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HBO: Real Time with Bill Maher (podcast)

SFFaudio Online Audio

One of the podcasts I listen to isn’t really a podcast, it’s a TV show. I used to listen to it ~~religiously~~ religulously, but then there were problems with it’s feed and it disappeared out of iTunes completely. Despite it’s spotty record the content itself is worth it. Few television shows produced in the USA seemed little more than “dispatches from the bubble” – too few would acknowledge the massive blindspot that us foreigners can see as glaringly obvious, few others than Real Time with Bill Maher.

So when the feed went kaput in iTunes I turned to torrents – using the websites EZTV.it and ThePirateBay.se to pick up the portable versions of the show itself and the webshow Overtime.

But if you’re not techy enough for that there’s still good news, Real Time with Bill Maher is again available through iTunes as a podcast (at least in Canada and the USA). But, I suspect it isn’t available in other countries so if that’s the case, try this workaround:

To get the show go into the “iTunes Store” section of iTunes and click on the flag at the bottom right of the page. Switch it to Canada or the USA. Then do a search, for “Maher” and it should be your first hit under podcasts. The main show, by the way, is audio only, like CBS’s 60 Minutes podcast.

Posted by Jesse Willis

Seeing Ear Theatre: The Moon Moth adapted from the novella by Jack Vance

SFFaudio Online Audio

Yesterday, a friend of mine was woefully mistaken. He said there was only one good audio drama and that it was The Hobbit (referring to the BBC radio dramatization). Well that is a pretty awesome audio drama but he is still totally and completely WRONG.

There are probably hundreds and hundreds of excellent audio dramas, but I was totally caught off guard – what’s that old french saying… ah yes…

“l’homme sensible, comme moi, tout entier à ce qu’on lui objecte, perd la tête et ne se retrouve qu’au bas de l’escalier”

Indeed, I only managed to throw out a couple of quick examples before my friend had retired for the evening.

I pointed out the BBC’s dramatization of The Lord Of The Rings and I a then suggested the CBS Radio Mystery Theater and it’s wonderful Alfred Bester story The Walking Dead).

My friend left unconvinced. And it is only now, today, that others spring readily to mind.

In l’esprit de l’escalier I will throw out one more – to him and to the world – and that will be George Zarr’s masterful adaptation of Jack Vance’s The Moon Moth.

It was one of the first audio dramas I reviewed for SFFaudio, back in 2003, and it is still one of the very finest audio dramas I’ve ever heard.

You could |READ OUR REVIEW|, but I think just hearing a few minutes of it will provide enough motivation to propel both you, and my friend, to both the end and a change of opinion.

SEEING EAR THEATRE - The Moon Moth SFFaudio Essential Seeing Ear Theatre – The Moon Moth
Based on the novella by Jack Vance; adapted by George Zarr; Performed by a Full Cast
2 MP3 Files – Approx. 73 Minutes [AUDIO DRAMA]
Publisher: Seeing Ear Theater
Published: 2000?
On the planet Sirene everyone wears a mask according to his status — or strahk — in society. Communication is accomplished through singing accompanied by a plethora of instruments, each of which signifies a different emotional mood or is used to talk to a different social caste. The problem is, the assassin Angmark is a master of Sirenese customs and — like everyone else on Sirene — his face is hidden behind a mask. Our doddering ambassador-detective’s only hope: to learn to use his own mask — the lowly Moon Moth — before Angmark relieves him of a head to put it on. First published in Galaxy Science Fiction, August 1961.

Part 1 |MP3| Part 2 |MP3|

Produced and directed by George Zarr
Sound Design by John Colucci and David Shinn
Music Direction and Sirenese Musical Performance by Douglas Anderson

Cast:
David Garrison as Edwer Thissell and Provisionist Greenward
Tuck Milligan as Haxo Angmark and Messenger Slave
Ian Reed as Esteban Rolver and Bright Sky Bird
Mort Banks as Cornelly Welibus and Maskmaker
Mark Victor Smith as Mathew Kershaul
Leah Applebaum as Computoid, Maiden, Female Slave, and Rex
George Zarr as Steward and Paul
Andrew Joffe as Forest Goblin, Benko, and Sand Tiger
Paul Amodeo as Hostler and Toby

Here are the illustrations, by Dick Francis, from the original publication in Galaxy SF:

The Moon Moth by Jack Vance - illustration by Dick Francis

And finally, we talked to George Zarr about The Moon Moth, and many other plays, back in SFFaudio Podcast #071. Check it out if you’d like to hear more about how awesome audio drama is.

Posted by Jesse Willis

CBS Radio Mystery Theater: The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich by Henry Slesar

SFFaudio Online Audio

Karel Thole illustration for The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich - from Urania #729

I have a sudden desire to eat Uncle Ben’s rice and buy a 1976 Buick. Yes folks I’ve been listening to more CBS Radio Mystery Theater.

The episode this time was called The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich and was written by Henry Slesar.

Slesar was an interesting writer. He wrote in nearly every capacity that a writer can. Being a copywriter (he apparently coined the phrase “coffee break”). But he wrote plenty of fiction too. He was the head writer on an intriguing sounding daytime soap opera (a thriller series modeled after Perry Mason books), he wrote movie screenplays, TV movie scripts, mystery novels, and dozens of radio dramas. But he also wrote a lot of SF short stories – and that’s where things get a bit murky because I’m actually not sure if this story was an adaptation of the text, or if the text was an adaptation of the play. The play of The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich aired first, being broadcast in the spring of 1975. But the short story of the same name came out shortly thereafter in F&SF.

