband Alan Garroway (Taylor) plans to murder her.  Nor can she ignore the shadow of her brother-in-law Michael Garroway (Credited as Ira Grossel who was later to become Jeff Chandler), whom she's never met but has been told so much about.  You'll be amazed how even a film noir piece like this can come across so effectively on radio due to great acting... and a shock ending!

NOTE: www.shoalhavenfm.org is NOT a TripleU-FM website, nor it is associated with the Community Broadcaster in any way, shape or form. 

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Week 6 February 2012 - 'CBS Radio Mystery Theatre, 3 Terrifying Looks at Gambling'

Click the link above to listen to the program.

If you are using iTunes you might get problems with the player stopping after the first part of the program so if that happens, the individual program links are given below. For future programs we will provide a single link for the iTunes player.
Week6-part1 The Death Watch
Week6-part2 The Dice of Doom
Week6-part3 The Suicide Club



Harold Ellison, the host of the Internet's 'From The Vault' program of Old-Time Radio shows, has searched through his huge collection of 'CBS Radio Mystery Theatre' shows to select three incredibly tension-packed tales all with the overriding theme of gambling, a topic regularly in the news nowadays in Australia as the government is attempting to assist those who cannot exercise self-control over this potentially destructive habit.  Whilst the Australian government is focusing their "Responsible Gambling" efforts on 'Poker' (or 'slot') machines, these 'CBS Radio Mystery Theatre' tales delve into far more serious gambling stakes, where one could quite easily gamble his or her life away on the next 'From The Vault' program.  

In "The Death Watch," two men, one of them a Romanian Count, very much in the Bella Lugosi mold, gamble with their lives in order to win the hand of a lovely woman.  The winner of this game of chance also gains possession of a cursed pocket watch.  Whosoever owns this wicked timepiece is gradually consumed by the obsession to keep it wound. 

Then, our next macabre tale has to do with dice that have been elegantly referred to as "The Dice of Doom."  A young gambler is trying to outwit the Devil by using two "special" dice, thereby altering a predetermined fate he was bound to endure due to an ancestor's Faustian mistake of selling his soul to the Devil.

Our final gambling story is the Robert Louis Stevenson classic tale, "The Suicide Club."  A high-stakes gambler finds the game getting the better of him as his new club demands him to murder someone, or choose suicide, and one can't play for much higher stakes than that.  The brilliance of Stevenson will keep you sitting on the edge of your seat until the final seconds.       

NOTE: www.shoalhavenfm.org is NOT a TripleU-FM website, nor it is associated with the Community Broadcaster in any way, shape or form.

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Week 5 January 2012 - 'A Slightly Delayed From The Vault XMas special part 2'

Click the link above to listen to the program.

If you are using iTunes you might get problems with the player stopping after the first part of the program so if that happens, the individual program links are given below. For future programs we will provide a single link for the iTunes player.
Week5-part1 The Aldrich Family
Week5-part2 The Ford Show
Week5-part3 Life with the Lyons
Week5-part4 The Bickersons
Week5-part5 Our Miss Brooks




As 'From The Vault's Christmas Specials Part ONE was delayed due to the illness and subsequent hospitalisation of Harold Ellison, 'From The Vault's host, it makes sense that Part TWO of the program's Old-Time Radio Christmas Season Specials also turned up late on www.shoalhavenfm.org.  In spite of the delay, the line-up of Christmas shows on this program, that originated from 3 different countries... the U.S., Australia and the U.K., are of such outstanding quality that frankly, they could be enjoyed any time of year.

The program begins with lots of laughs from a classic Christmas episode of the American family sit-com, 'The Aldrich Family.'  For all but 2 of its 13 years on air (when military service took precedence over radio work), the leading role of Henry Aldrich was played by Ezra Stone.  Henry was a 16 year old high school student with the unique ability to turn ordinary, everyday situations into complete chaos and disaster, sort of like a younger, male version of Lucy Ricardo in 'I Love Lucy.'  You simply must hear "The Aldrich Family's Christmas Show" to see how much fun Christmas is meant to be.

Then, you'll enjoy every last minute of 'The Ford Show,' a Christmas musical/variety extravaganza from Australia, hosted by the singer/actor Hayes Gordon, who brilliantly played Daddy Warbucks the first time that wonderful Broadway musical "Annie" played here in Australia some years ago.   Besides Hayes Gordon, this Christmas episode of 'The Ford Show' is positively overflowing with tremendously talented Aussie stars of the day that you're sure to find at least equal to anything you've heard from either the U.S. or the U.K.  

