Revisit the Golden Age of Radio with The Invisible Man

Airs October 30th and 31st at 7:00 pm

The Invisible Man is a story about a science experiment gone terribly wrong. After working tirelessly, young scientist Griffin comes upon a formula that makes him invisible-but he hasn’t found a way to change back! Come to the show to hear what happens when Griffin risks everything to get the cure! Will Griffin do whatever it takes? Join us on the airwaves to find out. Experience “radio” as people once did around the 1930s. Full of music and sound effects, you’ll keep wondering what will happen next! This is a two-nights-only engagement. All proceeds will go to support The Falls Church High School Theatre department. Thank you for your support!

Order tickets now!

The Hall of Fantasy: The Black Figurine of Death – transcript- from: Generic Radio

A dying uncle vows revenge on his greedy family, warning them of a black figurine. “It was a queer little figure, its arms raised in supplication, a look of fear upon its face,” says nephew Dave, “There was something frightening about it.”

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

Gunsmoke – transcript- from: Old Time Radio Researchers Group

Two years’ worth of “Gunsmoke” scripts.

Information courtesy of Old Time Radio Researchers Group

Columbia Workshop: Nine Prisoners – transcript- from: Generic Radio

American soldiers are ordered to massacre twenty-two German prisoners-of-war. A grim and occasionally heavy-handed adaptation of the story in William March’s “Company K.”

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

Four for the Fifth: Surrender – transcript- from: Generic Radio

World War II propaganda by Arch Oboler about an army private who captures a sophisticated enemy lieutenant.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

The Mercury Theatre on the Air: A Tale of Two Cities – transcript- from: Microphone Plays

Orson Welles’ adaptation of Charles Dickens’ sprawling novel of the French Revolution. “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I’ve ever done. It is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known,” says Sydney Carton at the guillotine.

Information courtesy of Microphone Plays

The Fabulous Dr. Tweedy: The Bum – transcript- from: Generic Radio

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

The Eternal Light: The Light in Darkness – transcript- from: Microphone Plays

Before becoming Helen Keller’s “Miracle Worker,” Anne Sullivan spends her childhood in a Massachusetts poorhouse surrounded by the mentally ill. A biographical sketch from a public service series that tried to promote religious tolerance with what the New York Times called “fine and sensitive dramas which stand very much on their own merit as radio plays.”

Information courtesy of Microphone Plays

The Columbia Workshop: Air Raid – transcript- from: Generic Radio

Archibald MacLeish’s poetic dramatization of the threat of an air raid on a small town. Premiering a few nights before the Mercury Theatre’s “War of the Worlds,” this play is cited by John Houseman as an influence on that famous broadcast.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

Arch Oboler’s Plays: Another World (aka Alter Ego) – transcript- from: Generic Radio

A frequently-revived “Lights Out” thriller about a woman with an evil alter ego driving her into madness.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

Calling All Cars: The Execution Of John Dillinger – transcript- from: Generic Radio

Broadcast three days after the gangster’s death, this is a not-entirely-accurate dramatization of Dillinger’s criminal career.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

Four Star Playhouse: The Incredible Annalee – transcript- from: Generic Radio

Screwball romantic comedy about a wacky ambitious actress and her cynical Hollywood press agent.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

The Black Ace: Episode 67 – transcript- from: Generic Radio

Who is the Black Ace? A hooded vigilante from Detroit who flies a rocket-powered super-plane while pursuing wrongdoers! From the producer of the Lone Ranger and the Green Hornet.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

Roy Rogers: Missing Atomic Scientist – transcript- from: Generic Radio

The singing cowboy star gets slightly radioactive in this 1950s mystery.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

The Lux Radio Theatre: Jane Eyre – transcript- from: Microphone Plays

Jane Eyre takes a job as a governess at Thornfield Hall where her brooding master, Edward Rochester, harbors a dark secret. Says he, “Miss Eyre, I am a battleground where nature and circumstance tear at each other’s throat. Nature intends me to be a good man. Circumstance decrees otherwise.”

Information courtesy of Microphone Plays

Lights Out: Mother In Law (Knock at the Door) – transcript- from: Generic Radio

Suicidal Ella recounts her unholy plot to murder her mother-in-law.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

The Campbell Playhouse: The Magnificent Ambersons – transcript- from: Microphone Plays

Spoiled George Amberson Minafer threatens the romance of his mother and the man she has always loved. Orson Welles, who later turned Booth Tarkington’s novel into a film, calls it “the truest, cruelest picture of the growth of the Middle West and the liveliest portrait left to us of the people who made it grow.”

Information courtesy of Microphone Plays

Escape: A Shipment of Mute Fate – transcript- from: Generic Radio

A zoologist wants to bring a dangerous animal aboard an ocean liner. This popular thriller was repeated several times on “Escape” and its sister show “Suspense.”

