Yes, I know the title of this post sounds like another lame joke in the never-ending saga of Escape (1940) vs. Escape (1948). Honest to my grandma, it’s not—I promised that there would be swag to give away in future, and I’m here to make good on that.
Escape was an anthology series broadcast over CBS Radio from
July 7, 1947 to September 25, 1954. It
was often referred to as the “sister program” of “radio’s outstanding theatre
of thrills” (Suspense), but like siblings there were noticeable differences. Escape eschewed the high-wattage
celebrity guest stars that Suspense was well-known for;
occasionally the program would feature a big name (Victor Mature, Vincent
Price) but mostly cast roles in their stories with the crème de la crème of “Radio
Row”—William Conrad (who alternated with Paul Frees as the opening announcer on
Escape),
John Dehner, Parley Baer, Lawrence Dobkin, etc.
The stories on Escape were also of a “high
adventure” nature, as boasted on the show’s legendary opening (usually spoken by second
announcer Roy Rowan): “Escape! Designed to free you from the four walls of
today for a half-hour of high adventure!”
The scripts for the series mined a wealth of short stories from such luminaries
as Rudyard Kipling, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Robert Louis Stevenson (the list
is a lengthy one). Despite the fact that
“the stars’ address” moved Escape around to different time
slots like a life-or-death game of three-card monte…and in addition, had
difficulty securing sponsors (it was sustained throughout most of its
on-the-air run), it was a favorite of many listeners and remains so today (I
consider it, Suspense, Gunsmoke, Dragnet, and The
Whistler to be my top five favorite [non-comedy] OTR shows).
Back in June of 2014, Radio Spirits asked me to write liner
notes for a 10-CD collection that was eventually released as The
Hunted and the Haunted.
There’s some truly outstanding radio drama in this set, with tales
adapted from authors like Ray Bradbury (“The Earthman”) and Alexandre Dumas (“The
Second Shot”). I have two copies of this
set to give out to loyal members of the Thrilling
Days of Yesteryear faithful…and
the best part of this is that it will require minimal effort on your part if
you want a chance to win one.
Since the last giveaway I did here at TDOY was back in July of this year (with Suspense
at Work), the usual “thirty-day rule” need not apply to this
contest. (Of course, if you won one of
the Suspense
sets and feel guilty about entering another giveaway so soon, we wouldn’t think
less of you if you opted out; in fact, we would be so proud that we’d construct
monuments in your honor and compose folk songs in tribute.) Just drop me an e-mail with “The Hunted and
the Haunted” in the subject header so I know your entry is legit (I’ve been
making a concerted attempt to remove my name from any mailing list that even reeks of political content—the Giant
Meteor can’t get here soon enough for me) at igsjrotr(at)gmail(dot)com. The deadline for this contest will be 11:59pm
EDT next Saturday, September 24; I will select two winners via the all-powerful
numbers generator at Random.org and inform them of their good fortune so that
they can provide me with snail-mail details (so that I might send their swag on
its way).
Residents of the blogosphere, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chain
e-mails! Remember, cartooners—Thrilling Days of Yesteryear is the
phrase that pays!
2 comments:
Sounds great! I'll check this series out. I love discovering "new" radio programs.
Brenda and Cobina announced:
Sounds great! I'll check this series out. I love discovering "new" radio programs.
You should enter! It don't cost nothin'!
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