Up next is the British show, 'Life With The Lyons,' starring Bebe Daniels Lyons, her husband Ben Lyons and their two Lyons cubs, their daughter, Barbara, and son, Richard, both of whom seem to have no shortage of typical brother/sister wise-crack remarks about one another, in spite of the fact that this is a Christmas show.  But it's all good fun in the episode, "T'was The Night Before."


And then, Don Ameche and Francis Langford star in broadcasting's very first husband/wife combative comedy, 'The Bickersons,' a technique copied later on in TV shows like 'The Honeymooners' and 'All In The Family.'  In spite of the fact that it's Christmas Eve, 1946, on this American show, you'll hear, bickering away as always, the couple known as 'The Bickersons.'

Our final show of the evening is also from the U.S. and believe me, this Christmas edition of 'Our Miss Brooks' starring the fabulous Eve Arden will have you in hysterics.  Harold will also be telling the amazing story of how Eve Arden (who was born Eunice Quedens) got her name.  This show has got to be the highlight of the holiday season, and of this program as well, which is a pretty good reason not to miss it.

NOTE: www.shoalhavenfm.org is NOT a TripleU-FM website, nor it is associated with the Community Broadcaster in any way, shape or form.

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Week 3 January 2012 - 'A Slightly Delayed From The Vault XMas'

Click the link above to listen to the program.

If you are using iTunes you might get problems with the player stopping after the first part of the program so if that happens, the individual program links are given below. For future programs we will provide a single link for the iTunes player.
Week3-part1 Christmas at Dingley Dell
Week3-part2 Steptoe & Son

Well, as much as a hospital isn't a location that one might normally choose to spend the Holidays at, I must say that due to the remarkable staff at our own little Milton/Ulladulla Hospital, here on Australia's New South Wales South Coast, who did everything in their power, bending over backwards in their efforts to make every patient admitted during this annual celebratory period, suffering from some ill-timed malady, feel as good as possible under the circumstances, in the shortest possible time.

So, due to the illness and subsequent hospitalisation of Harold Ellison, 'From The Vault's  long-time host, the popular program's regular Old-Time Radio Christmas Season Specials didn't show up on www.shoalhavenfm.org, on time this past Holiday season, a situation which lead to some serious decision-making now that Harold has pretty much regained his health.  The classic radio shows that had been selected for airing were of such superb quality that to hold onto them for an entire year, and next Christmas, seemed like such a pity when one takes into consideration the fact that The Holiday Season has historically always been a magical one for Old-Time Radio, with some of the most glorious dramatisations and other special shows imaginable.

Therefore, no matter how you celebrate this glorious Holiday Season at your home, we felt that you could only stand to benefit from the choice audio morsels especially selected to add to your enjoyment of this time of year.   Available now for listening 24 hours a day, as well as for the next several weeks , will be the program we're calling, 'From The Vault's Old-Time Radio Christmas Shows Pt. 1 - British Christmas Shows,' which begins with a fabulous production of "Christmas At Dingley Dell."  This 90 minute drama was adapted from "The Pickwick Papers" and Christmas Stories of Charles Dickens by Constance Cox.

The Story Teller, Charles Dickens himself, is portrayed by Nigel Graham.  With David March in the role of Mr. Pickwick, these two head an enormous cast of fine British actors who play all the many remarkable characters that Dickens created for these stories.   In an effort for you to get some of the main characters straight in your mind, an incomplete list of these would include Samuel Pickwick, the main protagonist and founder of The Pickwick Club, Nathaniel Winkle, a young friend of Pickwick's as well as his travelling companion, Augustus Snodgrass, another young friend and companion who considers himself a poet, Tracy Tupman, a fat elderly man who nevertheless considers himself a romantic lover, Sam Weller, Mr. Pickwick's valet and a source of idiosyncratic proverbs and advice, and Alfred Jingle, a strolling actor and charlatan noted for telling bizarre stories and anecdotes.  In a similar manner to Dickens' other tales, "Christmas at Dingley Dell" is a story treasured by listeners of all ages.  Don't let your family miss out.