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

Little Old Lady: Lights Out – transcript- from: Generic Radio

Alice and Lona, two college students, visit Aunt Harriet, a mysterious old lady with an unusual cat.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

The Damon Runyon Theater: Princess O’Hara – transcript- from: Generic Radio

A fable about a Central Park “princess” and a racehorse named Gallant Godfrey.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

The Big Story: Manhunt in Manhattan – transcript- from: Generic Radio

A crime reporter witnesses a hold-up and thinks he can identify the gang leader. This weekly anthology series featured dramatizations of true newspaper stories from the point-of-view of the journalists involved.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

Lights Out: Ghost Party – transcript- from: Generic Radio

A séance party gets out of hand when an actual undead creature is summoned.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

BBC: The Dweller in the Darkness: A Play of the Unknown – transcript- from: The Wireless

A surprisingly solid thriller about six people in a haunted house. Broadcast in April 1925, this is a very early example of a play written especially for radio.

Information courtesy of The Wireless

The Fabulous Dr. Tweedy: The Farmer – transcript- from: Generic Radio

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

The Witch’s Tale: The Altar – transcript- from: Generic Radio

The son of aristocrats takes vengeance on the French Revolutionaries who cost him his parents — and builds an altar of hate.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

Dragnet – transcript- from: Old Time Radio Researchers Group

Two years’ worth of “Dragnet” scripts

Information courtesy of Old Time Radio Researchers Group

Suspense: Return to Dust – transcript- from: Generic Radio

The entire drama takes place on the desktop of a scientist who is rapidly shrinking to microscopic size. Can he contact the one man in the world who could save him?

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

The Lux Radio Theatre: Sunset Boulevard – transcript- from: Microphone Plays

A down-on-his-luck screenwriter works on a script for faded silent film star Norma Desmond. “You used to be big,” he tells Norma. “I am big,” she insists, “It’s the pictures that got small.”

Information courtesy of Microphone Plays

The Lux Radio Theatre: Death Takes a Holiday – transcript- from: Microphone Plays

To find out why humans fear him, Death assumes the mortal form and spends a weekend with the family and guests of a wealthy Italian duke. “There must be something here on earth to be known and felt — something desirable — that makes men fear me and cling to their life. I must know what it is,” says the Grim Reaper. Later remade as “Meet Joe Black.”

Information courtesy of Microphone Plays

Vic and Sade: Unaired Episode – transcript- from: Generic Radio

Vic and Sade’s son Rush is asked by a neighbor to hide a basket of Christmas presents. A typically odd holiday episode from radio’s quirkiest comedy program.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

Screen Guild: A Letter to Three Wives – transcript- from: Generic Radio

The town tart informs three wives that she’s run off with one of their husbands. But which one?

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

Thanks Marie for the heads up on these.

The Life of Riley: Valentine Locket – transcript- from: Generic Radio

In this vintage sitcom, working man Chester A. Riley buys his wife a cheap locket to compete with a rival.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

The Life of Riley: Mother In Law – transcript- from: Generic Radio

Riley’s mother-in-law threatens to visit. This wartime sitcom episode includes some interesting VE Day commercials from the American Meat Institute.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

Dimension X: A Logic Named Joe – transcript- from: Generic Radio

Old time radio predicts the Internet in this science fiction comedy about an interconnected computer network that threatens to destroy society.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

Screen Guild: Take a Letter, Darling – transcript- from: Generic Radio

Comedy about an advertising executive who hires a handsome personal secretary to be her make-believe fiancé.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

The Campbell Playhouse: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town – transcript- from: Microphone Plays

Pixilated small town poet Longfellow Deeds inherits twenty million dollars and goes to Manhattan where everyone tries to take advantage of him. “One of the nicest stories ever to come out of Hollywood,” says Orson Welles who plays the title role a lot less convincingly than either Gary Cooper or Adam Sandler.

Information courtesy of Microphone Plays

Find these and more on the Old Time Radio page.

Thanks, Marie, for the heads up on these!

The Witch’s Tale: The King Shark God – transcript- from: Generic Radio

Old Nancy, the 108-year-old Witch of Salem, tells a tale of a Hawaiian Shark God that eats horny white guys.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

The Columbia Workshop: The Fall of the City – transcript- from: Generic Radio

A radio announcer describes a nameless city’s reaction to the arrival of a conquering enemy. Archibald MacLeish’s allegorical verse play is one of the few vintage American radio dramas that was able to claim a serious literary reputation.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

Our Miss Brooks: A Plaque for Mr. Conklin – transcript- from: The Wireless

Principal Conklin thinks he’s getting a plaque from the school board and it’s up to the intrepid Miss Brooks to manage the fallout. A slapstick episode of the long-running sitcom.

Information courtesy of The Wireless

Lights Out: The Locked Room Mystery – transcript- from: Generic Radio

A novelist, struggling to write a locked room mystery, locks himself in his office, only to be interrupted by a stranger who resembles the story’s murderer. An interesting but not very scary episode of the long-running horror series.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

Lux Radio Theatre: It Happened One Night – transcript- from: Generic Radio

Classic Depression-era Frank Capra romantic comedy about a smooth-talking reporter and a runaway heiress on a cross-country bus trip.

Information courtesy of Generic Radio

Find these and more on the Old Time Radio page.