The Price Of Fear:
Soul Music (1/7/73).
Exploring Tomorrow:
Planet of Geniuses (4/19/58).
The Hall Ot Fantasy:
The Steps That Follow Me (9/19/52).
LibriVox Project:
Carroll M. Capp “And All the Earth a Grave”(1960).
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It’s been a busy week folks.
I didn’t get show 111 done. It’s in the works and will be ready soon. Next Saturday for sure
The Price Of Fear was a Horror-Mystery program produced sporadically by BBC Radio. Enormously successful in the United Kingdom and abroad, it produced a total of 22 episodes between 1972 and 1982.
For it’s writeing talent the show drew from a pool of talented new writers, such as William Ingram (who wrote the majority of the scripts). Dramatizing the most chilling stories they could find the show often did adaptations of the works of established writers: Roald Dahl, A.M. Burrage, Bram Stoker and others.
The Show was hosted by, and usually starred Vincent Price. Price whose background in horror and suspense on radio,television and, of course, movies backdropped the series in a way only a handful of performers could. Mostly though it was the way Price narrated these tales (as though he himself had actually lived them) that was responsible for the success of the show.
“Soul Music” from January 7th of 1973 is the chilling tale of a violinist with very special hands. With Coral Browne and John Graham.
Exploring Tomorrow was hosted by the longtime and extremely influential editor of Astounding Science Fiction magazineJohn W. Campbell Jr.
This short-lived series, ran on the Mutual Broadcasting System from late 1957 to mid 1958.
There appears to have been no actual connection to the magazine which did not sponsor the series. Campbell merely acted as host and, perhaps (this is not certain), supervised scripts.
Very few of the episodes have survived the years intact. Most copies have a lot of scratching and are in generally poor audio quality . While the series was designed to be 25 minutes in length with most episodes comprised of one story this is occasionally deviated from by the occasional presentation of two very short stories in one episode.
Exploring Tomorrow was hosted by the longtime and extremely influential editor of Astounding Science Fiction magazineJohn W. Campbell Jr.
This short-lived series, ran on the Mutual Broadcasting System from late 1957 to mid 1958.
There appears to have been no actual connection to the magazine which did not sponsor the series. Campbell merely acted as host and, perhaps (this is not certain), supervised scripts.
Very few of the episodes have survived the years intact. Most copies have a lot of scratching and are in generally poor audio quality . While the series was designed to be 25 minutes in length with most episodes comprised of one story this is occasionally deviated from by the occasional presentation of two very short stories in one episode.
The episode this week is an adaptation of Poul Anderson’s 1957 short story “Planet of Geniuses”. It aired on April the 16th of 1958.
A sociological study, a group of scientists has seeded a planet with colonists and deprived them of technology and all memory of their stellar origin. The experiment is overly successful when the ‘natives’ start developing at an alarming rate, fast enough to worry the galactic military, who dispatch an investigator to determine whether or not they should be destroyed.
There was more than one series that aired under the HALL OF FANTASY banner. All were produced, written and directed by Richard Thorne who also acted in many of the shows. The first HALL OF FANTASY originated from radio station KALL in Salt Lake City, Utah. Where Richard Thorne had worked as an announcer late in 1946 and into 1947. This series consisted of 26 shows. The air dates of the shows are uncertain. Most of these shows were classic murder mysteries, culminating with the villain getting his due. Only six shows from this series are known to exist.
The next HALL OF FANTASY aired in 1949, in Chicago. This time, the series featured stories involving struggles against the supernatural where man was usually the loser. This series consisted of 112 shows and aired locally on station WGN .Then in 1953 THE HALL OF FANTASY went nationwide on The Mutual Network as a regular series for 39 shows. For this show Thorne wrote original stories, or adapted classic works, and played many of the lead characters. Eloise Kummer played many of the female leads. Mr. Thorne and Leroy Olliger directed the series. Original music was by Harold Turner.
From 9/19/52, The Steps that follow me.
A cursed tomb and an avenging ghost follow those who trespass. The story is based on the story, “Count Magnus,” by M.R. James. M. R. James (author), Richard Thorne (adaptor, producer, director).
Taking its name from a popular series of mystery novels, Inner Sanctum Mysteries debuted over NBC’s Blue Network in January 1941.
Inner Sanctum Mysteries featured one of the most iconic openings in radio history. First an organist hit’s a dissonant chord. Next a doorknob turns, and the “creaking door” slowly began to open. So impressive was this opening that when South African radio ran its own version of the show it was called The Creaking Door 
Every week, Inner Sanctum Mysteries told stories of ghosts, murderers and lunatics, with a cast consisting of veteran radio actors. Although Produced in New York, there were occasional guest appearances by Hollywood stars such as Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre and Claude Rains.
Raymond”, the host, had a droll sense of humor, and an appetite for ghoulish puns. Raymond’s influence can be seen among horror hosts everywhere, from The Crypt-Keeper to Elvira, and even more so among his contemporaries on radio .”Raymond” was played untill 1945 by Raymond Edward Johnson. Then Paul McGrath took over and played “Raymond” until the show ended production in 1952 .
Producer Hiram Brown was so taken with the creaking door that when he produced and directed The CBS Radio Mystery Theater in the 1970s he would use it again.
Inner Sanctum Mysteries was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988
The Edge of Death”. An episode which first hit the airwaves on January the 14th of 1949.
Also we have Carroll M. Capps entertaining 1960 short story “And All the Earth a Grave”. read by LibriVox volunteer Jerome Lawson.