Then, prepare yourselves for the biggest laughs of the entire Holiday Season with "The Steptoe and Son Christmas Special."  Poverty stricken and uneducated they may be, but it's because of, and not despite these character's lack of social and cultural backgrounds that the program has remained popular.  Somehow viewers are able to identify with Harold and his Dad, who don't live in an unattainable mansion or laud it up with high and mighty ways.  They scrape along.  They bicker and fight and complain... but they survive.  Moreover, 'Steptoe and Son' remind us of our humanity - and that the best way to overcome a seemingly insurmountable problem is, quite simply, to laugh.  And there surely will be no bigger laughs than the ones on offer at "The Steptoe and Son Christmas Special," to which you're ALL invited.

Incidentally, just wait until you see what's going to be on offer next week in 'From The Vault's Old-Time Radio Christmas Shows Pt. 2.'

NOTE: www.shoalhavenfm.org is NOT a TripleU-FM website, nor it is associated with the Community Broadcaster in any way, shape or form.

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Week 46 Monday 28th November 2011 -  'Mixed Bag Night#2' 

Click the link above to listen to the program.

If you are using iTunes you might get problems with the player stopping after the first part of the program so if that happens, the individual program links are given below. For future programs we will provide a single link for the iTunes player.
Week46-part1
Week46-part2
Week46-part3
Week46-part4


Beginning Monday, the 28th November, 2011, and available for listening 24 hours a day for several weeks afterwards on www.shoalhavenfm.org, the INTERNET version of 'From The Vault' offers you another Mixed Bag Night, with 4 incredible OTR shows, all designed to move you and stir your emotions.  In fact, don’t be surprised if one or more of these shows gets you all choked up, or if you’re the extremely sensitive type…moves you to tears.  Read on and find out why we’re calling this program of popular Old-Time Radio shows, 'From The Vault's MIXED BAG NIGHT: Old-Time Radio Shows Positively Overflowing with Emotion.’
   
We’ll begin with a show that starred Cary Grant in a tale well calculated to keep you in…‘Suspense.’  The episode, “The Black Curtain,” is based on the exciting and tension-packed best seller by Cornell Woolrich, an author generally considered the forth best crime writer of his day, behind only Dashiell Hammett, Erle Stanley Gardner and Raymond Chandler.  Besides his many crime novels, quite a few of Woolrich’s stories were adapted during the 1940’s into scripts for radio’s ‘Suspense’ and other dramatic programs.  Cary Grant plays a man who’s had an accident and awakens three years later, not remembering a thing.  He’s being followed by a man with a gun.  He is haunted by what mysteries lay behind the black curtain of amnesia?  He manages to track down a woman who claims she was his girlfriend, only to be informed by her that he’s wanted for murder.  Might visiting the crime scene unblock his memory?  At the scene of the crime he finds a paralysed, bedridden old man who can’t talk, but who witnessed the murder in a mirror.  With the police closing in, can he find a way for the witness to convey to him who really committed the murder? 

Next you’ll hear the studio audience nearly convulse with laughter at one of comedy’s funniest duos on ‘The Abbott and Costello Show.’  Carefully concealed from their many devoted fans, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello’s lives were wracked with tragedy, so much so that the only way they could cope was to make a joke of everything.  William ‘Bud’ Abbott earned millions in his film and radio career, but died a pauper in 1974, after an eight year audit of his back taxes left him penniless.  Costello was also plagued by the tax man, but on top of that, in March 1943, with the radio show at its peak, he was stricken with rheumatic fever and forced off the air.  Abbott refused to carry on alone, so a new team was hastily recruited.  When Costello returned in time for the start of a new season of shows, during the dress rehearsal for his first show back on air, he was called home suddenly with the news that his year-old son had fallen into the family swimming pool and drowned.  There’s more, but that’s enough for now.  One wonders how those two could joke about every aspect of life so convincingly that audiences never knew how they were suffering on the inside.  
Then from the magnificent ‘Arch Oboler’s Plays’ comes “The Family Nagachi.”  During WWII, a great many Americans were unaware that a system closely resembling the Axis powers concentration camps was happening right under their noses in parts of the USA.  Executive Order No. 9066 was signed by the then President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the 19th of February, 1942, authorising local military commanders to designate “military areas” as “exclusion  zones,” from which “any or all persons may be excluded.”  This power was used to declare that all people of Japanese ancestry were excluded from the entire Pacific coast, including all of California and most of the states of Oregon and Washington, except for those in the barbed wire surrounded internment camps.  The U.S. Census Bureau assisted the internment efforts by providing confidential neighbourhood information on Japanese Americans.  The Bureau’s role was denied for decades, but was finally proven just 4 years ago, in 2007.  This is the plight, as well as the theme of “The Family Nagachi,” the exquisitely written and constructed play by Arch Oboler.  You WILL be moved by it.      
And finally, Joel McCrea stars in the ‘Tales of the Texas Rangers,’ the entire series of which was produced and directed by Stacy Keach, Sr.  Each episode was a re-enactment of an actual Texas Ranger case.  This radio series used contemporary cases and modern detective methods to solve crimes, and being a procedural drama, in many ways it was sort of like ‘Dragnet’ with a Western flavour.  This episode is “Death In The Cards.”   
NOTE: www.shoalhavenfm.org is NOT a TripleU-FM website, nor is it associated with the Community Broadcaster in any way, shape or form.
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Week 45 Monday 21st November 2011 -  'Mixed Bag Night' 

