Remembering Bill Herz, War of the Worlds Actor

Fourth from right, Bill Herz with cast and crew members of “Too Much Johnson” in 1938 (including Orson Welles, seated). CreditTheater of Orson Welles

Hello America,

Hear Again Radio Project morns the loss of the last surviving cast member from Orson Welles and the Mercury Theater's landmark War Of The Worlds, Bill Herz. Next time you are at Sardi's in New York, look for Mr Herz at table 4.

Read about Bill and his role in with Mercury Theater here

Spring is in Bloom, and we're back on the air!

 This weekend at our home for special events we will present our Spring-in-Bloom program, “Baseball and Taxes”. I have asked Director Frederick Andersen to write a little something for the program to put the performance in the right frame work for the audience. His notes were so lovely, I couldn't help myself and wanted to share them with you a little early.

Welcome to the Hear Again Radio Project’s Spring-in-Bloom program, “Baseball and Taxes”! We’re coming out of the winter doldrums and beginning to look forward to better weather, longer days, even vacations, the perfect opportunity to dust off a little nostalgia and take a few steps back to a simpler time.

This time out we’re doing three episodes, two of which – “Ellery Queen: World Series Crime” and “Nine Striking Beauties” – have large casts with a lot of male roles. But the HARP cast is more than up to the challenge, everyone creating such distinct and clearly-drawn characters that, if you close your eyes, you’ll swear you’re hearing a different actor in each part. We’re also presenting an episode of “The Bickersons”, likely to prompt some of you to wonder who’s been bugging your homes!

We typically provide a musical interlude between acts, and for “Baseball and Taxes” it’s no different. You’ll be hearing “It’s Deductible” from the 1950 movie “My Blue Heaven”, starring Betty Grable and Dan Dailey, and performed by our very own Betty and Dan: Kristen Norine and Jared Delaney.

It’s always a pleasure to perform with the Hear Again cast –but it’s been a particular pleasure to handle director duties for “Baseball and Taxes”. Thanks to Old Smoothie and Artistic Director Darin Dunston for trusting me with the job. Our team of pros – including lovely musical director Linda Henderson – made it easy for me.

We always say we enjoy performing these shows as much as the audience does hearing them. If that’s the case we’re all going to have a ball with “Baseball and Taxes”! So sit back and relax: we’re on the air!

--Fred Andersen

Support Plays and Players "10 for 100" 10 day Fundraising Drive

Hello America,

If you have enjoyed the programming that the Hear Again Radio Project   has provided since 2010, won't you please consider participating by donating just $10 to Plays and Players Theater's "10 for 100" campaign.

When the Hear Again Radio Project was searching for a home, the first place we thought to contact was Plays and Players. The dedicated team of artists and theater professionals have made wonderful hosts, and enabled us to bring the wonder and drama of Old Time Radio to life on stage for the good people of Philadelphia for the past 2 seasons.

We could not do it without their support. Please part with your pennies to keep us on the air.

Details on how you can participate can be found here: 

Between 11/23/11 and 12/2/11, please donate $10.00. We are working hard to make our goal of $10,000 to be matched by the Wyncote Foundation. If we can make this goal before the end of the fiscal year we will ask them to raise our match to $20,000.

To donate just mail your contribution to: www.playsandplayers.org 
or http://playsandplayers.tix.com/ActSelection.asp?OrganizationNumber=2275 (direct link.)

If you choose to submit directly, tell 'em the Original Old Smoothie sent you.

Lights Out for Halloween Spooktacular

Hello America,

It...is...later...than...you...think.

For our Halloween Spooktacular Oct 22- 23 at 4 & 7pm this year, we here in the Hear Again Radio Project sound labs decided that we would use the Halloween show this year as a chance to explore one of the most influential and pioneering radio programs from the golden age of radio, Lights Out.

