Old-time Radio Review – The Man Without A Shadow, Columbia Workshop

[moon_custafer]

Cute Faustian fairy-tale, weakened by an anticlimactic ending.

I do like how it opens with someone exclaiming “I’d sell my soul for (person) to love me.” Up pops the Devil, and I thought “well, this story is certainly wasting no time.” Only then it segued to a different person exclaiming rhetorically about their willingness to sell their soul, and the Devil (apparently under legal obligation) popping up again.

By the third time it happens, the Devil is griping: “Why does everyone in this town keep trying to sell me their soul?! I’m running out of storage space! And the soul market is really weak this season!”

Apparently shadows are more desirable, and he buys one off some dude who is literally named Schlemiel, and who sounds like Peter Lorre (but isn’t, based on the rapid list of cast members at the end).

Anyway, 8 out of 10 – would have been higher but for the lack of a good punch line at the end of the twenty-odd-minute run time.

Comments

[sabotabby]

OMG thanks for that link. I had no clue that you find such things and I'm hopefully doing a podcasting unit with my kids.

[moon_custafer]

There’s a lot of old radio on the internet — the hard part is usually finding programs where poor sound quality doesn’t outweigh good writing/acting.

ETA -- For some reason, “Red Wine” fascinated me more with its ad breaks (MOLLE BRUSHLESS SHAVE CREAM!! It's a smooth-smooth-slick-slick shave you get with M-O-L-L-E!*) than its mystery story. I wish the cast credits at the end were a bit more detailed – they’re apt to list a bunch of names but not indicate who played what role.
https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/thriller/molle-mystery-theater/red-wine-1946-03-08
* Huh, apparently that announcer was Dan Seymour

[sabotabby]

That looks awesome too! I have started A Playlist.

[moon_custafer]

If you’re doing a Unit the Mercury Theatre’s War of the World’s is a fairly obvious choice, along with a discussion over how much of a panic it really caused (there’s still debate)

[sabotabby]

Oh, yes! Though it's a group that wants to come in to do the podcast thing, so they may already have something planned.