Click the link above to listen to the program.

If you are using iTunes you might get problems with the player stopping after the first part of the program so if that happens, the individual program links are given below. For future programs we will provide a single link for the iTunes player.
Week45-part1
Week45-part2
Week45-part3
Week45-part4

Beginning Monday, the 21st November, 2011, and available for listening 24 hours a day for several weeks afterwards on www.shoalhavenfm.org, on the INTERNET version of 'From The Vault,' instead of our usual single-themed group of shows, we've selected some highly popular Old-Time Radio shows whose content should not only be a source of great enjoyment, but should present listeners with the most nostalgic and realistic 'family night relaxing beside the huge radio set' experience possible in 2011.  Whether your mood or tastes steer you in the direction of hillarious comedy, realistic and heart-skipping-a-beat science fiction, great songs from some of the music world's best vocalists or a reallife human drama on the longest-running religeous show in history, you'll find it all on a program we're calling, 'From The Vault's MIXED BAG NIGHT: Chock-Full of Old-Time Radio Shows, With Something to Please Everyone.'
   
The program begins with Canada's answer to 'The Twilight Zone' with a CBC Science Fiction anthology series comprised of stories that will make you think almost as much as they make you tremble... called 'The Vanishing Point.'  Tonight's story takes place in, of all places, Australia, with some North American tourists calling a bit too much attention to themselves on a visit to that enormous monolyth settled in the geographic centre of this island continent, Ayers Rock.  To the White population, Ayers Rock is merely an astoundingly enormous natural wonder that changes colours before your eyes as the sun sets.  But to the traditional land owners, the Aboriginal population, who call it by its original name, "Uluru," the rock is an important and respected icon from the "Dreamtime."  Australan Aboriginies take their "Dreamtime" icons very seriously and any show of disrespect can be dangerous, or worse, something which the occasional foolish foreign tourist takes with a grain of salt.  This attitude can be fatal, as some tourists find out much to their horror in the episode, "Uluru."  Listen, learn and never, ever forget!
 
Then relax to some great songs, interpreted by two of the music world's most accomplished song stylists on 'The Bing Crosby\Rosemary Clooney Show.'  Their solos, duets and light repartee will have you wondering why nobody thought to pair these two before.  It soon becomes obvious that Crosby and Clooney were good friends who not only respected each other's talents, but genuinely enjoyed each other's company.  With no studio audience or canned applause, the listener was made to feel as though he or she was an honoured dinner party guest who stayed on for some after-dinner musical fun, and these two seasoned professionals sure made it sound like fun.  The 20 minute show was broadcast at 11:40 a.m. daily.  Bing and Rosie would tape the dialogue weeks in advance and songs would be interpolated.  The shows commenced in February, 1960 and continued without a break until November 1962 with episodes named after the show's first song, which in this case was, "In Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea."
 