Lights Out was a series created by Wyllis Cooper in the fall of 1933, and later taken over by Arch Oboler in 1936. Full details on the history of the popular anthology series can be found here. In addition to the taut and engaging stories, one of the other things that drew audiences to this series was the interesting and creative sound effects that the show featured. In researching the effects we stumbled upon this image of an article highlighting the stars and the foley artists from the series.

For our Halloween Spooktacular, we will be featuring one script by each writer. First, Slurp! Goes the Amoeba by Wyllis Cooper which is a spooky tale about a lab experiment that goes horrifically wrong. It is tasty! We follow that with one of our favorite Arch Oboler scripts, last performed in the inaugural Hear Again performances for the 2009 Philadelphia Fringe Festival, entitled Special to Hollywood. As always, we have many treats for our audience, including Halloween candy and a special give away courtesy of our friends in Old Time Radio, the Old Time Radio Researchers group. Please visit their terrific site: http://otrr.org/

Look for us on The Face Book: http://www.facebook.com/HearAgainRadioProject

National Archives raided by ex-employee

Hello America,

We were on our way to rehearsal this morning for the Hear Again Radio Project's Halloween Spooktacular, and I almost drove the car off the road when I heard this story on NPR. In short, an ex-employee of the National Archives stole recorded archive material and sold it on eBay. As a group that is dedicated to the idea of finding a new audience for Old Time Radio, we are horrified that someone would be so callous as to steal any of the source recordings from the Archive and rob future generations a chance to hear the original broadcast.

You can read and hear the story HERE.


Our Halloween Spooktacular will be at Plays and Players, and will feature two episodes of Lights Out! (Oct 22 & 23 at 4pm & 7pm). More details can be found HERE and on The Face Book HERE.

Science Fiction Invasion: Notes for the Future

Hello, America! Tomorrow morning we embark on another terrific journey into the past when the Hear Again Radio Project presents, with the support of our friends at Plays and Players, Hear Again Radio Project's Science Fiction Invasion! Here is our new poster:

This production marks our third entry into the Philadelphia Fringe Festival with our brand of old time radio goodness for the whole family. It is also the beginning of our second season at our home for special events, Plays and Players. We thought it would be a good opportunity to share some thoughts to help you prepare for the Invasion as envisioned by Hear Again Director and Producer, Darin J Dunston.

 

Written in the 50’s, these stories are wonderful examples of the hopes and fears of Americans during an uncertain age.  This is an era when new technologies were emerging almost daily, like nuclear power, while invasions threatened from Communist intruders, like Red China and the Soviet Union. To deal with these fears, many people sought out Science Fiction visionaries, like Ray Bradbury, whose work is featured in our programs, who imagined a fantastic future filled with robots, automated houses, and trips to distant planets. 

As producers of radio programs in the 40's and 50's were seeking content for their radio airwaves,  they frequently adapted short stories of great writers. The writers of Science Fiction radio drama may have gotten some things wrong as they imagined a world of tomorrow, for example, I’m still waiting for my flying car, but you’ll be amazed upon listening how many things they got right. Through these original scripts we look to the future through the prism of the past to explore our biggest dreams and worst nightmares.

 

During the Fringe, we have different episodes planned for Saturdays and Sundays. Beyond the Fringe, we are planning our annual Halloween Spooktackular, Holiday Hullabaloo, Valentines' Va-Va Voom, and a new Spring Fling. Dates and details can be found here. 

Visit our blog for the latest on Hear Again: HearAgainRadioProject.blogspot.com. You can also visit us on the face book at http://www.facebook.com/HearAgainRadioProject.

Thank you, and I hope to meet you at the theater. Tell your friends, and get your tickets here.

Another passing of a radio legend. Nat Allbright.

I found this article about legendary Dodgers radio announcer Nat Allbright and thought it might be of interest to our Hear Again friends.  You can read all about Nat and his contributions to the  HERE

Happy Birthday, Gracie.

Hello America,

Today is actress and radio comedienne Gracie Allen's birthday. Happy Birthday, Gracie. Whereever you are!

For more on her work, go HERE