Panels and Presentations scheduled for Showcase.

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ESCAPE WITH US NOW . . . . BLOOD BATH BY JAMES POE DRAMATIZED

Escape Blood Bath

” Bloodbath  is quite unbelievably exciting.  The action is more or less non stop”    –  Alan O’Brien

 

As detailed on Christine Miller’s excellent website devoted to the series,  the thrilling story “Bloodbath” begins with a business partnership which unravels into a deadly competition.  Five Americans travel deep into the Andes mountains of Peru to search for a vein of uranium ore.   As they had hoped, they do find a fortune in uranium. Their plan was to divide the claim five ways, but greed swiftly takes over. Soon they are in a race to return to civilization and claim the land, but the tricky part is getting out of the jungle alive.
Mosquitos, pium flies, bloodsucking carapato ticks, snakes, vampire bats, and piranhas are some of the dangers they have to survive. Vincent Price narrates most of the story and listening to him describe the critters of the Peruvian jungle is entertainment in itself.
“Bloodbath” was written by Academy award winning screenwriter James Poe and starred Vincent Price. The combination of the two was an effective one.   This episode was produced and directed by William N. Robson and aired on June 30, 1950.  This thrilling adventure is regarded as one the best by many radio listeners and we are delighted to have the opportunity to bring this story to the REPS Sound stage, with a full cast, on Friday morning April 15th.

 

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GREGG OPPENHEIMER — SON OF LEGENDARY I LOVE LUCY CREATOR – BRINGS CLASSIC RADIO DETECTIVES BACK TO THE MICROPHONE

Gregg Oppenheimer

Gregg Oppenheimer describes himself as a grown-up child of Hollywood being the son of the late I love Lucy creator-producer-head writer Jess Oppenheimer.   After his father’s death in 1988, Gregg spent several years doing research to complete his father’s unfinished memoirs. In the process he became one of the world’s foremost authorities on I Love Lucy, renewing old friendships with many of the individuals who contributed to the show in front of and behind the cameras.  The resulting book, published by Syracuse University Press, is Laughs, Luck…and Lucy: How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time, which went through seven printings in hardcover before its release in paperback.    From 2000 to 2006 Gregg worked with CBS and Paramount Home Entertainment as producer of the I Love Lucy DVDs, a project for which he received the 2004 and 2005 TV DVD Awards in the “Best 1950s Series” category. In 2007 he executive-produced I Love Lucy: The Complete Series, an all-inclusive 34-disc set comprising the entire saga of the Ricardos and the Mertzes, from the long-lost Pilot to The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hours. 

 

Since 2007 Gregg’s contributions to the REPS SHOWCASE have been monumental.   He has been a stalwart supporter of the cause, producing,  directing, and writing numerous old time radio show re-creations, including The Maltese Falcon, The Fred Allen Show, The Jack Benny Program, and Pinocchio.   The productions he has produced at REPS SHOWCASE have been a wonderful mix of drama and comedy (which often includes live music),  proving that Gregg has indeed inherited his father’s creative talent.

 

This year Gregg turns his craft towards radio crime solving as he brings back to the microphone,  cases from the files of two legendary radio detectives –  Sherlock Holmes and Richard Diamond.   Gregg is tasked with unraveling the mystery in a manner that is both enjoyable to the audience and keeps them in suspense.  The Sherlock Holmes radio stories were often action packed and filled with atmosphere and featured great music and sound effects.  In this production, Holmes is tasked with solving the case of a purported “suicide” which Holmes suspects to be murder.  Witness the case unfold Saturday Afternoon,  April 16th.

 

Richard Diamond will be a featured attraction on Friday evening April 15th.   Dick Powell was the star of the Richard Diamond radio series.  Diamond was a light -hearted detective who often ended each episode singing to his girl friend.  The program began on NBC on April 24, 1949 as part of NBC’s great parade of new shows, created by Blake Edwards.   Edwards began in the 1940s as an actor, but soon turned to writing screenplays and radio scripts before turning to producing and directing in film and television.  His best-known films include Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Days of Wine and Roses, 10 and the hugely successful Pink Panther film series with British comedian Peter Sellers.  The Richard Diamond radio series aired until 1953 and would be resurrected for television in 1957 starring David Janssen.   The case that Gregg has selected to “showcase”  involves a beautiful young woman who believes that someone is trying to kill her and hires Richard Diamond to protect her.
Gregg will be bringing Sherlock Holmes and Richard Diamond to the REPS Radio Sound stage with a full cast of outstanding actors many of whom appeared in the some of the best remembered radio shows of yesteryear.
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David Pollock Author of ‘Bob & Ray: Keener Than Most Persons’ Gives Homage to Legendary Team

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the recent passing of Bob Elliott ,who was one half of the comedy duo of Bob and Ray, it seemed fitting to pay tribute to the legendary comedy team.  For almost 45 years, until the death of Elliott’s comedy partner Ray Goulding in 1990, Bob and Ray entertained millions of radio listeners and television viewers.  Spoofs of other radio programs and man in the street interviews were staple  as were commercial parodies.   The pair were first heard on Boston radio station WHDH in 1946 and continued on the air for over four decades on NBC, CBS , and Mutual networks. Their last program was heard on National Public Radio in 1987.   Author David Pollock, who has had a life long appreciation for the comedy pair, tells the story of Bob and Ray in his 2013 biography,  Bob & Ray: Keener Than Most Persons which is described by  Doug McIntyre of the Los Angeles Daily News as “a must-read for fans of B&R or anyone interested in radio when it was still a creative force.”   This is a welcome biography that chronicles  their career with extensive detail.  Along the way , Pollock shares the history of the two men and provides insight into their personal lives and documents the origins of the team’s best known comedy bits which were key to the teams success and longevity.
The author himself has his own comedy credentials. David Pollock has written for the Carol Burnett Show , All In the Family, M*A*S*H*, Cheers, and Frasier, and even nightclub material for the legendary Jack Benny.  There is certainly no one better to document and  lead a tribute to  the Peabody Award winning comedy team.
David  Pollock author of Bob & Ray: Keener Than Most Persons will be featured Saturday morning at 11:00 am.  However,  you can find him at the REPS SHOWCASE all weekend long. He will have copies of his book so please make a point to come and see us.