Next, it's time for comedy, but not just any comedy...we're talking about one of the most popular programs in radio history, regularly attracting audiences of more than 15 million listeners in the U.K. alone.  Yes, it's 'Round The Horne,' starring Kenneth Horne as host, along with Betty Marsden, Hugh Paddick, Bill Pertwee and Kenneth Williams as, amongst his enormous repetoir, the extremely camp character of Julian, a best friend of Sandy (Hugh Paddick,)   The show itself was a ground-breaking mixtureof innuendo, camp comedy and word play, with the brilliantly inventive and often totally outrageous scripts written by the zany duo of Marty Feldman and Barry Took.  Horne himself was the straight man who anchored the whole careering, seething, teaming, chaotic hullabaloo emitted from the likes  of J. Peasemold Gruntfuttock, Rambling Syd Rumpo, Daphne Whitethigh, Dame Celia Volestrangler and too many more to mention, all played to characteristic perfection by the whole cast.  This episode is called, "The Eiffel Tower is Stolen," well why not?
 
In the fleeting world of broadcasting, our final offering lives up to its name in almost every way.  'The Eternal Light,' a long-running fixture on America's NBC radio network, between 1944 and 1989, produced in conjunction with the Jewish Theological Seminary more than 2000 shows, including some of the most creative scripts in the medium.  Featuring interviews, commentary and award-winning dramas from the perspective of Judaism, the show attracted many show business elite, from both in and outside the faith to perform, including Alan Arkin, Gene Wilder, Maureen Stapleton, Alexander Scourby, Joseph Cotten, Mel Ferrer, E.G. Marshall, Raymond Massey, Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone and Ed Asner, who got his start in broadcasting in 1956 on the series.  Tonight, Joan Crawford and Franchot Tone star in "Message To The World: The Life of Nathan Springold," a Chicago newspaper reporter who moved to New York in the early thirties and rose to Colombia Pictures Board of Directors in 1940 and vice president of the company in 1954.  A patron of the arts, Springold had a significant art collection.    
NOTE: www.shoalhavenfm.org is NOT a TripleU-FM website, nor is it associated with the Community Broadcaster in any way, shape or form.

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Week 44 Monday 14th November 2011 -  'ESPIONAGE: Spies, Lies & Some Very Nasty Guys.' 

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If you are using iTunes you might get problems with the player stopping after the first part of the program so if that happens, the individual program links are given below. For future programs we will provide a single link for the iTunes player.
Week44-part1
Week44-part2
Week44-part3
Week44-part4
Week44-part5

Beginning this week on the INTERNET version of 'From The Vault,' we've set our time machine back to the early 1950's when the hot topic of the day was "Communism vs. The Free World."  Undoubtedly one of the most potent weapons in the arsenals of both sides of the political spectrum was esponage, the use of spies to gather secret information.  Espionage was probably a significant factor in every war from the beginning of time, but after some significant advances during WWII, the early 1950's was when spying began to come into its own and assume the mantle of a genuine science, with the perfection of electronic bugging devices and other sophisticated electronic equipment.  The four thrilling shows presented on this program are from the U.S.A. and were primarily dramatisations of actual espionage activities on a program we're calling, 'From The Vault's Espionage Night: Spies, Lies and Some Very Nasty Guys.'
Our first show, 'Cloak and Dagger' dramatised stories from the files of the OSS, the Office of Strategic Services, whose mission was to develop and maintain spy networks throughout Europe and Asia, and develop espionage activities for Allied forces overseas.  The show was based on the book of the same name written by two former OSS operatives.  Each episode had totally different casts drawn from the best of the New York radio scene in the early 1950's, and opened with the question, "Are you willing to undertake a dangerous mission for the United States, knowing in advance you may never return alive?  This episode is "The Kuchin Story."
Then Dana Andrews stars in 'I Was a Communist for the FBI,' which capitalised on the newly instigated "Red Scare" of the early 1950's.  Even though the FBI flatly refused to cooperate in producing the show, the anti-Communist hysteria was at its peak, and the show was a ratings success.  Based on the book, and subsequent movie, the show told of Matt Cvetic's adventures as an undercover operative who joined the Communist Party to spy from within.  Cvetic could never be sure who might be a Party spy and was unable to reveal his true mission even to his family, who shunned him.  Tonight's episode, "I Can't Sleep."
Our next Old-Time Radio show, called 'Top Secret' owed its success to its star, the beautiful Hungarian Blonde Bombshell, Illona Massey, who played a Mata Hari-style operative in WWII.  "This espionage adventure is highly effective," said Radio Life Magazine, "due primarily to its star.  It's a role tailor-made for her sultry voice and heavy accent."  Don't miss the suspenseful episode, "Disaster in London."
And our final espionage thriller is, 'Dangerous Assignment,' starring Brian Donlevy as operative Steve Mitchell, a world-travelling trouble-shooter for a U.S. government agency.  Mitchell would be summoned to the office of his boss, who'd learned of trouble brewing in some vital hotspot around the globe.  Mitchell's job was to crack into the bed of discontent, rout the perpetrators, and get it all under control again.  Today we'd call out the Marines, The Green Berets and 20 heavily armed helicopters to do what Mitchell accomplished on his own in 28 minutes... amazing, but great fun to listen to.  This episode is, "Missing Japanese Weapons."
NOTE: www.shoalhavenfm.org is NOT a TripleU-FM website, nor is it associated with the Community Broadcaster in any way, shape or form.