For our purposes I guess it doesn’t really matter too much either way because the only version of the story available in the audio format is the CBS Radio Mystery Theater play.

Set in Mexico, in the 1970s, the storyline isn’t radically dissimilar from the 1976 Ira Levin novel The Boys From Brazil (later to be made into a film of the same name). I enjoyed the plotting, which features both the quest for immortality, the fruit of horrific Nazi experiments, and most of all the desire for revenge.

Here it is, as it aired exactly 37 years ago today…

CBS Radio Mystery Theater CBSRMT #0275 – The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich
By Henry Slesar; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 46 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS Radio
Broadcast: May 16, 1975
A Nazi fantasy? In this weird tale, two scientists discover an aged and sickly Adolf Hitler in 1970’s Mexico City. They begin to try and restore his health and youth through their experiments. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1975.

Cast:
Robert Dryden
Ken Harvey
Paul Hecht
Joe Silver

The Rise And Fall Of The Fourth Reich by Henry Slesar - from Fantasy & Science Fiction, August 1975

[via the wonderful CBSRMT.com]

Posted by Jesse Willis

An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge AUDIO DRAMA ADAPTATIONS

SFFaudio Online Audio

An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge, by Ambrose Bierce, was first published in 1890 and remains a classic of American literature. It has been adapted several times as an radio drama. The most recent that I’m aware of is the CBS Radio Mystery Theater version from 1974.

CBS Radio Mystery Theater CBSRMT #0101 – An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge
Based on the short story by Ambrose Bierce; Adapted by Sam Dann; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 43 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS
Broadcast: June 4, 1974
To escape an appointment with the gallows at Owl Creek Bridge, a confederate spy embarks on a dangerous journey through hostile territory in order to reach Dixie.

Cast:
Mildred Clinton
Jack Grimes
Leon Janney
William Prince
William Redfield

Escape – An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge
Based on the short story by Ambrose Bierce; Adapted by William N. Robson; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 29 minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS
Broadcast: December 10, 1947

Cast:
Harry Bartell …. Peyton Fahrquhar
Luis Van Rooten …. Jethro
William Conrad
Bill Johnstone

Suspense – An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge
Based on the short story by Ambrose Bierce; Adapted by William N. Robson; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 29 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS
Broadcast: December 9, 1956

Cast:
Victor Jory

Suspense – An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge
Based on the short story by Ambrose Bierce; Adapted by William N. Robson; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 25 Minutes [RADIO DRAMA]
Broadcaster: CBS
Broadcast: December 15, 1957

Cast:
Joseph Cotten …. Peyton Fahrquhar
Ellen Morgan
Harry Bartell
Jack Kruschen
Lou Merrill
Roy Glenn
William Conrad …. narrator

Cast:
Vincent Price …. Peyton Fahrquhar
Cathy Lewis
Barney Phillips
Sam Pierce
Roy Glenn
Norm Alden
Sam Edwards

[More at Escape-Suspense.com, CBSRMT.com, and Archive.org]

Posted by Jesse Willis

CBS Radio Mystery Theater: Wuthering Heights adapted from the novel by Emily Brontë

SFFaudio Online Audio

We’ve got the audiobook version, and here’s cool radio drama adaptation from the 1970s. I’ll be listening to this tonight as I drift off into dreamland.

CBS Radio Mystery Theater – #0643 – Wuthering Heights
Based on the novel by Emily Brontë; Adapted by Elizabeth Pennell; Performed by a full cast
1 |MP3| – Approx. 45 Minutes [UNABRIDGED]
Broadcaster: CBS
Broadcast: April 29, 1977
Provider: CBSRMT.com
Heathcliff, an adpoted son, returns home to the family that mistreated him as a youth.

Cast:
Lloyd Battista
Paul Hecht
Russell Horton
Roberta Maxwell
Bryna Raeburn

Bonus: The Semaphore Version of Wuthering Heights (courtesy of Month Python):

Posted by Jesse Willis

The Night America Trembled – a TV dramatization of the effect of Orson Welles’ War Of The Worlds broadcast

SFFaudio News

Studio One, a long running anthology series on CBS television, broadcast The Night America Trembled on September 9th, 1957. It was a one hour television recreation of the supposed effect of Orson Welles’ radio broadcast of The War Of The Worlds on October 30th, 1938.

Studio One - The Night America Trembled

Conspicuous by it’s absence is the man himself. The actor portraying Orson Welles is described simply as the “host of the Mercury Theatre”. The cast includes a number famous actors in small roles, including James Coburn as a father who has his nioght out rudely interrupted by a hysterical teenage girl. Looking around the web I note that The Night America Trembled has garnered nothing but tremendously positive reviews. Thankfully you can decide that for yourself as the entire play PUBLIC DOMAIN and is available via Archive.org.

Download options |AVI|OGV|MP4|

My favourite part of it was all the Westinghouse commercials. Household appliances seem to have stopped evolving. My modern toaster looks like the Westinghouse model and cost about the same too.

Watch right to the end to see the intriguing descriptions for the next two shows (one a murder mystery based on a short story by John D. MacDonald and another a drama set on an atomic submarine).

I should also mention that there is second TV adaptation of the same story, entitled The Night That Panicked America, broadcast in colour on October 31, 1975. It has never been officially released but is available via torrent.

Posted by Jesse Willis