 

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Michael James Kacey Tells the Story of Radio Through Dynamic Film

    

When Michael James Kacey began working on his film project, originally titled How Radio Changed America, it was originally conceived as a “love letter” to the Golden Age of Radio.  This feature film documentary has grown both in scope and depth and now expertly explores the historic and cultural impact radio played in American life, examining its unprecedented power to influence the nation. From radio to television to the Internet, HEARING VOICES: How Radio Changed America & America Changed Radio will shine the light on the past in hopes of safeguarding the future. Interviews are still being conducted for this film but already include such network radio veterans as Art Linkletter, Norman Corwin, Tommy Cook, John Astin, Dick Van Patten, Bob Hastings, and Peggy Webber.  Additional interviews include Larry King, Wink Martindale, Washington Post senior editor Marc Fisher,  Norman Lloyd, Marsha Hunt and Ivy Bethune. This film will prove to be the definitive history of American radio.  From the time when Michael was a young boy he has had a special love for radio. It all started when he turned on his radio in the mid 1970s and came upon The CBS Radio Mystery Theater.  For many years now, Michael’s enthusiasm for radio has never waned.  He still gushes about radio and as an adult film maker he set out to capture the history of the medium through the voices of the artists who were a part of that history.   This feature documentary, scheduled for release next year,  is still in production.  However, on Friday morning April 15th, Michael James Kacey will share  highlights from this remarkable film with behind the scenes stories and anecdotes as part of a special preview.   The promotional trailer for the film provides a glimpse of a sensational production that will not only delight anyone who has an appreciation for the history of  radio but should also prove interesting and entertaining to the public at large.

 

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Charlie McCarthy to Appear at REPS SHOWCASE

Charlie McCarthy on the cover of Radio Mirror

Oh my goodness, that’s me and ah yes, I will be making an appearance at this years REPS SHOWCASE.  And oh how delighted I am to  be back at the very familiar microphone which Bergen and I called home for so many years, first on NBC and then CBS, and now to be on the REPS Radio soundstage.  Rumor has it that we will be “showcasing” one of the legendary broadcasts made famous on the Charlie McCarthy radio show not too many years ago.  I have always enjoyed my visits to REPS where I have  received the utmost respect from the fans of radio.   I did not always  receive that same respect during those Golden Days of Radio you know.  No, you say?  Do you think I jest?  Why,  do you recall back in 1938 when Orson Wells almost destroyed the world with his Martian Broadcast?  Orson’s version of  the War of the Worlds was broadcast on CBS in the time slot directly competing with the Chase and Sanborn Program (which featured Bergen and I ) on NBC.    I don’t think I would be bragging if I mentioned that our program was a very popular Sunday night attraction back in 1938 with an audience much larger than Orson could have ever imagined for his CBS show.  It has been suggested that it was I who saved the world that very evening on October 30th, 1938 due to the fact that so many people were listening to me that they failed to hear the War of the Worlds broadcast.   Could you just imagine the increased panic if all those people who were listening to me had actually heard Orson’s show instead?  I just shudder thinking about it.   Just days after the broadcast there was talk that Bergen and I had done a tremendous service.   I felt so proud of this fact until I read an article in the Daily News  —  ” War of the Worlds Radio Hoax Stirs Terror, Dummy Helps Save the World“.      A tad bit disrespectful might’n you say?     But  I am not going to be bothered by something that happened over 70 years ago.   I am oh so focused on the present day and very much looking forward  to once again being at the microphone and bringing back one of the great Charlie McCarthy shows from yesterday.   It’s all happening  Friday evening,  April 15th at the REPS SHOWCASE. See you there!

Charlie McCarthy will be played by A REPS performer for the 2016 Showcase.

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The Green Hornet to be Featured at REPS SHOWCASE

The Green Hornet BY Martin Grams Paul Carnegie Portrait

An exciting  dramatization of a Green Hornet broadcast  that you’ve  probably never heard and  a visit from the man who played Kato in the radio series.
That man is Paul Carnegie.  The Southeastern High School grad was hired to work in the WXYZ sound-effects department, considered one of the best in the business. That was “pretty heady stuff” for the teenager, who got paid $1 an hour and was responsible for sound effects on many well known shows including the legendary Lone Ranger.   “Whenever some character was socked on the jaw, I’d smack the palm of my hand with this little pad of rubber,” he says. “It hurt like hell.” Galloping hoofbeats were created by pounding small toilet plungers into a box of dirt.  A companion show of The Lone Ranger was The Green Hornet.   The Hornet series began on radio station WXYZ on January 31st , 1936 and was supplied to the Mutual Broadcasting System beginning April 12th, 1938 and later to the Blue network and its successor the ABC Radio Network.   Towards the end of the series run, Paul Carnegie  began playing the part of Kato (assistant to the Green Hornet).   Mr. Carnegie will join us this April at the REPS SHOWCASE to lead the way in bringing  The Green Hornet back  to the radio microphone.   Courtesy of Radio Historian, Martin Grams, who has provided the original radio script for this exciting Green Hornet adventure of  which there is no known recording, so unless you happened to have heard the original broadcast back in 1938,  chances are this exciting adventure will be completely new to you.
The Green Hornet Returns!

 

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