Week 43 Monday 31st October 2011 -  'You bring the popcorn… we’ll supply the entertainment night’

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If you are using iTunes you might get problems with the player stopping after the first part of the program so if that happens, the individual program links are given below. For future programs we will provide a single link for the iTunes player.
Week43-part1
Week43-part2

Beginning Monday, the 31st October, 2011, and available for listening 24 hours a day for several weeks afterwards on www.shoalhavenfm.org, is the INTERNET version of ‘From The Vault,’ the program that brings only the cream of the crop of Old Time Radio shows direct to your computer.   Within a year or two after first being shown on the big screen,  “The Philadelphia Story,” and “All About Eve,” were magnificently re-created for radio, with nearly their entire original casts on ’The Lux Radio Theatre,’ and Lux’s wartime Summer replacement show, ’The Victory Theatre,’ both of which can be heard on this special ’From The Vault’s Motion Picture Double Bill.’   You bring the popcorn… we’ll supply the entertainment.
 
‘The Philadelphia Story’ is a 1940 American romantic comedy in which Katharine Hepburn stars as Tracy Lord, a socialite whose wedding plans are complicated by the simultaneous arrival of her ex-husband, played by Cary Grant, and a tabloid magazine journalist, played by James Stewart.   Broadway playwright Philip Barry wrote ‘The Philadelphia Story’ specifically for Katharine Hepburn, who ended up backing the play, and foregoing a salary in return for a percentage of the play's profits.  Hepburn was hoping to create a film vehicle for herself which would erase the label of "box office poison" that the Independent Theatre Owners of America had put on her after a number of commercial failures.  Hepburn happily accepted the film rights to the play from Howard Hughes who had bought them for her.  So basically, ‘The Philadelphia Story’ was a very clever scheme devised by Katharine Hepburn to get back into movie stardom… and thankfully, it worked. 

‘All About Eve’ is a 1950 American drama film In which Bette Davis stars as Margo Channing, a highly regarded but aging Broadway star, who finds herself worshiped by a willingly helpful young fan, Eve Harrington, played by Anne Baxter, who insinuates herself into Channing's life, ultimately threatening Channing's career and her personal relationships.  ‘All About Eve’ was written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and based on the short story “The Wisdom of Eve” by Mary Orr, which itself originated as a true anecdote related to Ms. Orr by actress Elisabeth Bergner.   Evidently, whilst performing in a play in 1943, Bergner allowed a young fan to become part of her household and employed her as an assistant, but later regretted her generosity when the woman attempted to undermine her.  So, while Mankiewicz embellished the story somewhat, ‘All About Eve’ is largely based on truth.  Incidentally, when ‘All About Eve’ was shot in 1950, a still relatively unknown Marilyn Monroe made one of her first screen appearances.  Monroe died in Aug., 1962, aged 36.  Had she lived, this past August, Marilyn Monroe would have turned 85.

These two films have won more awards and nominations for awards than just about any films in history.  Amongst it’s many other awards, at the 1940 Academy Awards ‘The Philadelphia Story’ received 6 nominations, including Best Picture.  James Stewart won The Best Actor Award and Donald Ogden Stewart won for Best Writing… Screenplay.   Hepburn won a 1940 New York Film Critics Circle Award for her performance.  ‘All About Eve’ likewise attracted a slew of other awards, as well as being nominated for 14 Academy Awards (a feat unmatched until the 1997 film ‘Titanic’) and won six Oscars, including Best Picture.

NOTE:  www.shoalhavenfm.org  is NOT a TripleU-FM website, nor is it associated with the Community Broadcaster in any way, shape or form.
 
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Week 42 Monday 24th October 2011 -  'Night of Classic British Comedy’

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If you are using iTunes you might get problems with the player stopping after the first part of the program so if that happens, the individual program links are given below. For future programs we will provide a single link for the iTunes player.
Week42-part1
Week42-part2
Week42-part3
Week42-part4

Beginning on Monday, the 24th October, 2011, and available for listening 24 hours a day for several weeks on www.shoalhavenfm.org, is the INTERNET version of ‘From The Vault.’  In honour of the Queen’s current visit to Australia, this program of classic Old-Time Radio shows from Harold Ellison’s enormous collection, has been packed to overflowing with some of the funniest British comedy you’ll ever experience, which is why we’re calling it, ‘From The Vault’s Night of Classic British Comedy.’  

Nobody, but nobody does comedy like the British and those of you fortunate enough to have heard the broadcast version of Harold’s ‘From The Vault’ program over the years would be aware that some British comedy shows have proven to be enormously popular with listeners, and therefore such comedy dynamos as ‘Hancock’s Half Hour,’ ‘Round The Horne,’ ‘Dad‘s Army,’ and others have been heard upon many occasions.  However, for this program I’ve selected some British comedies that are a little out of the ordinary, in that they are not generally as well known as the one’s just mentioned.

We’ll begin by hearing the magnificent and truly unique ‘Hinge and Bracket,’ which will surprise some listeners in that this is not a sit-com about a hardware store.  ‘Hinge and Bracket’ were the comedy partnership of George Logan and Patrick Fyffe, a couple of musical performance and female impersonation artists who entertained the public in the guise of two elderly eccentric spinsters, now living genteel lives and celebrating their former careers on the provincial operatic stage. 

Then we’ll hear Miriam Margolyes and Denise Coffey starring as, ‘Alison and Maud,’ two elderly sisters trying, with disastrous ineptitude, to run a B & B in Norwich, England.  The show could be subtitled “Bed and Breakfast for Beginners” with input from Basil Fawlty.  ‘Alison and Maud’ follows the hysterical day to day lives of these two lousy landladies and their long-suffering guests.  Tonight’s episode, “Tennis Balls and Military Tattoos”  

We’ll follow that with “All Gas and Gaiters,” a clerical comedy in which the Dean tries unsuccessfully to bring some order and sanity to the daily happenings in and around the Cathedral of St Ogg's.  In some respects the church-based premise may remind some listeners of Dawn French’s TV show, currently playing in various parts of the world, ‘The Vicar of Dibley.’  Don’t miss the very funny episode, “When In Rome.”

And finally, we’ll end tonight’s program with an episode of ‘The Likely Lads,’ the show that followed the friendship and exploits of Terry Collier and Bob Ferris, two working class young men who grew up in England’s industrial northeast and today are working in the same factory.  It’s just too funny for words.
 
NOTE:  www.shoalhavenfm.org  is NOT a TripleU-FM website, nor is it associated with the Community Broadcaster in any way, shape or form.

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Week 41 Monday 17th October 2011 -  'Night of Mind-Stimulating Science Fiction’

Click the link above to listen to the program.

If you are using iTunes you might get problems with the player stopping after the first part of the program so if that happens, the individual program links are given below. For future programs we will provide a single link for the iTunes player.
Week41-part1
Week41-part2
Week41-part3
Week41-part4

Beginning on Monday, the 17th October, 2011, and playing 24 hours a day for at least an entire week on www.shoalhavenfm.org, the INTERNET version of ‘From The Vault,’ Harold Ellison’s program of classic Old-Time Radio shows, enters the arena of Science Fiction and calling it ‘From The Vault’s Night of Mind-Stimulating Science Fiction.’   

There‘s no doubt you‘ll find the four very different stories you’ll hear on this program extremely thought provoking, such as this first tale from one of the great all-time science fiction authors, Ray Bradbury.  “The Veldt” is heard on the program ’X-Minus One’ and in it the author contends that one day you’ll be able to purchase a home whose walls will change to suit your moods and desires, simply by thinking about it.  The only concern is that the children seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time in the nursery, which their minds have turned into an African plain known as “The Veldt,” complete with some very hungry lions.

Then, you’ll hear a tale well calculated to keep you in… ‘Suspense’ called, “A Strange Day In May.”  A U.S. Air Force astronaut is about to be shot into space on the furthest flight yet attempted in an effort to find out the fate of two other astronauts who have vanished immediately after reporting seeing a strange blinding light.  ‘Suspense’ didn’t present a great deal of Sci-Fi, but when they did, it was always spectacular to say the least.

After that, we were fortunate to find another Ray Bradbury story called “Dwellers In Silence,” that was heard on ‘Dimension X.’  It’s been 20 years since the nuclear wars saw most of earth’s population move to the planet Mars.  But now scientists and the military wish to know what has earth evolved into?  Did anyone survive?  And if so, how?  As the good doctor says, “Radiation does strange things to living tissue.”   Very strange indeed.
     
And finally, from the radio series ‘Theatre Five’ we’ll hear “Terror From Beyond.”  Right before a scheduled manned space voyage, the crew are receiving strange messages from an unknown source in outer space.  They also find the doctor at the controls appearing dead, when suddenly half his body seems to come alive.  Someone or something has taken control of this man. Could it be a “Terror From Beyond?”  
 
NOTE:  www.shoalhavenfm.org  is NOT a TripleU-FM website, nor is it associated with the Community Broadcaster in any way, shape or form.

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Week 40 Monday 10th October 2011 - 'Thirty-Nine Excellent Reasons For Listening’

Click the link above to listen to the program.

If you are using iTunes you might get problems with the player stopping after the first part of the program so if that happens, the individual program links are given below. For future programs we will provide a single link for the iTunes player.
Week40-part1

Beginning on Monday, the 10th October, 2011, and playing 24 hours a day for at least an entire week on www.shoalhavenfm.org, the INTERNET version of ‘From The Vault,’ Harold Ellison’s program of classic Old-Time Radio shows, could easily give you Thirty-Nine (or more) legitimate reasons for listening to this BBC production, which comes to us via the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), but suffice to say, it is such an extraordinary radio experience that you will long remember, or conversely, long chastise yourself should you happen to miss ‘From The Vault’s Night of Thirty-Nine Excellent Reasons For Listening.'       

Although written in 1913, almost a full year before the start of World War One’s hostilities, most people have been exposed to Scottish author John Buchen’s literary masterpiece, the adventure novel, “The Thirty-Nine Steps,” whilst still in their teens.  Long considered one of the 20th Century‘s best loved suspense stories, and one that did a lot to forge the patterns for following generations of adventure writers, Buchen’s original book was altered to such an extent by director Alfred Hitchcock in both of his efforts to capture it’s thrills on film, that very little was left of the original manuscript, other than the character’s names and the title of the piece.  Even the title, “The Thirty-Nine Steps,” was given a selection of various meanings and significance, and in most film versions was shortened to ‘The 39 Steps,’ all far from John Buchen’s original concepts.
 
Thank goodness for the BBC, the British broadcaster where this radio version originated.  The BBC always was, and still is considered the finest radio production company in the world.  They decided to return to Buchen’s original work, hiring writer Bert Coules to adapt it for radio.  The casting as well was inspired, with David Robb starring in the role of Richard Hannay, and featuring Tom Baker as Sir Walter Bullivant.

Hannay is a mining engineer, who in spite of being born in Scotland, now lives in South Africa.  His decision to take a long holiday back home in Britain, sets the whole plot in motion.  “The Thirty-Nine Steps” is the first of John Buchen’s five novels featuring Richard Hannay, an all-action hero with a stiff upper lip and a miraculous knack for getting himself out of sticky situations.

John Buchan’s “The Thirty-Nine Steps” first appeared as a serial in Blackwood’s Magazine in August and September 1915 before being published in book form in October that year.  When the BBC produced the radio version, it too was produced in two parts, but when Canada’s CBC got a hold of it, the novel was divided even further and played over five nights.  Now, thanks to ‘From The Vault’s’ computer editing abilities, for the first time in many years, a broadcast version will play the entire story in one two-hour timeslot.  

As we said, there are many more than thirty-nine reasons to listen to this program, but the only one reason that really matters is… it’s GREAT!

NOTE:  www.shoalhavenfm.org  is NOT a TripleU-FM website, nor is it associated with the Community Broadcaster in any way, shape or form

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